Introduction
You may notice that, in some years, the Lake & Grounds area has relatively few posts or gaps in the record. However, the photographic record was maintained and you can expect new material to be added when time is found. This means the new posts may appear anywhere on the site and not just in the current year's page. The best way to ensure you miss nothing is to visit the What's New page where you can find how you can subscribe to our newsletter.
2016
31 May 2016 - Lake Views for May
I'm not quite sure what happened to my often erratic habit of taking pictures of our lake. We have just one this month. It's such a shame as this is the period when there is the most dramatic change in the growth of everything in sight. Some plants seem to disappear as others change colour or put on a growth spurt. You can now easily see the Crack Willow that stands on the bank of the dyke in front of the first of the birch trees. The flag iris are in bloom. The lake is filling with lilies and the recently purchased dinghy is on its mooring.
21 May 2016 - A Family of Swans Call at Ruston House
It's always good to see a pair of Swans visit our lake with their young. Our favourite shot must be the one taken last year that showed pen and cob each with half their brood on their backs. They stayed for most of the day. The first photo of the five included here was taken at 09:07 the next three between 10:09 and 10:10 and the final shot at 13:21.
18 May 2016 - We're Giving Away Our Dinghy
I had been becoming concerned that the dinghy we bought through eBay very cheap and very second hand back in March 2014 was beginning to fall apart. There wasn't too much wrong with it. It was just that the deck moulding was separating from the hull. I did think about buying some resin and chopped strand matting and repairing it as it should have been a simple enough job, but then decided that we deserved a new dinghy and hauled it out of the water to take some photos to re-sell it on eBay ourselves.
30 April 2016 - Lake Views For April
Because we were away in Scotland in the second half of the month, we're down to having just three pictures of the lake for April. Again, we see the dinghy is still not back in the water. In the first picture the birch, in particular, are silhouetted and appear to have very little, if any leaf on them. The next image suggests there just a little leaf growth vshowing in the birch. While the last image this month definitely shows the birth are beginning to show their leaves. All the images show well defined reflections in the lake. Was it really an unusual light wind month?
27 April 2016 - Yesterday's Goslings Are Missing!
As I opened the bedroom curtains I saw a pair of geese on our neighbour's field. What were the two adult geese doing there, when neither of the goslings were with them? Later I noticed that the two adults appeared to be at rest on the bank by the holiday cottages, but then went exploring to find that there was still a pair on our neighbour's lawn. I must presume the goslings were taken as prey by some creature overnight and the pair on the neighbour's field just happen to be newcomers.
26 April 2016 - There's A New Goose Family On The Lake
For the first time since 2013 there are goslings to be seen at Ruston House. Last year none appeared. In 2014 the geese nested but abandoned it, after which The Nest was Wrecked. Perhaps strangely, I wasn't aware of a nest being built or occupied by the lake in our grounds and I wonder if they nested somewhere close along the dyke. The pictures were all taken around 14:55 after I had spotted the family from the house around lunchtime.
13 April 2016 - Laying Grids To Improve The Path
Back in January, when snow as on the ground, I had completed shifting our wood chippings from the front garden to the path near the reed bed. But we knew that more needed to be done after the first winter the Green Team had been helping us. The path beside the lake had developed a groove due to the constant traffic of a heavy wheel barrow.
3 April 2016 - The Dyke Water Level Is Low
It was around 14:20 and I went upstairs to pick up the camera kept in our bedroom. I had noticed that the water level in the dyke that marks the boundary with our neighbour was unusually low, especially for this time of year. In a picture of the lake as a whole you'll notice how you could easily have missed noticing the low water in my"standard" shot.
31 March 2016 - Lake Views For March
There were just four photos of the lake taken this month 7-25th. On the first we see snow on the ground but the lake has two swans on it and there is no sign of ice. A week later all is spring-like again. If anything, the willow has leafed up a little, but the alder, on its right, initially shows little new growth. By the 17th there is some growth, while on the other side, the water level in the dyke seems to have steadily dropped throughout the month and is at one of its lowest levels yet. In the final picture the birch still show little growth.
17 March 2016 - A Dog Rose Hedge Is Planted
This was also the day when the work to plant the Dog Rose hedge was completed. You can see the wheelbarrow is still on site after finishing the work. The hedge was planned to complete the project to clear the bank of the island that faces the Ruston Reaches cottages. I recall that took a couple of days and was done at some point after the work in February to Improve The Main Path.
