winter on a Saturday in February 2012

Freezing fog and snow after  last nights temperature was down to -16 at Holbeach that is only 20

miles away but near to the sea bank.

This was the view of one of the local roads when I was taking toffee for a walk.

 The football field below is looking like a called off match to me the dugout was covered with cob Web's that showed up with the frost.

 This is the first time Whisper has seen the snow he loves it he must be 11 months old now but you cant let him off the lead as he puts his nose down and just runs so he has to go on a training lead.
He pulls on the lead so you have to be ready as he pulls you over if you don't watch out.

                                                                        He love the snow

                        A spaniel through and through just bounds about all the time

wet weekend

I went out Saturday with the dogs wrapped up in my water proofs on the way back we came through a village where the trees where over the lane I had to stop as in the middle of the road were 3 pigeons well I thought they were all pigeons but when i got near i realised it was 2 pigeon's an a hawk.
The hawk was pinning down 1 pigeon and the other was pretending to be injured to distract him from his mate the hawk managed to get to the side of the road with his catch and I drove on and left nature to get on with life. Now some people would have intervened but I felt that was wrong.

On Sunday we were down the drain (river) and I had my camera with me when some plane were flying down a long the river and when they were near they banked off towards the Lincoln direction it was the red arrows so by the time that I had got my camera out of its case they were like dots in the sky. so no photos but it looked great in formation.

Monday I had to be up at 5am to catch the transport from Sleaford to Leeds for work it was a long day by the time I got home .

Barbara has bought me a new book called The complete Guide to edible wild plants,Mushrooms, Fruits,and Nuts. By Katie Letcher Lyle

It looks a good book I will let you know later.

Saturday nights walk

Friday and Saturday was hot and heavy here so I decided to take the dogs out late on the way down the drain bank there was 2 couples having a BBQ on the drain bank they had chairs and every thing laid out this was 8.30pm .

This was the 9.05pm from Skegness well it was when I see it on its way to Grantham that one was for the train spotters out there.

The walk on the bank was cut short because as you can see the cows had got out of the bank further along and were heading towards us we walked up to the white marker on the left then came back.

The cows were more interested in eating than chasing us but blue had to go near to have a look then bark and run back to us.

The flag iris have started to come into flower all along the drain and the barn owl was hunting along the drain banks he came with in 20 meters of me then turned along the hedge row into a field.
It was late when we got home and it started to thunder and lighten the rain soon came down quiet heavy the dogs were not to happy and hide in the corner of the utility room and under the table in the kitchen.

The garden needed the water it was to dry before.

Saturdays walk

First thing this morning It was foggy had my lights on going down the bank for the walk its 8.00am and the air is cool and damp.
The water is still and the walk started well its 3.5miles in full if you go to the old farm yard but if I go to the gate and back its 3miles we did the full walk this morning.
The only thing that stops me going further is the cows some times they are near the gate so we come back.
I heard my first cuckoo this year at about 8.15am today.

The mother duck sneaked along the opposite bank so the dogs and myself would miss her.

As well as the egg shells left on the Drain bank I often find these sweet corn husks where they come from who knows but they are fresh it may be that the badgers clear out the setts the birds may pick them up and drop them later.

These sluice gates are shut when the water behind them is low but when the water builds up in the dyke's behind the weight of the water pushes it open and the water flows out with no power used.
When the water in the drain at the front is high the water stays in the dyke.

It looks like a few of these could do with a good clean out.

This is an owl pellet at the side is a twenty pence to show the size it was mainly made up of fur and feathers with a few bones these were near the owl boxes.

So that's what happened to the ducklings.

I found a 2 dead moles this morning I would say that a fox was about in the night they tend to kill moles and not eat them.

para glider

In the last post I had no idea what the guy was flying well its a powered Para glider sooner him than me, heights don't bother me but I like my feet on the ground.

on Wikipedia it says they weigh between 45 and 80 lbs and fly between 15 to 45MPH and has a seat that folds down when in the air.

You control it with a toggle in each hand and has a hand held throttle.

It can fly at about 500 feet or up to 18000 ft and more.

when I returned to the truck it was hot and the fog had cleared it look like a day filtering the wine and gardening later.