It hasn't been a great summer, weather-wise. When it's been hot, it's been humid. The rest of the time, it's rained, and this has seen Cwtch and me heading for various woods in and around Bristol. Mostly we've been up on Purdown, where there are four woods to wander in, it's several degrees cooler than out in the open and you can walk several miles sheltered from the wet. (More about that in a later post.) The rest of the time, we've been to several smaller local woods tucked away in corners of north Bristol.
After the high drama of spring in Badock's Wood, summer tends to feel like a bit of an anti-climax. The River Trym was running low, as it always does during the summer months, but looking quite polluted when we visited in late July.
There were already a few signs of late summer/early autumn appearing too, in the form of fungi.
Artist's conk
We also revisited the strip of woodland I call Nameless Wood (as I haven't been able to discover its real name). It runs from Lower Knole, at the junction of Charlton Road and Knole Lane to Brentry Hill.
It too is looking a bit autumnal in places, particularly beneath the horse chestnut trees.
Brentry House, designed by Humphry Repton and his son, John
Scabious
Goat's rue
A boundary stone dated 1904, marking the then city limit
Sunlight through the trees and the former west window of the Lord Mayor's Chapel, removed to the wood in the 1820s and now a folly. It looked even more romantic surrounded by leafy trees, instead of bare mud and branches.
wild cyclamen
☺
Some blue and white hoggin
At the north-eastern end of the wood, a glimpse of the River Severn and the hills of South Wales beyond it.
Cwtch and I also visited Snuff Mills with Son the Elder.
It was a lovely summer day, and in contrast to other recent(ish) visits, the River Frome was running peacefully through the woods, making it a calming and very tranquil place to walk in, given its urban setting.
I love the tenacity of the trees in the Frome valley.
Beautiful demoiselle - that's the name
Marmalade hoverfly on Great Burdock
The other wood Cwtch and I have visited several times this summer is in Wiltshire rather than Bristol, and bounded to the north and south by the River Avon and Kennet and Avon canal, and to the west and east by Bradford-on-Avon and Staverton. This is Widbrook Wood, where we've had some lovely early morning walks with Jinny and her Macedonian rescue dog, Millie, which have more than repaid the early rising required to get there by 6am, Millie's preferred time for walks.
Cwtch on the K&A towpath
Widbrook Bridge, which dates from the early 19th century
Jinny and Milllie waiting in the distance at the entrance to the woods
Before our first walk in Widbrook, Cwtch and Millie had only met when Millie had been on Jinny's boat, NB Netty, and Cwtch had been on the towpath, though each had the opportunity to get used to the other's scent when I drove Jinny and Millie to and from the canal and Wales in my car, for a few months' wintering in Ceredigion. When they finally met properly, they soon settled into some rather excited games of chase.
Would you care to play?
Running through the (completely dry) dewpond
Exploring the badgers sett
It hasn't been all fun and games. There has been death ...
a bank vole
Coprinellus on rotting wood
a roe deer leg
... and Jinny showed me this slightly worrying - though small - shallow grave. Rather more cheeringly, she also pointed out the holes in the root ball of a fallen tree where kingfishers nest.
And always there was the beauty of water and land and early morning light. Living on the side of a hill far from a river or even a stream, I still get very excited about the interaction of all three.
the River Avon
The field on the opposite bank, remembering when it was marsh
Best of all, friendship ... and a couple of feathers as souvenirs.
Sparrowhawk and tawny owl
