Tag: Chessel Bay

Storms, floods and a muggy walk

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23 June 2016

The Storm finally broke late last night. The rain hammered down, lashing against the windows, thunder clapped, lightening flashed. At one point the flash and the bang arrived at the same time, the storm was directly overhead. Sleep was hard to come by with the weather gods at battle outside. When I woke this morning Commando was getting into bed grumbling about floods, a ten mile detour to get home from work and the boiler not working. It wasn’t the best start to the day but at least the rain had stopped. Continue reading Storms, floods and a muggy walk

Never trust the weatherman

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6 January 2016

Last night the weatherman on the evening news told me the country would be shrouded in mist and fog for most of the day. My weather app appeared to agree. All Autumn I was waiting for a chance to take photos of mist swirling over the river but all we had was rain. This looked like it would be my chance so I went to bed thinking about an early morning riverside walk, swans emerging from eddies of mist, maybe even black swans. Continue reading Never trust the weatherman

Close encounters of the swan kind

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30 November 2015

The final day of November was cloudy and cold but, as it wasn’t actually raining, I thought I’d try to fit one more walk in to bolster my woefully inadequate November miles. The forecast was for rain later and I didn’t want to stray too far from home so a quick circuit of the river seemed like a good idea. Of course I might just bump into some black swans but I tried to put that thought from my mind. So far this year cygnet hunts seem to have been doomed to failure. If I didn’t think about them they might appear. Continue reading Close encounters of the swan kind

A whole new cygnet hunt

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2 November 2015

This morning I was looking through some of the posts I’d missed on the Southampton Heritage Facebook page and could hardly believe my eyes when I saw a picture of the black swans on the Itchen with five little cygnets. This is more unusual than you might think. The black swan, Cygnus atratus, is actually a native of Australia and New Zealand, not England. The first black swan arrived in 1791 as an ornamental bird and they became quite popular in zoological gardens and private bird collections. Over time a few escaped and wild birds, like the ones on the Itchen, all have their origins in captivity. With so few in the wild, breeding pairs have always been a rarity and until 2005 just twenty pairs were reported to be breeding throughout the whole of the UK. At the last count, in 2011, this number had risen to twenty eight. Continue reading A whole new cygnet hunt

low tide, lifts and St Mary’s Church – first published 29 May 2013

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The last week of May 2013 was the first five day week I’d worked for a long time. Even at Mad House I’d only worked four days, albeit ten hour ones, and I wasn’t sure how I was going to cope with two day weekends. Still, there was always lunch time for a bit of extra walking and for this one I decided to take a wander around St Mary’s Church, the mother church of the city. Our football team take their name, Saints, from it being originally formed by church members. Continue reading low tide, lifts and St Mary’s Church – first published 29 May 2013

the unexplored path – first published 26 May 2013

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A sunny Sunday in late May, and a new pair of walking boots seemed like a good excuse for a walk, as if I ever needed one. Add to that a path I’d been meaning to explore for a while and you have a nice little afternoon stroll. As it happened it wasn’t quite what I’d hoped but at least I ticked it off my list. Continue reading the unexplored path – first published 26 May 2013

Orange, pink, blue, a splash of yellow and a dash of red and white

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8 to 11 April 2015

My second week of early shift started with a breathtaking Wednesday sunrise over the River Itchen. Pinkening clouds on the horizon painted the gently rippled water where a pair of lonely swans dipped their heads searching for breakfast. I dawdled along the boardwalk drinking in the beauty of it all. Half way along the Suki II seemed to be floating on the dawn sky and the trees on the far bank were half hidden in early morning mist. Through it I could just make out my usual path beside the jetties and the line of little yachts. Continue reading Orange, pink, blue, a splash of yellow and a dash of red and white

Crossing the river to Crosshouse

The best allotment view in the world?
The best allotment view in the world?

15 February 2015

Given my cold and the need to keep fairly close to a box of tissues at all times, I didn’t think it would be wise to wander too far from home for my Sunday walk. After much umming and ahing and a little poring over maps I decided on Crosshouse. It fit in very well with last week’s walk and, if I got tired or ran out of tissues, I could wander up into town for a sit down. This meant I started off much the same as last week with a walk to the green and then across it. Still, even if you take the same walk every day there’s always something new to see and this was no exception. Continue reading Crossing the river to Crosshouse