Longdown - A Squally Hail Shower & Fallen Trees

Thursday 13th February 2014

We had a walk today from Longdown, where we met an English Bull Terrier by the name of Pippa - the name didn't somehow match the look of the dog - think Bullseye in Oliver!  Pippa looked quite overweight but came wandering over to see us, she looked like the sort of dog you could have a chat with and I don't often think that.

We went to look for a geocache and found it with ease then suddenly a cold wind whipped up and we had a heavy shower of hail, let's say the fir trees did little to shelter us.  Talking of wind and trees, there were an alarming amount of fallen fir trees all over the enclosure, not just one here and there, but groups of trees, large ones, here are some ......

........such a shame.

Water everywhere.

Just as soon as the hail started it stopped, the wind calmed down and blue sky appeared.

This lovely pony stood in the sunshine drying off for ages, cars arriving and leaving had to squeeze round behind him/her, he/she wasn't moving for anyone - a hazard of the New Forest.

Nomansland

Monday 10th February 2014

It was forecast to be a dry day - we now know this was a lie!! - so we decided to go caching in Nomansland in the New Forest. About a mile from the car it started to rain and it rained quite hard so we took shelter under the trees for a while until the blue sky returned and the sun came back out. Having found the first cache and sheltered for a while we came across this monkey puzzle tree - not something we see very often.

A monkey puzzle tree. 

(The monkey puzzle tree, originally from South America, is so-called after the owner of a specimen in 19th century Britain suggested that it's unusual branches would puzzle even a monkey to climb).

The second geocache was a multi which means we had to find information at various points to find the eventual location of the cache.  One of the places we had to go to was the war memorial on the village green.

The Well of Sacrifice.

We had to get info from the roll of honour - for such a small village there were a lot of names.

Then in the forest we had to find a number on a bat box.

The so called footpaths at the moment are a bit of a challenge to say the least!

Wellies essential!

Someone's been busy.

The cache was located near this stream which has cut quite a deep ravine in the ground.

In this wooded part we saw and heard lots of birds, we saw, a lesser spotted woodpecker, a tiny little goldcrest, blue tits, great tits, starlings, a buzzard high up in the sky, robins, blackbirds, a nuthatch creeping up a tree and either a marsh tit or a willow tit (apparently the main difference is in their call .........well, no chance!!!!!).  Back at the village green we saw a few song thrushes and a pair of redwings.

A redwing and ........

a song thrush.

Two caches found, three miles walked, lots of birds seen and we survived an unexpected heavy shower of rain!

Winchester & Floods

Sunday 9th February 2014

We had a shopping trip to Winchester this morning and on the way we saw plenty of evidence of flooding over the last few days. There were quite a few houses in Hursley having water pumped out of basements and some of the lanes still had large puddles across them.  In Winchester itself  the River Itchen has burst it's banks and the park alongside it has been closed.  I've never seen it like this before and plenty of other people were stopping off at the bridge overlooking the park to take photos.

A bad photo of The River Itchen in Winchester - taken into the sun - with the floods to the right of the fencing.

On the opposite side of the road Winchester City Mill is flooded and closed until further notice - there was plenty of water there too!

Winchester City Mill

Even the dark door on the left of the photo had water flowing out from under it.

It made a change to have a dry day and to see blue sky.

Another view from further on in the park.

It would have been rude not to include a photo of King Alfred's Statue!

Houghton near Stockbridge

Tuesday 4th February 2014

So, it was another cold afternoon but we decided to get out caching anyway and luckily we found all three of the caches easily with the minimum hand exposure to the freezing wind!

We parked at Houghton and walked along a bit of the Clarendon Way to a bridge over the fast flowing River Test.

River Test, looking one way.....

......... then the other......

........from this bridge.

Old Man's Beard - there was plenty of this about today,

Walking through the village there was a fab new thatch which was almost finished.

You can never have enough photos of snowdrops, but then I'm biased.

All Saints Church, Houghton.

