Walk 4. Calke Abbey to Smisby, plus an extra few miles

Our first taste of rain, but only a little and nowhere near enough to deter us.

This was another longer than planned walk.  Now we are covering over 10 miles a walk there can be no turning back!

Spring was trying hard but overall not a lot was moving.  This patch of snowdrops was the most prolific attempt, but there were also daffodils, celandines, helebores and even a little violet making a show alongside buds on the trees and blackthorn blossom.

Bird of the day was undoubtedly the Tree Creepers who joined us at lunch time near to Carver's rocks.

You won't see them on the silver birch but believe us they were there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the rocks a little further on from our lunch stop.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We walked past some very interesting, and I hope inspiring, trees.  Some, we were told on an information board in Calke woods were over 1.000 years old.  I also tried to get a picture of a fine old stag, but wasn't fast enough and the poor old thing lumbered off.  We could see evidence of quite a serious old wound on his neck.

The shapes of the trees were fascinating.

As usual the built environment held its attractions. Here are an old HaHa and a view of the reservoir at Formark

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One curiosity was this white fungus (?) on the barks of a couple of trees.  A Google search has not yet identified it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apart from the Tree Creepers, we saw and heard several Robins, one making a lovely tiny red spot in a damp somewhat grey patch.  There were unidentified Gulls and a Heron who we managed to approach quite closely only to have it fly away as I got a good focus on the camera.  We thought we heard a Green Woodpecker yaffling and definitely a Tawny Owl as the light faded about 4.00pm.  A couple of cheeky crows descended on our picnic site as we walked away and ducks flew down to an otherwise fairly barren pond where we were resting.

Two last high spots to mention was the lovely tea room at Ticknall and the sight of two of the old water pumps, (not my photo - too much blue sky).  These pumps served the village from 1914 until piped water reached the village in the 1950s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Walk 3. Sence Valley to Calke.

Another bright sunny day for our walk.  This time we started from Sence with frost.

 

Just around the corner from this second shot we were lucky to see two swans flying low alongside us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blue sky through the overhead branches,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and a typical new planting.  We think that was the path ahead, blocked now by the new fencing, but we found our way around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A typical scene for this part of Leicestershire.  With the pre-enclosure field patterns just visible under the grassland.  Bucolic now but maybe not such a welcome site to the people who had ploughed the land.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We saw more trees with mossy 'skirts'.  This time however these were small twigs, don't be fooled by the angle of the photo.

Not such a rich walk for bird life, although it was wonderful to see and hear Skylarks and watch them displaying in February.  We did see a couple of 'mystery' birds that we eventually decided were Mistlethrushes.  Only one Buzzard and a valiant few Robins. 

No photos of the mud because we were too busy hanging onto the fences and trees to keep clear of it.

In all the step counter estimated that we had covered 14 miles!

Walk 2. Ratby to Sence Valley

We started in bright sunshine through young woodland busy with birdlife.

This walk was full of birds.  We saw long-tailed tits in their natural woodland habitat, which was lovely as it allowed us to see them at eye level and lower. 

 

Again the topography of the area never ceased to interest.  Here we had a wonderful view of the reservoir at Thornton from an angle that highlighted it's height above the original valley floor.  On the water here were Grebes fishing and around the corner seven Cormorants were perched on a landing stage. 

 

The Sun continued to shine through the morning in a clear blue sky.  Shortly after seeing these birches with their new growth shining in the light two buzzards flew low across our path.

 

The wind however rose as we approached the Millennium beacon close to Bagworth.  Not a good place for lunch.

 

 

We walked on across fields with Lapwings circling above and around and a Sparrow Hawk launching itself suddenly from a perch in a hedge.

The trees were fascinating in many ways.  Here the lichens caught our eye, elsewhere we noticed the tress with a short skirt of moss and lichens reaching uniformly up the trunks for 6 inches or so. 

 

 Other birds seen included an amusing small flock of farm ducks and male and female Pheasants, including one taking a long and surprisingly high flight.  Also a Jay that we startled out of a hedge.

 

In all we made another 10 miles towards our goal despite the heavy going underfoot.

...............And we're off!

Fresh from our success on the Leicestershire round, here we go again on a new adventure.

 

Well at least we found the first signpost,

 

 

and were smiling at the start.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No aches or pains to speak of at the end of the first day with 10 miles successfully achieved.  Not too much mud considering the recent weather and a lovely seasonal visitor along the way.