We’re at Cosford, at the RAF museum. The cold war is a major theme here (on this appropriately cold day), with displays of redundant equipment from that era. The possible use and consequences of all those planes and missiles doesn’t bear thinking about, but the shapes and colours make an interesting subject for the camera – and it’s perfect for keeping an energetic visiting four-year-old amused and entertained…
We’re ‘in’ – it’s cold and grey again, and a little while ago it was drizzling gently. We’re also at home because we’re expecting visitors – they’ve got a long journey (I don’t envy them). A call from the kitchen – “He’s back”. There’s a sparrowhawk on the fence, glaring evilly in all directions, looking for a tasty (blue?) titbit. Nature isn’t always pretty. (Hope he doesn’t eat my friend the robin, who comes to see what I’m doing whenever I’m in the garden).
He’s gone now. Didn’t eat anyone.
It’s hazy too, but at least there’s no wind. More like January than early March – just a few primroses at the foot of Round Hill to remind us that it’s spring…
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A fine, bright but cold afternoon – it’s good to be out on the quieter side of Much Wenlock. There are one or two others about, all of them dog-walkers (possibly wondering where ours is?), but they’re well-behaved and seem to know where they’re going. The dogs are OK too.
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It’s starting to appear on the blackthorn, the startlingly white blossom that in autumn will bring those bitter almost-black fruits, the basis for many a bottle of sloe gin. Like yesterday, it’s cold, but there’s enough sunshine to make us comfortably warm, especially when sheltered from that north-easterly breeze.
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The Met Office says spring begins next Wednesday, and we’ve had a few spring-like days recently. Not quite there yet… Photos? At first, it’s too cold to hang around. We’re halfway round before the sun (we can really feel its warmth) and the camera come out. What a difference!
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Thursday 23 Feb: We could park at the sawmill car park, walk around Dudmaston and through the asparagus farm to Comer Wood – get a light lunch at the shepherd’s hut. Yes, we could, if it hadn’t been half-term week (perhaps there’s something to be said for instant coffee: “instant”…). After five minutes in a stationary queue, we decided to cut our losses (we’ll have a late lunch at home). Escaping from the woods at their northernmost tip, we follow the quiet road to Mose and the farm track beyond, back to the start.
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Yet another day that feels like early spring. The pussy willow beside the Severn thinks so too, adding a little splash of yellow to the scene
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According to the Shropshire Star, we’ve had no ‘meaningful’ rainfall for a whole month. We’re not complaining – there are many places around here that become almost inaccessible during a ‘fill dyke’ February – but I have that feeling that we’re going to pay for it later… Yes, once again it’s a fine and sunny afternoon, and we’re out wandering from Benthall Hall, down to Workhouse Coppice, along Benthall Edge and back via Wyke and Posenhall. Spring is just over a week away – it’s in the air today.
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We haven’t been out this way for a little while – down the old waggonway from Wenlock to Seven Springs, then into Bannister’s Coppice and back up through Homer to Wenlock. It’s very quiet in this wooded country below the Wenlock Edge, and very pleasant in the intermittent sunshine. Perhaps we’ll see some deer? Perhaps not! – though there are plenty of fresh footprints. The alpacas at Sheinwood mill will have to do instead.
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