Walking out of winter

Forget snowdrops, celandines and dandelions ... spring begins for me when the first wood anemones start blooming, and here they are ...

... which means it's time to look back at our winter walks and bid them farewell till next time (don't come round too soon). 

Not that I had to walk through the brunt of winter - for the last week of December and the first two weeks of January, I was laid up again with a bad shoulder. Which is unpleasant in itself, but happened to coincide with the coldest, darkest, grimmest days. 

Even when I did get out, it was still gloomy.

near Wickham Glen

This is in part due to the unremitting rain we've had, that has filled the rivers, created ad hoc ponds and left Eastville lake brimming. 

River Trym at Badock's Wood

Above the Trym at Badock's

a winter pond on the Blaise estate

the Frome at Wickham Glen

Eastville Park lake

Despite the fact none of the winter's named storms gave Bristol more than a passing glance, we saw several trees downed, presumably as a result of stress following last year's hot, dry summer and the very wet winter. 

Badock's Wood

Blaise

Wickham Glen

Snuff Mills

A sign, perhaps, of climate chaos was all these ladybirds on a single stone wall at Snuff Mills in January. (I saw the same phenomenon in the same place a couple of weeks later.)

There were, at least, some stunning skies. I did manage to catch one sunrise up on Purdown, which was glorious ... 

... and back when my shoulder impingement meant I could only visit our local park, a double rainbow. (On another occasion, I actually passed through the end of a rainbow, which had never happened to me before - it was there, and then it wasn't. No photos because I was driving; no pot of gold because I was crossing a bridge over the M32 and it would have meant digging through a lot of tarmac and concrete.)

And also this sun halo, photographed from Purdown:

I suppose it's no surprise that walks out in the open on fine days are generally brighter than those down in the valleys or woods. We had a lovely walk a little further afield, though still in North Bristol, at Kings Weston House a week or so ago. 

Kings Weston House

Daffodils!

Former quarry in Penpole Wood

And Purdown remains a wonderful place to get at least get above the city, if not away from it, the M32 being audible from a large part of the park.

Yet more trees have been felled from along the paths in Long Wood, which is hard to see, though of course woodland management is necessary. 

There have also been attempts to restore some of historic landscape, with hedges of cherry laurel being laid around the woodland opening called, since the 18th century, 'the Saloon' - such an awful name for a magical place with the most beautiful light at any time of the year ...

... and also at the flat, circular site in Barn Wood where a rotunda stood until the 1950s, when it was pulled down. 

I'm not a fan of 18th century landscape gardens, and I would prefer to see the woods and park managed as a refuge for the city's wildlife, with native species planted, but as that approach might involve banning dogs and their walkers in the interests of native flora and fauna, I'd best keep quiet and focus on the horizon, like this view from Sir John's Lane ...

... and this one from the gun emplacements.

Purdown has the GOATiest goats

I disparaged snowdrops, celandines and dandelions at the start of this blog, but of course they're a delight and comfort in the muddy dark, alongside daisies, sprouting bluebell and ramson leaves, dead nettles, primroses, hogweed leaves, violets, cherry blossom and dog's mercury. The year is turning.

fungi

scarlet elf cups

hoggin

Winter walks in the dark days

Since I’m still largely confined to the settee with a painful shoulder, I might as well post some photos of local walks we took from late November to just before Christmas, when I suddenly stopped being able to drive to interesting places.

Here are some photos of Blaise Castle taken about six weeks ago, when there was still some colour clinging to the trees ...

... and here’s Badock’s Wood, a couple of miles upstream on the Trym, on a magical morning of mist and lingering leaves at the beginning of December.

Mill Tut

 Meanwhile, the wintry Frome has been running fast with flood water from copious amounts of rainfall. Luckily, Cwtch is deeply suspicious of water and very careful around it.

She doesn’t even like the section of path through Snuff Mills that always floods in winter.

the Frome from Halfpenny Bridge

I haven’t seen the heron that hangs out in Eastville Park lake for at least a couple of months, but there have been kingfishers and cormorants, so I can’t complain.

Purdown, above the Frome valley, is a good place to walk in winter when you haven't time to get muddy, and Cwtch and I have had several shiny-bright walks up there.

I haven't been able to find out what this stone on Sir John’s Lane signifies – a boundary marker, perhaps?

winter oak

Finally, a walk at Three Brooks nature reserve in Bradley Stoke on a day so bright the first wise man must have wrapped it up as a gift.  

Can spring be far behind? 

Finally, a reminder that even when you can't drive anywhere, the most familiar and mundane of places can still delight you: here, starlings gate-crashing a colony of sparrows.