It may be cold and windy, but the sunshine is beautiful – when we’re not in the shade, that is. In this natural hollow, we’re sheltered from the stiff north-easterly breeze, but for the first half-mile or so, the wooded hill to the south-west blocks the sun (there’s no easy solution). Then we’re back into its warmth (that’s a relative term), and it’s great to be out enjoying Christmas Day in this quiet little corner of our world.

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A short stroll on a cold but bright afternoon – down the lane past Severn Hall to walk back along the old railway track, and back up through Chestnut Coppice.

…and tomorrow: Merry Christmas everyone!

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Those days between the solstice and Christmas… Instead of dragging what little reluctant colour remains in the landscape around Willey, I’ll use monochrome mode (and warm it up very slightly from neutral grey).
The forecast is for a cold, dry and sunny Christmas!

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Sometimes that’s all you get at this time of year… After a foggy morning, the sky cleared, and the sun shone until I’d got my boots on and escaped from the house. It’s just a leg stretch (sour grapes?) down the lane, but it’s pleasant to get out in the fresh air. No-one else about – just a solitary deer, with a fine set of antlers, bounding across the field away in the distance. Perhaps there will be an attractive sunset?
It’s dark as I write this, so there must have been a sunset. Attractive? Hmmm.

…even if sunset is now a few seconds later than it was at the start of the week… I’ll attempt to make the most of this afternoon’s very welcome sunshine (after two consecutive rainy days), though by the time I’ve left the Aldenham chocolate seat (it was a very brief stay) the light is distinctly red. It was rather muddy between the two lanes, past Shore Pool, but I lived to tell the tale. It’s been a very pleasant little outing.

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It’s just around the corner! We can tell by the decorations in the woods – as well as the entirely natural things such as tufts of fallen lichen, and interesting fungi to catch the eye, there are snowmen and women, reindeers – and Christmas trees! It’s pleasant to wander in the woods at Comer.

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We’re in the week of earliest sunset times – mid-December. The morning’s fog cleared – fairly suddenly – around 1pm: we’d better get going, to make the most of what little light there is in the quiet lanes around Church Preen. Thank goodness for digital – there would have far fewer usable pictures, in the days of 35mm…

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…is a scarce commodity. The Met Office said “sunny day”, but that’s not quite what we experienced. There was a silver lining, so to speak, in the skyscapes and sunbeams – much more dramatic than unbroken blue. There was a rainbow too, briefly. There was “<5%” likelihood of rain, but there must have been some drops blowing in the breeze. We didn’t get wet, and after several rainy days, it was good to be out in this airy stretch of country

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A foggy morning, clearing to sunshine by early afternoon. We’d better get out there and enjoy it. We’ll take a short wander from the usual spot at Shirlett, down the other lane to the top of Hawthorn Bank and back. Short maybe, but plenty to see – the mist lingering over Wenlock Edge and Brown Clee, but clearing steadily – and some wonderful fungus in the forest.

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Need to make the most of sunshine in the month of shortest days! Just a week ago, workmen were clearing the trees – standing and fallen – below the Lower Pool dam. I was on my own that day – now, Mrs Geoffspages wants to have a look. Happily they seem to have finished – the stacks of timber have significantly diminished; the men and their machines have all gone. So have the trees (there are plenty more beyond this short stretch of the valley of Linley Brook).

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