16 March 2016 - Finishing Touches For The Tree House
The finishing touches to the Tree house were added today. The idea was both to add a screen so we couldn't be seen from the cottages when using it and to provide some protection from any wind. A few weeks ago I spent some time erecting posts at the end of each of the rafters that run to the edge of the roof along its eastern side. Then we called in the guy who was to make the panels. I had also bought a trellis panel, which I had fitted that was intended to allow the nearby honeysuckle to climb.
28 February 2016 - Lake Views For February
There were six photographs of the lake taken in February spread between 3rd-27th of the month. The dinghy continues to sit on the new decking, which replaced the rotting wood in time for our wedding. The image taken on the third of the month confirms that the leaf growth, seen on the willow as early as 16 January, was well on its way to full summer plumage. It's always the last of the trees to drop its leaves and the first to regrow them. The final picture suggests that the dyke is at it's lowest level yet, something that's unusual for this time of year.
23 February 2016 - Canada Geese Fight For The Lake
It was around 10:25 on a Tuesday morning and on seeing the goings on outside I rushed upstairs and begin photographing the scene. It's a shame I was not taking video but I wasn't familiar enough with the camera to do that in a hurry. At first the resident threesome retreat from the newcomers but the newcomers make a couple of attacks. Things get physical as the threesome adopt a more assertive response and the tables seem to turn as all three of the resident birds turn on the newcomers. Matters appear to conclude with an agreed stand-off.
11 February 2016 - More Chippings Are Laid
It's been nearly A month since I last did any work on the main path around the lake, but this morning I finally got round to improving the section behind the Ruston Bench. The plan was to use the boards recovered from the fishing stands that the Green Team had removed to produce an edging on the side sloping down to the dyke and dig up tree roots to create a path that would be level and not have any trip hazards.
9 February 2016 - Main Path Edging And The Tree House
Following the major Timber Chipping work that had been done last November and in spite of The Claim in the report dated two days after this that no work had been done on the path in a month, I have found photos in my archives which suggest there had been at least some work carried out and they appear in this report. There were other photos taken. They were of the Tree House and taken over an hour later so it's unclear exactly what was done on this day.
7 February 2016 - Daffodils By The Tree House
It was a Sunday and at 14:00 I collected my camera from the bedroom and took one of my standard Lake View images then took a walk to the island as I was aware that the daffodils we had planted there were at their best this weekend. You might think one of these images is just a cropped version of the other, but two photos were taken and I still can't make up my mind which shows off the daffodils to best effect.
31 January 2016 - Lake Views For January
There are five of the standard views of the lake this month. The first gives the distinct impression of a cold wind from the north. You might think it was snow that has been blown against the southern bank of the lake, but what fell was a soft hail, rather than snow. All show the dinghy upside down on the decking. It had been hauled ashore at some point since Christmas Eve, as the Lake View for that day shows it still tied up by the dropped step
23 January 2016 - A Walk Around The Grounds
It was last Sunday that I took a walk to the Tree House on the main island. Today was another bright day and this time I took a longer walk taking in parts not seen in the earlier trip, including the neighbouring holiday cottages, the boundary dyke, the duck house, the reed bed, the daffodil display that is about to bloom and even a lone Canada goose.
17 January 2016 - More Chippings On The Main Path
As, in spite of the cold, it was almost pleasant outside, having taken photos of the Frozen Lake and of the Board Walk on the island, time was spent moving more of the chippings that had been created in the front garden last November. It was too cold to spend too much time outside and I packed up just before 15:45.
17 January 2016 - A Walk To The Tree House
After a chilly Sunday morning things were still frozen a visit to the tree house was made. When we moved to Ruston House there had been a central spinal path on the island, with branches to various fishing stands that we removed. Soon the idea of creating a site on the island to have picnics and barbecues developed and that's how the idea for the raised viewing platform and "Tree House" came about.
16 January 2016 - High Water And Weed Worries
Weed levels in the lake behind the cottages were unusually high this winter. In previous seasons, I had come to expect all weed to disappear from the surface of the lake. Perhaps this is the result of staffing issues last summer when very little was done to keep weed growth under control.
15 January 2016 - Soft Hail, Not Snow!
At around midday I took this photograph, which you might take to be snow. However, what you see is the result of a sudden hail storm. It didn't last long so where the hail fell on our neighbour's field the stones got lost between the blades of grass, but on harder surfaces it remained visible. Hail floats, of course, and it was the strong northerly wind that pushed any hail that fell in the water towards the southern bank of the lake.
