Moor Beck, Bealey's Lane, Lockington, East Yorkshire.

22nd March 2021

Exploring the area around Lockington can be fascinating. 

 

Here, I find myself in a quiet lane. 

Chaffinches flit through the, still bare hedges as gulls sail overhead, effortlessly tacking. At the foot of the hedge, clusters of primrose shout 'look at me and smile' and I feel gladdened that nature is so reliable, so uplifting, so optimistic. Standing there all is quiet, then I hear a gentle rasping a little like the sound of someone sawing wood, and though I cannot see them, I realise there must be partridge nearby. (Link here, to typical sound)

A farmer drives up in his Swedish estate car. He walks over to a five bar gate 'PRIVATE KEEP OUT', then leaning on it, begins looking at a field of dead grass, saying that last year it was linseed. What a beautiful sight it must have been, a sea of blue. Though beautiful, linseed can be problematic to clear as I later find out. He went on to say, that, this year it will be spring barley...or was it spring wheat..hmmnn ... I must pay more attention... 

The lane leads to a deep fast flowing stream, Moor Beck, crossed by a footbridge, a little more than a plank, by doing so the walk can be extended to create a circular route. Whilst painting, with George at my feet, lying down on my discarded coat, someone was training a gun dog in a field across the stream. It was lovely to see, the dog sitting obediently before being released to gather a training weight, but it was more interesting so to see how it responded to the gentle methods being used. No shouting, just calm quiet instructions, all the time with the dog eagerly wagging it's tail, wanting to do a good job. They finished and boarded the Landrover, a Discovery model, and headed towards the deep stream. I stopped, interested to see how deep it needed to go. It went in slowly, carefully, the water reached the top of the front bumper 

( fender ). It would have been too deep for me to try. After it emerged I chatted to the driver who smiled, leaned over and said he had gone through when it was much higher,  touching the door-side indicating a spot just below window level.

People walked the lane, stopped, all at a safe distance in these Covid times and  chatted about this, and that, before moving on.

 Stephen Marshall 

William and Holly were out for a walk with S from Bainton. George was happy to be let off his lead and socialise with them before we all walked back to the car. I was given some intelligence about an area close by, which may be a subject for painting. I went on to explore the area, and certainly it proved very picturesque, so thanks if you are reading this.

 

As a teacher, now retired, but of course ...am always a teacher,  and when teaching I thought of the students as my children,  and that their pastoral care will always be a concern for me, even after they all left school. Today I met an old student SM, and we talked in that vein. It was an absolute pleasure to listen to him proudly explaining how well he was doing, about his son and indeed, how we had a mutual acquaintance ( at BGH ). SM was today acting as a contractor about to work some land for a local farm. I left him to his work and he set off in an enormous tractor and rig.

Plein air oil painting, oil on canvas board, 12x10 supplied in plain white frame, POA,   details here .