Rook with the Overgrown Beak - Back Again

Monday 31st March 2014

Last year on the 22nd March I posted a photo of a rook with an overgrown beak that had been visiting our garden on and off.  Today that rook was back, I don't think we have seen it since this time last year, and it seems to be doing ok.  It managed to pick up bits of food quite well despite the length of it's beak which doesn't seem much longer and it was good to see it's still around.  

That's it for today, just a quick note really.

A Quick Walk

Saturday 29th March 2014

Some days I just can't be bothered and today was one of those days - however we made the effort and had a quick two mile walk at Stoney Cross.  There was plenty of activity there today, at Janesmooor Pond, two coaches were dropping off loads of young people who went off walking in groups, equipped with large rucksacks, new walking boots and sleeping rolls - good luck with that one!  A bit further on there was some sort of equestrian event happening, there were lots of horse  boxes and horse riders about, but I have no idea what they were doing.

It was cool in the wind on the open ground but out of the wind it was warm enough to take our coats off.

This area will soon be invaded by campers as the camp site opposite (Ocknell) opens soon, summer's coming!

It's beginning to dry out and it looks less muddy, although a bit further along this track it was very wet and muddy, so much so that we had to turn back.

We didn't see any deer today which is unusual for this area but then there was a lot going on and people all over the place so I don't blame them for staying hidden.  

Town Quay, Southampton

Wednesday 26th March 2014

We had a quick trip to the Town Quay in Southampton this afternoon to look for a geocache that we have tried and failed to find in the past.  This time we found the cache easily probably because the building work on the end had finished and we could get to where we needed to be. 

The hydrofoil arrived from the Isle of Wight, the Town Quay is in the background.

A black headed gull keeping an eye on us.

The remains of the old pier.

Danebury

Monday 24th March 2014

We had two walks yesterday, the first near Danebury was mainly downhill to the village of Longstock where we successfully found a church micro (geocache).  Although the cache was hidden in a quiet small country lane we got a few odd looks from a man digging in his allotment opposite as we searched under an ivy covered fence for the small container.  Whilst searching, a delivery van slowly went by and came back again looking for an address then as if that wasn't enough a skip lorry passed - they were probably the only things to go along this no through lane all day and it meant using our best stealth skills - luckily we've had a lot of practice!

Violets

Glory of the Snow.

At the car park there is a large mound of soil that must have been dumped ages ago and growing all over it were violets, primroses and  little blue flowers that took us a while to identify. We searched through wild flower books and found nothing then Mr C in a light bulb moment realised it may not be a wild flower at all, in fact it's not it's called Glory of the Snow which is a garden plant, a spring flowering bulb.  It was a very pretty plant, something I'd quite like in the garden at some stage.

Along Church Lane towards Longstock.

Masses of primroses in the churchyard.

St Mary's Church, Longstock.

Another view on the way back, a tractor was crop spraying in a field on the left, and it smelt awful, so it looks lovely but just imagine a bad smell and you're there!

It was back to the cold wind today, so I was well rugged up in scarf and gloves again.

After a  bit of lunch we drove a mile or so up the road to Danebury hill where there is an Iron Age Hill Fort. The fort is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Site of Special Scientific Interest, it was constructed on the summit of the hill 2500 years ago and occupied for 400 years by a tribe of at least 300 people.  There were quite a few dog walkers about yesterday but luckily there was no sign of an Iron Age Tribe!!!!  However there are Exmoor ponies and Manx Loaghtan sheep, which are old breeds similar to those that would have been on the site many years ago.  The sheep were fantastic, I wasn't too keen on the horns though and one looked at us particularly menacingly - or so I thought.

The view from the trig point.

There are many exposed tree roots around the bottom of the fort, weird looking?

Manx Loaghtans.

Without the set of double horns, this sheep doesn't look quite so menacing.

Exmoor ponies are Britain's oldest breed and is thought to be little changed from the original ponies that colonised Britain thousands of years ago.

On the hill fort.

We have seen this before, a beech tree with lots of hibernating snails in all of it's nooks and crannies.

We easily found the second geocache of the day and in total walked just under 5 miles, a good day.

Hiltingbury Lakes

Monday 17th March 2014

Here are a few photos from today's wander around Hiltingbury and the Lakes. 

The sun over the last week seems to have brought on the blossom and flowers, it's good to see a bit of colour at last.

Hiltingbury Lakes, where it was good to see signs of spring.

One of our favourite ducks.

Another view of the lake from the opposite end.

Stoney Cross

Sunday 16th March 2014

We had a walk today of just under four miles at Stoney Cross in the New Forest.  It was a bright sunny morning and it was warm enough to walk without a coat or jumper, positively tropical.  We walked firstly through the woods and soon spotted about five or six fallow deer, unfortunately they saw us too and they were off in the opposite direction at high speed.  It got us thinking as to why the deer are so nervous and worried by people, you would think they were used to them to a certain extent, but obviously not.  

We haven't had rain for over a week and the ground is actually beginning to very slowly dry out.

