Thought I'd do a bit of a photo-Blog for a change. This weekend began well, fell apart with a spectacular bang on Saturday evening and then picked itself up nicely yesterday.
After the storms had crossed over on Saturday evening, it looked wonderfully spring like out there. How wrong could I have been. Popping down to the Somerset Levels to do a spot of wildlife watching, it became evident that everywhere was flooded, many roads too. So I rang a friend and we met up for a walk along the North Dorset Trailway. Until recently I spent every weekend in North Dorset so this used to be a regular walk for me. But since August and splitting up with Thelma, I'd not been back. So very nice to revisit of an old stomping ground.
But as you can see from the following photos, and video, it was a bit wet !!
On the drive to the Trailway the River Stour had burst it's banks at King's Mill
Ahhahh it's good to be back in Dorset.... even if my sartorial elegance isn't obvious. This is a repeat of a photo last June in warmer weather - see here.
Just because it was an arty shot.
In drier times, one can walk to this style and along the riverbank, a haven for Otter, Kingfisher and Banded Damoiselle
Where this tree is, is the bank. In the summer the river is usually 10 feet below here
We took a detour off the Trailway and walked to Fiddleford Mill. I'm so glad we did, otherwise we'd not have spied these snowdrops, They were a bit battered after the flood, but a welcome sign of the coming spring
Water pounding through the mill race
Another arty shot, an old door. Taken because of the colours
I was surprised there were so few birds about taking advantage of the flooding. Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon and Buzzard were common, as were Fieldfare and Redwing. smattering of Great, blue and Long-Tailed Tit, and a couple of lovely male Bullfinches at Fiddleford. Dunnock, Robin and Blackbird but no waders, and apart from this Kestrel on a post in the floodwater, nothing else of note.
But the sun began to set and time to go home. The fence is where the riverbank normally is, and where the Kestrel was, on the bend.
Finally a video taken from the sluice gates at Fiddleford Mill on my camera of the flooding. Where these people are walking is the higher river bank. about a 20 foot drop to the river below. hopefully they knew what they were doing.
Finally on the way home, just to revisit old haunts, we popped up to Bulbarrow Hill. It was good to be back there, made all the more so by the 4 Ravens seen tumbling and playing the wind. I'm going to have to move down there, much too good a place to avoid. No wonder Thomas Hardy wrote such descriptive novels.... now then Tess, is that job still going as Mayor of Casterbridge?
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