Lockdown January and February 2021

We are now in Lockdown number 3 and cannot leave our own locality.   We are so lucky that we live in such a lovely area and have several walks we can go on to vary things a bit.  However, it has been very wet,  and we had snow, and ice, so most of the walks we would normally have done are very muddy, so we have mostly stuck close to home around the village.

We have left the village twice since lockdown began. We have both had our first covid vaccines, in Cranleigh four miles away.  It was extremely well organized.   Brian had his the last week of January and me the first week of February.  We now have to wait until Aril for the second one.

Our second outing was to get our cars MOT'd and serviced.   A bit further away, all the way over to Normandy in Surrey.   

We are hoping that with the virus numbers going down we might be able to venture back to the shops, but for the time being, we are still relying on home deliveries for our shopping.  

The following are some photo's taken on our winter walks.

 January

This is the second pond in the centre of the village.  For several years now it had become very overgrown and the contractors who cleared the main village pond came and cleared this one.  It will look very untidy for a few months, and the dead reeds in the middle of the pond still have to be cleared.  At one point the water level dropped drastically, despite all the rain, and it was found to have a leak.  this has now been plugged and the pond has filled again.

Fascinating ivy roots on this oak tree.

A sign that spring is not far away

We see these pigmy goats on one of our walks which we mainly do in the summer months.  They were always too far away or lurking in the shadows to take any decent pictures of them  There are three, but only two were about today.

Horses in the field

Having a scratch

Brian making friends

Frozen blackberries

I was intrigued by this moss growing on a neighbours wall.  Such a bright green.

Two Egyptian Geese have arrived at the main village pond.  They are quite shy, but I hope to get a better photo if they stay around.

A couple of days later - it snowed!

Four days later - the snow was gone, and the snowdrops appeared.

Red berries - pyracantha maybe.

Cyclamen in the garden.

Another walk - we attempted this as it had been dry for a few days.   I am hoping to photograph these trees during the year.

February

Spring catkins

This Amaryllis (actually now a Hippeastrum) is called Alfresco

These Paperwhite narcissi have been flowering since before Christmas and the scent is wonderful

Then we had a freeze with temperatures -7C overnight

A few days later, the ice had gone and the sun shone.

The trees at the end of February

These crocus caught my eye glowing in the sunshine.

We had a very mixed bag of weather during the first two months of 2021.   Brian and I have been out for a walk every day since the beginning of the lockdowns last year.  We have missed only four days due to very wet weather.