Wednesday 31 July 2013

Beware of the Botanist

On my trip to Pembrokeshire, we decided to take in a guided nature walk by the sea. We arrived a little early, and went down to the beach for a walk while we waited. Along the shore we saw loads of crabs and jellyfish all washed up on the shore. ‘This is going to be great’ I thought. ‘All this coastline and a guided walk; we’re bound to get some good views from the cliff tops’. So we met our guide and off we went around the corner…and stopped. For here, in the middle of the sand dune, was a plant. ‘A very nice plant, named because it only flowers at this angle, and the latin name is…’ Fifteen minutes later, we had walked the grand total of thirty yards, and got passed several bits of grass to smell at along the way. A great crow stared at us as we stared at the ground admiring a green stick coming out of the ground with a pink blob on the top. We climbed a hill to stare at bushes with a magnifying glass at the top (my first instinct was to see whose hat or neck could I burn). In all, it probably took us ninety minutes to walk a mile; all of which we could have discovered ourselves. So beware of the botanist.  

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