17th July from the West Cliff Green, Bournemouth

Bulging clouds against the blue sky like a full suited clipper on the China trade running before the fresh breeze. Heading for the Cape, royal t’gallants and stun’sls set. We’ll beat Thermopylae and Cutty Sark for sure this time. The creaking and groaning of the old trees in the wind remind us of the masts and rigging. Jarvis, emptying the litter bins in his piratical blue headscarf shakes his head because whoever emptied the bins last didn’t know how to place the new black sacks correctly. There is craft and skill in every job and the West Cliff Green would be a less pleasant place without. A large White butterfly skips along in front of me. And for the first time ever I notice that the flower heads of the yarrow are tiny daisies. Because that is the family they belong to. Gulls glide by on the strong breeze with deeply held anhedral wings. And the pigeons coo from the tree tops as they will go on doing until the West Cliff Green is washed into the ocean.

From 17th July 2022

After the heat of the day has declined and the gentle zephyrs that kept things cool have died away, the evening is still and sweetly tempered. Clouds of all sorts of grotesque colours and shapes writhe along the horizon and creep up overhead like powerful necromancer's sigils in purple, white and grey smoke. The murmur of picnickers is subdued as are the tiny waves on the beach. And, although all the green things are straw and brown coloured, the brambles are reaching out across the path and the gorse is putting on fresh prickly branches. There are still plenty of visitors on the beach as the shadows begin to stretch across the sand. Pigeons coo and gulls wheel on the still evening air. #bournemouth #westcliffgreen #july #summer

From 17th July 2021

The heat beats up from the tarmac on the path. Under a pure blue sky the sea is fringed with the bobbing shapes of swimmers and paddlers. Blacberries are turning from greent o pink but there are still masses of white flowers following on. Teasels have acquired a purple halo around the their spiky heads and mullein are stretching skyward and beginning to show their yellow flowers

From 17th July 2014

This year's baby seagull just taken its first header of the roof crashing through the branches of a tree sending leaves and foliage flying in the way that he didn't. Now standing in the car park bemused and befuddled with that gormless look of one whose tiny rooftop world has been turned upside down and can't quite decide what to do next.