Winter Scenes at Foxglove

Andrew chose a snowy day to walk around with his camera.  His path took him through the Scrapes.  Blue sky enhanced the yellow/cream of the reeds and the white of the snow.

A few steps further along the path and the vista changes.

Looking back the footsteps are clear to see in the snow.  Although there is ice on the surface the creatures that live here will be in hibernation in the silt at the bottom of the ponds.

At the end of the Scrapes is the Hazel Avenue.  The canopy, even though devoid of leaves, has prevented as much snow getting through to the ground to lie.  It will not be long before the Hazel trees begin to open their catkins that have been growing since the autumn, to release the pollen.  Very soon after the tiny red female flowers will open.  By autumn these will have developed into Hazel nuts and the after a few weeks the catkins begin to show themselves and so the circle of life continues.

Further along the avenue the becks run through steep sided valleys.  This is where we begin to look for Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage from January, being very hopeful, but realistically from February onwards.  This plant covers the vertical sides along the becks.

Meanwhile down at the lake one Mallard was walking sedately and carefully across the frozen lake.

Others decided to take flight from the water to the ice.

No matter what the season or weather there is always something to see on walks through the reserve.  Thank you to Andrew for these photographs.