Chapman's Pool

[puddleshark]

Set out early down to the coast at Chapman's Pool, to beat the wild winds and heavy rain forecast for this afternoon. It was grey, of course. But the wind was in the south, strong but not that cold - more March than February - and once I thought I heard a burst of skylark song above its buffeting (but that might just have been wishful thinking).




Saw two hares on the lane down to Hill Bottom, though I was not quick enough to take a photo. I should walk along the headland early one morning, if we ever get a morning with decent light, to see if I can see them boxing in the fields.

Onto the bridleway to Chapman's Pool which runs along the valley, a little way up the hillside.


A few small landslips have covered the bridleway in clay in places, but it's still passable. Every few years a larger landslip takes out the path entirely, and they have to restore it.

Kept an eye out for Coltsfoot alongside the track - it loves the disturbed earth of the landslips, and it's the right time of year for it to be in flower.


Hurrah! Coltsfoot, with the splendid scientific name of Tussilago farfara.


The sea appearing in the distance. I ignored the signpost to the beach, which sends walkers down a perilous steep slippery clay path to their doom to the sea, and stayed on the stone track to the slipway. Even this was coated in slippery mud in places, and I picked a cautious way down towards the boathouses.






The dark & unstable Kimmeridge Clay cliffs of Chapman's Pool. In the distance, a tiny figure walking at the foot of the cliffs, maybe hunting fossils. Rather them than me.

Sat by the slipway to drink my coffee, and watch the waves wash in.







Flocks of gulls wheeling above the sea where the waves were breaking on the ledges. A pair of ravens holding a conversation while playing in the air currents over the cliffs. I wished I had brought the Canon & the zoom lens, rather than my little wet weather camera. But the light was terrible, so it's not like any bird photos would have come out well anyway.

Two walkers appeared, accompanied by two clay-coated dogs, and I got to say hello to a wide and friendly Golden Labrador.

Then I set off back for the car, deciding to take the shorter path - the one that zigzags up the side of the headland.


It is a path of many steps. And, halfway up, I regretted my choice. But it is always too late by then. Keep climbing.


Back across the fields to Renscombe, and the little car park.

Comments

[heleninwales]

You are brave venturing out today. Where we are it was already quite windy this morning. But you were rewarded by some very dramatic photos.

[puddleshark]

Thanks!

It was one of those days when the weather wasn't nearly as bad as the Met Office forecast. Still pretty blowy down by the coast, though!

[asakiyume]

Love coltsfoot. The flower heads look like dandelions... and then you look at that scaly stem, and it's like dandelions you'd encounter in a dream or on an alien planet... Different.

That sea looks very cold. If you did hear a skylark, then what a bravehearted bird!

[puddleshark]

Coltsfoot has its own magic. The way the flowers pop up from nowhere on disturbed ground. And the way the flowers and the leaves appear to have quarrelled, and never appear at the same time. 😊

The skylarks do sing in February sometimes, up on the headland. But if they were singing yesterday, the wind was drowning them out.

[kaishin108]

You are in much better shape for walking them I am, wow!

What a bright flower to see, the Coltsfoot. And that is a beautiful botanical name. :)

[puddleshark]

It isn't a long walk, but the slippery clay paths and the hillside steps make it a bit more strenuous than my usual walks!

I'm always so happy to see coltsfoot growing beside the path. There's not much else in flower here in February, except the gorse, which flowers all winter.

[lamentables]

All those rough sea photos are exhilarating.

[puddleshark]

Thanks!

It is exhilarating, sitting on the slipway wall, watching the waves breaking. I wish I could have photographed the ravens playing in the wind and the gulls skimming the waves as well.