Category: countryside

autumn · countryside · general stuff · in the woods · wildlife

Autumny things :: out & about

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)38 Comments

The woods in Autumn are one of my most favourite places to be. It’s such a sensory experience – a wonderful rich smell of damp earth; a rustling sigh as hundreds of leaves part company with the trees at the slightest breeze and a sparkling quality to the light as the low-angled sunlight is shimmered through all of the leaves still clinging fast. There are good things to eat too. I’m not confident enough to gather mushrooms but a handful of sweet chestnuts or blackberries instantly evokes childhood memories of autumn Sunday afternoons spent foraging in the woods with my Mum, Dad and brother. I do love being out in the woods on a bright autumn day.

Sadly though Toby seems to have gone off wood walks at the moment. He’s been getting rather agitated when I’ve shown him the PECs card for the woods and biting his hand a lot (you can see it’s badly calloused in the picture below). I did manage to coax him out with custard cream biscuits for one rather short stroll over this half term break but he was keen to get back to the car.

Amy walked with me on wednesday afternoon, both of us with our cameras in hand as she’s preparing her coursework for her photography GCSE. We took a lot of pictures because there’s lots going on in the autumn woods. We saw mini beasts; snails, butterflies and beetles, tiny fairy-tale porcelain fungus and toadstools and out on an open stretch a muntjac deer was crossing an autumn-sown field and stopping every now and then for a quick nibble of the fresh, green shoots. There was a fair bit of good-natured elbow barging between us over the best position to photograph from and lots of her shots came out better than mine. It was a memorable afternoon out with my lovely girl.

Back at home the late afternoon skies have been crossed with migrating flocks of birds. I love watching them heading south to keep ahead of the colder weather and wonder how far they are journeying.

Autumn is in full flow here and I hope to make it out to the woods lots more before the leaves are all on the ground. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep tempting Toby to come out with me and he’ll re-discover his woodland mojo.

Pictures taken at:

Amwell nature reserve, Hollywell Lake with the dragonfly meadows and Amwell walkway, September 26th

Bencroft wood, Hertfordshire, October 26th

Panshanger Park and Osprey lake, October 28th

 

countryside · general stuff · winter

calmer

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)59 Comments

Thanks so much for all of the kind and lovely comments on the previous post. This week has been a lot less dramatic and Toby has been happily at school without incident. For me there has been a lot of knitting, for in knitting my heart knows calm; some tea, cake and laughter with friends and a lovely peaceful woodland walk amongst the snowdrops which are just beginning to break bud.

I took 133 pictures on my wood walk (and got very muddy knees in the process) and there were just too many of them that I wanted to show you, so I made a little film.

Note: To see the snowdrops at their best it’s worth cranking it up to HD which you can do by clicking the little thing shaped like a cog and moving the slider to 1080p HD at the top, after a moment you should get a little HD in red by the cog and then you can re-start the film with better quality.

 

Have a good weekend. It’s St Valentines day tomorrow so I hope you’re spending it with someone you love, kisses from me too xxx

autumn · countryside · crafts & knitting · general stuff · in the woods

woodsy

Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)23 Comments

Happily the half term school break wasn’t as wet and windy as I’d feared and in fact we were rather lucky with mild, sunshiney days perfect for lots of lovely wood walks.

Toby is such a happy boy in the peace and tranquility of the woods, he notices lots around him, touching trees, exploring textures and enjoying the different sounds he can make with his feet depending on whether he’s rustling through the leaves, tromping down the boardwalks or crunching along the gravelly paths. He does like to keep moving though (you can see his shadow pulling on my shadows arm in the picture above – “c’mon mummy, c’mon”). The only time he does agree to stop is when there is a snack involved. I might miss out on more in-depth looking at things and photo taking when I’m with Tobes, but I do love these peaceful little adventures that we share in the sanctuary of the woods.

Amy meantime had a great time on stage in 6 performances of the Addams family, though she was quite worn out by the end of the week. It was lovely to see her having such fun up on stage and the show was a great success.

Other than spending time with Toby and driving Amy back and forth I didn’t get an awful lot done, so it’s nice to have some free time again now he’s back at school. I’ve been settling back into a bit of crochet blanket making.

It has been put aside for most of the summer but it feels right to work on it again now the days are colder and shorter and I’d like to think that I might get it finished to put on the bed before winter truly arrives, though that might be a little optimistic of me. Once it’s a bit more finished I’ll find somewhere to spread it out and take a proper picture. I’m also working on a small batch of animals that I hope to have ready soon, more news of that when they’re ready.

I’ll be back soon with that post about the mice pattern making that I mentioned. Til then enjoy the rest of your week x