Brutkey

Helen Clayton
@helenclayton@mas.to

Walker, nature lover, homebaker, bookworm, currently ‘between cats’, francophile, Remainer/Rejoiner, proud member of the wokerati.

Case officer for the Open Spaces Society, protecting public access to paths & open spaces. 

Views very much my own.
She/her.


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Head shot of me - a middle-aged white woman wearing a green tweed hat, grey scarf and a dark winter jacket, standing in front of a green and brown moorland hillside.
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Landscape photo of wild, wide open moorland under blue skies, a few puffs of white cloud. A path, bounded by granite marker stones, leading off into the distance.
Currently reading
A Woman in the Polar Night by Christiane Ritter
Just My Toots
https://justmytoots.com/@helenclayton@mas.to
Helen Clayton
@helenclayton@mas.to

Came over in the great Twitter migration of November 2022 and have felt at home here ever since. A bit about me…

My work is in protecting and championing public rights of way and access for all to enjoy. An unusual fork in the path from a background in environmental science. Still passionate about both.

I love walking - exploring ancient ways and losing myself in nature.

Mainly sharing photos and musings about all these subjects, with maybe some home-baking thrown in.

Helen Clayton
@helenclayton@mas.to

The gang here want to wish you all a happy #DyddDefaidodon 🐑🐑 🐑🐑 🐑🐑

#DefaidodonDay

Photo of a small flock of Llanwenog sheep in a field of grass. The sheep have white fleeces with black faces and legs. The fleece comes down over their foreheads. They are all (well mostly, one or two aren’t paying attention) at the camera as they hope the camera person (me) is carrying food (I’m not). The autumn sun is on its way down casting a warm glow over the field and sheep. It also catches the large trees on the far side of the field to the left, now mostly bare of leaf.
Helen Clayton
@helenclayton@mas.to

I was headed out early this morning and as I approached our village I saw what I thought was a flock of sheep loose in the road. Turned out to be a herd of goats. After much messing about they jumped over a hedge bank into a sheep field. I saw a lady walking her dog further on so let her know.

‘Oh they’re so-and-so’s. It’s the fourth time this week they’ve got out. They’re having the time of their lives!’.

🐐🐐

Photo of a white goat standing on top of a roadside hedge bank, next to a large oak tree. They are looking directly at the camera, defiantly. In the field behind but out of view are half a dozen or so more goats and a flock of sheep.
Helen Clayton
@helenclayton@mas.to

#SilentSunday

Photo with mauve-blue harebells in the left foreground on a grassy hillside. The land slopes down ahead and to the right before rising up to a rounded hilltop, the site of an Iron Age hillfort. The hill is flanked on the right by a dense woodland. Just showing on the far right is a strip of very flat arable fields, light brown in colour, and a band of pale grey-blue sea above that. The sky is a hazy paler grey-blue.
Helen Clayton
@helenclayton@mas.to

I was sitting outside enjoying the surprisingly warm, sunny evening and suddenly became aware that we were in the midst of Flying Ant Day 2. Also alert to this event was a spotted flycatcher, followed by bluetits, a young chiffchaff (the one I rescued from the greenhouse I think) and swallows. All swooping over the patio and field, catching luckless ants on the wing.

#birds

Photo of a spotted flycatcher perched on a thin leafless branch against a clear blue sky. They have in their beak a large flying ant. The flycatcher is a light brown bird with a pale, streaky breast.
Helen Clayton
@helenclayton@mas.to

#SilentSunday

Photo of the setting sun peeking from behind layers of cloud above the silhouette of a tree line. Golden sun beams radiate upwards illuminating clouds above. Towards the top of the frame is a thin sliver of blue sky.
Helen Clayton
@helenclayton@mas.to

Tonight’s full moon from my bedroom window.

#moon

Photo of a full moon low in the night sky above the silhouette of a line of trees. The lower half of the frame is black, fields in total darkness. On the right, in the foreground, is an oak tree also in silhouette. The sky is a mauve grey with bands of cloud which are pale in the glow of the moon but dark further up. Edit: And it’s not a creepy nun in the bottom right corner but a reflection in the window of a dressing gown hanging on the back of a door in the bedroom behind.
Helen Clayton
@helenclayton@mas.to

The lovely couple who give me eggs have had a poor year for courgettes and would be delighted to have any of my surplus. Hurrah!

Helen Clayton
@helenclayton@mas.to

Another winning courgette cake recipe from Riverford. Better than the chocolate one even.

Eleventy billion courgettes to go.

https://www.riverford.co.uk/recipes/courgette-lemon-drizzle-cake

#food

A photo of a loaf cake with the end sliced off. It’s golden brown on the outside, with a yellow sponge interior flecked with green. Courgette, thyme and lemon drizzle cake.
Helen Clayton
@helenclayton@mas.to

A big pop of colour in the veg patch random flower bed.

#BloomScrolling

Photo of a bright pink mallow wort flower - trumpet shaped with bright green sepals. Two flowers in stages of opening and blurred blue cornflowers in the background. Also some small pale pink (silene I think) flowers below.
Helen Clayton
@helenclayton@mas.to

Another mix I scattered includes purple viper’s bugloss which the bees are loving.

#BloomScrollingWithABee

A photo of the purple trumpet flowers of purple viper’s bugloss with a carder bee which is about to take off after a feed. A huge courgette plant leaf is reaching across from the left.