Apologies, did I say that out loud?
Well you can see by the photos that it has been raining a lot, with the sun seemingly on a sabbatical.
It’s quite remarkable (After David Coleman) that having endured the lowest river levels in recent memory less than five months ago, we are now where we are with Spring Bottom bursting forth and decidedly soggy river banks.
Increasing extremes in climate are undoubtedly a thing and could I encourage all who encounter a “flatearther” who suggests otherwise, to flick them on their nose, clap them round the ears and call them out for having self interest in denying what is plain for even the most addled eye to see.
I’m not complaining about the rain, although a little more sunshine may help with the onset of grey sky induced melancholy. The river is bank high, with gravels that stood proud of the water in November, sparkling and silt free now under many inches of water. It all looks good for the impending trout season, but prospects didn’t look half bad this time last year and then the water went away at an alarming rate to leave little left by the end of June.
Conditions have affected normal work at this time of the year. I have trees to attend to in the wood and the forces of bankside crack willow need to be confronted, but currently I have to limit my movements in the tractor and most of the errant bankside willow hangs over water that is currently unwadeable.
Another bridge has been buffed up and taken off the endangered list and I have been planking up some beech that Lord Ludgershall and myself dragged up the road quite a few years back for more seat tops. The beech has some beautiful markings that are enhanced when they are wet.
The bar in The Swan in Barton Stacey is made from a beech that toppled over on the back track two decades or more ago. I know this because I helped to get it out and it was heavy. The markings are also enhanced if you spill your pint on it.
I’ve also started on a large field maple trunk. Inch and a quarter thick planks about six foot long. It too came came from along the back track just along from The Andyke and I remember dragging it home with the tractor because I couldn’t get it up into the trailer. It seems well seasoned and is also beautifully marked, although very different to the beech.
To the best of my knowledge, and over the years I have conducted extensive research, there are no bars in the surrounding valley made from field maple.
Oh yes, as promised, this is Dougal. A work in progress and one year old, he thinks like no Labrador we have ever had before. More news as we have it.
We’re also back in the poultry game. Three Light Sussex and three Bluebells. They have settled in very well and like all of our previous flocks are very sociable and slowly starting to produce results/eggs.
This is head hen, and very much the leader on their expeditions about the place. Previously when we have had chooks sans cock, a head hen has assumed control and even attempted the odd “cock a doodle doo” although no tune of any merit emanating from this one as yet.
Looking back on previous guff in an attempt rediscover the person I once was, I find that we used to gad about quite a bit. I won’t go into the fine details of where we went during my self imposed hiatus from chucking up guff, but from memory we’ve been in Malta and Gozo, Brussels, Dubrovnik, Montreal, Zurich, Lucerne, Sicily, Bath, Basingstoke several Test matches and the shop.
In the words of Celine Dion, who we may or may not have bumped into in Switzerland, It’s all coming back to me now.
Returning to the river and all it’s water. This is the water meadow upstream from here that is doing just what it should be doing at this time of the year.
This is the winter bourne that carries Spring Bottom’s contribution to the river flow. It runs through the village and along with the spawn of Spring Bottom’s loins it carries much of the direct run off from the roads on the south side of Barton Stacey, which can be quite a bit. Anything on the road or chucked down a drain or placed in the bourne ditch when it is dry, ends up in the river.
Just sayin folks.
There’s a similar stream that runs through the village in Easton that empties into the short stretch of the Itchen that I fall in and out of (yes, I’m still doing that too) that gets a bit “foamy” at times.
In trout news, we had plenty of redds in the river as it began to rise before Christmas and on the grayling front numbers seem to be on the increase following a steep decline in numbers in the past ten years. We continue to play host to teams of Tarka, who did not play a fair game during the high heat and low levels of last summer. Cormorants are increasingly present, although this may be due to easier fishing in the deeper water. They don’t normally stop off here, seeking out easier fishing elsewhere in the valley.
I don’t think there’s much else.
Madam is still employed at the local primary School, where she has now clocked up 26 years (how did that happen??) Child A and her husband (Wedding was three and a bit years ago?????) have sold their place in Kingsclere and moved just up the road to Overton where they have many friends, and Child B has bought a flat in Putney and lives with his musical partner and harbors hopes of a career in rowing. It’s not going to happen, he isn’t buoyant and has always sunk like a stone when introduced to water.
Today the sun came out for five minutes to reveal the first hint of cherry blossom that had been hidden by the grey and the gloom of recent days. It always goes early this cherry but normally takes silver medal to a nearby Almond. The daffodils are also having a go despite the abundance of the old eau and we have wild garlic/ramsens starting to put in an appearance, which makes it hard to believe it's still January. It's February - Ed
