49 and counting!

It's Malcolm's birthday today.  It certainly doesn't seem like a year ago that we were knee-deep in snow and unable to get out for our planned day out to Matlock, but time flies as they say.  This year, to celebrate Malcolm's 49th birthday, we hopped into the car and went off for a walk along the river at Matlock Bath, followed by a coffee and panini at Costa in the town of Matlock.  Although a little chilly, it was infinitely better than twelve months ago.

The water level in the Derwent is very low - even following some pretty hefty showers of late - as can be seen in the picture above.  Walking back to the car, we had a good view over the station, railway and surrounding houses, up to Riber Castle sitting atop it's hill.

Zooming in a bit, some detail of the castle is visible, but sadly not very much as the clouds rolled in to spoil the sunny start to the day.

So, it was back in the car and home for tea, cake and a tot of 'something sustaining' to wish Malcolm a happy 49th.  Just one more year to the big half century...!

Plague

Our fat-ball feeder has been rather busy recently.  House Sparrows (Passer domesticus), are in serious decline in Britain, their numbers have dropped by about 71% since 1977.  But around our front garden and the hedgerows opposite, there seems to have been a resurgence in numbers.

Flying across the road in squadrons, plagues of these balls of feathered fury, spend their time squabbling, fighting, pecking and squawking at each other while demolishing the fat-balls at an alarming rate.

The Starlings come along for the food too, having worked out how to hang on to the feeder, they attack it with gusto while the Sparrows swirl about and try to get a look-in.  It all makes life rather interesting in our front garden.

Autumn

The strong winds and squally showers of the last twenty four hours have seen almost all of the remaining leaves shaken from their branches.  It got me thinking it's been a good year for Autumn colour.  So here is a small slide-show of some of my pictures of the Autumn leaves in and around Shipley Park as a reminder of those colourful days.

Comparison

What a difference a year makes.  On this same Saturday, twelve months ago, we woke up to a snowy and distinctly wintry scene.  Looking out of the bedroom window it looked like this...

This morning, in contrast, the temperature was well above freezing, the hedgerows opposite are still hanging on to some greenery and despite the strong wind, it was far more temperate.  The same view from the window, looked like this...

What a difference!

Wrong!

The BBC forecast said light rain for this morning, followed by cloudy conditions this afternoon.  Indeed, even as I am typing this, they are still telling us that is what we're getting.  So it should come as no surprise that there is hardly a cloud to be seen in the clear blue skies.  I know I have ranted about the obvious failings of the BBC's weather forecasting department on numerous occasions in the past, but really!  How wrong can they be?  And how long must we all have to pay for this ridiculously fallible organisation?  Yahoo seem to have it right so why can the BBC not do the same? Just one picture today, of a few Canada Geese flying in to take advantage of the crusts of bread on offer at Straw's Bridge.  Note the dull, cloudy skies and falling rain...!

Snowberry

On this day last year, we were experiencing plunging temperatures and the sight of sparkling frost on the leaves.  This year, after the slightly cooler day yesterday and a slight frost the night before, it was back to mild dampness albeit brightened by the bright sunshine which was hanging very low in the sky. The hedgerows are filled with berries, waiting to be stripped by the winter birds.  I have mentioned these on a number of occasions, but they always bare further investigation.  The Snowberries (Symphoricarpos albus) are particularly obvious in their whiteness.

Native to North America and naturalised in Britain, they have colonised the hedgerows and their chunky fruits look juicy and ripe, just ready to help the birds survive the winter ahead.

Far more numerous in the hedgerows around these parts, are the Pyracantha bushes.  More numerous are their berries too.

Wintery

Things were looking a lot more Wintery this morning.  We walked around Shipley Lake in the misty gloom taking heart that the sun was up there somewhere, trying to poke through the cloud.  The lake was filled with wildfowl.  We spotted Mute Swans, Coots, Moorhens, Mallards, Canada Geese, Wigeon, Gadwall, Black-headed Gulls and Cormorants.  Quite a collection!  Returning via the old overflow car park of the long-gone theme park, the sun was till struggling against the gloom.

Grey and Wintery, but still not as cold as you would expect at this time of year and certainly not as cold as this time last year.