A cold, wet, wild, miserable February afternoon! Perfect for writing up the Blog, and so different from yesterday when we had a sunny, blue sky day.
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| Sunday morning - everything looking sunny and freshly washed |
Listening to the weather forecast all week, I had pencilled in Sunday afternoon for a recording visit to the Reserve. In fact, I found myself there at 9.15 in the morning having been alerted to the fact that the inlet pipe which feeds the streams, the reed bed and the pond was blocked with debris from the overnight Friday storm. Fortunately, we have a contingency ditch for just such a situation which carried the torrent coming down from the hills round the boundaries and back into its original course. My husband was able to unblock the pipe without too much difficulty, retrieving a plastic bag in the process, and with a bit of a whoosh soon everything was back to normal again.
It had been a frosty night; shady areas still had filigree edges to the vegetation and the bridge handrails both sparkled and steamed in the sunshine. Have you noticed how the sun suddenly has some warmth again? Also striking was the birdsong, the chorus being led by a Song Thrush sitting atop an Alder in the Willow Walk. I could only stay half an hour, but jotted down the following and prayed the sunshine would last until my return later in the day.
SC209694 ( Gorse boundary) Blackbird
SC209694 ( Pond) 2 x Mallard
SC208694 ( Willow Walk) Song Thrush; 2 x Great Tit; Chaffinch; Robin and Blackbird heard but not seen.
SC208694 ( Boardwalk) Robin; Great Tit.
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| Frost on the hand rail |
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| Frosty foliage |
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A rare photo of the Blogger, reflected in stream.
Note green wellie on left! |
Alas, I have run out of time for more but an account of my afternoon visit will follow shortly........
