First Snow of the Season

 The quiet green and brown months of late autumn, where little flies, grows or blooms, have been disturbed by quite the heavy snowfall up here. 

It's a long time since we've had snow this heavy at all here, let alone in November. It feel for several hours until about 1am, by which time we had about 10cm on snow on the ground, filling my planters and covering my poor old Decathlon bike that lives outside.

In the morning, one look outside told me that cycling to work was not going to be a great idea, as it turned out, walking through heavy, slippery slush was no fun either and took me over an hour to get to work. 

It is now clear off the roads and paths, apart from a bridge section that looks like it will be no fun after a sub zero night. 

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 19.11.24

Snowscapes

 After the freezing weather of the last fortnight, my hands have only now sufficiently warmed up enough for me to type again.

We had two days of snow, one more or less continuous and a day in which I had to cycle to work in blizzard conditions, which was every bit as much fun as it sounds. Thankfully, unlike the big freeze of 2010, I never had hard ice to contend with, just the inability to see as my eyes were filled with the driving snow as I rode in.

It didn't create particularly attractive snowscapes to look at, but it did make the meadow pipits easier to see.

They merge perfectly into the long grass at work!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 13.03.23

Englishman Posts Obligatory Photographs of a Micron of Snow

 Actually, I must confess I was a little surprised by how long it managed to snow today, pretty much from 9am till 6pm although the heaviest stuff was over by 1pm. 

Of course, these days snow isn't a massively common sight in the UK, so in common with everyone else, I had to go out and take a few photographs before my hands turned purple and fell off. I'm very glad I didn't ride in today, or else I would have had a rather unpleasant ride home. 

I worry that tonight we will have a hard frost so all the pavements are like glass. I might have to wear my Wintertrax things on my shoes to avoid damage.

As you may notice from one photo, our work campus looks like the sort of Siberian Tundra where they dig up frozen baby mammoths.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 14.01.21

We had Snow

 Yesterday saw me riding into a work in torrential rain, carrying a bag of gifts for  our Salvation Army toy collection, and wondering where the heck the day was going to go.

It soon signalled its attention, when out of the battleship grey cloud cover, the rain began to solidify and it started sleeting just as I was removing my various wet weather clothes in my office.

Not long after that, it was properly snowing, the first time I've seen snow in December for a few years. This alarms me greatly, for a long freezing winter of riding my bike to work is a whole world of no fun, believe me. It means agonised hands no matter how thick my gloves, and nervous riding on slippery roads and paths populated with bad drivers and oblivious pedestrians.

What it also seems to mean, are my workplace calling fire drills in the middle of a blizzard. I was lucky enough to be able to grab my hat and waterproof jacket before heading outside; others were less fortunate and there were some severely frozen looking people shivering under a cap of snow in shirtsleeves. 

Of course, some folk had to revert to childhood and scrape snow off the roof of cars to throw snowballs at each other. 

I was panicking, because it got really sludgy after the snow eased to sleet again and I was thinking it was going to be hell to ride home in. Later on I walked across campus to see how the paths were, in my usual ginger rubbish balance way, and I was  like "Oh, bloody great."

On the grasslands, the crows cackled at my anxiety, vividly black against the white.

Gulls circled in the murk above, looking for leftover dinners probably. 

As it happened, I got home safe, and dry, as the slush melted and I took things very easily. But it was a warning of what might be to come. 

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 05.12.20

And then came the Snow

I have to say, after a bright but very cold start to the day with barely a cloud in the sky, I wasn't expecting to open my door after lunch (and a nap) to find fat, wet flakes of snow coming down from the sky like a fall of cotton wool.

I didn't recall seeing that in any forecast.

Considering it no excuse not to go out, rather an opportunity, I decided to take a 90 minute urban walk rather than the stroll to Winthorpe Lake I had planned, figuring it too boggy next to the river to make for a pleasant outing.

Besides, the snow would make for some decent photo opps, and of course, I did capture a snowdrop in the snow, which I knew was doomed to never properly settle.

I was interested to note a sort of quantum effect on the blue lake today. Either I saw the same mandarin drake in two totally different places on the water, or a second mandarin drake has come to join the aquatic party here. I have no way of knowing for certain, but I wish it was the latter.

There were other birds of interest; a goosander which was hard to see when the snow was at its heaviest, and a kingfisher whose flash of neon blue stood out easily against the white and grey.

It has been very cold out, and since returning I've just sat in the warm, halogen heater blazing, and watching Vampire role playing games.

As one does.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 10.02.20

More Snow Stuff

I admit I was driven off the bike on Thursday - the blizzard and beyond glacial wind was too much for me and I just ended up walking it. Took me miles over an hour, made me very late and I was still frozen half to death at the end of it, with my face feeling frostbitten.

Today, less snow, but still a freezing wind and a bit of ice about.

I have had enough

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCRackeredNature 02.03.18

Obligatory Snow Shots

Knowing that it was going to set hard and freeze for my cycling commutes later in the week, I was rather looking forward to there being a bit of snow today to go walking in and get some shots.

However, when I looked out the window at 9am, I was disappointed - it looked like the promised snow had already gone through and been replaced by heavy rain. By 11am, the forecast snow did manage to appear, and it snowed quite heavily here for about 90 minutes, enough to settle but not enough to survive the rain that came afterwards.

I figured the park might be a good place to visit, as it isn't too far away and I didn't want to be struggling to walk on any icy stuff; I nearly went over three or four times on black ice last night. Even as it was I found it quite awkward going, and sort of baby giraffed my way down to the sconce.

As ever, I was hoping to see redpolls on the alder trees by the River Devon; as ever I didn't. But just up the slope from the bank, those naughty redwing were prowling again as they have seemingly cleaned out every berry laden tree in town and now need to ground feed, except of course when they see me and head for the branches again. At the same time and in the same trees, a noisy flock of long tailed tits moved through. Two of the most lovely sights of winter, there.

As ever when there is even a nano-metre of snow, the sledges appear, and the park was full of kids having a go. One child was even going down the steep slopes of the sconce on what looked like a neon green dustbin lid. Other children were more conventional on that inevitable form of snowy transport - the Asda plastic sledge.

It snows so little these days, that the Asda sledge should be described as a single use plastic, and banned.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 21.01.18

It's Winter Cliche Time!

So yes, when I awoke today I could look out the window and see the snow on the roof tops, see the small flakes like spindrift falling out of the sky. It wasn't a heavy fall with big fat flakes, but it had settled.

Good. It wasn't a work day, and it gave me a chance to try out my new Karrimors (weatherproof, supposedly) and take some nice winter shots, same as everyone else does. I was out for 3 hours in the end and enjoyed every second of it - apparently when some kids of a certain background came into Rumbles cafe and behaved like animals - and got some nice shots.

There were my first winter thrushes too - a few redwing berry hunting along the cycle path - as well as a happily chubby female bullfinch, drawing attention to herself with a burlesque flash of white rump. Mixed flocks of tits tweeped through the bare trees, and that pink footed goose was still by the blue lake. My Karrimor's behaved well, had been worried after a bit of pinching on the top of my foot, and they are certainly warm.

The snow kept pricking down, on the revellers at the Christmas Market being sold overpriced hog roast or wood fired pizza. I ate and slept all afternoon.

It was a nice day.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 10.12.17