We stopped to step over a large brown caterpillar mid-way across the rough brambled footpath. All around us light breezes were sweeping through the high grasses, nettles and reeds. Miles and miles, of wide open estuary land. Then in the distance, amongst the just audible drones of lone cars on winding country roads, we heard the plaintive drooping call of a curlew. The water was close. The map showed we'd converge, ahead about a quarter of a mile.
Soft sand blending to mud then water. Gently swirling waves. High tide but on the turn. Pleasantly susurrating woodland and little wooden houses on stilts, some storing beached boats beneath. At the high water mark a gnarled weather-worn tree stands with a panoramic view of the estuary. It leans out precariously, towards the lapping waves, but is sturdy as rock. A good place for the microphones. We leave to brew tea and cook beans for the kids.
Yacht masts ring like lonely bells in the light wind. Two walkers stop to pick something up from the muddy sand. Perhaps an oyster shell, there are lots here. Boats squeak and bump reassuringly against their moorings. Two men bob about, fasten ropes, secure decks. Timelessly absorbed in the act of preparing to sail. Everything's settled, between gently lifting banks of estuary wind. From nowhere a blackbird begins to sing. The tide's very gradually going out. The clouds part and a wood pigeon welcomes the arrival of some hot uninterrupted afternoon sun.
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Listening to the longshore drift
65 Songs from the churchyard of St Mary’s Gilston
Waiting for skylarks at the Rye Harbour nature reserve
Taking forty winks at the seaside - Norman's Bay, East Sussex (sleep safe)
Mistle thrush sings amongst wind hushing conifers
A city at low tide (sleep safe)
Soundscenes of spring from the Derbyshire hills
A fallen tree on Galley Hill
Suffolk Wood (part 7) 2am - counting the chirps of a dark bush cricket (sleep safe)
Seaside brutalism - at the Port of Felixstowe
56 The whispering trees of Bayford Wood
Light rain beside the lane near Sandy
Sound-scenes of Norman's Pond as dusk turns to night - sleep safe
After the dawn chorus in the Forest of Dean
52 The balm of warm woodland in late summer
Garden birds under a silent sky
50 Singing beck below Black Hill (sleep safe)
Suffolk Wood (part 6) - 1am to 2am sleep safe with owls
Abney Park on Christmas Day in the morning
Quiet field by Young Wood
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