Southampton Remembrance Day Service at the Cenotaph

Sunday 10th November 2013

We went to the moving Remembrance Day Service at the Cenotaph this morning.  Luckily after the rain and murk of yesterday it was bright and not too cold, although I'm sure the service personnel were less than warm and toasty standing there for so long.  From where we were standing I saw at least eight or nine people being taken away feeling unwell so the St Johns Ambulance volunteers were kept busy and did a fantastic job.  

The trees are still covered in leaves at the moment,  I don't seem to think they normally have many leaves left on them by Remembrance Day but then we haven't had any cold weather as yet.

I was surprised by how many poppy wreaths were laid.

The cenotaph.

Romsey + Geese

Friday 8th November 2013

Today's offerings come from Romsey, where we did some shopping this morning then took a detour to Sadler's Mill to see if we could see any salmon leaping. We stopped on the bridge over the River Test looking across Broadlands Estate to Broadlands House, and the scene was like something out of an old Constable painting (it probably doesn't look like it in the photo but for some reason that's what came in to my mind). 

The River Test on Broadlands Estate.

A few minutes later I heard the distinctive sound of geese flying towards us.  As they went overhead they made two massive v shapes and I was surprised by just how many there were,  I managed to take a photo of the smaller group and I think I counted about 26 geese in it.

I was really pleased to see these geese, they made my morning!

I have seen salmon leaping at Sadlers Mill in the past but unfortunately it was not meant to be today.  We stood under an umbrella waiting patiently, there was plenty of water but a distinct lack of anything fishy leaping or trying to leap anywhere.  We walked back through King John's House in Romsey where there were lots of juicy looking rose hips just asking to be photographed.

Rose hips and teasels.

Rose hips.

And that is it for today, just a few snippets, but I thought the geese were well worth noting.

Itchen Valley Country Park

Wednesday 6th November 2013

After a visit to Haskins Garden Centre in West End (to buy a fancy new bird feeder - I just hope the birds like it! and a quick browse of the Christmas decs) we drove the short distance to Itchen Valley Country Park where two geocaches were waiting to be found.  They were a couple of nice quick easy finds and the walk wasn't very far but we did see a couple of green woodpeckers. a greater spotted woodpecker and a jay as well as loads of wood pigeons.  The ground was quite wet and in places muddy - oh the joys of autumn.

Itchen Valley Country Park.

High Spring Tide at Redbridge and Lower Test Nature Reserve

Tuesday 5th November 2013

On our way to the New Forest for a walk on Sunday we noticed a very high tide at Redbridge so with time to spare this morning we went to have a better look.  We parked at the old bridge at Redbridge where there was more water  than I have ever seen there before. There was little sign of bird life  however, but I don't blame anything from staying away as the wind was so cold.

Looking through the arch towards the railway line in the distance and a very high tide (the A35 Redbridge Causeway runs over this bridge).

Water where it shouldn't be, looking towards Totton.

More water where it shouldn't be!

Fast flowing - this is where the River Test should be, with a hopeful bit of brightness on the horizon.

We then moved on to Nursling to the Lower Test Nature Reserve where we walked along a bit of the Test Way.  I say a bit of the Test Way because we got less than a mile along it when it became impossible to carry on without  the use of a boat!  Still it was worth seeing and it tested the epic wellies and they are definitely epic!

Flooded fields at the Lower Test Valley Nature Reserve and more grey sky.

The flood flowing over the footpath, we thought this was bad enough until we got further on!

This, straight ahead is the footpath, we gave it a go but no, not a good idea!

Testing the wellies to the limit, what is needed now is a boat and I didn't happen to have one handy today so we back tracked.

The tide had been going out for about an hour or more so on the way back the floods had receded a bit.

This is my favourite photo from today's fun and games, a bit moody and grey but I like it!

Maybe we should return another day when there is no high tide to compare the scenery, the River Test is usually along the far tree line.

We retraced our wet steps back to the car and then went in a different direction to try and find a geocache that we have already tried to find once before when I got stung by two wasps (or one twice) back in September (post from 6th September).  Unfortunately we still didn't manage to locate it annoyingly, as we do hate to be beaten!  As it was way past lunchtime, I was cold and we were both hungry it was time to give up and go home, another day maybe.

First Frost

Monday 4th November 2013

At about 10pm tonight my daughter and I went for a walk around our neighbourhood, the cold came as a bit of a shock, and we had the first frost of the autumn.  Cars had frost on their windscreens and roofs and in places even the grass was glistening.  This had not been forecast by any of the lovely met men!  

NB The frost didn't last long as it was wet and miserable by the morning. 

Wootton Bridge Near Holmsley

Sunday 3rd November 2013

This morning we walked from a car park at Wootton Bridge near Holmsley in the New Forest. We found the first geocache of the day close to the car park then walked on into the trees where once again there was plenty of mud.  There is however one good thing about mud and this is that it makes it  easy to see if deer have been about, although we didn't see any today. 

Deer were here!

The trees are slowly beginning to change colour and the forest is looking good, here are a couple of autumnal photos from our walk.

Sun through the trees - nice!

Masses of acorns again today.

This photo was taken at the second geo-cache of the day.  After we had finished at the cache, one of these ponies followed us for a while which was quite unusual as they normally give humans a bit of a wide berth.

This is the view we had from the car as we had a well earned coffee (and of course it would have been rude not to have had a biscuit too!)

St Jude's Storm

Saturday 2nd November 2013

Last Sunday night into Monday morning St Jude's storm passed our way.  The wind gradually built up throughout the day on Sunday and by the time I went to bed it was whipping about wildly.  I was woken up by the wind and rain at about 4am and luckily by about 8am things were calming down. There were roads blocked all over the place in and around Southampton caused by flooding and fallen trees and branches.  Monday itself was a bright and clear day, the storm had well and truly passed on.  During this week we have seen plenty of evidence of the storm, here are a couple of photos of the damage caused.

One or two of the footpaths at Hiltingbury Lakes were blocked by large fallen branches.

Damage on Southampton Common.

Colours at the Boating Lake on Southampton Common this morning.