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A few days off work. I was originally planning to go back to the Somerset Levels, but a) the Somerset Levels are currently underwater, and b) my car was making a weird noise. So I took the train to Brighton instead. Brighton was busy. Of course it was busy, it is a city, you fool. And it is surprisingly hard to get a proper pot of tea there. There are coffee shops galore, and shops offering bubble tea & matcha & chai... but I failed to find any old-fashioned tea rooms. Luckily I came across the café upstairs in Waterstones, had a pot of tea surrounded by books, and was saved.
Back home now. Brighton was grand. Grand & crumbling. I think I enjoyed it, despite the lack of tea, and the getting lost (a lot).
( Regency grandeur )
Ferry spotting
Feb. 21st, 2026 01:30 pm
A cold grey miserable morning, but the rain held off for a few hours, so I headed over to the tip of the Studland peninsula to watch the ships leaving & entering Poole Harbour. Even on a grim morning, with no light for photography, and my hands freezing, there's still a certain comfort to be found in watching marine traffic...
( Boring stuff. No quinquiremes or galleons... )
A grey day, and the wind is in the north again, very cold. But at least the rain is holding off. And the days are lengthening noticeably. A few days ago, when the cloud cleared briefly, I set off on my morning walk around the forest in the dark. By the time I turned for home, the stars were fading and the sky lightening in the east, and the Woodlarks were starting to sing.
Despite the almost complete lack of sunshine, the first daffodils are starting to flower in one corner of the garden. (No spring crocuses this year. They came up a few weeks ago, but the rain flattened them before the flowers ever got to open...)
Despite the almost complete lack of sunshine, the first daffodils are starting to flower in one corner of the garden. (No spring crocuses this year. They came up a few weeks ago, but the rain flattened them before the flowers ever got to open...)
Rain falling on marsh pools
Feb. 15th, 2026 11:03 amRaining again. Mild again. A quiet walk through the forest, and along the edge of the marshes. No colour in the landscape - the endless rain has washed it all out. Brown heather. Dun reeds. Dun marsh grasses. Stopped a while to watch the rain falling on the black marsh pools: ripples spreading in perfect concentric circles, merging and dissipating. It's quite hypnotic.
The paths still passable, just, though navigation is something of an art. You can't just switch your boots onto auto-pilot and tromp along. You have to look ahead, see which side of the path you should take for the best chance of edging successfully round a puddle-turned-to-lake, see where the rivulet running across the path is narrow enough to leap.
Sat for a while on the wooden bench overlooking the marshes, with the rain pattering on my hood, and water from the pine branches dripping into my coffee. Watched the silver curtains of rain sweeping across the marshes, a pair of geese flying over the reedbeds. Said good morning to a couple passing by in shining waterproofs, accompanied by two cheerful Labradors.
The paths still passable, just, though navigation is something of an art. You can't just switch your boots onto auto-pilot and tromp along. You have to look ahead, see which side of the path you should take for the best chance of edging successfully round a puddle-turned-to-lake, see where the rivulet running across the path is narrow enough to leap.
Sat for a while on the wooden bench overlooking the marshes, with the rain pattering on my hood, and water from the pine branches dripping into my coffee. Watched the silver curtains of rain sweeping across the marshes, a pair of geese flying over the reedbeds. Said good morning to a couple passing by in shining waterproofs, accompanied by two cheerful Labradors.
It stopped raining. Just for one day. Blue sky and sunshine, and a northeasterly wind blowing bitter cold and strong enough to ground the skylarks - no song above the fields today. But this might be our only day of sunshine this month, so I set off for another walk on the high ground near the coast.
Kingston village at sunrise.
( Lanes, tracks, & fields )
Kingston village at sunrise.
( Lanes, tracks, & fields )
Another grey day on St Aldhelm's Head
Feb. 8th, 2026 12:25 pmAnother grey day, though the rain held off for a few hours this morning, and another walk across the high ground, this time following the chalk track along St Aldhelm's Head.
Even the high ground is wet.
( Black & white photos, and grey photos )
Even the high ground is wet.
( Black & white photos, and grey photos )
The Blue Pool revisited
Feb. 7th, 2026 12:06 pm
Still raining. Will it ever stop? Probably. And even if it doesn't, the willows and the alder won't mind, and I suppose Spring will find a way, eventually. The daffodils in my garden are sulking. Not one flowering early. Even the little 'Tête-à-tête' daffs are saying "Nothing doing".
Paid a reduced price out-of-season visit to the Blue Pool, for old time's sake, but it was pretty grim. I should have stuck to my resolution never to visit again.
( Read more... )
Shipstal Point
Jan. 29th, 2026 01:47 pm
A walk along muddy paths, down to Shipstal Point, to sit for a while looking out over the choppy grey-brown waters of Poole Harbour. The wind very cold indeed, and the light terrible for photography. But it's a good place to see the birds passing: Oystercatchers, Avocets, and even a flock of Spoonbills.
( +1 )
Road Closed
Jan. 28th, 2026 02:18 pm
Storm Chandra broke several rainfall records in Dorset. Evershot saw a very impressive 55mm of rain within twenty-four hours. And this all falling on already-saturated ground. Took a walk by Stoborough village and the meadows at Wareham to photograph the floods.
( Read more... )
January on the heath
Jan. 17th, 2026 11:22 am
A walk across the heath, to admire the cloudscapes. The Met Office forecast for today was not promising, but it was a lovely morning. The sun shone and the woodlarks were singing. All Max's favourite puddles were still there, though sadly undisturbed, reflecting the clouds.
( Read more... )
Swanage in the Rain
Jan. 15th, 2026 03:32 pm
After seven glorious sunny days to start the new year, January has a lot of catching up to do in the Rain & Gloom department. Judging by today, it seems to be making good progress on the backlog. I went to Swanage, which is by the seaside and therefore Cosmopolitan, with three different Italian cafés, and treated myself to coffee and a croissant and the pleasure of watching people pass by in the rain.
Took my little Pentax camera, wrapped in a plastic bag, and snatched some shots, one-handed, while trying to wrestle an umbrella in the wind and rain.
( Horizons may be wonky )
The pines & the stars
Jan. 14th, 2026 04:56 pm6am in the forest. Frost in the air. The black branches of the pines perfectly still, and between the branches the stars. The sickle of Leo. The cup of Corona Borealis. Jupiter in the west, very brilliant, coming and going between the dark trunks, reflecting sometimes as an eye-catching splash of yellow in the puddles. The crescent moon low in the south, hanging jauntily on one corner of Virgo (perhaps they had been partying), above a sea of mist.
January bridleways
Jan. 10th, 2026 01:57 pm
A bright cold morning, the fields silvered with frost, and the paths an entertaining mix of ice and mud.
( Read more... )
Arne in January
Jan. 4th, 2026 01:54 pm
Met up with C. and her terrier for a walk by the harbour at Arne in the January sunshine. The water silver, still as glass. Cormorants and grebes performing vanishing tricks through a mirror.
I didn't get any good photos, but the light was gorgeous - you cannot take light for granted in January - and the harbour was very quiet, just the calling of the wading birds, or the splash of a rower passing by. Afterwards, coffee and cake at the café, sitting outside, the terrier curled in C.s lap, half-dozing in the sun, waking just enough to grumble halfheartedly at other dogs passing by.
( Read more... )
