Silver How - Lake District

Sunday 21st September 2014

We are in the Lake District for a week, staying in a lovely cottage off the beaten track, in the centre of Grasmere.  Today was a fantastic day weather wise, in fact it was warmer today than many days we have spent in the Lake District in July and August.  We walked via Allen Bank uphill, some of it steeply, to Silver How which is 1295 feet high.  On the way we kept stopping to admire the fantastic scenery which I'm sure you'll agree is outstandingly beautiful. 

Helm Crag is on the left, the valley is Dunmail Raise and the buildings in the centre are on the outskirts of Grasmere village.

Still going up!

Looking towards Grasmere.

At 1295ft, the top of Silver How.

Grasmere in the foreground, Rydal Water in the background.

It was clear and bright to start with but once we got to the top of Silver How the views were a bit hazy although the sun was still shining.  

We came back via Dow Bank and Red Bank Wood through a field of Herdwick sheep, my absolute favourites, who can resist such smiley faces.  

Herdwick sheep .......

.....love 'em!

There were hardly any people about high up on the hills but back in Grasmere that was a different story!  We found four quite remote geocaches and walked 5.6 quite sweaty miles - still I shouldn't complain as it was so warm and sunny. 

Frog Blog

Wednesday 17th September 2014

A fuchsia had fallen over this morning in the garden and look what was in the saucer when I tried to stand it back up again.

Quite a large frog.

During the summer most years we see a frog in the garden at least once which I always find a bit odd as we don't have a pond, but there's usually standing water somewhere even if it is just a saucer under a plant.  

Heron up a Tree

Thursday 11th September 2014

We had a quick walk on Southampton Common this morning, where things are looking a bit autumnal.   Some of the leaves are beginning to change colour very slightly and there are many chestnuts and beech nuts about but hardly any acorns - which is no surprise given the abundance of acorns last year.  We had a look for the heron that is usually around the ornamental lake somewhere and today it was up a tree.

Heron up a tree (midway in photo).

The ducks were relaxing and having forty winks on the edge of the boating lake.

 Some of this year's swan family on the same lake.

A swan in a yoga pose.

Later on in the day we went to the World of Water in Romsey to buy some more tropical fish and came across this splendid flock of sheep.

Poole Quay and Harbour

Wednesday 10th September 2014

We spent the day in Poole today, and a gorgeous warm and sunny day it was too.  We parked overlooking Poole Harbour in Baiter Park and had a nice walk to the Quay. We then tried to find a geocache but there were too many people about so we had to give up.  

Looking across Poole Harbour towards Sandbanks in the back centre and Brownsea Island on the right,

and looking the other way with Brownsea Island on the left.

This tree was quite unusual, the leaves were green on top shaped a bit like a sycamore but very white underneath, this is it blowing in the wind looking mainly white.  I'll need to look into this one!

A steam train - not something you see everyday!

We happened to be walking near the railway line along the edge of a park when a steam train passed by, apparently there is no steam to be seen because this bit of track runs downhill so the train was coasting as it approached Poole station.  We looked the train up on the internet and during the summer it runs once a week from London to Weymouth and back.  This was the last week of the summer service and there were plenty of happy waving people on it!!!

Near Poole Bridge we saw this lifeboat.  The RNLI headquarters are just up the road in Poole so there are usually lifeboats in this area.

Early evening at Poole Quay.

Low tide.

Poole Quay is a really nice place and we had an enjoyable few hours wandering around - the miles soon added up and we found we had walked over 6 miles.

Testwood Lakes Nature Reserve - Near Totton & A Super Moon

Tuesday 9th September 2014

This afternoon we had a walk and went geocaching at Testwood Lakes near Totton.  The guide to the reserve states that it is a haven for wildlife amidst the urban fringe of Totton, where there is a mixture of open water, grassland and woodland steeped in Bronze Age history. It was a perfect warm and sunny late summer afternoon.  

Looking across one of the lakes.

We found the first of four geocaches at this quiet spot and along this footpath we saw lots of

blackberries,

hawthorn berries,

and rose hips.

This can be a very busy place but today it was really quiet.

At the edge of the lake is the outline of a boat.

Boats of this type were used to cross the English Channel 3500 years ago.  They were made of oak planks sewn together with twisted yew bark.  The remains of a Bronze Age boat like this were found during construction of the lakes in 1996.

We walked on round the lake and successfully found a couple more caches, one of which we've been trying to find for some time - 6th September last year was one memorable visit when I got stung by a wasp whilst searching for it.  We then stopped off at the viewing hides overlooking the lakes, where unusually there was not a great deal of activity.

The view from one of the hides, including two little egrets and

a cormorant who appeared to be drying it's wings.

At the final cache I was very nearly wearing this garden spider as we searched and found the cache amongst the hedgerow, not good!  Anyway how come these spiders only seem to appear at this time of year, where are they for the rest of the year?  Where is Chris Packham when you need him?

Finally, a photo of the super moon taken earlier on this evening through the window!

Young Hedgehog

Tuesday 9th September 2014

This may not look like a young hedgehog but it is actually only 6 or 7 inches long, so very small and very cute!

Just after dark at about 8.30 pm last night as it was still fairly warm we decided to have a quick mile walk locally.  Last week my daughter and I went the same way and came across a tiny hedgehog mooching about on someone's front grass (they don't have a fence) but I hadn't taken my phone and her battery ran out a few minutes before so I didn't get a photo.  We stood watching it for a while until it raised itself up, like they do and ran off - fast! (they can certainly move when they want to).  Last night it was in exactly the same place and this time I took the above photo. Only a few weeks ago on 19th August I blogged about the fact that we hadn't seen a hedgehog in 18 months and now we've seen one on 3 occasions in 3 weeks (two of them the same little one, the other was quite a bit bigger).  Great to see them.

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!