Fritham and an Adder

Friday 27th September 2013

Today's walk was a 5.7 mile circular walk from Fritham in the New Forest.  We found two geo-caches successfully, one of which was in the middle of nowhere and we were a bit dubious about finding it but to our surprise we went more or less straight to it.  We started off walking across the heathland where we came across a youngish female adder.  I don't think she was dead keen on having her photo taken because as soon as I had I taken this over exposed little number she disappeared into the heather.

A female adder.

Latchmore Brook with a few fallen leaves at the dam.

We stopped for a bite to eat at a very convenient wooden seat dedicated to Eric Ashby MBE, 1918 to 2003, naturalist, pioneer wildlife film maker and president of the New Forest Badger Group. 

A very comfortable chunky wooden seat carved with a badger and a fox, just right for ..........

dangling my feet off!

During our walk we came across a variety of fungi, here are some of the best.

I think this is an ink cap, but I have no idea what the previous two fungi are.  I have looked at fungi books before but identifying them seems a nightmare as there are many similar species.

Colourful ferns.

Autumn is Coming

Thursday 26th September

Autumn, as I said a few days ago is definitely on the way.  We had a swift two mile walk on Southampton Common this morning and the signs are there.

The oak tree leaves are turning and the acorns are dropping - luckily not on me!

Half way round the circuit of the common we stopped off to see the swans on the boating lake.  I wrote about this lovely family last on August 15th, less than a week later on a walk we noticed one of the cygnets was missing.  There were five cygnets when we first saw them back in June, there were still five in August which I was surprised about but now it seems there are only four. Today the family were still there, the adults and four cygnets on a lake that did seem very murky.

Leaves are beginning to fall and there is a real earthy smell of autumn.  This morning it was a bit misty too.

Anyway, dogs........... how many dogs did we see on the common in just over two miles taking forty minutes?  Forty...... forty dogs of different breeds, sizes and ages!!!!!  It has to be said that black labradors seemed to be the dogs to take out on a Thursday morning - lots of them about.

Almost back at the car we noticed this bit of a fairy ring.

Durley

Tuesday 24th September 2013

We walked just over three miles on a circular route around Durley this morning in an attempt to find fifteen geo-caches.  We failed to find the first two so were a little down hearted but things began to look up when we came out from under the trees and the GPS began working again - it doesn't like it under heavy leaf cover - the joys of modern technology!!  In the woods there was lots of badger evidence some of which was recent, I would think one badger had a good old spring clean in it's sett last night.

Badger sett.

We then walked on various footpaths over farmland and along little lanes and successfully found the remaining caches, most of which were in quite unusual containers which made a pleasant change.

The maize fields looked good, there are fields and fields still to be harvested.

More colourful berries in the hedgerows.

By midday we were all getting a bit hot under the collar in the hot September sunshine - but it made a change after the rain in Cornwall last week!   However, autumn is on it's way as here and there the leaves are just beginning to change colour.  We also came across a few parasol mushrooms in a field.  These mushrooms are found from July to October and they start off egg shaped when young and flatten out with age, these were massive. 

A parasol mushroom (with a hand to show just how big the mushroom is).

We had a lovely walk, saw plenty and found our 900th geo-cache - epic,

Go! Rhinos - Part 3 - Final Part

Saturday 21st September 2013

Today I managed to take photos of the last two remaining rhinos on the Go! Rhinos trail (see previous posts on 17th July and 1st August).  We drove to Marwell and on to the Holiday Inn in Winchester to find the final two.  The trail finishes tomorrow and it seems to have been a great success - apart from the mindless vandals that have to ruin things for everyone (some rhinos have had to be removed from the trail and housed in Go! Rhinos HQ in the Marlands due to damage and vandalism).  I have really enjoyed wandering about re-visiting places I haven't seen for years looking at the fabulously painted rhinos.  They have brightened and livened up the town centre that's for sure and looking back over the photos we did have some really good weather too.  

Ronnie at the Ageas Bowl (Hampshire Cricket Ground).

At Skandia House.

RhinOSeros - the OS rhino (with map symbols on it) at the Civic Centre.

Reveal - Civic Centre.

Erica an interactive 'cyber-rhino' in The Marlands.

Bunty was also in The Marlands.

Stylo-Rhino was relocated to Go! Rhinos HQ in the Marlands from Southampton Airport.

Seymour is here in Above Bar Street but was later relocated after vandals ripped his clothing and stole his hard hat and ear defenders. 

A quick trip to Marwell today.

And a visit to the courtyard at the Holiday Inn in Winchester, which doesn't look much from the outside but is lovely inside (we had to go through the hotel to get to the courtyard).

The Rhinos all return to Marwell Zoo from the 10 - 14 October apparently for a rhinotastic weekend!  Later in October the rhinos will be sold at a charity auction with proceeds going to Marwell's rhino and other conservation projects plus two local charities.  

Great stuff.

Harlyn Bay

Friday 20th September 2013

We had to vacate our holiday cottage by 10am today so we decided to make the most of the last day in Cornwall and have a final walk along the beach at Harlyn Bay.  What a lovely relaxing place.

Too cold for bare feet but ideal in wellies!

The rock pools were fascinating and colourful with lots of anemones on the rocks and little fish flitting about in the pools.  

Rock pooling.

Wellies may be good in the cold sea but they are not ideal for scrambling across rocks, it's more like ice skating!

There is a man made hole in the rock at the end of the beach, I have no idea what it's all about but it was worth looking at!

So ends another lovely week in Cornwall, it's not been the best weather but we've made the most of it and I can't wait to return.  

