I had the place completely to myself this morning - I didn't see anyone else there until I was just about to leave.
The pond was icy around the edges.
Flowers hung their frosty heads.
Reflections muted by the icy surface.
Dusted with ice crystals.
The new little trench I noticed the other day has been filled with wood chippings.
Honesty seed pods disintegrating.
Frosty leaves on the ground.
Brightly coloured leaves toned down by a frosty covering.
Most of the seeds have blown away now leaving delicate cups with a few ice crystals in each one.
Callicarpa berries at various stages of decomposition.
Snowdrops peep from various hiding places.
Low winter sun on the tree trunks.
Even the damaged parts of the Australian Pine look attractive to me - the strong reddish brown colour, the curl of the "leaves" and the structure of the central stem with its geometric twists and turns,
There's some very encouraging strong new growth on the tree as well.
The frost has made the hellebores close and hang their heads even lower than usual.
The witch hazel seems unaffected by the cold. In the middle of the photo one of the ribbon-like petals is just beginning to uncurl.
Masses of little flowers lie on the ground under the biggest spindleberry tree.
As I was photographing the thick waxy flowers on the ground I could see plenty of holly leaf skeletons too.
Snowdrops.
Some of the snowdrops are extremely short. Their flowers are beginning the open and show off their white underskirts with their delicate green decorations.
Hanging over a seat hundreds of tiny blossoms are opening - hardly visible - you have to look for them.
Frosty leaf skeletons.
Beautiful blue sky.
As I walked across the grass towards the little shelter I almost trod on these tiny snowdrops - they're so short they're so well hidden.
Plants in the prairie bed - wearing frosty caps.
One of the only remaining trees to have any colourful autumn leaves left on it.
As the low sun shone between the trees it lit up the frosty leaves lying on the grass.
A crow cawed above my head as it flew up and perched high in a tree, cawing again.
Around the corner I noticed more evidence of what the gardener has been doing - another recently cleared and dug flower bed. There is fresh evidence of his work everywhere - ground cleared, bark put down, leaves cleared, etc.
I was surprised to see a pheasant again. It strutted and pecked on the frosty grass and looked up at me briefly as I approached.
The cawing crow flew down and landed near the pheasant.
It gave a little warning and stretched its wings and the crow waddled away a little before coming back again.
They circled around each other for about 7 minutes, pecking at the ground - the crow getting too close, the pheasant giving a warning, the crow retreating then returning - it was like a dance.
Close up of frosty moss on the long shelter roof.
Fern patterns against the frost.
Ice crystals on tiny plants - like tiny sugar granules . . .
. . . or long crystals.
By the pond - old stems.
Looking back over the frosty flower beds.
Bulrushes
A carpet of crystals on the bedding plants.
A SUPERMARKET CAR PARK
I stopped off to pick up a couple of items on the way home and was surprised to see the amount of berries on plants in the supermarket car park.
I took this one from my car window as I was about to drove out. This plant was dripping with berries - still green at the moment.
Thank you very much for joining me.
How funny we were both out photographing the frost at the same time... love the photos of the frosty plants, and also the pheasant/crow dance!
ReplyDeleteYes - the pull of the frost got both of us. I don't usually go on a Saturday as there are more people there but not today - no one else braved the cold till later on.
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