All Hallows' Eve . . .

. . . and it's unseasonably warm.  With the car thermometer reading 19 and even 20 degrees, I had no need of a coat when I did the regular Friday shopping trip this morning.  Neither did I wear a coat this afternoon when Fern and I walked over the Downs.  Imagine that - walking the hills in shirtsleeves - and on the last day of October!  It actually felt almost spring-like; indeed, this picture looks as though it could have been taken in spring but it was this afternoon.

After about half a mile, one can look down into a valley where there is a small copse - but quite what takes place in the clearing there is a puzzlement to me.

It was about here that I am convinced I caught the sound of a distant skylark.  It was a calm afternoon so sound carried considerable distances and I only caught snatches of his song; he was too far distant for me to see him.  But a skylark singing in October?  Perhaps it really is spring!

The old wooden fence posts beside this gate attracted me.