Sunday

Back again I have not actually written much for a couple of days, the mood has not taken hold. I have tried to go out with my camera and take pictures. over the last week the weather has been cold and overcast only really Friday and Saturday having sunny intervals mixed with the snow showers. For one reason and another I have yet to go through them so I have not put anything up here. This assumes that I have taken some pictures. This last week has been relatively low key I just have not seen anything that has grabbed me round the throat and said take my picture. OK so inspiration is a little low at present. Maybe it is the time of year and I am waiting for something to tell me about things changing. There are glimpses of the new season, there are catkins and various bits and pieces popping their heads up. OK so I will have to go through my pictures tomorrow and show you what I have seen. It is getting late now.

I have spent some time going back to the website Vertrouge.co.uk I have been working on the front page and putting up a couple of pages showcasing the stuff I put up here on the Blog. A sort of best of.... I will finish that off over the next week or so. I am not happy with the front page so that may take a few revisions before I get something final

Back soon

Monday Not Much

so after all the I get to Monday and I did not go out with my camera. I had meetings in Birmingham in the pm so I left early. The morning was a bit manic but I think I got through it and am all set up for tomorrow when much the same will happen. We have 12 new clients to see in the morning, but once that is done I may actually get some training done.

I do want to start looking at the Website again and do something with it. What should I do with it ??? Have a look at Vertrouge and give me some ideas. I personally like the lay out of the picture pages and they are relatively easy to do. I suppose it is the text pages that need to be fixed. I do need a better introduction and the backgrounds and the logos need to be worked on and and...

I will over the next few days (Weeks) try and put up some more of my pictures. I need to go through the best of the blog and put those up.

OK food for thought.

Thursday and Friday on the Severn

So its Sunday again and I have found time to type something up. The girls are watching a Harry Potter film and all is well with the world, well at least until bedtime.

It has been a couple of days since my last post, I am getting in to the jargon again. Well I have been to the Severn on Thursday and on Friday and the level of the water has continued to drop. The Picture on the left was taken on Monday

By Thursday when I took the picture on the right, from roughly the same place on the English Bridge. You should be able to see the difference three days has made.

I never really understood until watching the ebb and flow of the Severn the after effects of flooding, yes I knew about the Nile and the silt it left behind and I had seen pictures on the Telly of flooding in various parts of the country and the aftermath. I have always lived on hills or where the there have been serious flood defences. So I have never seen the silt that is deposited where the water has been.

I took this just upstream from the English Bridge and you can see the imprint of bikes and footprints in the mud. It is very fine slippy and generally horrible stuff that gets everywhere.

Now I have a better understanding of those whose houses are filled by the stuff. It reminds me to make sure I don't buy a house on a flood plain and definitely try to live on top of the hill.

So what else has happened, not much to be honest.

I have managed to get about and do my walking and take pics over the last few days, though on the whole it has been overcast and generally murky when it has nor been raining. On Thursday I walked upstream from the English Bridge and got a couple of pics that I like. In no particular order, I like the contrast of the "green" of the leaves against the the texture of the bark. I have no idea of the species. The tree is one of the limes that line the path along the bank of the River Severn I think they were planted during the time of Percy Thrower.

Also there was this of a female blackbird. It was the silhouette together with the fence that I liked. Well I still do .....

On Friday I headed downstream for the first time in a week or so.

I worked my way through the mud and I would like to report that I saw lots of stuff and took inspiring pictures. I didn't. In fact it was a fairly cold and miserable afternoon which about summed up the weather for the week.

So its now Sunday and I have taken some pictures since, when I have been able to get out the murky overcast feel has continued. This afternoon I walked down to the canal at the bottom the hill. (yes I live at the top of a hill, when a good way up it) I got very wet as it rained through much of the walk. The Children were far more sensible than me stayed in playing in their D S s. Mario Karts if memory serves. Anyway of this meander (though how you meander along a straight line that is the canal I am not sure) this is my favourite. The sun was sinking rapidly and the rain cloud had broken enough in the west to allow something to shine through to adding the pink tinge to the sky. The water was frozen even though the air temperature had been above freezing for almost a week. It is quite dark and I may in the fullness of time lighten it up a bit.

So its getting late so time for bed and thinking of tomorrow and shrewsbury and possibly even doing some work.

Goodnight

Wet Wednesday no snow

So it seems the thaw is complete. The wet snow that was forecast did not materialise rather it just rained most of this morning. Driving in to Shrewsbury was grey and well generally murky. Looking out through the morning saw little improvement. By the time I ventured out into the rain about 1:30 there was a general drizzle and it was grey and overcast and generally miserable. OK so I walked down to the English Bridge and looked downstream. River levels have despite the local rain dropped several feet since yesterday. The River Severn had returned to its course. I decided that I was still a wimp and not to venture downstream today, maybe tomorrow if the river had continued to drop. Anyway the gates that let you down to the bank form the Bridge were still locked.

