A gentle nature ramble in Stowupland

It is an awfully long way from London to Mid Suffolk in terms of campaigning experience, and on a glorious spring day of the kind we have been experiencing this week, I really do experience rural campaigning in all of its glory.

Ambling around the ward, environmentally friendly bag full of leaflets in one hand, I am accompanied by the sound of birdsong, including something I had never noticed in the city, collared doves. They're much prettier than pigeons, and they make a warm cooing sound.

But that isn't all, so far I've spotted rabbits within ten feet of me, quail and enough mallards to feed an army. A heron flew lazily overhead as I walked up Mill Street, much to my surprise. There are pheasants in the fields that surround both of the villages in the ward, and the odd deer lurks on the edges of woodland.

Of course, there is the distraction of leafletting...