winter nature notes, in lockdown (again)
21.12.20 Solstice. Up early to walk up bog hill before sunrise. Wasn’t completely dark when we left the house so managed without our head torches. First light a pale peachy glow just touching the tops of low clouds. The rushes covered in dew, drawing in the early light. Watch rays slowly reach further north. Surprised at how fast the sun tracked west. Down the hill and then a drive later in the day to Kielder, up a hill with the hope of seeing the great conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter. Up a higher hill, a trudge as visibility continued to shrink, mist/fog/rain rolling in. No views. Christmas lights on in remote villages, seen driving past.
22.12.20-29.12.20 Hazy Christmas blur-time. Food, cozy, short walks, lost track of days.
30.12.20 The most exciting find today - hair ice! On a stand of alders, fallen and dead branches. So delicate and beautiful - we felt so lucky to catch it. Little white tufts on the ground and hanging from branches. Lichen peeking through, the most beautiful combination of textures. Still there at sunset, starting to melt. Out of the woods, a big orange moon peeking through distant trees on the horizon. Ran ahead to watch it rise out of them, a huge golden orb. Up on hill, silence, moon rising, swoosh of an owl flying over the rushes, periwinkle clouds blowing over.
31.12.20 Out for a different walk, a drive away. A woods we know but the first we’ve seen it without leaves. A new feeling and shade of colors. Rest.
1.1.21 Out with a friend in our local woods, so lovely to be out for a walk with a friend!
2.1.21 Woke up to snow on the rooftops, set off beautifully by a blue sky and pink golden clouds.
5.1.21 Lockdown again
6.1.21 One of those perfect winter days, where the sun is shining, warm on your face and no dampness or chill to the air even though it’s cold enough for the snow to stay crunchy. Bright in the low golden glow.
9 or 10.1.21 A cold, grey but bright grey day, sun filtering through. The burn that winds through the woods a network of different crystaline structures. Ripples catching under patches of ice throwing different colors up from the water below - wavering. Rings frozen around rocks, bubbles caught before they burst. One patch of ice formed a 3D structure across the burn, a criss-cross of porcupine needles and fine crystal champagne flutes. Other worlds.
14.1.21 How excited to wake up to snow! Lots of snow! Not just a dusting, snow that gets in your hiking boots, snow that piles up and slides off roof-tops. Out for a walk before sunrise, everything a shade of blue, big flakes stll coming down, downy. Following deer and rabbit trails. Out again at lunchtime, snow still coming down. Quiet, so quiet. Branches sloped downwards to the ground with the weight of it all.
15.1.21 The sky shifted from blue to purple, pink to gold, over time and all at once too. Bands of color that changed by the minute until the larch on the ridge in the distance caught the light. First their flopsy tops, light making its way down their trunks, glittery gold. A band of haze settled on the hill at lunchtime. Sunny but fuzzy. Snow crunchy, sparkly, fresh. Still and quiet, catching diffused rays.
19.1.21 Another spell of not going out for days. Out today and the first thing I notice is the silence. A mild, misty dense day where the usual silence is even denser. All sounds muffled, outlines softened, a fuzzy dreamlike quality.
20.1.21 A beautiful day to hear the first blackbrid singing for the year.
21.1.21 Dramatic clouds and light this afternoon at sunset. Perfect balance of warm and cool.
22.1.21 Sun lighting up the larch on the edge of the woods, glowing from the outside in.
23.1.21 More hair ice today! Caught it at sunset, incredible delicate textures catching the last of the light. Rich pinky golden shade on periwinkle.
24.1.21 Frozen waterfall foam lily pads in the burn, swirling about like pancakes. Bright blue skies, golden grasses. Bracken otherworldly in the frost.
30.1.21 A longer walk today on a new set of tracks. Beautiful patches of birch, a dusting of snow. Moody clouds, dog lichen.
1.2.21 Ochre sludge today!!
2.2.21 So much snow! Glaze tests came out, first firing in new kiln. Elated. A robin ate seeds from one of my favorite ones!
8.2.21 Deep shades of blue, against and part of the snow. Crisp and fluffy. Dark, dark skies coming in throughout the day. More and more snow swirling.
9.2.21 Into the woods in the morning, up our new favorite path. Fluffy light powder glintng. South side of the Scots pines catching early golden light.
10.2.21 A different side path today. Watching the secret nighttime meanderings of deer and fox. Trails going every direction.
11.2.21 The woods and bog in the morning are magic. So crisp. Such beautiful colors in the snow. Again, that perfect balance of cool and warm. Hops of a bird left outside the back door. Did the robin come back?
12.2.21 Really cold this morning. Damp air adding a softened misty quality to the colors of morning. First light on larch. A fox walking along the top of the dry stone wall, listening for her breakfast. Then a break, curled up under the boughs of a spruce.
13.2.21 A long walk out in the snow, cloudy at first but sun out later. Footprints of silent goings-on in the night. Mice and foxes, hops of a bird. Coffee break on a stump in a cleared plantation. Back through the bog, ice frosted burns making their way back home.
16.2.21 The past few days have been so mild, snow went in a flash. Paths are now squelchy so we stick to the forestry tracks. Going up to the place where we saw the fox on the wall. Warm breezes feeling like ice coming off the lake.
17.2.21 Grey flat light, colors of moss and lichen the only things breaking through the monochrome.
18.2.21 Another morning walk, strong spring breeze. Catkins on the hazel glowing, buds on trees becoming ever more apparent.
21.2.21 Out at sunset, warm damp air. Pastel palette of wispy clouds. Robin perched high on spruce, sentinel of the woods.
25.2.21 Stressful day. Clearest of blue skies and full moon to clear it afterwards. Golden light making the woods glow. Goat willow buds like little moony orbs.
26.2.21 Hazel catkins hanging, little fairy lights. Walk up the hill just before bed. Full moon, crisp moon shadows. Deer making loud sounds in the distance. An owl.
28.2.21 Sunny, spring day. Everything waking up. Winged beasties flying in lazy groups, perfectly aligned with beams of sunlight cutting through the trees.
2.3.21 Warm, damp air. But still a chill to it. The sort of air that leaves you cold and clammy. But the sun feels good. Birds ever louder. Starlings and chaffinches flitting about in their jumpy, flittery way. Starlings chattering from the rooftop antennae.
13.3.21 Our longer walking loop today, we followed a beam of light into the woods along a cut drainage channel. A patch of Sitka covered in drapes of moss, mossy cathedral. Still, silence, filtered light. Out of the woods, down the hill, a wall of dark couds, big puffy white clouds and blue sky all at once.
16.3.21 Wind whipping wisps of clouds high above tree tops. Brightest blue.
17.3.21 A walk at dusk, moon a waxing crescent but sky so clear you could see its full outline.
18.3.21 Little frog/newt eggs in the pond! Little balls of jelly, black dots, so fragile looking. How long until they wiggle? Watched the sun set from the upstairs window. Possibly the most vibrant and peachiest of the year.
20.3.21 Last day of winter, equinox this morning. A cold, cold morning. Bundled up with my winter mittens. Oh how I hope spring comes soon. While replanting houseplants, the first I’ve heard a bee buzz this year. A good sign, high in the catkins of the goat willow catching the afternoon sun.
