Tuesday 21 December 2010

Frozen Precipitation in the Form of Translucent Hexagonal Ice Crystals Falls on Seaton.....And an 'Old Friend'

The fact that a large part of East Devon, including the Axe Valley has a deep covering of snow (the most for decades)  at the moment is old news now. I'm being a bit slow off the mark and everyone, especially those up North, are probably sick of hearing about the stuff.  Still, I've been out to play and taken a few snaps so here they are:

As soon as the snow stopped falling we ventured forth in the Landrover for a play. 
(obviously sensibly heeding the "don't go out unless your journey is critical" warning) The only other vehicles we saw were other 4x4s and this beast.

Just south of Boshill Cross the Wigeon flock were managing to graze in a field of longish grass. This photo shows about a fifth of them!
Sidmouth Road Colyton:
 At the bottom of this hill there's a tree with berries that I wanted to check out for Waxwings ( See! My journey was critical). Colyton was really gloomy but the sun is starting to come out in the distance over Seaton.
A picturesque street scene in Colyton.
Back inn Seaton. This is Colyford Road.


Seaton Seafront
Yacht Club and Axe Cliff

A very atmospheric shot looking towards Beer Head....
.... which was brooding under some dramatic clouds

A couple of bird photos from the garden today. Not too bad considering they were taken through a double glazed and rather filthy glass door.
This female Blackbird is undeniably the master of all she surveys, seeing off anything the same size or smaller than herself.
This poor Song Thrush spends hours just sitting around waiting for a chance to get to the apples and meal worms.That said, it does take the occasional break to see off another Song Thrush.

Also today, I took Rex for his walk along the cliff path to Jubilee Gardens in Beer, on the way back I stopped to check out some ducks  that I could see on the water below ( a couple of Eider one duck one first winter drake, well I think that's what they were I only had bins on me) when this little fellow popped up right in front of me. I'm pretty sure it's the same bird I saw and photographed here last year. It appears very tame for a bird out of town but it's obviously very used to passers-by on this busy stretch of path. I started to feel a bit guilty because I didn't have any food, then I remembered I had got some, a squashed packet of flapjack that  I'd neglected to take out of my bag after some twitch or other. The bird was very hungry indeed because no sooner had  I gotten the wrapper off than it hopped over and started eating while the flapjack was still in my hand. I sprinkled a few pieces on the fence and took a couple of photos before taking my leave. I suppose I'll feel obliged to pop back regularly and check on it now. Having said that it obviously survived last year's extreme winter weather okay.



You may have noticed the new banner photo at the top of this blog. Well, unlike its predecessors it isn't a composite photo mackled together in Photoshop, oh no it's the real deal. Rex volunteered to pose on the cliff-tops with Seaton as a backdrop. For some reason he flatly refused to sit down though!

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