December Walks

December has so far been a mild, damp and windy month with just one day of cold dry weather. We haven't been out and about that much because of the weather and being busy in the run up to Christmas. We have managed a couple of local walks though, so firstly I will show you photos from our first walk, somewhere that I think regular readers of my blog will recognise, yes it is our favourite walking location in the village of St. Mary Bourne. Not surprisingly because of all the wet weather we have been experiencing it was quite muddy in places so we mainly chose to walk on the built up paths and roads this time around.

We have walked along this path many times this year.

The view across this field has changed so much throughout the year as the crop cycle takes place

This path was very boggy today

Mud, glorious mud!

No idea how this tree manages to remain upright given the exposed roots!

Butlers Farm, such a beautiful house.

The river bed is still dry, it won't be too long before the springs come up again.

You don't see too many of these staddle stone barns these days

Wonder how long before the river is flowing along this dry river bed again?

Love these boxing hares!

The old chapel has seen better days, remember going in there with a friend to Sunday School one time when I was staying at my Granny & Grandad's when I was young.

A fairly new bridge but otherwise a familiar view, I used to look out of my Aunt's and Uncle's farmhouse window and look across the river to the house on the hill.

They are proposing to build on this field soon so took a view to remember it as it has always been!

We also enjoyed a late afternoon visit to Rooksbury Mill, a local nature reserve. We first discovered this place almost a year ago and it is good to watch the scenery change throughout the year. The light was perfect for photography and the water was very still leading to lovely reflections in the water. We spent quite a lot of time watching the water vole who was busy gnawing through the weed and swimming with it upstream, whether to stash away for eating later or to line his nest I am not sure, but while we were watching he made three trips, each time dragging quite a large piece of water weed with him.

I am looking forward to putting some collages together at the end of the year that will hopefully show the changes to familiar landscapes throughout the seasons. Until next time ...