With the news media reporting that parts of the country will be suffering from floods until May I really shouldn’t complain too much about conditions locally. Yes we’re having an awful lot of rainfall, but these are chalk downs which drain freely and we happen to live at the top of them (more or less). Even so, the ground is sodden and getting about is difficult. Trains are cancelled, some local roads flood, and it is generally cold, wet and miserable outside.
On the plus side we’ve had some clear evenings (we saw the International Space Station fly over last night), and between the rain we have had some glimpses of sunshine. Still, it’s far from ideal weather for trekking around the countryside. Today I made do with a short walk around the edge of a couple of football pitches, having been lured there by a fleeting glimpse of a kestrel which then managed to evade me entirely. The views were nice though.
This is the path that runs along the playing fields (which are at the top of the slope on the left).
This is taken from the far side of the pitches, looking across to Stanmer Park.
It was while I was on the far side of the fields that I had my second wildlife sighting. A woodpecker shot across my line of sight and disappeared into the tree-lined bank. I eventually tracked down a green woodpecker which was characteristically trying to hide from the camera.
We’re due a heavy downpour mid afternoon on Wednesday, accompanied by gale force winds and gusts over 60 mph. Thankfully it should pass quite quickly, but take care if you’re out in it.
And one fox photo (Pretty) from yesterday, just to keep things ticking over.
Camera note: all photos taken with the Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L USM IS lens, except the fox which was taken with the EF 100mm f/2.8L macro IS USM lens.