So I ventured upstream more in hope than expectation.

Because of the weather (I assume ) there where much fewer people on the river bank path and this meant the birds came that bit closer. this female Goosander was fishing in the willows close to bank.

I know it is very dark, bur it was the best shot I got of it. I could lighten it up a bit but that I suppose would not be the point. It was quite dark

As I walked on up the Severn I saw one of my favourite birds, and than another and then another. Long Tailed Tits are just cute and pink. There was small group of them maybe 5 or 6 mixed in with a few great tits searching for food in the bark of the willows by the edge of the river. This was one of the critters that stayed still long enough to be photographed and be quite sharp. I know it does not look pink but there is pink it there.

as I moved further upstream the effects of the days rain and drizzle became apparent.

I saw these pictures, and they seem to encapsulate the day and the season. Wet and Wintry.

But on the other hand they sort of offer hope that winter will come to an end. Spring and Summer are not that far away.

It will be February soon.

anyway bedtime

tuesday and before, getting warmer

Tuesday and I am back again typing away when I really should be off to bed. I thought I would look at some of the pics I have taken over the last few days. If I say detailing the thaw it would imply far to much premeditation I was just going through what I had taken since the weekend and well now here it is.

I went up to Forge mill Lake on Saturday and as I said was surprised at how ice remained. about three quarters of the surface was frozen. This branch had been shoved on to the ice at some stage. However the surface was showing definite signs of melt and at the edge of the lake there was the definite feel that the temperature was rising.

Away from the lake there were few well sheltered patches of snow left, there rest having emerged, wetter but now warmer.

So that was Saturday, Sunday came and went after sorting out family including parents and children, though not in that order it was Monday that gave me a chance to go out again.

Monday meant a return to the River Severn and shrewsbury. As I said in a previous post river levels have risen several feet over the weekend. This should give you some idea of the level reached by Monday around the English Bridge in shrewsbury.

The second picture was taken on the downstream side of the bridge and usually the river is infront and below the green railings which are about 4 feet high.

In yesterday's missive I mentioned a cormorant well I have gone through my pics and this is one of my better ones of the little dear. It is not a wonderfully sharp picture, bur I hope you get the idea. the strange colouration around the head and neck was quite distinctive.

It is bed time now goodnight

Monday the thaw continues

Back to Shrewsbury this morning, only the tops of Welsh hills have real snow on the rest has gone over the weekend. Most seems to be in the River Severn which has risen dramatically since I last saw it. Though it still has a way to go until it reaches the levels I saw last November.

This is a quick entry, I did take some pictures mainly of a strangely marked cormorant that was fishing in the river upstream from the English Bridge. The stream was running quite quickly and the weather was over cast and generally dull. I did not spend too much time out this lunch time. I will put up today's pictures later on in the week.

I just thought to say hello really.

Hello

Back soon (ish)

Otters on Friday

I know I should have done this last night, but I didn't OK. I am smug again. for the very first time in my life I saw a real life wild otter. I walked down just after 1:00 on Friday to the English Bridge and saw to my amazement an otter in the river just upstream.

I managed to get my camera, and take a couple of pictures this being the best. It appeared to be chasing something and then began porpoising through the water towards the bridge. I took a deep breath and waited for the traffic and then ran, well walked quickly to the other side.

There it was, looking remarkably like images I have seen of the Loch Ness Monster curling through the water. I would Like to say I got some wonderful images of the critter but I think this is the best.

It disappeared from my view quite soon after after this. so I decided to see if I could find it again and walked downstream on the town bank.

It had disappeared, but I was very pleased with my self.

I carried on walking down the river. It was on the rise as the snow and ice melted and began to get in to the rivers. On Friday there had been some melting, as I write this on Saturday I would imagine the levels are much higher, but nothing like November and early December.

On my way to the weir I took a couple of shots of the footbridge, the sun had just come out and for the first time I felt sort of warmed by it. It reminded me of spring and all sorts of things.

I like the way the bridge is taking the girl from the town into the country.

I am sure I could wax lyrical about this picture for quite a while and read lots into it. fortunately I will let you make your own mind up about this one/

I had been down this stretch of the river the day before (Thursday) just as the thaw had begun. well to be honest for most of the journey there was nothing that grabbed me and said "take my picture". The just below the railway bridge I saw this floating down stream. It was the drop of water in the middle of the feather that drew my attention.

I took this and a number of others but never quite did it justice. I blame the light, and I will stick with this. I was also cheered up by a small group of sparrows "playing" in one of the bushes by the side of the towpath.

