Reflections

It does not take much persuasion for us to go on one of our favourite walks along the banks of the River Lussa. Sunday was, however, a special day as it was the 121st anniversary of the death of the Welsh Pedlar, John Jones. I have already told his story in a previous blog (Memorial to a warm hearted pedlar on 5th February). We had decided that a nice touch would be to plant a few marigold seeds, from our previous Welsh garden, at the grave site near Pedlars Pool. On a cool afternoon we parked the Land Rover at the usual place and walked the old road alongside the river to the grave site. The trees were starting to show their early leaf growth, though the oak trees are still dormant. Under the trees there were violets, primroses and wood anemones in flower with the promise of bluebells to come. We carefully planted a few pockets of seed and reflected on how it came to pass that a Welshman died so far from his native land. We sat on the bluff overlooking the river enjoying the tranquillity and the reflections of a massive oak tree in the almost still river water. An eagle soared above the mountain ridge of An t-Sleaghach to the east of us. Although too far away to positively identify, it was probably a Golden Eagle rather than the White tailed Sea Eagle that we see at home. At the other end of the scale of bird size a tiny but busy wren worked away de-grubbing a nearby tree stump. I have always liked the Latin name for a wren Troglodytes Troglodytes that I believe means cave dweller. The one that we were watching was more likely to be a tree dweller as many of the old trees exhibit suitable holes and hollows just right for a wren’s nest site.