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Sunset by the River
Dec. 24th, 2025 06:18 pm
A walk by the river at sunset, in the hope of seeing a Starling murmuration over the reedbeds.
( Read more... )
A walk by the river at sunset, in the hope of seeing a Starling murmuration over the reedbeds.
( Read more... )
Tarr Steps, Exmoor
Oct. 15th, 2025 04:24 pm
Tarr Steps, a clapper bridge, thought to be medieval in origin.
A clapper bridge is an ancient form of bridge found on the moors of the English West Country... and in other upland areas of the United Kingdom. It is formed by large flat slabs of stone, often granite or schist. These can be supported on stone piers across rivers, or rest on the banks of streams.
Although often credited with prehistoric origin, most were erected in medieval times, and some in later centuries. They are often situated close to a ford where carts could cross. According to the Dartmoor National Park, the word 'clapper' derives ultimately from an Anglo-Saxon word, cleaca, meaning 'bridging the stepping stones'; the Oxford English Dictionary gives the intermediate Medieval Latin form clapus, claperius, "of Gaulish origin", with an initial meaning of "a pile of stones".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clapper_bridge
( Many pictures )
Watersmeet
Jun. 18th, 2025 06:14 pm
I have been away, over the border in Devon for a few days, staying on Exmoor. The hills are higher and wider and wilder in Devon, and the valleys and the streams rockier. One day I followed the Coleridge Way long distance footpath from Rockford to Watersmeet.
( An improbable number of pictures )
Half-seen things
Jun. 15th, 2025 01:19 pm
Followed the path beside the River Frome down to Swineham, through the reedbeds, where the breeze sets the whole landscape in motion, and you walk in a world of half-seen things and unseen things. The rattle of dragonfly flight, and a glint of sunlight on wings. The endless pent-up grumbling ("And another thing...") song of Reed Warblers. A black-capped Reed Bunting clinging to a reed as it sways back and forth in the wind - now you see it, now you don't.
( Don't get your hopes up. It's hard to photograph half-seen things... )
Works. The Moors at Arne wetland restoration project, where the Environment Agency, RSPB and Natural England are working together to adapt approximately 150 hectares of low-lying pasture into a diverse wetland habitat on the fringes of Poole Harbour.
( Wild geese calling )
By the Frome, July
Jul. 14th, 2024 01:58 pm
Sunshine and cloud. A warm still morning. The sun not fierce, but the air humid and heavy. Took the walk from Wareham, along the river, and through the reedbeds.
( More of a penance than a path )
The Wind in the Reeds
Jul. 16th, 2023 12:19 pm
Over to Wareham, early, to take the path along the River Frome; because on days when the wind is blowing, stirring the reeds all around you, setting them to whispering, you can make a ritual walk through the reedbeds, and the reeds will brush away all memory of the past week.
( It's true )
River Frome, January
Jan. 18th, 2023 01:19 pm
Hard to tell what's river and what's fields at the moment... But where the willows grow, that's where the river normally flows.
( Watery landscapes )
Walking by the water
Nov. 26th, 2022 12:48 pm
The forecast was for a grey start, with heavy rain and gales to arrive later. But actually there was a watery sort of November sunrise, turning the reeds to gold along the river.
( Put on your wellies and proceed... )
River Piddle, Briantspuddle
Aug. 7th, 2022 01:12 pm
The Piddle's as low as I've ever seen it, this summer. Scarcely ankle deep in places. But it's not as overgrown with weed as the Frome, especially up near Briantspuddle where its shaded. There were small trout in the water, and a kingfisher & a little egret fishing.
River Meadows, Keyneston Mill
Jun. 25th, 2022 04:24 pm
A visit to the perfume garden at Keyneston Mill today. And although the gardens themselves were perhaps more interesting than spectacular, the walk through the garden's river meadows beside the Stour was fabulous, with the strong summer wind setting everything in motion - the grasses and reeds and the silver-leaved White Willows - and with Meadow Brown butterflies and metallic blue damselflies fluttering up from the vegetation at every step.
( Grey cloud, green river... )
