Seasonal Surprise

We'd been happily drifting along on the dwindling current of Autumn for many weeks, when suddenly we awoke one morning to a sharp frost coating every surface with a sparkling rime.

I picked up my camera and stole guiltily past working folks who were scraping ice from their windscreens to see what could be found.

Flowers exhibited a certain surprised beauty.

And many more leaves had fallen overnight and now rested on old trees that had long ago succumbed to the inevitable progress of time.

I also took a quick snap of this curious frost-pattern on the wing of one of my neighbours' cars. Apart from making it a bit clearer for you to see I haven't done anything to change its appearance. 

Then next morning...

I looked out and saw there'd been a couple of inches of overnight snow. What used to happen every year has now become something of a rarity in this part of the country. Children of all ages have to make the most of it, so I was up before dawn to explore this wonderland.

The warm light from the spotlights combines prettily with the blue light of pre-dawn to make a nice picture of the village church.

I made my way back through the main street of the village. I used to work at the school just around the corner and recall the excitement of the children on days like this. Many of them were wheelchair-users and I also remember the exasperated look of the woman who cleaned the building as they trundled in and out, leaving trails of dirty snow behind them!

One of the large houses in the village has a permanent display of topiary "Christmas trees" which look even better with a coating of snow.

Another shrub exhibiting sculptural shapes as I made my way to the community woodland.

It was the kind of good sticky snow that clings to every branch.

A flat bridge leads over the little chalk-stream known, rather grandly, as the River Mel. The little gate is the entrance to somebody's garden.

Here's the river itself, reflecting the leaves that still hang on to the branches in this sheltered spot.

I was framing up a shot of the tree which stands beyond a patch of rough ground when I spotted a Buzzard perched on the topmost twig. When I got home I noticed another bird, lower down in the tree, which may well be the other member of the pair. It's quite normal to see a Buzzard around here. 

(The Common Buzzard [Buteo buteo] of the UK and Europe is a bird of prey. Despite its impressive size it mostly feeds on earthworms, beetles and carrion. In Scotland it's jokingly called "the Tourist's Eagle", since visitors are often convinced that they've seen a Golden Eagle nonchalantly sitting at the side of the road).

The path leads on beside the stream.

Now where would that picture appear on a calendar? Winter snow and Autumn foliage.

Three sheep wonder just what's happened overnight, hiding all the grass and leaving them nothing to eat but fallen leaves.

Here's one they've missed.

Time for me to make my way back home for a cup of hot chocolate.

(It's now a couple of days later and the snow is still hanging around; that's something that rarely happens these days. It's supposed to be warming up at the weekend).

Take care.