Foggy Christmas Eve

 

Sodden towards sundown

It snowed yesterday afternoon and evening, then froze overnight. The gradual thaw started as soon as the winter sun appeared above the rooftops . . . weak, low in the sky, rising a long way round to the south-east so close now to the solstice. I should have gone out then, but it was too cold, both for my fingers and for the camera battery. By the time I ventured out after lunch, it was dripping under the trees, soggy underfoot, but there was still ice on the lake.

Midwinter spring is its own season
Sempiternal though sodden towards sundown,
Suspended in time, between pole and tropic.
When the short day is brightest, with frost and fire,
The brief sun flames the ice, on pond and ditches,
In windless cold that is the heart's heat,
Reflecting in a watery mirror
A glare that is blindness in the early afternoon.

T S Eliot, 'Little Gidding', from Four Quartets, 1941

First frost of the season

 Just a light frost, still visible when I woke up . . .

. . . but dripping by 9am!

A bright November morning (2) - elsewhere around the Abbey Fields

 

St Nicholas Churchyard lies within Abbey Fields

Part of the remaining ruins of the Mediaeval Abbey

The dog wanted a swim . . . the family thought not.

After several days and nights of heavy rain, the river floods the ford across the road.

A bright November morning (1) - aggressive swans

The autumn brightness this morning (forecast to cloud over and rain after lunch) was too good to waste. I walked round Abbey Fields and was much taken by the behaviour of the waterfowl on the lake. These included five adult swans and four of this year's cygnets. A pair of the adults, bigger than the other three, must have been the parents of the cygnets. They were dominant and aggressive and constantly harried the younger non-breeding adults, likely in their first adult year. Whenever any of the younger adults settled to feed or preen, or happened to go near the cygnets, one or both of the parents would chase them off. I have never seen swans swimming so fast - they were charging the younger birds, much as a mammal on four legs might run at a subordinate animal. The swimming charge would precede a take-off, flying at the younger bird. I assume that this was breeding territoriality. The conspicuous aggression also had the effect of triggering aggression between other birds: mallards harried each other; little gulls (we have a permanently resident inland population on the lake) chased each other in the air; coots chased each other in the water; and one moorhen jumped onto the neck of another, holding it under the water, appearing to be trying to drown it . . . the victim managed to escape.

The parent pair - this wing ruffling is the prelude to active aggression.

One parent and their four cygnets.

The other parent starts to harry one of the young adults.

And the fast swimming becomes a take-off.

 . . . here is the chase!

Another case of aggression - unwise of the little dog!

And unprovoked, one of the parents, starts to harry one of the juveniles again.

Later, I saw this article which explained the winter behaviour of swan families!

Coombe Abbey (6) - autumn 'colour' turned monochrome

 In spite of the trip to Coombe Abbey being all about finding autumn colour, some things look striking in monochrome, especially textures and sharp shadows:

Coombe Abbey (5) - California Redwoods

 

Coombe Abbey (4) - other things to be found

 An art installation and fundraiser in support of NHS workers and NHS charities - STANDING WITH GIANTS. From the front, coloured life-sized figures representing all kinds of NHS workers. From the back, blackboards on which messages can be written by the public.

For activity, adventure and excitement - for all ages - a high ropes course:

The hotel is a former stately home with an interesting history, having been drawn into the Gunpowder Plot. Views through ironwork gates create striking graphic images in black and white:

Coombe Abbey (3) - birds

 

Coombe Abbey (2) - autumn colour in close-up