After a couple of months of remote learning, schools welcomed children and students back for the start of lockdown easing.
It was a lovely day and blossoms lit up the walk by the almshouses in Abingdon.
From the blossoms I heard my first gathering of bees of the year.
After hibernating over the winter, some bees have woken.
We also saw our first ants exploring our house.
I returned to the Abbey Fishponds this morning for the monthly visit and it was below zero. Our garden thermometer showed -4 °C when I set out
The are plenty of birds and bird song despite the cold. They not only have the wild life area but there are also lots of surrounding gardens. I think this is a Dunnock (Hedge Sparrow) but am happy to be corrected.
An area of sedge appeared to have been cleared and piled up since my last visit. Small streams crossed the area.
Crows were looking for food in the ground where it was not too hard.
Most of the ponds were frozen, and today the ice was solid enough to stand on.
The ice had embedded leaves and twigs.
There were quite a few blackbirds together on the ice near the bottom entrance and some of the males were squabbling. Why don’t they conserve their energy?
There were lots of chopped up trees and branches that could provide some cavities and shelter from the cold, possibly insects and food stores too.
Robins fluff up their feathers to keep themselves warm.
I was glad to get home with the modern convenience of central heating and warm up.
Temperatures have not gone much over freezing since Sunday’s snow. There are still places where it is icy and slippery under foot and where caution is required. I have had many unexpected slips on ice in the past, starting with a broken arm falling off my tricycle – aged four.
Yesterday we walked through the Abbey Gardens and along the Mill Stream and beyond.
There were two swans near the concrete bridge near the swimming pool.
A heron was stood further along, partly hidden.
At Barton Fields there were lots of small birds on the bird feeders.
Robins were singing along most of the route. One at Radley Lakes stayed long enough for a picture.
Most of the birds were some way away at Thrupp Lake but the ice did mean the very muddy parts were not quite so muddy.
Coming back along the cycle way, a red sign indicated Abingdon as 1.75 miles away. So that made yesterday’s walk about 4 miles and we got home without falling.
Last year there was a monthly picture report from Barton Fields. This year I hope to visit Abbey Fishponds every month.
The main entrance is from the Radley Road. There are three other entrances, and houses surround the area.
Abbey Fishponds is a local nature reserve managed by the Earth Trust, and looked after with the help of local volunteers. Marjorie White was warden for many years.
A brook runs the length of the nature reserve. The area gets its name from the earthworks that people once thought damned the brook to make fishponds for the monks of the Abbey.
I believe the brook is otherwise known as Radley Park Ditch, and begins its short journey to the River Thames above Radley College. It is culverted for a short way before Radley Road and reappears in Abbey Fishponds.
There are two paths that cross in the middle. One follows the brook from northwest to south east. The other cuts across and joins the Radley Road opposite St Peters Drive. Another small stream from that direction ends in the brook.
There are also a number of ponds – some permanent and some seasonal. January is wet and the main path is very muddy at the moment, and almost a pond itself.
The main areas are meadow, reedbeds, sedge beds and woodland.
There are piles of wood, left to rot, where some of the trees had been recently cut. On the logs I managed to photograph this blackbird near some ivy berries. A robin pecking for bugs in the wood was too quick for me to photograph. There is a lot of birdlife.