I went walking in Barrm Birrm on a Sunday in April, light showers and sunshine, the rains now definitely here and the colder weather too, but still the blush of autumn warmth beneath the trees and out of the wind.

It was good weather to get wander the hillside, letting my feet find their way, heading up into Barrm Birrm and picking up to a roo track I don't usually follow. I travelled a long way sideways, across the slope, the sun warm and the ground damp underfoot. Wondering where the roo track would take me next.

Coming back by a familiar route, I thought to myself: "It's a Poohsticks kind of morning." That's to say, it's a morning good for nothing more demanding than dropping a stick in the current on this side of the bridge and waiting for it to reappear on the other side of the bridge.

The House at Pooh Corner. Chapter VI, In which Pooh Invents a New Game and Eeyore Joins In. Pooh shares his new game with Piglet and Roo and Rabbit, who immediately make it competitive, which is in their natures, but I like to think that Pooh wasn’t some interested in the competition and stayed true to the curiosity that led him to discover the game:

“That’s funny,” said Pooh. “I dropped it on the other side,” said Pooh, “and it came out on this side!”

“I wonder if it would do it again?”

In Barrm Birrm the season's growth is everywhere - new foliage at the tips of plants and flower buds set ready for springtime. The current is moving things along, surprising me again with what it brings. I hadn’t noticed till this walk how the new growth comes in autumn. All these years, and still there are surprises.

In a recent post in our blog I looked ahead to the next 20 years of Landcare's work in Barrm Birrm, but a friend of mine thought I had undersold the pleasures to be had.

She's right! There will be many morning rambles like this, Poohsticks mornings, mornings to look for what the current brings, the bright green flare of new growth, flowers forming, then seed set and the fall to summer's heat again.

Ross Colliver, Riddells Creek Landcare