Into the Woods

We have quite a lovely forest about a 5 minute drive from home.  A few times a week a group of us head into the woods for an evening walk, or a jog.  To breathe the fresh air, soak up a bit of nature and do our best to ignore the rubbish dumped around by thoughtless nit-wits.

This photo was taken in spring
when the greenery was just starting to sprout

The best part about the forest is that it is home to tortoises!  Before moving to Kosovo I had never seen a tortoise in the wild, let alone miles from water.

we came across this little fella on a recent walk

and managed to momentarily coax him out of his shell

But they are everywhere here.  You can hear them rustling through the dry leaves.  And mating wildly in the undergrowth.  I never would have believed it had I not seen and heard it myself.  I think the season is over now, and they have all waddled off to their respective corners for a breather.  But hopefully that means that there will be baby tortoises everywhere soon.  That would be awesome.