It's been cold this winter

2012 / 2013 has been another snowy cold winter.  Farleigh Wood looks good with a different jacket, all sparkly and clean.

 

The surrounding fields held onto the snow for a long time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Olympic weekends

We all know about the Olympics in London, well I am using it as a tenuous link to the busy time we have had here at Farleigh Wood.

The closing ceremony Sunday saw the caravan paddock and holiday cottages full, and plenty of fishermen.  This is despite the day starting with a few rolls of thunder!

Red sky in morning...

This is the scene from Wood Cottage at 7:00 this morning.  A beautiful golden/red morning with the threat of rain.

By the afternoon, the rain clouds had left and we were left to sunshine once more.

The carp have been biting well on the lake with one novice fisher-woman catching a gorgeous 7lb mirror carp.  It put up a bit of a fight so she had help landing it.  What a great introduction to the sport.

The day turned into one of those long-viewed afternoons; where the recently washed dust-free atmosphere brings surrounding hills into close focus.

The combine harvester had been busy making the most of the dry spell.  This field of barley stands cut.

There really is nothing left to do but put the kettle on and sit in the evening sun.

Fabulous.

Maintenance

The goat willow self-seeded a few years back and has been making steady progress round the lake.

As beautiful as it is; it has had to be trimmed back a little.  Fishing through a plant is almost impossible and so we have got to work pruning and taking some plants out.

Craig has needed to use a variety of tools; taking care not to disturb too much of the surrounding vegetation and root systems.

No that our resident Canada Geese seem to mind.

We have had two mating pairs this year with 3 goslings surviving into adulthood.

The next stage of our maintenance is addressing the height of our fishing platforms.

Put in some 10 years ago, they need to be lowered; allowing better access to the water level.

This will be on-going for some time but we hope to have it finished around mid-August as we stop or move around the lake to allow fishermen a quiet day near the water.

Folk often ask when our matches are booked (the lake is closed for these).  Please see our new page in which we hope to keep matches booked updated.

The plants and lake at Farleigh Wood

The music to this is a Moby track which seemed peaceful.  The words 'when its cold I'd like to die' seems an apt choice for the delicate plants which retreat to the earth for winter. If you find it too sombre but would like to see the pictures, just turn down your sound.  I hope you enjoy it.

Farleigh Wood throughout the year

The little dog who has managed to get into many shots is Tilly.

Waking up for spring

At last!  The warmer days have brought new life to the woodland and soon the floor will be covered in bluebells.  The fresh smell is as intoxicating as the view, but all I can show is the latter!

Many of the deciduous trees are still in hard bud but the horse chestnuts already have hands of soft green leaves.  They seem to be earlier than usual and I am wondering if this is their answer to the larvae of the leaf miner moth which have reduced these beautiful trees to rust by August.  Maybe if they open early, sufficient sunlight will be collected to bolster these, one of my favourite trees, through to the next season.

Primroses nest below Lady's Smock, another woodland flower who's delicate colours paint the woodland before dark green summer stretches over the canopy.

The early spotted orchid

Of course, spring also means the wild life are thinking of mating.  The birds in the woodland all shout out their prowess and this cheeky pheasant came and pecked at our window the other day.

Brave little thing.  We have two springer spaniels in the house and they were chomping at the bit watching him walk up.  I let them out in the end; knowing the pheasant would be fine.  I think it is in the dogs' breeding to chase birds rather than catch them; the idea being to send birds skyward for a shoot. 

Autumn says good bye

It has been a while since putting anything on here and the summer of which I last spoke has mellowed into autumn; which itself is derobing into winter with every gust.

The misty mornings came first, with the sun trundling further south across the sky making each day a little different to the last.

Then leaves started to speckle the grass tracks as they hinted yellow.  

Autumn was actually quite late this year so even at the start of November, the scene was full of leaf and bird-song.

The chickens stopped laying eggs - they still eat plenty though!

It wasn't long before the mists started hanging around longer into the day.  It makes the woodland look romantic and soft.

And, of course, it is now the time of the fungi.

It takes me so long between posts that I am sure winter will soon melt into spring.  I hope you all have a good warm winter free of troubles and chills.

Warm start to August

Sorry, does this sound like complaining?  Well it is not.  Happy to have warm weather; getting up to the sun, window open, wearing light clothes; it is more than welcome.

It is surprising to find a lot of these little froggies hopping around the wood considering the temperatures.  I would have thought they would seek out water in the lake, but then again it is full of hungry fish, so maybe it is better to risk the woodland bird population instead.

Just to show you how small they are, here is one in my hand.

Does anyone know what these are called?  It must be an adult and therefore not the ubiquitous common frog.

The Caravan Club paddock is well-booked

A tractor in the north field has been making hay.  As the day cooled into evening the air was filled with the smell of drying grass.

Tried to take a picture of the carp jumping, but was too slow so all we have are rings of bright water.

It doesn't get much better than this.