A Stealthy Heron and Legal Graffiti

Friday 29th August 2014

We had a very pleasant 3 mile extended walk around Southampton Common this morning that should only have taken 45 minutes but after various stops and photo opportunities took quite a bit longer.  Our first stop was not far into the walk at the Ornamental Lake, where a heron that we often see at this lake was moving very stealthily and slowly through the water.  The heron was up to it's body in the lake and it did look very odd - almost like it was floating like a duck! We never did see it catch a fish.

Stealth at the lake.

Getting deeper .......

then shallower!

These birds as I have said before are very odd, almost dinosaur like but they are quite graceful and lovely to watch, especially when you consider the Common is in the centre of the City.  

 This adult crow was soaking bread in water to give to it's baby - now that's very caring.

We saw plenty of magpies on the Common, this one was in the Cemetery - many of the birds are looking tatty as is usual at this time of year, this one looks better in the photo than it did in the flesh!

We used a subway under The Avenue where there are legal graffiti walls which are covered in the most amazing works of art that are constantly changing and well worth seeing.

I hope none of these say anything offensive!

Spider Time Already?

Wednesday 27th August 2014

Wildlife in the wild I love, wildlife in the bath I definitely don't!  This was the first visitor of the late summer/early autumn and it was mahoooooosive!  Luckily although my husband had left for work at the crack of dawn, I still had a handy son to do the honours, remove it and take it back to where it belongs (and hopefully not to return but I have a feeling it might). However, although it doesn't look it in the following photos it was too big for the usual glass so we, well not me, the brave one, had to use a pyrex bowl, that's a new one.  He also said he had never heard a spider's feet tapping on the card before, so it was well and truly labelled as mahooooooosive.

I would like to say it was nice seeing you, but it wasn't!! 

Fritham Re-Visited

Thursday 21st August 2014

The day after our recent visit to Fritham three new geocaches were published in the very area we had been in the day before - that's just about right for us! - so we had a return visit to try and find them today.  Having got too hot in jeans yesterday I opted for shorts and t shirt today and got quite cold across the heath in the wind, but it was fine once we were back in amongst the trees and away from the breeze (it certainly didn't feel much like August!).

 Rare breeds drinking at Green Pond which we thought would have dried up by now but clearly hasn't.

Rare breeds in the heather.

Following on from yesterday, more berries, holly going orange.

The most exciting part of the walk was coming across a herd of about twenty odd fallow deer. They knew we were there but as we were some way off they seemed quite happy for us to observe, but kept an eye on us.

Fallow deer.

Showing off some pretty impressive headgear!

Quite a large male.

Then it was on with some serious caching, the three we found today were all up trees and needed some serious head scratching to retrieve them.  Luckily I had the very man with me to solve the problems - I probably would have given up!

The first cache of the day roughly 20 feet up a tree (tree climbing is no longer allowed to retrieve caches in the New Forest) this required a bit of pondering before we found a cunning pulley system to lower it to the ground - epic!

Another cache up another tree, experience in playing hook a duck came in handy for hooking the cache off of its perch!

Last cache of the day up a tree (funnily enough) on the edge of a bomb crater!  All three made a very pleasant change, there's nothing like a challenge.

Giving way to the locals on the way home (taken through the car windscreen).

Farley Mount - Again

Wednesday 20th August 2014

We last visited Farley Mount a couple of weeks ago when we saw red kites soaring high above the fields, so today we went to try and find them again, this time armed with binoculars and a decent camera.  Predictably as we came prepared we didn't see any!  However we found five geocaches and saw some spectacular views across the countryside which is beginning to look quite autumnal and golden yellow.

This is how we found today's first geocache, not particularly well hidden is it?!!

Looking north towards Andover way, across a beautifully ploughed golden field. (I have enlarged the photo to show the funky stripes)

There's definitely less green and more golden brown in the views now.

It's possible to see for miles from here.

A couple of weeks ago this field was bare soil, today it was tinged with new green growth,.  At this point we were looking in the distance and up high for any signs of red kites but whilst looking up we nearly missed this...

.... a small deer running across this large expanse of sweeping field! (taken by zooming in beyond the point of no return!!)

