The Wolds near South Dalton.

A view across the low Wolds near Holme on the Wolds. Oil on canvas 12x10 inch

I pulled off the road near Holme on the Wolds
a beautiful,
sunny,
still,
February day.

When I got back home I found out that it had been,
the hottest February day since records began,
amazing.
Here,
on the edge of the Wolds,
the low rolling Wolds,
huge fields are
separated by well trimmed hedges,
of hawthorn and elderberry describing the rolling land.

In the distance, to my left, a couple of tractors till the land disturbing a flock of white gulls, they defy gravity creating a huge white cloud, then, wheeling round to disappear into the sky and reappearing just as quickly before settling down again. The tractor, a huge green machine was busy creating chocolate dark ribbon strips of mechanized soil.
Suddenly, the droning noise of an RAF trainer, it disturbs the peace before disappearing over the distant horizon. As I’m walking past a hedge, a couple of pheasants cark and, on drumming wings, fly away .
George sits quietly in the car, the tailgate is raised and I have placed some bedding on the grass for him. When I finish I will take him for a walk.  I am painting using a French easel with a 12 x 10 canvas using oil paint.
It’s so good to be out painting in February.
In the distance, I see two shapes, and I ponder what they are, perhaps female pheasants?
They move, and I realize, they are hares. 

The absence of wildflowers in the roadside verges is a sign that we are just emerging from winter. In fact I could not see any flowers at first just lots of seedheads on plants still standing having survived winter. As I continue to walk George I do spot some speedwell, in the distance I can also see a daisy.  I see more speedwell but no celandines or bluebells yet, though elsewhere, in more sheltered locations they are beginning to emerge.
The season is full of hope, and in this part of the world, very busy farmers.