Where the saint stopped

And so we enter Christmas week... 
It's been wet and blowy, though with incredibly mild temperatures.  Nature has gone green again; and it has felt like Spring, not winter.

Scalpcliffe Hill can be seen from the Burton side of the River Trent, and marks the vision of St Modwen, the patron saint of the town.  She arrived in the seventh century, and built two churches - one at the foot of Scalpcliffe, on the site of what is now St Peter's Church.
What was in the vision that caused her to halt in her journeys for a while (she was a great traveller) at this spot, we are not told.

Golden fields

This spell of hot dry weather, which itself followed days of successive warm rain, means that the harvest is already under way, and actually has been for some days.
In the light of the late afternoon, the wheatfields produce a startlingly golden effect.

Green thought in green shade

All this hot weather (we are into the seventh day of a heat-wave, with temperatures as high as in Bombay), doesn't always serve Nature well.
Wildlife enthusiasts are urging us to put bowls of water for hedgehogs etc.

The sunshine also promotes vegetable growth. 
This pond/still-brook near Eccleshall has now so much algae growth in it it looks as solid as a green pavement.  Whatever fish were in there have either moved on, or are slowly asphyxiating - as this algae steals all the oxygen in the water.

Dead pine gulch

Chartley Moss is not often visited.  It is a floating bog - and in the wrong weather walkers could quickly find themselves in danger of suddenly sinking.  It’s all private land anyway.

It’s a shock when you do get there.  The pines that were planted there a hundred years ago sank under their own weight down through the nine-foot thick peat bed and into the lake below – and then their roots simply drowned. Curiously, as the pines die they get lighter and ‘re-ascend’ – creating this spooky landscape of spiky dead trees.

Natural England do occasional tours of the site; and you have to sign up for them in advance.

Cherry blossom

 

The cherry blossom is pretty special this year.  As a friend of mine says, it's "bunchy" this year.

Sunset tree

April is the best month to find leafless trees and strong sunsets occurring together.  The fine delineation of the twigs and branches against the strong golden light always gives a thrill.

A day for monsters

Doxey Pool, which is this little patch of water on the Roaches ridge on the moorlands near Leek, is a bleak place in winter.  Especially on a winter's day that is grey and totally wetly-muddy after all the rain we've been having.
On such a day you can quite believe the Doxey Pool legend: that the 'river-hag' Jenny Greenteeth, who inhabits it, grabs at passers-by and drags them to their death. (Though she is not be confused with the equally murderous, nearby Blake Mere Mermaid who is apparently quite pretty, by contrast)..

Clay pit - makes pool

Huge 'marl holes' dot much of North Staffordshire - places where clay was dug out and dug out and dug out... and dug out.
Abandoned marl holes flood - and then create pools.  Like this one near Tunstall.

Spiders' work

It's been foggy in my part of Staffordshire - though mild for December (IMHO).

The spiders don't seem to mind; and work away just as hard.  This web stretched over a couple of feet.

And now... autumn

Yes, it is Autumn.  I admit it.  I've been hoping that the warm-ish weather would continue forever, but, as usual, it has not.

Still, it makes for lovely walking (when it is not showering), as here in the Hawksmoor Nature Reserve

Hazy days of summer

The warm days go on.  For middle-England to have a summer where temperatures are constantly in the 60s (Fahrenheit) and above is pretty unusual.
But some liberal rainy days have also meant that growth in the countryside is succulent. The blackberries, and the corn, are ripening quickly...

Contemplating nature in a pit

There aren't many spots in grimy old Stoke on Trent where one can truly relax and also contemplate Nature.

Westport Lake may be an exception. It's still quite busy with dog walkers and so on, and it's now acquired a visitor centre, but it seems a calm place to me.
You'd hardly believe that it's hidden behind one of the most run-down parts of the city, though, yes, it is a regeneration project - in which a nature reserve has been created out of what was an old marl pit.

There is a story that it was the site of a former ground for Port Vale FC before the ground just sunk away and forced the club to move on. That can't be true, can it?

Grey days at Lichfield

Only England can do such grey, sombre days as these. There is virtually no colour in the sky, buildings or water, and if it weren't for the evergreens, it would be one monochrome wash.

This photo shows Lichfield Cathedral in the distance, over Stowe Pool, which is the Victorian reservoir just outside the city centre.

First snow of the year

Snow turned up overnight. It wasn't that thick, and a misty rain during the afternoon drove it from the trees.

But there's enough of it on the ground to make for black-ice tomorrow.

Under the green wood trees

It's been warmer than usual for January so far, though still damp.  The dampness brought out the emerald green in these mossy woods.

Graffiti where least expected

Harston Rock is an outcrop easily reached from Froghall Wharf by public footpath. (The footpath marks the line of the old cable railway to Caldon Low, built in 1847).

Rock climbers use it I believe - even though it is in a heavily wooded area. 

One can scramble up the incline of course to reach it - you don't have to climb the rock - and it looks like some graffiti-artists did just that.  I hope the graffiti was not done by climbers...

Erratic geology...

This glacial boulder is a well-known meeting point on Cannock Chase. It even has a car-park named after it. Many walks on the Chase start here - including the AA recommended one.

It's also called the 'erratic' boulder, not because of its odd, semi-phallic shape, but because, in geology, an erratic is a stone that is quite different from those around it.
In this instance, this boulder is a stranger to those around it because it was swept down from a place hundreds of miles away to the north during the glacier movements of the Ice Age.

Stafford Knot meets deer

The brilliant colours of a russet autumn are upon us - the display this year seems brighter and redder than ever. Walking on Cannock Chase is just a feast for the eyes.

However, this photo is really about the logo in the top right-hand corner of this sign. It's a deer head (symbol of the Chase), which has then been incorporated into a Stafford Knot design. The Stafford Knot is the symbol of Staffordshire county. I like the mix.

Link: Stafford Knot 

Tree monster

This tree-monster reminds me of all those story-book trees that 'come to life' - whether in Lord Of The Rings or as features in a children's playground. It has the right number of arms (two!) and a look to say that it is ready to start walking...
It is now just a silhouette of a tree, as it plainly no longer has growth. The long tendrils that seem to have suffocated it (perhaps they were of tree-ivy?) add to the ghoulishness.

This post was featured on the City Daily Photo Blog (CDPB) Theme Day site

Harvest skies

It's harvest time, of grass for silage (winter feed for cattle) as well as crops; and as the cutting & baling machines go along they wrap the grass in large tubes of plastic.
The harvest is late this year because of the continual rain, but today was a wonderful sunshine day.