Between the Storm Showers

Another storm passed through in the night. For those on lower ground, who live near the major rivers of Southern England, these winter storms have brought flooded homes, power cuts and a miserable Christmas season. 

We are half way down a gentle slope that leads from the moorland of the open New Forest and down towards village lanes.

Water flows down and collects for a while, before finding a path through ditches and drains, to the bottom of the hill. Woody`s field has gained its usual "pond" over recent days..............

.........with run-off from the fields flowing through the garden, the wild pond and back towards an old drainage ditch between us and our neighbours` land.

Out on the Forest, water has found numerous pathways downhill, bringing down sand and gravel in brownish, peaty streams.

 A nearby track has a deep gully gouged into one side, which makes driving difficult for all but the toughest 4x4 vehicles.

On the morning of Christmas Eve, gravel from the track had washed away to reveal old foundations of brick and rubble.

The hollow way across the heath is marked as a track on maps which are several centuries old. Now it is used by a few walkers, but quickly turns to a stream in wet weather.

A few gorse flowers brighten the heath.

Red wilding crab apples are a welcome source of food for birds.

I saw several redwing, song thrushes and blackbirds feeding beneath these wilding apples. Most of the sour, green fruit has fallen in the strong winds of recent days and nights.

The sky began to darken and spit with rain, so I abandoned my walk. Within an hour, the old beech tree in the hedge was swaying and creaking again as another rain storm blew in from the South West.