This morning's walk.

Today I walked to one of our local parks.  It was forecast for rain, but the morning was quite nice, so I wanted to take the opportunity to get out.  The sun wasn't shining like it was yesterday, but it was still pleasant out.  I was probably out for a just over an hour and walked approximately 4 miles I guess. Although the phone app had quite a different opinion - I realised today when I checked the mileage to the park that the app on the phone is WAY out.  According to google it is 1.3 miles from our house on the route I walked, whereas on the app it said I'd walked 1 km so comes up much less than I have actually walked.  So much for relying on that to get an idea of what sort of mileage I was doing each day.

I have photographed this old tree remains before.  I saw what almost looked like a butterfly flying away from it, at least that is what it seemed to fly like, but I couldn't see clearly enough to tell as it was high up.  I wouldn't have thought there would be a butterfly at this time of year?

There were a few moorhens in the park.

Some more hellebore

The lakes were partially frozen.

The seagulls seemed to have taken up residence on the ice.

The remains of what was once a tree turned into a carving.

Some Coot.

Crow

Standing proud.  Their feathers are such a rich colour.

There were a couple of Scaup (I believe that is what they are) on the lake.

Plus cheeky squirrels of course.

Berries on a plant.  Not sure what it is, but the flowers had quite a pretty scent to them.  I have since been advised that this is Sarcococca confusa 

Some tiny snowdrops.

Walk in the Park

It is such a beautiful day today.  I had planned on going up to see my DIL and doing a canal walk, but she was feeling tired after working 10 days in a row, so I went to Trent Park for a walk instead.

It was 1 degree Celsius when I started, but it warmed up with the sun shining and I actually had to unzip my jacket and take my scarf off...although I did keep my hat on! 

The park is quite bare at this time of year.  I used to go for almost daily walks in this park a few years ago with Percy, but that kind of drifted off and now with his various health issues he currently doesn't have the ability or stamina to do such a walk which is a real shame as I used to really enjoy our walks together.  

I spy some gorse - the curse of the New Zealand farmer, but not such a problem over here.

A bit of yellow amongst the browns and greys.

Some blossom.

Green moss on fallen logs

A squirrel amongst the shooting daffodils.

More blossom.

The lake looked lovely with the sun shining on it.

Not a huge amount of bird life on the water today.

You can always rely on a Robin.

An inquisitive crow.

Some pretty hellebores.

At last I spied some snow drops!

Soon time to go home...I could have stayed out much longer than I did, but I had to get back as hubby needed the car.

Getting out in the fresh air on a crisp day with a beautiful blue sky always makes me feel so much better.  I can almost forget about the pain - although there are constant twinges, burning and reminders that it is there.