Autumn Watch gets Local: The Bewick Swans are back!

Do birds suffer jet lag??
Well, if not, then they are entitled to, in my view.
Here, in the peaceful haven of Slimbridge
the first Bewick swans have now returned from
something like 3000 miles away in the Russian tundra

Beautifully white plumage, and elegant yellow and black
markings on their bills (the later feature which
enables individulas to be recognised by Slimbridge staff
from one year to the next!)

Home, at Slimbidge. A chance to rest, preen,


...to sleep even....

sharing this special place with multicultural neighbours..
local mallards, coots and black-headed gulls...

..and tufted duck....

or (red headed, red eyed) Pochards, also refugees from the
north and east.....

clouds of green plovers swoop or strut about..

amongst elegant Pintailed ducks....more foreign exiles.

and Widgeon too, whose 4000 mile trek to
humble Gloucestershire maybe overflew
Ulambatur, Mongolia

The world, on my doorstep.

There now follows a short film, introducing Slimbridge's new guest
"Dumbles" (hee hee)...... watch out for his first night nervey stage
exit towards the end of the film (Ah! Bless!)


Slimbridge Wild Swans
Uploaded by agracarter2

The Severn Bore

I went to watch the Severn Bore on Sunday. The following is a link to
the video that I created of the event.
I'm not sure what's wrong with Dailymotion at the moment but I couldn't get
the normal way of linking my videos and blogs to work
I trust this link works instead!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xhm3o_the-severn-bore

Locks on up, Looks on Downs

Today I began a new walking project.
I took up the walk on a point along
the Kennet and Avon canal near Trowbridge
that I had reached on another project:
walking down the Avon from Tetbury to Bristol.

This time I was heading away from the Avon, towards
the Kennet.

But a particular feature was part of the objective
for today. Approaching Devizes the canal climbs
upwards and the frequency of locks increases

..until a quite dramatic "staircase" of..... well...
I don't know how many locks one after another.

Quite a sight.





Once passed this interesting spot I headed away
from the canal. Hedgerows were ladden
with autumn fruits......
Blackberry..

Blackthorn (Sloes)

Hawthorn.....and more.

..as I approached my days target endpoint, the chalky hilltops
of the Marlborough Downs.
So here beginneth my walk along the Ridgeway Path
to Ivinghoe Beacon in Bedfordshire
(well, perhaps I'll go a little further too!)

I shall revisit Avebury and pass some other ancient
landmarks I have not yet seen, cross the Thames once
again at Goring (as I did in 2002 walking the Thames path)
and then touch on bits of Chiltern slopes that I explored
when living in Hertfordshire.
I look forward to all that! (Time scale: uncertain!)

Avebury Ave!

Yesterday I made a daytrip to Avebury, to admire
and investigate its ancient features.
Here's a good link about it all:
http://www.stonehenge-avebury.net/aburybuilding.html

Primarily at Avebury one thinks of its stone circle...
best appreciated by walking around it, or failing that
from arial photos such as this from Google Earth..

On the ground the stones grab the attention...





But the ditch around the outside of the circle
is just as impressive in its way...

I liked the textures of the stones, this one with
accompanying lichen growth...

and this without.

Stretching away from the Avebury ring
is the West Kennet Avenue, believed
to be a ritual walkway of some kind.



and running out into the chalky downland,

towards what would once have been another impressive
circular structure now marked out with modern stone markers:
interesting to see, but not easily illustrated with
a photo (sorry about that).

Around about in nearby fields Round Barrows
abound....

some of which can be spotted for miles around
due to the clump of beech trees growing on them!



Such spots seemed a particular draw to those
of a pagan persuasion and this one at least
had a little makeshift shrine on its "summit".
Was the draw here worship of the trees? or worship
of the ancestors entombed here? (if the later it seems
a little arbitary. What about those in the tombs not
so lucky to have trees on, or those in barrows long
ploughed over?) I thought the plastic sunflower "planted"
at another location was pushing the whimsy just
a tad far....

Fortunately no-one got around to ploughing
over this other major feature hereabouts....the West Kennet
Long Barrow. You may think Hetty Pegglars Tump
is impressive, but that's peanuts compared to this one!!

Big, impressive "doorway"

into cavenous interior with plenty of
headroom

and even substantial side chambers. Splendidly evocative.

One last site to behold as I walked back towards
Avebury (and my car) was the massive artifical
Silbury hill. To get a sense of scale, note the white
van/lorry passing by. Big! Lets hope the fears
of it collapsing are unfounded!

Completing a Loop

I left home at 5.30am and was in
Hay-on-Wye by 7.30am. Then after walking
5 miles and ascending 2000ft I felt
it was a good moment to stop, admire
the view from Hay Bluff....and have some
breakfast!

The aim thereafter was to walk from there
along the long Hatteral ridge and down to Pandy Inn.
This image, from Google Earth conveys something
of the experience, although one should picture the
far end swathed in grey cloud, dampening the later
stages of my days walk!

So I continued on my way across the winding path
on windy moor....birds, sheep, ponies and the
only very occasional other walker for company.

There may have been few walkers today
but over the years there have been thousands,
each of us wearing away at the peaty soil, as
testified to by heather-topped stumps such as this..

Finally descending to Pandy Inn after
61/2 hours (four of them on the hilltop!)
I achieved an end to a major phase in my current
walking project. The circle joining Monmouth
and Hay, via Wye Valley walk and Offas Dyke path
is now complete. Hurrah!

Random lines

Here's a little collection of pictures from my
last set of day's off....with a bit of a linear
theme!

Avoiding the heat of the heatwave days
with an early walk gave me the opportunity
of catching this shade of sunlight colouring
on a stubbly field....



In Westonbirt Arboretum, more lines.....



...and a bit of attractive pattern on the trunk
of a Tingiringi gum tree (I like that name!) .



In the grass, occasional spiders webs retained
pearl drops of dew (lines and globules!)



Speaking of spiders, and lines.....a spider on
a sedge leaf in my garden pond...



Also found in my pond, a feather...



Two final photos that are just nicely
colourful (forget the linear theme now!)

Meadow campion



...and a gatekeeper butterfly, enjoying the sun.
(I hope you have been too!)