Oh my goodness, the light! Sometimes the way nature surprises me is crazy. I get swept up on a wave of excitement that makes me want to tell everyone that the light was exciting and inspiring. Maybe I'm irrational.
Sophie
The last week has been more of a proper winter. With temperatures staying low it's meant that the countryside has taken on a new look; a frozen landscape. I've captured far more with my eyes than my lens but each picture is a memory shared. The lake froze in part, we could see the ice had not quite made it the full stretch of the surface but instead gave a crisp crust to the surface, like a fragile shell. Miniature waves rippled almost imperceptibly through open water, giving proof that time has not quite frozen in that very second.
Sophie
The second and concluding instalment of spring glow pictures from Sparham Pools. It really was beautiful in March. I can't wait to go back in summer.
Take care
Sophie
I've taken so many photographs lately and not even looked through them so this is the first wave, from the warm sunny day we had back in March. I love the glow about the place and the little signs of spring
Take care
Sophie
There have been so many photo opportunities this past two weeks, which has lead me to indulge heavily in this particular pastime but by consequence means that I've now found myself with an inordinate quantity of images to sort through and pick out the good few to share. It's great in a way but oh it's going to take a while. The good news is that I can bunker down until mid-February without needing to take another look through the viewfinder should I wish (which of course is unlikely, but at least it's an option).
These pictures were taken on New Year's day when I couldn't think what else to do but visit Sparham Pools. We anticipated it to be muddier than it turned out to be, but it was fairly monochrome thanks to the bleakest season of all, no leaves, no sun, hardly any colour to be found. There was no frost so it was a fair few minutes before we figured out what was odd. I commented that only a few parts of the lake had choppy water from the breeze, which I put down to parts of it being sheltered. After a scavenge for a stone, Chris threw it down and we promptly heard it bounce. The lake had a layer of ice! Most exciting as I've never seen a lake frozen over before (though to be fair I still haven't as this one was only frozen over in parts, though in majority).
The ice must have been pretty thick as even some stones from a height or thrown hard just bounced off. The branches frozen into the water were fascinating to me along with the branches that sat on top of the ice. It looked like a little water had washed over the ice which helped disguise it's frozen state and also made the reflections sit bolder.
I did find a few spots of colour; red berries, yellow gorse flowers, bright green moss, a few golden leaves and a fungus. We also observed a few birds standing on the ice who looked perplexed, heard some geese laughing loudly – must have just missed the joke and learned that a stone bouncing on such thick ice has the most peculiar sound; akin to a skipping rope smacking the tarmac of a playground and hearing the echo.
Have you ever seen a frozen lake?
Sophie
Back in late August when the sun came out for the afternoon we found a brand new place to go that is quite the hidden gem. Sparham Pools is found in the Upper Wensum Valley just outside the village of Lyng which is north of Dereham. The entrance to the Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserve is almost completely unseen; it's a narrow track with just a public bridleway sign and no indication of what is found beyond. Despite looking for the place we still had to park elsewhere and walk to investigate. There is space for half a dozen cars to park if you do find it!
Formerly a gravel pit, the reserve has been flooded to create a mix of both shallow and deep pools and islands with the established habitat proving to be a haven for wildlife; Chris had a few kingfisher sightings albeit fleetingly.
We walked around the circular path which takes you round the large (pictured) pool. It was a beautiful day and I thoroughly enjoyed a slow wander through the trees; taking in all the little details and stopping at the viewpoints to cast our eyes across the water. I could have took a chair and just drunk in the view all day; the elevated one at the start was a dream, a word of warning though; no barriers and a sharp deep drop.
Sophie
