Bound to secrecy? Can’t beat it

trudged along the stony coastline. By the time I arrived – and I was well within the half-hour window – I was explicitly told they were leaving... I hadn’t particularly wanted to take photos –others have done that –but I did want to ask a few questions. Why, for instance, if the beating of the bounds is just symbolic of the old custom of ensuring all knew where the boundaries of each parish were, had they chosen the most remote and hard to get to boundary stone? There are many boundary stones on Portland. One is right by Portland Castle, surely a perfect place for all to be involved, not just the elite. Why, if this is a Christian celebration of Ascension, is it not open to all of the faithful? This type of exclusion is one of the many reasons I moved away from the Christian church.

By comparison Dorchester Beating of the Bounds was a joyful event open to all. It was the final jaunt of the Dorchester walks festival and by far my favourite day of the year. Families, dogs, musicians, mummers, mayors old and new joined to walk round the Roman walls. There was beating of drums for professionals and beating of saucepans for the robust, beating of aluminium flan containers for those whose spirit was willing but flesh was weak.

Callum Jenkins Teague and his team from the Dorchester Roman Tours wove the history of the Roman ceremonies of Terminalia and Ambarvalia into our Christian heritage with seamless dexterity. Roll on next year when we can do it all again.

Awe-inspiring sight of the Milky Way rising over

planetary observing, but early risers can view Saturn in the southeast in the pre-dawn sky. Jupiter will join in later in the month.

With the solstice nearly upon us, and the few hours of actual darkness only available to dedicated night owls, it may not the best time to be trying to write an astronomy column, but here goes…

Planets – it’s not the best time for

Venus and Mars will be setting around midnight, the former in its waning gibbous phase.

The Milky Way – something I try to do every summer is pay a visit to the Isle of Purbeck viewing area, above the village of Creech, to view the core of the Milky Way to the south. The area around the constellations of

Sagittarius, Scutum and Scorpius is awash with stunning nebulae and globular clusters, such as Messier 22 (just over the diameter of the full moon and home to around 500,000 stars), and Messier 4 (at an estimated age of over 12 billion years old, one of the oldest known globulars). Then there’s the Small Sagittarius Star Cloud, Messier 24, a bewildering view of countless stars seen through a gap in the stars, dust and gas surrounding the galactic core

Sally Cooke lives in Tolpuddle with her husband, two grown-up sons and spotty rescue dog. She loves to photograph and write about the everyday wildlife she sees in her garden and on her daily dog walks. You can follow Sally on Instagram at Sparrows in a Puddle.