SOOOOOO Much has happened since I was here last! Part !

Hi everyone,
You may have been wondering why I haven't posted here for ages, well, there have been family things going on, which aren't quite sorted yet, but hopefully we're getting there!
We haven't been able to carry out many of the 2011 resolution walks, because daughter No 3 got a waitressing job and wasn't around on a Sunday any more. I have a feeling with another change of workplace that may change again! However, we have spent some time walking and exploring our local area.

Dad has been visiting us fairly often lately and although very sprightly for his age, he cannot manage the more strenuous walks that we choose to do when he is not with us.
So some more leasurely exercise....

This was a return visit to Sellworthy. Hubby to the left, my Dad on the right. THis was back during the hot spell back in April.

Suddenly everywhere looks SO green and the light is changing, there is real warmth in that sun!

There were flowers everywhere!

Speedwell

Dandylion

Violet

Perriwinkle

Wild geranium

Wells on Market Day, but we escape to walk by the mote of the Bishop's Palace Mote.

Where we observed a female mallard, seen here with 16 of her 18 brood!

This is a mosaic made by the people mentioned above, the after effects of the Chernobyl deaster have been brought home to me as a school paired to the one where I work is still feeling the after effects.

                                                       Same mosaic, slightly different view.

Billy enjoyed a very hot day at Glastonbury Abbey, such a poser!

So did Dad!

I always try to imagine how imposing the Abbey must have been with its giant arches and tower intact.

Dad then went home for a while and we did a couple of trips on our own. One was to Bath, where we walked along the canal. The idea was to walk to Bradford on Avon.

Train watching with the canal behind.

The City of Bath

Train track in the foreground and the motorway raised up and cutting across the countryside.
There are various works of art on the canal. The following boat was for sale at the time I caught it on camera:



Two views of the same boat

This sculpture was across the other side of the water. The wheels act as windmills and I wondered if anyone was making use of the wind's power when the spun.

Wanted to include this for family reasons.... you know who you are!

There are also some beautiful gardens along the way....

We also managed a couple of bike rides.

I made a friend along the way. Heavy horses are so calm and happy to stand for hours. This one enjoyed a tickle behind the ears.

            Time for a shopping trip and a lovely visit  from a one of my beautiful daughters............love you!

I also spent time with a friend who I used to work with before her family moved away. We walked to the top of Wyndham Hill. Stopped off at the bottom for something to eat and walked through Ninesprings Park. It was a super hot day and really enjoyable.

This heron, in the park seemed so tame, but I think he was really conserned with catching his lunch.The pool was alive with fish so I don't think he had to try too hard.
In amongst all the outdoor activity, I have also found time to knit. On our last visit to The Spinning Wheal in Clevedon, I met a lady wearing a Tapan Zee. It was designed by Amy King and here is the link:
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEss10/KSPATTtappanzee.php
I did not use handspun yarn, but some Sirdar Luxury Soft Cotton, part of some yarn that I won in a designing competition. I still need to work on it slightly. I made the sleeves and body longer and built in a little extra space round the middle! Here is just a taste:

New camera and The Levels

These are the pics that I promised last time, but they wouldn't upload! I just went for a stroll locally and experimented. I am quite pleased with the sharpness of the results and hope you agree.


Sunday, we did our usual  afternoon walk. We have been trying to get down to the levels all winter to witness the starling murmeations. Yet again, we got it wrong! Em was on her way back from London, so we had a deadline to be home for. Had we been able to stay just a few minutes more, we would have seen them, they were just flying in as we drove onto the main road home! However, I did take some photos.


The history of the levels, as the Somerset wetlands and reed beds are known, is anceint. There is a walkway, built by neolithic man, some 6 000 years ago that was found close to where we walked. The Romans harvested peat, this practice was carried on until very recently/ Origionally, the black material was cut and laid in the air to dry, before being used as fuel.


At present, you can see the reconstruction of a couple of Celtic round houses next to the car park. These would have been a great teaching resource for local school visits, had the site not been closed by the council. (I will climb off mt soapbox now)


The peat was laterly gathered for compost. However, now it is deemed to be detrimental to the ecology of the wetlands. Certain areas look as though the peat has been harvested, but on a much smaller scale. Most people now use more ecofriendly compost, such as that made from shoddy (otherwise known as dags, or the skirt of the fleece which id often the dirtiest, containing plenty of  'vegetable matter' as I heard one pocaster call sheep droppings lately.




There are bits of machinery all over the place, ready to dig out the black peat to mantain the ditches!




The levels is a super area for wildlife. This swan was finding so much food, it nearly toppled over!

 

All the way along our walk were tranquil pools where the rain had filled the man-made peat voids.



The reed beds attract many rare birds, such as bitterns (11 pairs bred here last year), there was even a single pair of Little Bitterns recorded last year, the only pair to breed in the whole of the UK! We also get several types of warbler nesting in the reeds. Each winter, the reeds have to be cleared to a certain extent to keep the pools from filling with vegetation. This also improves the habitat for rare moths found on the site.




The path through the reserve is the site of a disused railway.