I went for a walk yesterday, between showers. It has always been a very British thin g to talk about the weather but, for me, the weather IS changing, we currently get dreich (cloudy, overcast) most days now, this past few days have most definitely been four seasons in one day. Real hot sunshine when there’s a break in the cloud cover, big fluffy / heavy clouds and it gets pretty chilly when the sun goes into cover. Add a decent breeze to that and heavy, sporadic rain showers, going for a walk is a bit of a challenge! As my mum says, “you don’t know what to wear” and it’s true now.
I have a few warmish, breathable tops I kind of live in, several pairs of walking trousers of varied waterproof-osity and a pair of Vivo Barefoot boots that are waterproof with a rugged sole so, that’s what i wore, with a lightweight waterproof(ish) jacket with a hood.
Sorted! Kind of.
Walking along a field on a rise, the Sun was shining and a breeze was blowing so it all worked fine. Walk into the Gorse area where it is sheltered from that breeze? Roasting! You can see the patch of sunshine heading my way.
I do like puddles and reflections.
See! Sunshine and clouds. The sky looks fabulous when it’s like this, shadows, light, blue, white …
Yea, yea, what about the P?
Well, it’s a camera. I bought a second hand Nikon Coolpix P950 bridge a few years back, I’d spotted a Great Grey Shrike on a reservoir walk and just didn’t have the lens reach for it so … The zoom is amazing and the macro is great but …. it’s a very slow camera, I would never try to catch a bird in flight or a close up bird moving around. Also, it’s a bit woolly for me, at full zoom X85, it is very woolly, not sharp enough for me but, I now know those things so, I use it from time to time and I’d decided to bring it today for the very reason above, wide shots, apart from being a bit noisy and over saturated (for me) it’s great.
So I had the P950 off one shoulder and my Nikon Z7ii on the other, perfect huh?
I headed along the track which, as you may notice, is now fairly muddy but, not that slippery, sticky muddy …. yet.
I decided I was going along the green lane.
OK, not green today but, not soaked yet. Through the gate, turn right down the hill to the Fox den area.
It was a very quiet walk, bird-wise so I stood in one of my usual spots for a while where nothing much happened so I headed West, which is when I noticed the weather coming my way. I could see rain on the hill but that looked like it would miss me, it was a darkening area dead ahead that had me slightly concerned but really only slightly. I carried on.
I decided it was passing by on my right in that shot, and carried on.
As I walked on, I watched that rain move along the hills tom my right, that’s become a pretty normal phenomenon that we’ve become used to.
It rained. On Me!! Heavily.
Luckily I had almost reached a good sized clump of Gorse and I slid in and under where they had been cut.
Twenty minutes later …..
That rain to the right had passed right overhead. I wasn’t actually that wet, my jacket and the Gorse had protected me pretty well. and it was nice to stand looking out at that scenery, listening to the rain and the air was cool and fresh afterwards so, I carried on but decided to head back towards home, see how the weather looked. I actually ended up at the other end of the first field, where the muddy track had been leading, it’s a planted field so I had to follow the tractor tracks to avoid damaging crops.
The weather to my right was passing along that ridge, the reed beds are down to the right and it looked clear behind me so, I walked along the little path you see on the right side, then turned down the field. The Sun didn’t quite make a big comeback and it stayed pretty chilly but dry. I was watching the sky now, the clouds ahead as i turned back again, heading into the weather.
I could see a cloud breaking up on the horizon, was it over a local hot spot?
You can just make out a light shower at the top of that shot but that white cloud rising! It was hot when the sun did break through …. hmmmm
I uploaded some clips from the wildlife camera and crossed the reed beds. Now i was soaked, the grasses and weeds grow FAST down there, soaked to my knees but, that’s walking in or after rain.
Across the other side and the Thistles are starting to bloom and there are a LOT of them!
The line of trees had what looked like a halo above them.
I walked through the trees, turned right, left and up the field …. in long grass, still soaked to the knees 🙂
I followed that hedge line on the right, up to the trees ahead and the top lane, those clouds were heading to our left and to the right was clear.
I was glad to get clear of the wet grass and the Sun was shining again so I’d soon dry.
That’s around a 90degree panorama, I had walked up that hedge line on the left and was heading along the lane on the right.
I was listening to all the birds, now happy the rain had passed, drying off nicely and enjoying the sunshine.
Looking North again.
Looking South(ish)
From here I simply enjoyed the walk, there was very little bird activity as I mentioned, some Corvids, a Lapwing, a couple of Red Kites and a couple of distant Buzzards, none of them worth grabbing shots of.
I ended up at the old Oak, it felt like quite a while since I’d been.
The thickest fence post is one of the feeding posts here but, very few birds showed up today, way too much else going on in their lives.
The two thickest posts are the feeding posts.
I had headed out at 10:30, it was now 12:50, the weather wasn’t looking like improving much so, I headed home to make lunch. It was a good walk, all thing considered, my trousers had dried out and I was hungry.
Home it was. I’m going to follow up with some shots I took with the other camera but, for now
Stay safe and well, see you again soon
patch photos
Scozmo's Photery 