Watertown

 I've had an active weekend, lots of pics I'll show you over the next few days.

This is despite the fact that some of my normal walking routes have been blocked off by the flooding from the Rivers Trent and Devon. They went high with snow melt from the Derbyshire hills initially, and then the heavy rains of the end of last week sent them well over the banks.

Riverside Park opposite the castle was flooded, most of the land beyond Mill Lane bridge is a lake, and finally our poor cricket ground finds itself completely underwater again. 

I really hope that the water clears quickly and the new grass we had after last years flood isn't destroyed. 

It's been a horrible week. More virulent and deadlier strains of covid got me down rather; it all felt endless again. 

Just got to hang on in.

Si

More Friary Gardens Aconite

 Yesterday, ended up doing my "Two Lakes" walk backwards, having to negotiate rather a lot of folk on the cycle path who did not seem to be from the same household, gossiping away in groups of five or six. 

This meant a lot of "mask up, mask down" fiddling as I pottled along, watched by a lot of robins and dunnock in the hedgerows. Wrens too, hard to see in the twilight. 

The Friary Gardens aconites are growing well, little yellow spots of colour among the fallen leaves. They are nowhere near their full display yet though.

Spotted one drake goosander on the Blue Lake, accompanied by a harem of 6 ducks. The drake was restless, and kept taking off and landing again, before finally leaving the lake after about 15 minutes. Lots of tufted duck, as ever looking like immaculately painted models. 

I hope you are all keeping well and safe, and able to get outside. 

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 18.01.21

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

Powering Through with a Pictorial

 Hello

I managed to get out three times  over the weekend, and feel all the better for it although my Christmas sized stomach disagrees with me somewhat in this regard. 

These are such awful times, I'm glad to be able to spend time outside, albeit alone as I have spent the last ten months. I wear a snoody neck tube type thing I pull up over my face whenever I pass anyone on the path; I try and give myself ten feet of space between myself and anyone else when out and about, and alone in my office I try and avoid the other few thousand employees as much as I can by not leaving it.

I hope you are all staying as safe as you can! Enjoy these pictures of emergence, of subtle colour rather than harsh saturation, and of ice in the river reflecting the sun in a hopeless struggle to avoid destruction.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 12.01.20

A Week of Frozen Hands

 Returning from the Christmas break has been absolutely brutal this week, because it's been below zero every morning and also I've been suffering from lockdown blues that have made it very hard to get moving in the morning.

One morning in particular was savagely cold, and initially I couldn't get my hands to grip the bars and brakes of my bike properly. Yes, the return of Raynaud's Rides, where my hands get agonised and turn purple.

I suppose however, that when you get concrete hard frosts, then you do get some very pretty photo opportunities.

I just wish it wasn't so painful to get them.

Si

All texts and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 09.01.21

The Kingfisher and the Goosander

 A couple of days ago was a sacred day for me, which goes to show what the standard of days have been for me - and I suspect most of us - as of late.

I managed to get my first ever kingfisher photographs, and got my first clear shots of drake goosander.

The kingfisher came first on my walk through Sconce Park along the Devon. I'm quite used to seeing kingfishers around town now, but normally as a blue blur with a neon streak down its back as it they fly somewhat like a hummingbird from where on the bank I've flushed them out. 

But this time, the kingfisher was sat on a fence post on the opposite side of the river, where I got one shot, before it flitted across first to some wire on the other side of a flooded patch where cattle often drink from. I got a shot here, then it just dropped into the water and caught a small fish, maybe a stickleback or minnow, that it ate on another fencepost. 

I admit the pictures are pretty dreadful, not even good enough to be called record shots, but best I could do at a distance. To see one catch a fish for the first time was pretty exciting, I must say.

The day wasn't done with me yet, as I extended my walk right through the cemetery to the Balderton Blue Lake. Here, on the lagoon where the giant carp mock anglers in the one part of the lake they aren't allowed to fish in, 2 drake and 6 duck goosander had gotten incredibly brave and come right up to the edge.

I was able to approach behind some plantlife, and managed to start taking photographs before they spooked and took off like torpedoes. They move so fast they can blur the shot, but I'm happy I got a couple of good ones. 

Looking forward to a good weekend of walking. I hope. 

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 06.01.21

The Last Walk of 2020

 You are having a post about my walk yesterday, as I got too caught up in NYE stuff to write it on time, and today I've done not a sausage other than lol about on the sofa.

I've not been to the cricket club in a while, and found that once again it has mutated into a golf course since the season ended. As I half expected to find it underwater again however, this was a relief. The grass underneath my feet was delightfully crispy and crunchy due to the frost, and eerie mist gathered at one end of the ground, rising off the drainage ditch. 

The river is part frozen, and the swans were finding it hard to make much headway. More aconite is in flower. Sp pretty, so evanescent.

So that is that wretched year over; I honestly doubt the first few months of 2021 will be much better.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 01.01.21