December already

Here we are in December. It has been so mild here in southern England that it doesn't really feel as if winter has started yet, though if the weather forecast is correct it will be turning colder this week.

These photographs were taken in the last few days and do seem to be more autumnal than wintry. The oak trees especially seem to be holding on to their leaves.

 

I'll enjoy the autumn colours while they last but I must also look towards Christmas. I've made my cake and got my Christmas food order and veg box sorted but its about time I started on the Christmas cards - maybe tomorrow!

April showers

Plenty of April showers this year. Last night we had a hail storm around 3am. I stood at the window and watched it, the hail was coming down so hard and fast. This morning there were pockets of white hail stones in the gardens and on roofs. I hope any blossom hasn't suffered too much.

These photographs are from a few days ago when I took an early walk after a night of rain.

Sparkling water droplets in the sun

although some of the flowers look a bit bedraggled

the plant equivalent of a "bad hair day".

Always grateful for the showers though, so much fresh green growth, the countryside seems to change daily in April and May.

frosty

Temperatures here have fallen and we are getting a taste of winter. There has been a heavy frost the last couple of nights and the car thermometer read -6.5ºC when I took my husband to the station at 6:30 this morning.

It was cold scraping the ice off the car but once the sun came out I could appreciate how pretty everything looked.

Even the puddles look attractive with a layer of ice

and in the ditches at the side of the road the ice formed around dried stems

making unusual patterns.

The sun is shining now and the frost is melting away.

Its the end of the road for this geranium which has been flowering since last summer. I have some cuttings on a windowsill indoors so there will be another generation for next summer.

a little snow

Thankfully we don't get much snow here. I agree it can be very pretty but I don't like the disruption it causes. Last year we didn't see any at all so this time although there was only a little, I took some photographs.

There was only around an inch or so, barely covering the garden,

enough to catch on twigs

and leaves.

By the time I went for a walk around lunch-time it was melting fast.

The ground was still frosty though,

I expect the sheep were glad of their warm woolly coats.

more rain, more flooding

More photographs of a flooded River Thames, this time at Pangbourne in Berkshire. The river has overflowed on both sides

and the trees on the banks are standing in several feet of water.

The river is flowing fast,

so much extra water being carried downstream causing chaos on its way.

weather

We didn't have the best of weather for the holiday week and for some people flooding and storm damage will take months to sort out, a very sad start to the New Year.

We have been lucky in the recent storms, no flood or storm damage affecting us directly although the rivers and streams are swollen and there is standing water on many fields.

A couple of days ago we had a few hours of sunshine and no rain, a good opportunity to get out with the camera.This is the Thames at Henley. It looks very peaceful here but the river was high and running very fast.

The water was level with the river bank and was lapping over the path. Debris nearby indicated that it had been much higher when the path would have been dangerous. Even so it was difficult to see where the river bank was.

Back at home the stream at the bottom of the village has burst its banks. The stream is to the left of the fence and many fields along its length are flooded. 

It rained overnight and we are waiting to see if the levels rise any higher flooding the roads. Nothing much that can be done, we just wait and see.

Since I started writing this I have seen the news pictures of the more recent storm damage around the coast. The strength of the sea in a storm is tremendous, so much devastation in just a few hours. The clear-up operations after these storms have passed is going to be high, both in time and money. 

windy

It has been windy this week. These are a few photographs I took on one of my walks, I wanted to capture the wind blowing through the leaves of the ash trees.

gentle spring

The temperature is rising, there are fewer clouds and more blue in the sky

and slowly, gently spring is appearing. From the blackthorn blossom reaching skyward

to the delicate wood anemone on the woodland floor, spring is spreading softly through the countryside.

frogspawn

Today I returned home to find frogspawn in our little pond. There is much talk about how late spring is this year, apparently up to three to four weeks later than last year.

I have posted photographs of the first frogspawn before

in 2007 - 27th February

in 2008 - 26th February

in 2010 - 21st March

and then this year  - 11th April.

A range of several weeks, but looking back at the photographs, the plants around the pond look to be at similar stages each year. This would make sense, there would be no point in the frogspawn being produced unless the rest of the food web that the tadpoles will depend on is also at the right stage.

It is interesting to look back and note the differences between the years.

a grey day in Oxford.

On Good Friday we went to Oxford hoping to spend a pleasant spring day wandering around the city. The weather had other ideas however, it was a very cold breezy day so we spent most of the time inside.

The first thing we did was visit the covered market where we had a warming hot chocolate at the cafe at Chocology.

From there we went to the Ashmolean museum. My favourite gallery this time was the exhibition of Chinese landscape paintings (more pictures here).

We had brought our lunch with us and under grey skies with a stiff breeze I think we ate our quickest picnic ever! It definitely wasn't the weather to linger so we made for home.

Since my few photographs of the day are dull and grey, I'm posting this plate from the Islamic gallery in the museum - the brightest flowers I saw on Friday were on this wonderful plate and in the florists stalls in the covered market.

spring snow

It was my birthday yesterday and I woke up to snow. As far as I remember it hasn't ever snowed on my birthday (and I have had quite a few birthdays!), this cold winter seems to be continuing well into spring. Luckily for us this was almost as much as we got, I know that people further north are suffering very heavy snow falls and lack of power.

We delayed travelling to pick up youngest son from university because it was snowing quite heavily first thing in the morning and there were lane closures due to snow on our route. By late morning road conditions had improved and we were able to make the trip so I got to have a birthday meal with all my family after all.

Today there is only a little snow left in the garden but the forecast is for low temperatures all week. British summer time starts next weekend, hopefully the weather will be a bit warmer by then.