Surrounded by Rocks: An Exploration Series, Introduction and Chapter 1

Nightjar has been working hard on a new series for us which is making its debut today. We’ll be posting a new chapter every other day, which will include weekends, so be sure to check in often because you won’t want to miss a single post. The first chapter is about trees which makes Tuesday the right day to begin, so I invite you to sit back, relax and enjoy exploring a bit of Portugal with Nightjar.

Introduction

This series was inspired by both Ice Swimmer’s “Harakka Island” series (starting here) and a post by rq on the Macedonian rocks that made her homesick, here. . I have no islands nearby to visit but I do have hills with rocks. In fact, I live between two hills that are very different from each other and both mean a lot to me, bringing childhood memories of fossil and rock hunting with my family and childhood friends. I do not go up the hills as often as I used to, but they really aren’t far from home and an afternoon is more than enough to explore one of them. In a November afternoon I went East and had fun among limestone. In a December afternoon I went West and had fun among phyllites and quartz. And yes, my pockets were heavy on my way back home. I can’t resist it. But let’s start our journey… let’s go East! [Read more…]

Hawkweed

Another of Nightjar’s beautiful winter flowers from Portugal.

Gorgeous. Thanks, Nightjar.

Tree Tuesdsay

From Lofty,

A series of the small patch of forest that was selectively burned, one year on.

What a difference a year can make. The area doesn’t look fire ravaged at all. Maybe it’s because of the regrowth on the tall trees,. That’s not something I’ve seen before and it’s fascinating. Thanks for sharing. Lofty.

Jack’sWalk

Jack and I went down to the river today looking for beavers, but we didn’t have any luck. It was just too difficult to get off the path because the area is quite boggy right now. I fell 3 times (I’m dirty, but OK) before I finally decided to try again another day. We did see evidence of beavers, though, including this tree that some eager beaver started to gnaw and then abandoned. Maybe he’s coming back with a few friends to help. That looks like a mighty big tree for a single beaver to fell, even if it is an eager beaver.

Monday Mercurial: Fleckchen has grown!

I could have sworn i had scheduled these for last Monday, but they did not appear. There isn’t even a draft, which is something WordPress saves about every 30 seconds. the only explanation i have is that yes, actually dreamed it.

Yet the pics already have tags and alt text, so I’m going to blame it on WordPress eating the post.

©Giliell, all rights reserved
Molli did not want to hold still for a pic.

Sunshine and Rainbows

A magical double rainbow from Jazzlet.

“This is the view from my bedroom window, lovely isn’t it? It’s a bit deceptive, you can’t see that beyond the end of the garden there is a steep slope down to a field, which is where we most often walk the dogs, beyond that is the Peak Forest Canal, then a local railway line – you can see that if you know where to look. The real deception though is the way it appears that we live in the country, when we live in a suburb, but like many northern cities there are fingers of countryside that reach into the urban area, and we are lucky enough to live on the edge of one of those fingers. When I’m on my laptop typing comments I’m in the room below our bedroom, the view isn’t quite as good as it’s blocked by our extension and by our neighbour’s enormous hedge on the left, and by the other neighbour’s conservatory on the right, but it’s still pretty amazing. The valley runs north/south and we can often see the weather blowing up it, maybe sheets of rain, sometimes the valley fills with mist and looks as if it’s boiling up before spilling over into the garden, occasionally the cloud drops right down and we can’t see to the end of the garden, let alone Top O’ The Hill. Yes that wee hill is known as Top O’ The Hill.”

Breathtaking. Thanks for sharing Jazzlet.

Portuguese Geranium in winter

Another early winter flower from Nightjar. The colour and light in this shot are enough to melt my cold winter heart.

Thanks, Nightjar.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland: part 7

A few final images of the Winter Wonderland. It is long gone now, being more of a brown yucky marshland now (I love our woods, but right now the smell of the stale water is often not too nice).

©Giliell, all rights reserved
More needle ice

©Giliell, all rights reserved
Frozen berries

©Giliell, all rights reserved
If the birds don’t cooperate, rely on the trees.

The last one is an interesting one. I did not get the bird I was trying to shoot, but I ended up with a damn interesting picture.

Jack’s Walk

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
My, oh, my, what a wonderful day
Plenty of sunshine headin’ my way
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay!

Friday Feathers

We have many wonderful reader contributions which I’ll post the next week (no, I haven’t forgotten those). For now it’s the rest of the birds that I met walking through a Winter Wonderland.

On the first day I walked past a shrubbery that is always full of birds, but as we were approaching they all flew away, but all in a certain direction. Some landed in that shrubbery and then took off as well. we soon spotted the reason for this:

It’s a common buzzard, but they are not frequent in this particular area as it offers little space for soaring.

Walking further we then saw our usual small friends.

I cannot quite decide between sparrow and lady chaffinch with the back and tail being hidden.

Crows are always slightly out of focus, I’m afraid.

Or hiding.

Or leaving.

But you can always count on the tits.

Early winter wildflowers

Something special from Nightjar,

These photos are my new year gift to you and also to everyone at Affinity currently dealing with a dull winter. The mild Portuguese winter is, as you can see, full of life and colour, and even if I can’t share the sun and temperatures with you I can at least share the sights. I hope they bring you some happiness.

Thank you, Nightjar. My winter remains dull and your flowers are a welcome gift.

Jack’s Walk

We had sunshine today! It didn’t last long and by the time Jack and I got outside it had gone behind the clouds again, but I saw it. And it was a grand, blinking beacon of hope in the long tunnel of winter. This photo was taken at Pittock Lake. It’s part of a water management system and the water level in the lake is lowered every year over the winter. During the rest of the year the water line is up near the trees. Normally what little water remains in January is frozen over, but so far not much has been normal about this winter. You can just see the dam on the horizon line at the right.

Jack’s Walk

It’s another gray day with skies so dull it’s looked like early evening all day long. We did find a few pockets of snow to reflect some light, but even that seemed thin and wan. Nonetheless, we had a pleasant walk together in companionable quiet on the trail of our favourite forest path.

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Surrounded by Rocks: An Exploration Series, Introduction and Chapter 1

Introduction

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Hawkweed

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Tree Tuesdsay

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Jack’sWalk

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Monday Mercurial: Fleckchen has grown!

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Sunshine and Rainbows

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Portuguese Geranium in winter

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Walking in a Winter Wonderland: part 7

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Jack’s Walk

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Friday Feathers

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Early winter wildflowers

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Jack’s Walk

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Jack’s Walk

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Introduction

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