For now the snow and cold have gone or at least are well on there way out. there are still places where the ice holds sway.

I went up to Forge Mill Lake this afternoon and it was still half frozen. It is only really the area around the slipway by the Farm that is being kept clear of ice by the activities of the birds. More of this visit anon but I want to convey how smug I was having seen an otter for the first time.

I did manage to catch a glimpse of it again on my back to the English Bridge. I saw it briefly in the water by the bank and then it climbed up the bank and ran into a gap into the wall and into some bushes. this was the last time I saw it.

Good night

The cold snap birds snow ice and teasel

So its Monday night and I have actually sat down and got back to this blog. There is a motivation thing going on here. It may well be the time of year and that general lethargy that comes with winter and the cold. Yes, it has been cold here in the UK for the last week or two. It has been as cold, not just for a few days but really since before Christmas. I know that for any one who is used to let us say "continental winters" it is a mere blip. but I don't remember it being this cold for this long at all..

I have got lots of pictures of the snow and ice this being the ones with most snow. I took them last Wednesday in Merrions Wood in Walsall which is just up the road from where I live. I had the afternoon off and my children were off school. The snow was still on the trees as you can see from the picture and every so often as the wind caught it, would fall to the floor making us jump.

The girls love playing in the wood and run and jump around. They make secret dens and balance along the fallen trees that lie around.

The snow had just fallen and it was still cold.

At one end of Merrions Wood is the church of St Margaret's. A place I have been past countless times on our way to / from the M6 or Birmingham. I just have never stopped and been in or walked around. I have seen funerals and weddings and and just general stuff on a Sunday morning. It is a place I go past. Or was until now I suppose. Providing one of the anchor points of the wood it is there when we walk. Usually keeping its distance. I have become more aware of it recently. It sits surrounded by trees and with the snow looks quite a picture. Yes I know in this picture it is half hidden by the trees but that to me is part of the mystery. I like it anyway.

I have managed to get out on most days over the last week and walk around in Shrewsbury. The drop in temperature last week was felt in our office as the boiler broke leaving us with a couple of gas heaters. By Friday the River was beginning to freeze. I took this looking back upstream towards the English bridge. I took this early afternoon, with the ice floes on the river giving a definite Arctic feel to the scene.

The black headed gulls seem a little unsure what to do. Though this one has managed to hitch a ride.

So where else have I managed to go. The RSPB Sandwell Valley on the south side of Forge Mill Lake

I got out on Saturday afternoon, the place was quiet, with the blanket of snow muffling the noise. As the lake had largely frozen over most of the ducks geese gulls etc were concentrated in one small area of open water around the slipway on the Forge Mill Farm section. The lapwings that I had seen on the ice the week before seem to have moved on.

I did however get a different picture of a teasel. Well apart from stating the obvious there is not much more to say.

I think this one works on more than just the picture of snow

The more I look at this one the more I like it


OK time for bed

Goosanders and River Severn

Over the last few months I have been walking up and down a small stretch of the River Severn in and around Shrewsbury. Apart from the the usual suspects Mallard, Black Headed Gull, I have seen cormorants regularly on my excursions, but also increasingly as the weather has got colder and the levels of the river have receded after the high water marks of November and early December I have seen Goosander. Not just the occasional one or two, but five and sixes regularly spaced out. This is a picture I took a couple of days ago of a male taking off, heading up stream towards the Welsh Bridge in on the Severn in Shrewsbury.

Nearly twenty years ago I worked on a survey for the RSPB counting the number of Goosander on the rivers of Central Wales. As part of that exercise I walked along a number of rivers in march and again in June to look for the birds. Compared to then the population seems to have somewhat increased this is reflected in the experience of others (Wharfdale Naturalists) have commented on the same population increase over the last few years.

I have managed to get quite a few pictures of the critters over the last few weeks, but of all this is my favourite. This is a female Goosander that has caught something just a little to big to deal with in one go.

Immediately after she was set upon by a male goosander and a couple of marauding gulls. I could not work out what happened to the fish whether it was alive or not but it seemed that the female that originally caught it was unable to keep it for long.


OK bed time but more soon ish.....

Starting again

I am finding it quite hard to get the motivation at the moment to sit down and compose something. Compose is far too strong a word for this it does imply that the finished article will have form and function and and be a joy to behold. so OK maybe the last was a touch of hyperbole, but I think you get my drift.

This is the first time this year that I have started something, I have been on a couple of walks in the last week, well it is now the 5th day of the year. I did take my camera and took some good pictures, which, I fully intend to share with, well whoever is reading this. I have yet to go through the pictures that I have and see what I like.

OK times up on this particular missive. More soon....