We walked for a while, parallel to the very noisy and busy A31, then turned back across the heath.  We came across more fallow deer, four beautiful stags, which took off as soon as they saw us.  A few minutes later we saw them again and so it went on, they would run and stop then we would catch up so off they would go again.

Fallow deer.

Out on the open heath land there were plenty of New Forest ponies, which according to the news recently are now a rare breed, well, there were plenty of rare breeds about this morning,

and they were quite vocal, once one started it got them all going!

Tatchbury near Totton & 1000th Geocache

Friday 14th March 2014

We walked 4.5 miles today, starting out in the mist and cooler temperatures and ending in sunshine, blue sky and a pleasant warmer temperature.  

At this spot we spent far too much time looking for a geocache, it was meant to be our 1000th find but could we find it - no we couldn't, we had to put this one down as another 'did not find'. It would have been a lovely spot for number 1000, instead we had to go on a bit further to achieve this milestone.  This was the spot .............

1000th geocache

The view up the hill from the cache.

More mud and water on the footpaths, it's a good job we are still wearing wellies.

This seed head (cow parsley or hog weed?) was all on it's own at the edge of a field, just asking to be photographed and just look at the blue sky - epic!

Signing the log of another geocache, found up a fallen tree.

The mist cleared and out came the sun.

There were daffodils out all over the place today, many in out of the way strange places, but all looking very bright and cheerful.

Shortly after this we walked along a lane for a while that passed Tatchbury Manor which was quite a grand looking building and was up until recently a care home.  The care home has obviously been closed for a while  but it looked as if something is being done with the place as there was an enormous crane extended high up at the back of the building.  I hope so as it was very unusual. 

A large clump of primroses.

We searched for 7 geocaches and found 6, had a nice walk and saw lots of birds, the highlights being a jay, a long tailed tit, a buzzard fairly close up that we must have frightened out of a tree and a woodpecker on a feeder in someone's garden.

Ocean Village - Southampton

Friday 7th March 2014

For a change today we chose to search for a few geocaches in central Southampton.  I've lived in Southampton all of my life and I realised today that we really don't make the most of what's on our doorstep.  We parked overlooking the Itchen Bridge, where we saw quite a few swans and an oyster catcher as well as the usual seagulls etc.  There was a bit of action on the river, where it looked like a group of school children were being taught to sail from an activity centre close by.  Looking across the river towards Woolston and the old Vospers site there is a great deal of construction going on, it appears to be flats or should I say apartments.

 Itchen Bridge

We found a quick cache in the car park then walked back to Ocean Village, a place we used to visit quite often fifteen to twenty years ago.  Nowadays things are very different, gone are the shops and many restaurants, now it's mainly smart apartments with the odd restaurant and a couple of cinemas.  One thing that remains however is the marina, with the many beautiful boats.

Posh boats!

We then spotted this posh number, a Sunseeker motor cruiser named Skyfall.  Back at home I looked up Skyfall on Google and it's possible to charter it (for a great deal of money per week!)  It did look pretty amazing and it was huge, it doesn't look it in the photo but look at the size of the vans and cars behind then it looks a bit bigger!

Skyfall

The tall building being constructed on the left is apparently the tallest residential building in Southampton.  In between the two tallest buildings is a black blob, up a mast, this is a man - very high up!!!

Man up a mast - rather him than me!  There is a second man watching him from the bottom of the mast, so that makes it all ok!!

We had to use our best stealth abilities to find the last two geocaches, one on railings in Ocean Village and one in a busy park near South Western House.

South Western House - surrounded by major roadworks.

This impressive building was once a hotel, the South Western Hotel and it is where most of the first class passengers stayed before leaving on the Titanic.  It is now known as South Western House and is no longer a hotel but has been converted into luxury apartments.  Over the years I have seen some of these apartments advertised for sale online and they are quite something else.

We walked back through Ocean Village, taking a different route to check out the marina from a different angle.

Ocean Village.

We found three caches, walked just over two miles and spent a good hour mooching about.

Bramshaw and Cadman's Pool

Wednesday 5th March 2014

We hate to be beaten by a geocache but today we were despite our best efforts.  We had to find out various things from clues in the churchyard which was looking very springlike in the sunshine.  We found all we needed to give us the cache co-ordinates but although we spent quite a while looking in all of the obvious and less obvious places we failed to find it.  

Crocuses in the churchyard.

View from the church.

Having given up on the cache we moved on to Cadman's Pool on Stoney Cross, where there are always lots of little wild birds, kept well fed by visitors.  We had a very pleasant circular walk of two miles, I even managed the whole walk without gloves or scarf, in fact by the end I had to unzip my coat - a miracle.  The only downside was the large amount of flies about, masses, trying and succeeding to get in the car, a right pain, when it was a mild enough day to have the windows open.

Close to Cadman's Pool on Stoney Cross

It wouldn't be right without  a photo of mud, I wonder if we'll ever get out of wellies and back in to walking boots.

Epic clouds.

Badger was here?

Canada Geese on Cadman's Pool - the one on the left was particularly vocal  and looking at it's beak it's mid squawk here.

Cadman's Pool

Back at the car this pony wanted to get in the car but as I wouldn't let it, it breathed all over the window  and had a good scratch on the wing mirror instead.