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 ...

Out and About

Sorry, I have been missing from Blogland for a couple of weeks. We have been out and about but life has been busy and I haven't had much time for either writing my blog or reading blogs. I will endeavour to catch up this week although I am working three days this week so time might just run away with me again.


So what have we been up to?


We made a quick afternoon walk to Anton Lakes one very hot sticky afternoon. Here are a few photos that I took on that day.

We have also made a couple of evening visits to Rooksbury Mill, this seems to be a good time to see water voles and patience certainly paid off as we spotted one in the long grass at the side of the river and waited around on the bridge until he eventually came out and showed himself properly. I am really pleased with these photos.

The evening light was perfect for photography.

Time for walking has been in short supply over the last fortnight but we did fit in a morning walk in a location that must have become familiar to you recently. Yes, we were in St. Mary Bourne again on a lovely sunny day.

How about this field full of ox-eye daisies, simply stunning. The photos don't show its true beauty.

The lake was looking as tranquil as ever on this hot sunny day ...

and the roses growing over the thatched cottage walls were at their very best ...

as was this beauty growing in this garden.

This weekend was our usual monthly craft get-together at my friend Colly's house in Long Eaton. We decided to take an extra night in a hotel and go to Brandon Marsh Nature Reserve (just outside Coventry) on the Friday. It was here five years ago that I took this photograph of a dragonfly which I am really proud of. We have been wanting to return ever since. 

This time we didn't see many dragonflies but what a brilliant day we had. The highlight was seeing a kingfisher for more than a usual brief second and be able to photograph it. A longer lens would have been great but I am more than pleased with what I achieved. Here are a selection of photos that I took at this brilliant location.

We reluctantly left Brandon mid-afternoon as we had to make our way to our hotel near Derby in time to check in and shower and change before making our way to the Dog and Duck in Shardlow where we met up with some dear friends and their grandson for a lovely meal before returning to their house for coffee. A perfect end to a great day.


On Saturday I met up with more friends at Long Eaton for our crafty get-together and spent a happy day crocheting and nattering while DH visited a local nature reserve at Attenborough for yet more wildlife photography.


We made a quick visit to Dunelm Mill before leaving Derby this morning as I needed a cushion pad for a new cushion I have crocheted and we treated ourselves to a new duvet set before heading for the M1 to drive back down south. On arriving home we spotted this moth on a cyclamen leaf, we have since discovered it is a scarlet tiger moth. 

It somehow seemed a fitting end to a weekend filled with spotting and photographing all kinds of wildlife.