Lake Views For February
Posted: 28 February 2015
I would like to say that I'm continuing the habit I started last month, but that's not really the case as I've only taken three of my standard "from the bedroom" images and the latter two were taken within two days of each other.
The last of the January photographs, taken on 29th, showed leaden skies and the grounds with a light covering of snow, but by 08:35 on the first of the month the snow had gone and although the sun was low, it shone brightly. Re-examining the full-sized copies of the photos taken last month to compare with now, I see I had misjudged things. On 20 January the entire duck house ramp was covered, but by 29 January the bottom edge was an inch or so clear of the water. However, on 1 February (other photos show it quite clearly) the base of the ramp is submerged again. I hadn't moved the dinghy. It was still moored to the same spot on the decking.
It was on the 11 February I took the next image. It was not my usual early morning shot. At this time of year such a photograph is often less than satisfactory as the shadows make it difficult to see some of the features of the view. The reason for not taking this image till much later, just before 13:40, was the pair of swans that had arrived in the lake.
Looking at the shadow on the far side of the dyke and comparing it with the previous image and you realise that the water level is about as low as it could get. While you could make out the green of some of the weed in the dyke on the first image now you can see the dead leaf litter half buried in the mud.
The last thing that I notice is that this is the first photo I have that shows, on the lawn near the boat, the "Ruston Bench". This Andi and Bex, "The Green Team", had constructed from fallen oak off cuts as a first piece of "Garden Art", one of their new ventures. They said they'd named it thus as they hoped Diana and I would buy it - and given the price they were asking, we couldn't refuse.
The final picture is taken just two days later on 13 February. If anything, the level of the dyke is still lower than before. The swans are still here and there is a slightly better view of the Ruston Bench, but otherwise there is not much more worthy of note.
