Tag: sky
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02/04/23 – Mermaid’s purses and egg sacs on the shore
Yesterday I went to the tide pool. It was windy and I wobbled as I walked out to the first ladder. Great swathes of seaweed had spread since I’d last been and they were spread-eagled beneath the surface, black through milky grey. I climbed down the ladder into chest clenching cold, swam across with the…
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18/03/23 – Seven Sisters
We took the path beside the low lazy river through the marshland. The tide was low and the banks, straight and ochre, stood a foot above the flat surface. A kayaker paddled seaward and we noticed that, at the very edges, we could see the sandy bottom. A cormorant took flight and we kept walking.…
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11/03/23 – Seals and roosting rooks in Norfolk
I walked down the slope towards the waves and their heads popped out; sleek dark bodies, everywhere. Big dark eyes, backs curving out of a cresting wave. I was told there’d be seals here, but I never thought they’d be so instant, so obvious. I walked beside the water, waves white and loud, rushing into…
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03/03/23 – Turkey tail mushrooms and budded daffodils
I went for a lunchtime walk by the river. At first I noticed only cyclists and joggers, bits of rubbish among the leaf litter. Then I watched a dog charge into the water. Chasing a gull, it launched itself, paws paddling furiously, a triangle of wake lanes rippling behind it. The bird planed low over…
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12/02/23 – Low tide at West Wittering
At the weekend I went to West Wittering for the first time and it was packed. I’d hoped a grey February Sunday wouldn’t be too busy, but there were huge groups of people all over the wide expanse of sand. I turned right, towards East Head, which I hoped would be quieter. The tide was…
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06/02/23 – Cleared undergrowth and snowdrops
Yesterday I found that the undergrowth in the wood has been cleared. The narrow path I usually squeeze down is wide now, the bracken and brambles gone, with only a few brown stalks left to show what was once there, what has been there for years. The trees still made a tunnel overhead, and I…
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21/01/23 – Frozen sunset in the woods
On the way to the woods I spotted the furry buds of a magnolia. The end of one branch had snapped, leaving a silky prong on the pavement. I picked it up and carried it with me. The birds were loud as I went through the gate and up the mulchy path. I don’t know…
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22/12/22 – Low Tide
Yesterday I was tired and more than anything, I wanted to swim. I headed for the little bay next to the main sands but on the other, quieter side of the harbour wall. There was a huge digger on the ramp down to it, along with workmen in high viz jackets. I could see the…
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19/12/22 – Snow melt
Now the rain is melting the snow, but a few days ago everything was ice. The pavements were ridged with glass, the roads thick with compressed snow and criss-crossed with tyre marks. I went again and again to the woods, down through the tree tunnel, where the branches curve over the sky at every level…
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11/12/22 – Frozen birdbath bubbles
This morning I took a hammer to the bird bath. I started with a wooden spoon to break the ice and let a robin drink, but the ice wasn’t a crackable layer as it had been before; it was solid, bubbles suspended below the frozen surface. I used a hammer to break up the ice…
Bonnie Radcliffe 