Brooding light on Minchinhampton Common

I offered to drive to Nailsworth to pick Helena up after the regular classical music concert she enjoys attending. Transport is quite tricky on a Sunday, as she found out today following complications with the bus taking her which eventually dropped her off ten minutes after the concert began.

I thought I’d drive over Minchinhampton Common which is on the hilltop between the two valleys. On the way back we stopped near the Old Lodge pub at the centre of the common, where Helena was happy to sit and read while I got my camera out for a short walkabout. The weather forecast was for thundery conditions and rain, and the sky in the west darkened visibly soon after we arrived bringing a slight chill on the breeze.

I watched a few skylarks both on the ground and in flight, but with the poor light I didn’t manage any good shots. I’ve added one as an ‘Extra’ just to record their presence. I also watched them flit about in the foreground amongst the swathes of buttercups and purple orchids which are quite prevalent on these traditional Cotswold limestone grasslands. 

At one point a woman walked her dog across the lengthening grassland and came into my viewfinder as I looked at the skylarks in the grass waiting for them to take flight. The contrasting dark background with the intermittent rays of sunlight breaking though the storm clouds picking out people trees and even kites. It all intrigued me.

On Saturday 18th May the cows and horses belonging to those landowners who have the ancient Commoner's Rights to graze here, will return to these summer grazing grounds across the two commons and surrounding land on what is called Marking Day. I’ll probably return here as I love to see the animals as they once again discover the verdant growth which they have missed in their winter quarters.