These berries were a bit of bright shiny colour on a dull afternoon but I will have to look them up to find out what they are - my homework for this evening then!

Holmbridge, Swanage and Durlston

Monday 3rd February 2014

On the way to Swanage this morning we stopped off at a favourite spot, Holmbridge near Wool to try and find a geocache.  The River Frome was in full flow unsurprisingly given all the rain we have had over the past two months!!!  It was only a short walk to the cache which we successfully found quickly, luckily, as there was a proper cold wind.  

The River Frome at Holmbridge.

We had lunch at the Scott Arms at Kingston near Corfe Castle and very nice it was too, yummy even.  We were expecting it to be quiet on a Monday lunchtime but it was quite busy so presumably we all had the same idea.There was a cosy log fire burning and the pub had a faint aroma of wood smoke - really lovely.  Below is the fantastic view from the pub garden, looking towards Corfe Castle.

Corfe Castle in the centre of the photo and Poole Harbour  in the background.

After a filling lunch we had to try and walk some of it off, so we had a stop off at Swanage to watch the waves.  It's normally quite calm in Swanage Bay but not today, the waves had even created large amounts of foam which was blowing along the sand - at one stage a little dog was having great fun zooming along the beach chasing (and eating) bits of flying foam.

Foam

Rough conditions for Swanage, the photo does it no justice.

More frothy foam, which had just splatted on the camera lens (left side of photo).

After our stop off at Swanage, we moved on to Durlston Country Park where we had a bit more very fresh air and a look round the new information centre and exhibtion at Durlston Castle.

The lighthouse at Durlston.

Words - on the path down to the castle there are lots of things to read.

Looking towards Old Harry Rocks from Durlston Castle.

The entrance to the castle.

After this it was time for a decent cup of tea.  

We were going to have another walk before leaving for home at about 7pm but the forecasted rain had started and we didn't fancy getting wet and driving home in wet clothes so we abandoned that idea - but the thought was there!!!

Ocknell, New Forest

Sunday 2nd February 2014

There was a cold brisk wind blowing this morning across the heath at Ocknell in the New Forest, but at least it was dry  there was even a glimpse of sunshine and blue sky).  We set off through the Ocknell camp site  which is closed at this time of year and it did seem quite odd not to see caravans and tents dotted around and the buildings all boarded up.  With no campers about it was easy to see the old Stoney Cross airfield service roads and aircraft hard standings.  

These two ponies stood motionless watching us as we walked through - they looked a bit like a pair of identical sentries!

If we don't move maybe they won't notice us!

The old airfield service roads and aircraft hard standings.

We walked through the woodland as far as the A31 then headed back across the heath to Ocknell Pond which was full to capacity today.

There was quite a lot of traffic noise from the A31 at this point but it was a very pleasant spot though.

Lots of funky hillocks and bumpiness.

Blue sky!

Surface water and .......

.......more surface water.

Ocknell Pond - full to over flowing.

The fresh air certainly blew the cobwebs away this morning and it was good to see the sun if only briefly.  We didn't see much in the way of wildlife though, there were plenty of ponies and shetland ponies about but we didn't see a single deer despite seeing plenty of their footprints in the mud.  

Lordswood, Southampton

Saturday 1st February 2014

We didn't go far for today's walk as we wanted to try and find a couple of geocaches a few miles from home.  We had a quickish two mile walk around the woods at Lordswood where it was quite quiet - we saw a couple of people walking and a few young lads racing around on motorbikes.  

A bit of cheerful green amongst the dull winter colours.

Tree roots, an ideal place to hide a geocache.

The first cache was located easily enough - note the 'be prepared' umberella standing to attention ready for action!  We had a couple of short sharp showers but nothing to worry about but as it has been so wet over the last few monthes there was acres of mud and water about.

Same old stuff!

We spent a fair while looking for the second geocache we had planned to do but the GPS signal was all over the place under the trees and the hint was very vague so we looked everywhere we thought likely but with no joy.  It looks like we'll be back again for another go at this one, we are not going to be beaten!