A walk in the Park, following Doris

Still standing. This little tree tilted to get out of the elm’s space. The elm was cut down. (Dutch Elm Disease).

This Scots Pine grows at an inexplicable angle, but is completely unmoved by Doris. The orange object on the path should have been binned by the dog’s owner. This is a new problem in Central Park. The park warden used to talk to people and hand out bags.

A loose branch hangs high above the flag in the middle of the park. The flag pole needs a little repair too.

This rootball must have sounded like cannon being fired when it snapped.

Glorious brilliance in the sheared surfaces. Almost gold. Late afternoon in shade. Elsewhere the sun is on it.

I wish I could have captured the astonishment in his face as he cycled up to this! When I approached this tree some teenagers were jumping on it. They saw me, looked very sheepish and ran away. They don’t make teenagers like they used to, do they?

Twisted and snapped. Sheared. Bright orange surfaces of broken wood.

Peter watches Bonnie investigate. The dog was very energetic: the result of having to kept in yesterday. Odd how little the surrounding grass has been disturbed. You’d expect the roots to be all over the place, but no: all broken off, quite neatly.

A grassy walk in Peterborough

Social media lit up in Peterborough last week and the topic was grass on a recreation field which had grown to one metre tall. So on Wednesday when Sue said shall we go for a walk in the Boardwalks? I thought: I really need to switch off and there could be some grass there! And indeed: lots of different kinds of grasses, with seed heads blowing about in the wind. You can watch the dance of the seed heads as the wind makes huge ripples across the meadow. 

This is the entrance to the boardwalks, I am wondering how high this grass is and how much is  reeds and sedges and which is which. I don’t know my grasses.

Recent very heavy rain has damaged the boardwalk, which was built in the 80s. This marshy area is a tiny patch of an important flood plain for the river Nene. By absorbing and retaining river and rainwater upstream soft squidgy places like this help to protect the city. Fit people can cross the boardwalk here, but please be very very careful.

Might be three quarters of a pint of water in there with all sorts floating in it.

Lovely fuzzy teasels. Here we say goodbye to the Boardwalk.

A large grey heron with wings spread out, presumably to dry. Looks like a weird sculpture from a distance. I was just about to get the perfect shot from much closer up, but pushing our bikes along, we startled it, and off it went. (We’d cycled to get to the boardwalks and were now back on our bikes.).

Found this not so delightful plant very close to the city centre.  This is Japanese Knotweed. It is on the verge of Henry Penn walk, north Nene embankment. I have emailed the council and Railworld to find out who this patch of land belongs to: I am guessing it belongs to the council.

 

 

Leaflets in snow and hail

The forecast was dire: rain and low temperatures. And a massive black cloud did come along and snowed on us and one very delighted little girl. Hail followed. But we stayed warm (oddly, it wasn’t all that cold). And we kept posting leaflets into letterboxes. But it was one of those days when focussing on broken bins and flytipped furniture and electrics was particularly difficult. The ghastly truth is that people (including me) get used to rubbish in their environment and we literally have no choice but to keep moving: to pass it by. We’d never do anything if we dealt with every bit. But sometimes the weather and the lovely stuff steals the show and that is what this afternoon was like. So here’s a photo narrative. The moon was in at least three photos, but now I can only find it in one. I stumbled on a beautiful red camellia in full flower in a south facing garden and some pelargoniums: they looked a bit dry but warm and also in full bloom but I didn’t photograph them.

Peterborough, This May Be The Change

This May, Be The Change