Week 53 14/01/2015 - Crisp Blue Skied Morning

Photo Blog Week 53 - Wed 14 January 2015

Forecast high winds and deteriorating weather but wonderful blue skies in the morning with a clean bright light reflecting from last night's dusting of snow. Unusually, there was less up in the high parkland than down in Cheadle, Poynton and Hazel Grove. Chris still had to salt the main drive first thing but he had expected to be ploughing.

route: North face; Main car Park; Four Winds; The Knott; Haze Bank; Pursefield; Paddock Cottage

North Face entrance to the House

South Face of the House lit by low sun

Cold stone for the wallers this morning, though they are working elsewhere

clear view to Manchester City centre though hazy beyond

clear blue sky over Cage Hill and the Kinder plateau to right

the cleared sight line through Lantern Wood to the Lantern itself

Westpark Drive, gate into The Knott car park

jet trails in the blue sky over Pursefield

a shaded section of Westpark drive looking frozen

lovely path parallel to the drive through the Haze Bank Wood

one of the rock outcrops on Haze Bank

Nature's Artwork: frozen rhododendron leaves

Paddock Cottage and the ridge

route: Paddock Cottage; Pursefield Wood; Darcy's Pond; Drinkwater Meadow; Millpond bridge; Timberyard

tracks crossing over lower Pursefield and then looking out across Cheshire plain

West along Paddock Cottage ridge

across Park Moor to Bowstonegate Farm on horizon

standing dried remnants of Rosebay Willowherb

Rhododendron clearance continues a pace

The upside of this job is a nice warm fire on a winter day

Darcy's Pond (BBC Pride & Prejudice) with The Cage in the distance

view from other end of Darcy's Pond looking SW; next weather system approaching and sky darkening

Cage Hill and Lantern Pike

the wind has toppled one of my favourite trees

I saw this tree as being like the Womping Willow in the Harry Potter film

How it looked last September in week 47 post; 17 September 2014

route: Timberyard; Car Park; Cage Hill; Turf House Meadow; Park Moor (bottom); Middle Moor wall

moorhen

mallard parade

eerie sun through the approaching cloud walking along the bottom of Park Moor

The culvert rebuild last year carrying an excellent flow of water under the path and wall

cold looking moor

bits of pine strewn along the top of Hampers and Knightslow Woods where the pines get whipped by the wind

another eerie sun shot

that's the sun over Park Moor and Spond's Hill, not the moon

route: Middle Moor wall; Cluse Hey; Knightslow Wood; Drinwater meadow; Main car Park

North and South facing slopes of Cluse Hey show the effect of sun and shade on the temperature

path along bottom of Cluse Hey pencilled in by the snow

Nature's Artwork; I just liked the mix of textures with snow caught on ledges and in and out of the beech leaves on the floor

from this angle the avenue of trees leading from the House to The Cage is clear

Fallow Deer

The Fallow Deer are a Mediterranean species and not well suited to our winter. To  help avoid stress for them, the Fallow Deer enclosure is closed off to the public in the winter months.
Feed for the Fallow deer includes bales of silage for bulk but they also receive corn as a high energy supplement.

If you happen to be at the top of the car park after the cord has been put down you can be as lucky as this.

This fawn in the foreground was born this year

A white buck shows up

Fallow bucks (males) come in a variety of shades with browns, dark greys and white. This is a natural colour and not an albino as some think.

a fairly deserted car park at end of day as a little drizzle begins

Today's track and profile

This week provided by runkeeper.com as I left my Garmin GPS at home so used Android phone App.

6.7 miles  4 hr 30 min

This Time Last Year

Have a look at This Time Last Year  15 Jan 2014