Monday, March 09, 2020

Sunday Morning Walk

Yesterday morning we walked at one of our favourite places.

Although there was a slight drizzle in the air it felt warmer than it had done for a while and there were signs of Spring along the way.

 Dog's Mercury

 Pixie Cap fungus

 Lesser Celandine? Going by the leaf shape?

The paths were very muddy and wellies had to be hosed down once we got home.

 In the pond we spotted frog spawn and we could hear the frogs croaking from quite a distance away.

 New signs, gates and fences had been added since the RSPB took over the site.

Consall Station on the Churnet Valley Steam Railway.  It stands between the River Churnet and the Caldon Canal. There is a bridge over the river into the station yard.  We could smell the wood smoke from the fire in the waiting room.
 Oh the joy of the sound of the 'toot-toot' and 'chuff, chuffing' of the engine.  The sound of the warning bell at the station and the smell of the steam.

 The engine was from the USA No 6046.  All the carriages seemed full.

 Butterbur on the edges of the canal towpath.

 Bright yellow Broom

 Pheasant

Robin - who can resist taking a photo when they pose and sing their sweet song just for you?



Two things

  Firstly thank you for your comments on yesterday's post I will get around to replying to them. 

Secondly I seem to have lost the spell check button on my blog so I may have missed spelling or typographical errors even though I always check sometimes it is easier to miss your own mistakes because you sometimes see what you expect to see when reading through.

39 comments:

  1. It is so nice to get out and see signs of Spring.No frog spawn in our pond yet.

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    1. Thank you, no frog spawn in our pond either so it was great to see it at the nature reserve and I caught a frog in the photo too, I could hear it but couldn't see it:)

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  2. What a beautiful walk. Good to see signs of spring.

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    1. Thank you Jean, yes it is good to see a bit of sunshine and some signs of Spring:)

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  3. What a lovely place to walk. Great photographs. I noticed that blogger removed the spellchecker a few weeks ago.

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    1. Thank you Elizabeth, I kept cicking to button top right of the post and wondering why the yellow highlights weren't coming up then realised that the button had gone:)

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  4. What a nice walk. I do like the smell (and chuff chuff) of a steam train!

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    1. Thank you Julie, the smell and the steam is very nostalgic although I'm not sure I travelled on many steam trains as a child:)

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  5. I find it better without the automatic spell checker. Generally I know how to spell and get very frustrated if the computer programme autocorrects to a wrong word! Why is there an American train over here I wonder?

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    1. Thank you Catherine, the button top right of the box where you write posts has disappeared it just used to highlight in yellow anything that didn't look right and when right clicked offered alternatives. I don't use an auto spell check as like you I would find that frustrating. I think one or two of the heritage steam railways have engines from other countries, enthusiasts buy them and allow them to be used by the railways, I think:)

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  6. Wildlife and steam trains - what a perfect day! For some reason I find it easier to spot typos when I used the preview button, though I'm sure plenty get through! (As a silly joke I tried to spell that last word T-H-R-U-O-H-G but it auto corrected - you just can't trust technology!).

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    1. Thank you John, yes signs of Spring and steam engines made the walk extra special. I too try to read through on preview but sometime if you've typed say 'the' instead of 'then' or something similar it doesn't show up as a spelling error and is easily missed. I'm getting worse for trsnsposing letters when typing too so need to check:)

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  7. Such a lovely walk & do love your photos of the beautiful flora. No pheasants here, but we do have a native robin, who have quite bright "red" breasts, compared to the UK ones. Ah, steam trains, know them well, growing up as they were being phased out & then having 2 brothers & cousins who were or are still steam buffs. Thanks for sharing & take care.

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    1. Thank you Susan, I do remember travelling on a steam train when I was quite small, I remember the thick carpet like seats and the net like luggage racks and mirrors over them? We didn't travel on trains very much from the country as the smaller lines were closed by Beeching. When I first started school some pupils came in by train but we had a special bus:)

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  8. I love those pixie cups, so well named! You found everything on your walk, even a steam train, that doesn't happen very often! 😊

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    1. The pixie cups or caps are super aren't they? Such a great colour on a dull day. It was great to see the steam train:)

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  9. Pixie cap fungus really looks like upturned pixie caps or is it cups? I would love to go on a walk like this Rosie, alas no-one to go with and share the magic of it all. With regards to spell checker on Blogger - it hasn't worked on my blog for years!

