Going green on a grey day

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We’ll start up Round Hill. It’s very quiet here: plenty of birdsong, nothing else – except a rustling in the vegetation on the bank beside us. No, not a noisy blackbird – it’s a bank vole, scuttling along under the ground ivy. He’s only visible for seconds, so there’s no chance of a photo, but he (or she) is a welcome sight. At the other end of the scale, the belties are out in the field beside the lane (we can see them through the hedge, so again, no photos). There probably aren’t too many Galloways in Shropshire!

The hedgerows are greening up now – the hawthorn is coming along nicely, as is the honeysuckle, and there are primroses in profusion. All we need now is some sunshine and a little warmth…

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Aldenham and Shore Pool

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After a grey morning, there’s some pleasant sunshine for this wander: out past Hurst Farm pools, down the drive at Aldenham and across to Shore Pool. They’re  planting potatoes in the first field, but the space-age machinery seems to be on the blink. In the pool. swans are being elegant and decorative. We walk on beyond the pool to find that the sunshine has faded – it’s grey again.

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A cautionary tale…

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If I was Hilaire Belloc, the following would rhyme. I’m not: it won’t…

Yesterday evening, after ensuring I had two backups of the files on my data drive, I formatted the memory card for the camera which accompanied me today, my Lumix GX80. On today’s walk I made almost 90 exposures – but when I tried to download them onto the computer, only the last 29 appeared to be on the card. Where were the others?

I installed and ran ‘Recuva’*, which after about 40 minutes found almost all the photos which had been on the card when I formatted it – over 2,000. It also found 28 more from today’s outing – but there was no sign of the first 30. (I’m going by the consecutive file numbering, based on the last photo I took yesterday). Could it have been anything to do with the formatting?

I love the little GX80. It’s great for carrying on a walk. However, in the two years I’ve had it, it’s caught me out several times. Carrying it over my shoulder, the buttons on the back sometimes get pressed when it bumps against my hip (it happens with other cameras too), selecting something I don’t want. Could I have accidentally formatted the card again? I pressed the menu button on the back, and there it was – the Format option ready to use in the Tools menu, exactly as I’d left it yesterday. Formatted after taking 58 shots, the next ones saved over the first 30 I’d taken today; the remainder recovered perfectly.

The moral in this tale:
– turn the camera off between shots? (I’d rather not…)
– don’t leave it on the Format menu! Leave it on something harmless!

*Recuva: great free software! https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva Usual disclaimer applies…

The wood’s in trouble

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On Wenlock Edge, it might be, but we’re on Benthall Edge, last gasp of the aforementioned, where it reaches and overlooks the Severn. The wind’s not very strong – not going to do any damage, just providing a steady whoosh overhead. Last week’s blow may have brought some branches down – National Trust staff have got a bonfire going, and the wind is really encouraging the flames. Happily, it’s downwind of the path.

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Spring shall surely come again

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To Willey – out via Darley (rhymes with rarely) and the Honeypot; back down the sunken lane behind Deancorner. Just short of five miles, and no-one else about (apart from a lost taxi driver). In the sky over the fields near Darley, swanee whistles are playing:

On the moor I saw a plover
And a curlew call her lover
“Pee-wit!” “Pee-wit!”
Spring shall surely come again

No curlews, but four or five lapwings wheeling and fluting. Wonderful – not a sound we hear often now. Made our day! (listen here Lapwing Bird Facts | RSPB)

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Dean Farm Lane

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We were on gardening duties earlier in the day – partly because of the likelihood of a sharp shower or two. By mid-afternoon, things are looking more encouraging: we’ll have a quick stroll as far as the end of the lane to Dean Farm. The sunshine is bright, the breeze is stiff (and cold). It’s a real ‘blow away the cobwebs’ outing!

March winds

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Yesterday was wet and windy; today it’s bright and breezy. We’ll need to time it carefully to avoid the showers though. It’s a familiar route, past Round Hill and Willey Lower Pool, down Bould Lane and back through Linley Brook, but the weather makes each outing different. When the sun shines, there are photoflood moments – got to be quick though, they’re gone in seconds.

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A Coalport circular

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Down the lane past Swinney Farm, then the old railway track to Coalport Bridge. Cross the river and make our way to the china works and the youth hostel, where maybe before too long we’ll once again enjoy tea and cake. Back over the memorial footbridge and up the dingle (which isn’t too muddy…) – a most enjoyable outing!

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