Out on the Bicycle at Last

Yesterday was mild, today was milder still and downright pleasant out in the sun, of which there was a little from time to time. I didn't see any butterflies once again, and the two ladybirds I found in my ivy bush were still asleep.

Having pottered around town and the park in the morning, I then decided to take advantage of the lack of wind - for a change recently - and have a gentle bike ride around Farndon and Hawton just to get my legs back into the habit of riding further than my commute distance.

It was a nice little ride out, only about 15km or so, but it felt good to be doing "real" exercise for a change. The walking is nice, but doesn't get your heart pumping like getting going at a slightly higher clip does!

Speaking of which, my foot is enjoying my time off work, and feels like it might withstand a run, but I'm not going to try, for now.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 19.03.19

Three Walks and Glittering Waters

I have been outside for about 4 - 5 hours today, all told, seeking out what was there to be seen, and generally enjoying the rather better weather conditions on offer today.

Better weather yes, but still no sign of a fluttering brimstone or a singing chiff chaff. After the awful weather of last week, there were bees back out and feeding; as well as some honeybees I saw a fantastic buff tailed bumblebee queen out investigating possible nest sites in a sandbank by the new athletics track.

I think a single goosander on the Blue Lake, but we may well be reaching the end of the season for "exotic" visitors, but we shall see.

Enjoy the views!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 18.03.19

Newark's New Gaming Cafe

Today, the weather has managed to get worse again, with gales all day to go with heavy rain showers. I thus only had the one walk to the park today, before heading indoors, in town, to the Buttermarket.

I can just about remember the Buttermarket in its incarnation as a thriving indoor market; there was a sort of train set stall, if I remember right.

At some point in the 80s the market was closed and the building sold and renovated into an indoor shopping arcade on two levels. Trouble was the rents and rates were so high that nothing ever stayed open for long, the exception probably being Strays bookshop before that moved to its current location.

From then on, decline really set in, to the point when only about 3 of the premises were occupied.

Recently, the council bought the building back, and slashed the rents for 6 months to encourage pop up businesses and now virtually every unit is occupied with various little boutiques and craft shops.

Long term, how sustainable this will all be is all in the air, but here's hoping.

Anyway, the unit formerly occupied by Strays now has a little food quarter, in which the wonderfully named "Soup Dwagons" operate, among others. And at the back of this, is the gaming cafe.

Basically, it has hundreds of board games for you to play with your friends. I love boardgames, but given my lifestyle I don't really have anyone to play with. Luckily for the cafe, plenty of people do, and every table was occupied with folk playing games while I sat and had a cup of tea and read the magazines, in a delightfully geeky atmosphere.

The trick for me is to pluck up the courage to ask someone to show me how to play Carcassonne next time I go in.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 16.03.19

An Angry Wildflower Walk

Another two walk day, this time going along the cycle path past London Road pond; coltsfoot and flowering currant are now in bloom.

Was very upset and angry to come across two guys in their mid to late 20s shooting at pigeons and waterfowl with a catapult. I really wasn't in a position to confront them, especially the kind of people I thought they might have been. I've been checking, and rather shocked to see that shooting duck is not totally illegal but can be done outside of breeding season.

However what they were attempting to do was still illegal, it seems. Not to mention cruel. Nothing will be done if I report it, and too many of the locals here think this is acceptable behaviour.

Grrrrrr.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 15.03.19

Industrial Rainbow

Sorry that my posts seem to be running a day behind my activities, I've been taking an awful lot of photographs of various themes. Hopefully I'm catching up now.

I was so engrossed in writing about swans yesterday, I forgot to report to  you that I saw my first house martin of spring yesterday, flying over the roadworks and under the blue sky rainbow that appeared briefly in a rain shower that came down from a ghost of a cloud in glittering sprinkles.

Very early to see a house martin! Normally the sand martins arrive first but when I walked down to the river to see if there were any about, no sandies!

Still haven't heard a chiff chaff yet though.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 14.03.19

Swans in Love

So, today was as wild as I was expecting today, with me nearly being blown over while walking along  the exposed part of Sconce Park. After seeing photos online of a huge tree blown over there, I avoided walking in the cemetery for death related reasons, and concentrated on the other parks and gardens in town.

The River Devon was flooded and choppy, but a pair of swans were serene, not even fanning their wings - or busking - as I approached. They came over, waited for treats that I didn't have to give them, and one of them did a bit of a sort of neck stretch to the other.

Were they a devoted Cob and Pen, deeply in love with each other? Irritatingly they didn't do that heart shaped photo opp thing with their necks, so I couldn't tell.

Perhaps they weren't in love at all, and the neck stretching was a prelude to some sort of gizzard ripping act of violence.

Who knows?

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 13.03.19

The Storm Gathers

Today has been generally filthy all day, and although I got out walking for a couple of  hours for a cafe trip to the park, it wasn't a photography kind of day. It was more a day for hiding in Rumbles with a cup of tea alongside three drenched joggers and an architecture student who sat their drawing on top of photographs of some building or other.

Presumably not our Robin Hood hotel, which has been allowed to decay for 20 years now, with the Corn Exchange in the same case for 10 years. At least the Buttermarket has had a bit of an injection of life of which more later this week.

So today's pictures are actually from yesterday's second walk, where I found mandarin duck on the blue lake again, and many flowers round and about.

I hope you like them.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 12.03.19