Snow Around the Mill Pond

At the bottom of the Close, across the road is a gate where there is a path that leads down to the old mill pond.  The small estate that we live on was built on the site of an old mill, which I don't remember being here, although there are a lot of mills in the area.  Hence the name of the village, New Mill.  Not many of them are still here and those that are are no longer woollen mills.

At one side of the path is the mill race, which takes water from the river to fill the mill pond.  The pond is now used just for fishing and I've seen some very big fish in there.  In the photo we're at the top end of the mill race which has recently been dug out because it was very overgrown.

Mill Race in the Snow

At the other side of the path is the river which Google Maps names New Mill Dike.  About a mile or so downstream it feeds into the River Holme within the Holme Valley.  At this point the stream winds its way through the wooded area which surrounds the mill pond.

Snowy River

The path had recently been widened so it's now possible to get a vehicle down here, but it is very muddy.  I hope there are no plans to build down here as it would really spoil the surroundings.

Path through the Trees 

As I reached the top end of the mill pond I was startled by the heron setting off from the mill race and flying across the top of the pond.  I managed to get my camera up and fire off a few shots but the shutter speed was too slow to get a decent image of the heron.  I could also have done with having my longer lens on the camera but it was an unexpected appearance of the heron from behind some bushes, so no time to prepare.

The Heron Flies Away

The top end of the mill pond was clear of ice and there was little wind so it was a good opportunity to get some good reflections of the other bank.  The snow on the ground and on the branches makes the reflection more interesting.  The sky in the background was very blown out but I decided to leave it as I didn't think it detracted from the image at all.

Snow Covered Log in the Pond

In the next photo I moved in a bit closer to the pond to concentrate more on the reflections and get rid of the sky in the background. The small ripples on the pond surface are more visible but the reflections still look nice.

Reflections of Snow

In the next photo I have moved down the pond a little and have the same log in the foreground as I'm looking more towards the top end of the pond.  More nice reflections in the snow.

More Reflections in the Snow 

I moved further around the mill pond to the end where the surface was a bit solid.  I'm not sure whether it was frozen or if the snow hadn't melted when it fell on the water.

Frozen Pond

 I'm not sure what kind of weed this is but I just loved the way the snow had built up on the remains of last year's folliage.  The shape of the snow looks like white crystal strawberries.

Snow on the Weed

 A different sort of weed with snow wedged into the stalks.

Another snowy weed

 For this photo I went back to the non-frozen end of the pond where it was a bit wider so I could feature more of the reflections.

More Reflections in the Pond 

I have some more snow photos to look through and decide whether I want to post them or not.  I have some ideas about some different things for the blog or maybe I need to create a different blog.  I'll think about it.

Snow at Scout Dyke Reservoir

We've had a bit of snow, which is exciting, but I didn't manage to get a lot of photos before it went again.  Here's some from Scout Dyke Reservoir where I managed to get to just before it started to get dark.  I don't have a lot to say about them so here they are.

Winter Sun Remembered

It's been a roller coaster of a year so far with some good times and some bad times.  I feel I've been far too caught up with things that have been happening to  find time to spend on my photography and blogging but maybe now we have turned a corner and I can get back to doing things I want to do.  The weather hasn't been brilliant recently so I decided to go back to the start of the year and review some of the photos I have made but not got around to posting.

So way back in the middle of January we had a spell of cold and sunny days so on the 15th we decided to just drop everything and march up Black Hill to the trig point at the top.  There are several ways to get there but we decided to take the direct route along the Pennine Way from the road above Wessenden where the sausage van is parked in the mornings.  As the signpost says it is about one and three quarter miles.  It's very up and down (but mainly up, very steeply in places) crossing a couple of streams and ending about half a mile from the Holme Moss television transmitter.  As you can see the sky was a beautiful azure blue with a few wispy clouds and a hint of other small clouds just on the horizon. 

This second photo was looking back to our car on the road at the start of this stretch of the Pennine Way.  The flagstones make it a much easier walk than it used to be as this is a stretch of the Pennine Way that goes through some very boggy peat moors.  At this point we've crossed both of the streams which have cut a couple of deep valleys into the moorland and we're heading up a fairly gentle slope before the main rise up onto Black Hill.

As we walk along the path there are a few of the red grouse sunbathing in the winter heather.  There are patches of frost where the heat of the sun hasn't been able to reach yet this morning.  Sometimes we don't see the grouse hiding until we are quite close to them when they will suddenly fly off, flapping their wings noisily and loudly calling their warning to the others.

At the top of the hill there are more frosty patches and the puddles of water have a frozen skin.  Although sunny, it's quite windy up here and it is bitterly cold.  Lynne is well wrapped up with her fleece under the heavy waterproof jacket.  The layer of clouds on the horizon are starting to increase and it's getting a bit misty when we look down into the valley from here.

We reach the trig point and the morning sun is making long shadows from the white post.  This point is a popular resting point for walkers coming from all directions including out journey from Wessenden on the A635 and from the other end of this stretch of the Pennine Way at Crowden on the A628.  It's quite a nice walk of around six miles and is very popular all year around.  We just tend to walk up to the trig point and back which is about three and a half miles but sometimes we'll take different routes making it around 5 miles.  Other times we have done a circular route going down to Wessenden Lodge (as on the signpost) across to Black Moss Reservoir, take the alternative Pennine Way route back to the A635 and then up to Black Hill before heading down the way we have just come, back to the signpost.

Here's Lynne getting into the alternative shot of the trig point, still cold and raring to get off on our journey back down the hill.  I didn't take many photos on the way back and none worth posting so that's it for today.  Next time, I went to Digley Reservoir the following morning with Evey dog when it was still very cold, but more cloudy and misty.  So I took a lot of scenic shots and did some post processing on them.  Hope you like them.