A Circular Walk from Bardney Abbey to Tupholme Abbey

Last Friday Heather and I set off to Bardney to walk from the abbey here to Tupholme Abbey and back visiting one or two of the Lincolnshire Limewoods: Scotgrove and Southrey Woods. Central Lincolnshire has one of the largest and most dense concentrations of ancient small-leaved lime woodland surviving anywhere in the British landscape. Small-leaved lime (Tilia cordata) is a deciduous tree native to the UK and in this part of Lincolnshire is an indicator species for ancient, wildlife rich, woodland. The Bardney Limewoods National Nature Reserve is a collection of 13 woodland Sites of Special Scientific Interest. As an important natural resource these woods have been shaped by human management for over 5000 years. From early clearances by Neolithic hunter-gatherers, to coppicing in medieval times and modern forestry in the early twentieth century, the wooded landscape has changed considerably. However, many of these woods became isolated and fragmented as a result of agricultural intensification. Southrey wood is one of the few Lincolnshire sites for white admiral which is on the wing during July.

The aim of this walk was to take photographs for my degree body of work. I am walking from Lincoln Cathedral to Woodhall Spa, where I grew up, along the Viking Way long distance footpath visiting all of the religious houses of the east side of the Witham Valley. We visited both Bardney and Tupholme Abbeys, passing Scotgrove and Southrey Woods as well as farmland and farms. Tupholme Abbey was the site of the successful Bardney Rock Festivals of the early 1970s. The unusual concentration of abbeys in the Witham valley results from ancient memories of the Iron Age Celts placing high value offerings to their gods in the marshy channels of the, then uncanalized river, the proximity of the river, which was a vital transport link from Lincoln to the sea at Boston, the Limewoods, which were used as a livelihood and the fact that the monks would have been able to see their mother house of Lincoln Cathedral, was always in our field of view during the walk. Also dominant in our view was Bardney sugar beet factory. Closed in 2001 it was a major feature of my childhood: we could see it, smell it during the sugar campaign during Autumn and we made lanterns out of the beet that fell from the lorries as they passed through Woodhall at Halloween and Bonfire Night .

As I walked I wondered if the landscape held memories of those ancient Celts, medieval monks and travellers who perhaps also walked this route, foresters and navvies who died canalizing the river.

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A Session at the Winter Feeding Station.

After the gales of Storm Henry it was good to get to Scallows and find the hide still standing.  I busied about for a while setting up some different perches and then went off to photograph the aconites and snowdrops that were making a colourful display, before returning for an hour in the hide.  There was a constant toing and froing of the various members of the tit family as well as chaffinches and nuthatches.  The woodpecker was around and I heard it both calling and drumming suggesting that it is establishing territory, although I have yet to see the female.  Many years ago I photographed woodpeckers at the nest here so perhaps this bird is a descendant of those.  I was also delighted to have a tree creeper pay a brief visit.

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Aconite

Snowdrops

Blue Tit

Blue Tit

Blue Tit

Chaffinch, male

Coal Tit

Great Tit

Long Tailed Tit

Long Tailed Tit

Nuthatch

Tree Creeper

Nacreous Clouds Over Grimsby

People in Grimsby were treated to an amazing spectacle first thing this morning and then as the sun set.  Nacreous or polar stratospheric clouds formed over the town to provide an extremely rare sighting for this country as they normally only occur in polar regions.  They form at high altitudes in the atmosphere (9-16 miles) and blaze unbelievably bright with vivid and shifting iridescent colours.  They are sometimes known as mother-of-pearl clouds from their colours and the water drops which form them are much smaller than normal.  The smaller droplets scatter light in a different way which creates the distinctive luminescent appearance. Unfortunately I missed the best of the display but my efforts are shown below.

A Festival of Grebes at Cleethorpes

Having seen pictures of the slavonian grebes at Cleethorpes Country Park that had been posted over the weekend, I decided that I would go and have a look for myself despite the very blustery conditions left over from Storm Henry .  I had seen, although not photographed these magnificent birds in their dazzling summer plumage while up in the Cairngorm mountains of Scotland.  Knowing that in winter plumage grebes tend to be quite drab, I was not over excited, but how wrong could I be!  When I arrived the pair of birds were easy to find; I just had to fine the photographers!!!  The birds were incredibly confiding, at times coming too close and what stunning birds they were, even in their winter colours.  A startling red eye and eye stripe to the bill and very attractive black and white feathering.  Having filled my first memory card, I then moved on to look for and photograph the red-necked grebe that was present.  This bird also proved to be confiding and, although in summer plumage it is as stunning as the slavonian grebe, in winter garb it was typically fairly drab; good to see all the same.  An excellent morning.

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Red-necked Grebe

Red-necked Grebe

Slavonian Grebe

Slavonian Grebe

Slavonian Grebe

Slavonian Grebe

Slavonian Grebe