Wednesday, February 18, 2009

lambs' tails


lambs' tails, aka catkins (see link), the flowers of hazel, are out in another sign of the end of winter. Hooray!

Sunday, February 15, 2009

washing the dogs



washing the dogs in the stream just below Luckett village. Luckett is in a 'bowl' in the landscape, and the village stretches up hill on both sides of the bridge (see below, taken in 2002). It is hard to believe that this was one of the most industrialised areas in the world not that long ago. In fact mining created a large part of the local landscape, but it is slowly retreating behind thick ivy into woodland and ruin.

Luckett woods

It was a lovely, soft sunny light this morning, with a blue tinge to the mist in the Tamar valley below providing a marked contrast to the orange of the winter undergrowth.

Friday, February 13, 2009

snowdrops in Cornwall


The first celandines are showing their sunny yellow faces in the hedgerows, a good couple of weeks later than last year (see last year's pages) . It is an excellent year for snowdrops, seen above near Broadgate. And my favourite complex type of snowdrop flower is back again, it obviously isn't uncommon around here.

Thursday, February 12, 2009

dawn over Kit Hill


a fiery dawn, heralding a shift to calmer kinder weather. Life tends to come to a grinding halt when it snows because of lack of grit. Which sort of grit depends on one's view.