Last weekend D and I did one of our favourite circular walks round the hamlet of Shawbury in North Warwickshire. Its only about mile so a good walk when you haven't got that much time and there is a bitter cold wind!
I seem to remember when we last went the road was flooded here and
it was a bit too muddy to venture onto public footpaths!
We passed a lovely little cottage with a gate in the hedge leading towards a wishing well.
A few seedheads are still visible in the hedgerows.
Hazel and Alder Catkins
Signs of new growth in one part of the hedge and daffodils are starting to appear although no buds.
In this wood a small animal scampered through the trees. For some unknown reason my first thought was that looks like a wild boar but I think that is unlikely as I haven't seen them reported locally. We came to the conclusion it was a muntjac.
Some of the photos D took.
We stopped off on the drive home by St Cuthbert's Shustoke to get a photo of an old barn by Church Farm. D has found a website with some information on the barn. It is a typical Midlands box frame barn which is probably the same age as the C17th farmhouse. If you click on the photo to enlarge it there are three box framed bays to the left. Alterations were made probably in the C18th to the far end of the barn where the bays were replaced with brick walls. Ventilation holes can be seen in a diamond shaped pattern. The barn is now used as a garage and workshop.
I am still trying to research what the object in the foreground is without much success!
We only saw a few birds on the walk - flocks of tits which included Long Tailed Tits plus Blackbirds, Chaffinches and a flock of Fieldfares.
Photos taken by me with the Panasonic FZ330 bridge camera. Those by my son with the Canon SX50HS bridge camera. (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone ever wishes to use one of mine of my son's I would appreciate an email first - thanks).
Reference - Website - www.greatbarns.org.uk