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    1. I'm not sure which is correct, we call them pixie caps but I've seen them called cups too. I'm sure I was using the spell check earlier this year and I'm not sure whenit disappeared. It is a lovely walk and always very quiet so we enjoy it:)

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  10. It's so nice that spring is peeping through. Love those pixie cups. I have never seen any. Butterbur are so unusual too, though I have noticed some recently on local walks. X

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    1. Butterbur seems to be more widespread over the last few years especially along the canal sides, it is a strange plant. It's great to see signs of Spring at last:)

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  11. Isn't the fungus fabulous! It's a shame my stepson isn't at uni in Stoke anymore this was a great spot to stop on the way to visit him!

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    1. The fungus is super. Yes, it would be a lovely place to stop to break your journey and it'snot very far from the city centre either if your stepson was at Staffs Uni. Just a bit further on to Keele, where I did one of my OU summer schools in the 80s never dreaming I'd come this way to live:)

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  12. What wonderful signs of Spring - you have cheered up my day so thank you. The Pixie cap fungus is super. It looks a great reserve to visit and your photos are lovely. Frogs have just started getting active in our garden pond :)

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    1. Glad to send cheer your way, RR. Hope all is well. No frogs or frog spawn yet in our pond so I was thrilled to hear the frogs on the pond at the reserve:)

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    2. I meant day of course:)

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  13. Fantastic photos!!!

    Oh who wouldn't want to ride, on an old fashioned steam train!!!!! Delightful!!!!

    You are so far ahead of us, but we can feel spring in the air.

    🌱 🌸 🌱 🌷 🌱

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    1. Thank you WoW, yes it's great to travel on the steam railways, we have two different ones in the area but haven't taken a ride for a while, perhaps later this year:)

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  14. What a nice place to walk. YOu have more signs of spring than we do here so far. The Pixie Cap Fungus is quite pretty. I've seen what appears to be mushroom looking things on fallen trees before but never pretty red ones...usually a whitish gray...would they be a different variety? Good thing you had on proper boots. Sandy's Space

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    1. Thank you Sandy, there does seem to be a lot of fungus about on dead and fallen trees at the moment, I guess they have fallen in the storms we've had over the last few weeks. I think there are several different varieties of fungus growing on the trees, I don't think we could have done that walk without wearing wellies:)

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  15. What a beautiful place to walk. It's so heartening to see signs of spring everywhere.

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    1. Thank you Lorie, it is a super place to walk and Spring is certainly in the air now:)

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  16. When we see and hear a steam train like the one that passed by during your walk it seems as if we step back in time for a while. It's ages since we went to Elsecar and took a short ride on the heritage one there. I've never seen pixie caps before. The red colour really stands out. I recently noticed that the spell check facility on Blogger had gone. I need it these days! I managed to adjust the settings on my laptop so that I have the right auto spelling as I write which is better than no spell check at all.

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    1. Thank you Linda, steam trains are so nostalgic aren't they? We took my sister to Elsecar once with her guide dog, had a good look around and a sandwich at the cafe but didin't ride on the railway, perhaps it wasn't open that day. I miss spell checker as I don't type as quickly or correctly as I did and find more 'typos' than spelling errors, I can completely transpose letters in a word if I'm typing too quickly:)

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  17. The robin is particularly photogenic.

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    1. Thank you William, Robins do seem to like to pose a little for photos:)

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  18. I “lost” the spell check button too - I thought it was just me but perhaps it has been removed?

    Your photos are lovely, thank you.

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    1. Thank you Jayne, I've heard one or two people say they've lost the spell check I assume it has been removed, glad you like the photos:)

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  19. Two lovely places to walk, I enjoyed seeing your photos.

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    1. Thank you Louise, the Consall walk is one of my favourites:)

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