20 March 2021 = vernal equinox 2021
The first day of Spring! Yippee!
Well, the astronomical Spring. We’ve actually been in meteorological Spring for the past 20 days, since 1 March!
environment
Sticks and Wire
The boundaried landscape
Am I being kept in? Or out?
My Pow Burn Floweth Over
Pow Burn overflowing
Inevitably after the recent snow in the valley and the snow around Hedgeley Lake, there was going to be a thawing. And that began yesterday.
When out on my once-a-day-exercise (how many times can I say, ‘Déja vu’?) yesterday, I attempted to walk along the course of the Pow Burn and on to Hedgeley Lakes. However, the rapid melting of the ice and snow led to the Pow Burn overflowing its banks and blocking off the path.
Up Above – Down Below
Up and down a valley
I’ve enjoyed visiting and re-visiting the area around the Hedgeley Lakes in recent weeks. How things change, though! The valley floor looks so different now from the yellow Hedgeley of April 2020:
Fields Where We Live
Fields?
Having walked along and thought about the lanes where we live, that prompted a thinking about the fields around us.
field (noun)
an area, usually covered with grass, used for playing sports (Cambridge Dictionary)
Bulby’s Wood Erosion
Bulby’s Wood erosion: riverbanks
I’d reflected recently on the inexorable changes that occur around us and how environmental changes are perhaps more obvious in the countryside: the falling of trees, riverbank erosion and our attempts to halt the effects of erosion.
Deja Vu
Seeing deja vu again
What goes around… Groundhog day! Been there, seen that… Déjà vu!
Waiting for Fall
Waiting for fall of…
It’s inevitable that, in the countryside, the landscape changes from year to year. Rivers erode their banks, animals eat shrubs and the wind breaks branches and trees.
There is a row of trees near Ingram that I’ve been fond of photographing for several years now. When I took my first photo of them back in February 2012 there was snow on the ground:
Last of the Autumn Leaves 2020
Autumn leaves don’t last…
It’s been a great year for vibrant coloured autumn leaves along the lanes where we live this year. It’s been a real joy to see the ochres, umbers, purples, yellow, golds, reds and russets. But…nothing lasts forever, and the leaves are almost gone now. But as the deciduous trees shed most of their leaves for the winter, the larches are still holding onto their needles as they turn a wonderful yellow-brown-gold. Again, what’s not to like?
How Clean Was My Valley
Or…when rubbish is a social commentary
Mmm. Well. I mean. How clean? What more can be said? Strange, don’t you think, that some people who visit the countryside because of its beauty then rather spoil that beauty by leaving litter?