Soggy

All the rain we've had lately has left Shipley Country Park rather soggy under foot. Even the tarmac paths are covered in soggy leaves and puddles making it almost impossible to get a walk without getting splashed and muddy. The Nutbrook Canal is full and flowing swiftly.

The paths are almost as waterlogged...

With a little digital manipulation, it looks quite 'artistic'.

And the old canal looks painterly - like a Wind in the Willows illustration. 

More rain is forecast, so I can't see things getting any better very soon. Still, at least it's very mild for the time of year.

Birthday Boy

It's that time of year again. The last day of November, St Andrew's Day, the anniversary of the discovery of 'Lucy' (our 3,000,000 year old ancestor) and Malcolm's birthday. Though not quite so old as Lucy (Australopithecus), Malcolm shares his birthday with Sir Winston Churchill (born this day 1874) and today reaches his 53rd birthday.

Looking good still (must be the red wine), this was Malcolm in Fuerteventura back in 2008 with a couple of well-wishers...!

Happy Birthday Malcolm!

Sawbill

First recorded in Britain in 1662 and with a breeding population of around 3500 pairs, the Goosander (Mergus merganser) is in no way rare or endangered. Nevertheless, it is always a treat when small flocks of these ducks turn up, chiefly during the winter. This morning as we walked around Osborne's Pond, a group of about 24 Goosanders were bobbing about on the water.

The Goosander is a large duck, one of the so-called Sawbills on account of its serrated bill edges which it utilises when catching fish. In the Male bird, this bill is a rich red colour, somewhat less obviously red in the female.

The group of male birds above show what an elegant bird this is. It has a white body with black markings on the back and wings and a beautiful head which is actually a glossy bottle-green colour when viewed in good light.

The female, while in no way dowdy, is nevertheless slightly less showy than the male, looking a rather more grey bodied and with a chestnut brown head.
The winter population of Britain is boosted by arrivals from mainland Europe to around 12,000 individuals which is why they are more often seen at this time of year. In the wild, they normally live to around 7 years of age with the longevity record set by one ringed individual in 1984 which was 9 years, 6 months and 28 days.
What a treat for a chilly November morning!

Frosty

At last, after an unusually mild autumn, we have had our first frosts of the year. So this morning, with the thermometer still perilously close to freezing, we set out for a walk around Shipley Park and the surrounding Wildlife Trusts farmland. Looking across the fields from Parker's Bridge, a slight rime of frost could be seen clinging to the dead grasses and rushes.

Further along the path things were looking equally wintry as we looked out, over the fields of Head House Farm, the only colour coming from the rather weak-looking sun struggling to be seen behind some low cloud.

Along Slack Lane and the large oak trees were standing like sentinels, guarding the lane.

Their trunks are covered with ivy and with the holly in the hedges too, it all leads to thoughts of Christmas, mince pies, crackers and sage and onion!

Ooooh! It's all getting exciting.

Colder

Despite the sunshine this morning, it had become noticeably colder and we set out around Shipley Lake with coats, hats and (in Malcolm's case) gloves covering our extremities. It is supposed to get even colder over the next few days and snow has been mentioned in the forecast. A good job then, that the bushes are still well stocked with berries for the hungry birds.

These Cotoneaster bushes were particularly well covered with bright red fruits as we passed by near Shipley Lake.

Five years ago, we were on the verge of a particularly cold period of weather which was about to dump a huge amount of snow on us and freeze us with temperatures as low as -15C. Let's hope things don't get that cold, but we can't really complain as we have not even had a frost yet this year! I guess that will all change this weekend, but at least the bushes are ready for the cold.

Dreary

Yet again, we were faced with dull, dreary, damp and disheartening weather this morning. Grey skies and drizzle made our walk a little less enjoyable than normal as we took ourselves off round Shipley Lake.

The bright colours of autumn are hardly to be found anywhere now, especially after the strong winds of late and with more gales forecast for later today, I don't see things getting any better.

The paths were wet, muddy and filthy, the drizzle was getting worse so we headed for home and a hot coffee. Here's the same scene as above, but a little 'manipulated'.

Brighter

Yesterday's walk took us a little over five miles through Shipley Park, over the hill and down towards Osborne's Pond, before returning along the Nutbrook Trail once more. For a change, the sun was shining, the skies were blue and when you got into the sun, it was surprisingly warm. Certainly it was rather lovely walking along the path which was once part of the old mineral railway line system.

With sunshine filtering through the trees and a thick carpet of fallen leaves, it made for a perfect autumn scene. At one point, we encountered a man with a petrol-driven leaf blower, trying to clear the path - a more pointless act it is hard to imagine as the wind was simply replacing the leaves he had cleared. He must have been working for the local Council!

The same two pictures, given that 'artsy' look....

Over night and this morning, the wind has picked up again and it has turned quite a lot colder so I guess the path is back to how it looked before that man and his blower turned up! Time well spent there?