Walking back to happiness

Shoulder impingement syndrome took me out of circulation for the whole of September and the beginning of October, though for the latter half of that time I was able to get out locally for some short walks with a cabin-fevered collie.

Early autumn is a strange time in the woods. The leaves are only just beginning to turn colour, and when the day is overcast, they're probably at their darkest - dense canopies still, with no long hours of summer light to pierce them. 

The fungi are putting on a bright display, though. 

Oh, and outside the woods, the Michaelmas daisies are spectacular.

One souvenir of the long, hot, dry summer we had is the sight of trees struggling and falling. 

Above, two fallen ash trees on Purdown ...

and another across our path that I couldn't identify because most of it had fallen into a thicket of brambles.

Below the woods in Stoke Park, I noticed one of the landmark oaks had dropped two branches ...

... while an ancient oak I used to visit with my old dog, Ted, is down and out. Going by the colour of the heartwood, it doesn't look as if it fell that long ago; on the other hand, there are no twigs left on it, so it probably died some time before it was downed. I have a photo of it in leaf as recently as 2021.

Elsewhere, we encountered a fallen yew on C*lston Hill ...

... plus, a much smaller pair of trees ... 

... and a huge beech across the path, all on the Blaise estate.

The damage is similar to what you might expect after a wild storm. True, October has seen Storm Amy, the first of this season's windstorms, but all these trees  fell in August and September (with the exception of the ancient oak). 

Since driving is one of the most painful things I can do right now, we haven't strayed beyond North Bristol. We've been to Badock's Wood on the River Trym ...

... and we've had a few turns around Blaise. 

Between ditches on Kings Weston hill fort ...

... and the very top of hill fort itself

The stone marking the 18th century boundaries of the Blaise estate and the Kings Weston estate

On the south side of Hazel Brook, storm clouds and some magnificent trees.

wasps' nest

It's been an amazing year for mast, and the squirrels have been fizzing and popping all over the place, which is suprising really as you'd think they'd have their gobs too full of acorns to draw breath, like this one at Snuff Mills, who watched me from a short distance for at least a couple of minutes. In the end it was me who looked away first.

Vassals Park

A little downstream, in Eastville Park, we encountered the local heron a few times.

Much like with the big beech across the path at Blaise, a section has now been cut through the hornbeam that toppled into the lake back in January, so people can walk around the lake again without having to stoop under/climb over it. Meanwhile it can still support wildlife, providing perches for fishers and nesting places for moorhens and coots, which is pleasing.

Cwtch by my favourite ash tree on the bank of the River Frome

Now the weather's cooler and the sun less bright, I've been straying from the woods a bit and have taken a couple of turns around Stoke Park on Purdown. It was fun watching hot-air balloons take off and drift east across the city one early morning.

Duchess Pond and the Dower House

The woods still have their allure, though, and we always walk through them to get back to the car.

fox jawbone

Sluggus magnificus

Being out of action for those last few weeks of the summer meant I missed the tail end of the season of falling feathers, with just these few ending up in my clutches ... 

CLOCKWISE from top left: jay, tawny owl, green woodpecker, magpie, ring-necked parakeet

... though until the leaves start falling more thickly, there's always hoggin to be found. Lovely to pick things up and stay in the moment.

My favourite bit was this self-decorated sherd at Blaise. It stayed where it was to finish its delicate work.

Walking to the end of summer

My left shoulder decided to go on a pain spree at the end of August, since when summer's sloped off and autumn's feet are firmly under the table - at least as far as I can tell from the Settee of Suffering, where I've been stranded for the last two and a half weeks. And since I can't get out and about, I might as well the post the last few photos of our summer walks around the Rivers Frome and Trym in north Bristol ... 

... though this is Ashton Court, and not near either, being above the River Avon as it slithers through its gorge to the Severn estuary. You can see from these photos just how dry it's been.

Ancient oaks in the fallow deer park

Good to see what remains of the Domesday Oak still going strong, though.

It's been equally dry up on Purdown, to the north. While we were away on holiday, one of my favourite trees, a large horse chestnut on the edge of Hermitage Wood, dropped a huge branch, much to the consternation of locals on Facebook.

And people picnicking just below Barn Wood were forced to call the fire brigade when they accidentally barbecued a large part of the hillside.

Conkers were falling a month early ...

... and this empty nest box looked like a harvest hamper.

The woods were lovely, dark and deep, though ... 

... and my favourite tree on Purdown - this lovely oak - seems to be in good spirits. 

There are few flowers about now, but nearby, in Wickham Glen, I found these wild cyclamen growing high above the River Frome.

Because the last time I'd been there was with Ted, our old dog, I decided it was high time I took Cwtch the Collie to see Wickham Court, just in case she ever has to sit any history exams. She was interested to learn it's where Oliver Cromwell held a council of war with General Fairfax in 1645, prior to the Siege of Bristol, and added that although she's far from being a Royalist, the Cavaliers did have the best clothes and her plumy tail being like their plumy hats makes her feel some sort of allegiance to both sides. 

From the River Frome to the River Trym/Hazel Brook, a few miles to the west, which we've mostly visited on their respective ways through the Blaise estate. 

Blaise Castle

View from Coombe Hill to construction sites at Catbrain and Brabazon 

Some lovely big bits of hoggin found in the woods

Hazel Brook

My favourite part of the Blaise estate is Kingsweston Down; in particular, the long earthy paths along its north-western flank that reveal, in glimpses, its previous life as a hill fort.

mallow

The woods are cool and dark in the summer, and are less frequented than other parts of the estate, and there are lots of little meandering paths that take you into the ditches between banks. It's a place of ghosts.

late summer fungi

While my bad shoulder means I'm missing the end of feather hunting season, I have to concede I've probably found enough this year.

tawny owl, green woodpecker, ring-necked parakeet, buzzard, sparrowhawk, jay,  crow, great spotted woodpecker, magpie, songthrush

this year's moulted jay coverts 

This is the poor dead jay I found in early July, after several weeks spent under a weighted pot in my garden. Now zombie jay. (And yes, that crackling sound is authentic.)

Fox skull from Barn Wood, Purdown