Little Petherick Creek & First to Find

Thursday 19th September 2013

After another wet and miserable start to the day this afternoon promised to be better so armed with that thought we went for a walk along Little Petherick Creek towards Padstow (we did part of this walk a few days ago) it was warm and sunny and very pleasant.  The tides on the creek have been very high and very low and the tide was well out when we spotted these egrets fishing - not great photos again I realise!

Egrets stealthing about on the edge of the river on the creek.

Honeysuckle flowers and berries.

The footpaths are beginning to look quite autumnal.

Looking towards Padstow with an obelisk on the hill top.  When the tide comes in the whole of this area fills, it's amazing the amount of water that moves about.

A very peaceful spot near the creek.

The reason for us walking back along the creek again today was that a new geo-cache was published a couple of days ago and as no-one had found it we decided to give it a go ourselves.  Luckily we found the cache and retrieved it fairly easily to find that we were the first to find it. We have found 889 caches over the past few years and have never been the first to find one so this was an achievement for us and I was very pleased - easily pleased obviously! It was well worth the effort of walking and sliding through mud and clambering over stiles (and believe me there were a few of these) to get to it.

Constantine Bay, Booby's Bay & Trevose Head Lighthouse

Wednesday 18th September 2013

We had a walk of about five miles today along Constantine Bay and Booby's Bay to Trevose Head Lighthouse and on to Mother Iveys Bay.  It was a fantastic day, clear and sunny but cold and windy.   At least today we could wrap up against the cold, but when it rained earlier in the week there was no escaping the wet and did we get wet, every bit of clothing needed changing when we got back to the cottage, very grim.  The sea has livened up quite a bit since last weekend and it's now ideal for surfers, a few of which were out today doing their thing.

Constantine Bay - absolute bliss.

A large deep pool left by the tide in between the rocks.

Booby's Bay

Trevose Head Lighthouse

Mother Iveys Bay looking towards the Padstow lifeboat station.

We were hoping to show our daughter a seal or seals in this bay as we saw one here earlier in the year but it was not meant to be today, no seals in evidence.  We then walked back across farmland to the coast and back along the beaches we visited this morning.  We sat and people watched as the tide came in and changed the look of the beach again.  

The tide is getting higher each day at the moment so the tidal creek at the back of our holiday cottage now has a lot more water in it at high tide and it looks amazing.

Truro, Chapel Porth and Watergate Bay

Tuesday 17th September 2013

It was forecast to be a miserable day so we decided to see a few of Cornwall's sights.  I haven't been to Truro before and I was very impressed, we mainly went to have a look round the cathedral which was very impressive.

Truro Cathedral.

And on the inside.

In the afternoon, the weather really did it's worst.  We went to have a look at Chapel Porth a small cove near St Agnes, now I'm sure this is a really lovely place on a calm dry day but today, oh my word!!  I tried to get out of the car in the car park and the door shut on me it was so windy, the combination of a very strong wind, rain and sea spray made for quite an experience! We did a fair bit of people watching and it was fascinating. Then we moved on along the coast to Newquay and on to Watergate Bay, neither of these looked very appealing in the grim weather conditions!  Newquay looked much nicer than I remember it but then it's probably been twenty years since my last drive through.

By the way it was only about 4 in the afternoon although in these photos it looks a lot darker and later.

Fistral Beach, Newquay.

Watergate Bay

Little Petherick to Padstow and Back

Monday 16th September 2013

We had an epic six mile walk today from our holiday cottage on the creek at Little Petherick to Padstow and back again.  It tried to rain a few times but luckily it came to nothing and we remained dry if not a little windswept.  We successfully found twelve geocaches on the circuit alongside Little Petherick Creek and had to give up on two. We walked through farmland, woodland and alongside the creek so it was a varied and different walk for us.  At one stage the footpath took us through a field with four horses in, one of which was a bit playful and seemed affected by the strong winds - a bit scary too, it was very large!  

There were loads of blackberries, these are yet to ripen but what a lot!

Looking towards Padstow from the Camel Trail.

The little white blobs in the trees are egrets, further up the creek there were about thirteen standing in a tree, it looked very odd!

In the evening we went in to Padstow for a wander around, all was quiet and calm in the inner harbour.

A very relaxing place.

Harlyn Bay - North Cornwall

Saturday 14th September 2013

We are back in North Cornwall again for the week.  Yesterday was very very wet and miserable but today was beautiful with blue sky and sunshine - bliss.  Having lounged about in the sunshine at the holiday cottage this morning, we headed off this afternoon for a picnic and walk at Harlyn Bay near Padstow.  We walked along the beach then up on to the south west coastal footpath where we tried to find a geocache that we were unable to find in April without success once again (despite our best efforts on the cliff edge!).  We did however successfully  find another cache later on in the afternoon. 

The sea was an amazing blue - probably something to do with the blue sky and sunshine - and very clean and clear.

Small cove at Harlyn Bay

Clean and very clear sea.

Rock samphire tucked away in the cliffs.

Hmmmmmmmmmm - nice!

We walked to the headland in the distance then back on to the beach where we had to try and beat the tide and get round some rocky bits - mission accomplished (luckily in epic wellies!)

We saw many different birds today, the highlight being a kingfisher on the creek at the back of our holiday cottage and kittiwakes diving into the sea at Harlyn Bay.  

We made the most of today as tomorrow is forecast to be wet and miserable all day, apparently the first real storm of autumn, we'll see!  I hope it's not too bad as there is a triathlon at Harlyn tomorrow.