There are lots of seeds and berries in the hedgerows now,

autumns coming!

It was noticeably cooler this morning too, I wore jeans for the first time in ages, but by lunchtime the sun was hot and I wished I had worn my shorts, maybe summer will hang on for a bit longer.

Ducklings and a Hedgehog

Tuesday 19th August 2014

I have a couple of quick notes from the last few days to share.  Firstly in Romsey on Monday I came across these two quite big ducklings sunning themselves at the edge of a river tucked away in the back streets, well worth a photo I thought.

Also in this very clear river were masses of tiny fish that I found a bit mesmerizing to watch.

Ducklings in the sunshine.

Here they are in the bottom right of the river and mum is halfway up the photo on the left keeping a watchful eye on them

The other thing I wanted to mention was that in eighteen months of walking in our neighbourhood very regularly (often in the dark) we have not until yesterday seen a hedgehog.  I was really pleased to see it running along the pavement, it stopped briefly when it saw us then scurried off under the nearest fence.  We used to see hedgehogs quite a bit on our front grass or they left evidence that they had been there, but we haven't seen one for some time, it's such a shame.

Dibden Inclosure on the Edge of Beaulieu Heath

Wednesday 13th August 2014

We haven't walked very often in this part of the New Forest , mainly because we assumed that as it was on the edge of the Forest it would be busy with dog walkers (and there were quite a few).  There were two geocaches in the area that we wanted to try and find and this we did easily.  This was who we found at the first one.

About a dozen New Forest Ponies in the shade.

The name of the cache was Refinery View, and this was the view.

Fawley Refinery behind the flowering heather.

There's still mud and water about, in fact in places this walk was still quite boggy, goodness only knows what it's like after lots of rain like we had last winter! - I don't even want to go there!!

A Forest view on the way to the second cache, in the distance, although not visible in this picture, were cranes in Southampton Docks.

The heather is just coming out and the heath will soon be a carpet of pink, buzzing with bees.

Swanage at the Height of the Season

Tuesday 12th August 2014

This evening after visiting family in Swanage we had a blustery walk along the beach and on to Peveril Point where there are good views overlooking the town and Bay.  I am not dead keen on Swanage in the Summer and it doesn't get much busier than in the school summer holidays. There were too many people about for my liking, and most of them it seemed were eating fish and chips!

A stealthy camouflaged young herring gull. (I wanted to take another photo that was zoomed in a bit more but a young child had other ideas and chased it away, so that was that!)

Even at 7pm there were a few hardy souls with their camps still set up behind wind breaks.

We walked uphill away from the people to where it was nice and quiet, overlooking Swanage.

Old Harry Rocks with Bournemouth beyond that.

Swanage Pier.

Fishing boats in the bay.

Moody Swanage.

It's Lifeboat Week in Swanage this week and although the lifeboat was all tucked up inside, this is the lifeboat station.

Then it was back through the people eating their fish and chips to the car and time to go home.

Itchen Riverside Boardwalk

Sunday 10th August 2014

After a wet, windy and thundery morning, this afternoon was a very pleasant change, warm and sunny but still quite blustery.  We chose to walk somewhere totally different, alongside the River Itchen in central Southampton from St Denys to Northam.  We only passed a few people but what there was plenty of was rubbish, goodness knows what visitors to the football stadium think of Southampton when they visit. Now I'll get off of my high horse and continue!!!

A view up river towards Bitterne Park, from the board walk. ( where we found a sneaky geocache).

The same view from further on round, the tide was just going out.

We walked as far as St Mary's Stadium, the home of Southampton Football Club, where a traction engine happened to be passing - with some difficulty through narrow roadworks -  I have no idea where on earth it was going or had been in central Southampton!

The front of St Mary's Stadium,

with a passing traction engine.

Structures at St Mary's.

The stadium from behind.

More signs of industry.

The fish pond at Siemens train depot, with a visitor.

The Siemens Northam Traincare Facility, (where I understand some very skilled electricians work) with well kept allotments in the foreground.

Back at the river, a family of swans glided by,

 followed by another larger family. 

An enjoyable walk in an area I would definitely return to.