Swimming on the reserve

A family of five can sometimes be seen swimming around the reserve, cleaning up what the ducks, swans and gulls don't eat!

2011 Rainfall

Rainfall during 2011.


Average of the rainfall over the last four years. For the year, the total was 744.5 mm, which compares to 701.5 mm for 2010.

Autumn woodland

Washed out sunshine filtering
Through bare branches fingering the sky,
Touching a carpet of yellows and browns,
Gradually decaying into a rich black loam.
Gnawed acorns scattered around,
Accompanied by the occasional clatter
Of falling twigs as a pigeon alights
On a piece too rotten,
The ivy encrusted trunk seemingly held up
By the parasitical plant rather than itself.
But look more closely -
The season might be dying, but not the wood.
Note the budding hazel,
Whose catkins will brighten up the spring.
Or the hinting willow,
Whose furry pussies complement the catkins.
Or the shooting plantlings,
Who take advantage of the extra light.
The wood in autumn is a metaphor for us all.
Something great might be passing,
But look closer - the seeds of the
New are there to see.
It will be great again.

Savages Wood

A flash of pink lets me think,
That I know what I can see.
A jay has flown up onto a branch,
And is staring down at me.

A cackle, almost a laugh,
As it cocks its head aside,
Its jet black eye staring down
On what nature can provide.

It's autumn, and the ground is covered
In a leafy carpet, brown,
But turn them over, look below,
And see what can be found.

Millipedes and juicy worms
Teeming all around
Mixed with buried nuts and seeds
As a squirrel whirls around.

Because the bounty isn't infinite,
The plenty will not last.
As already the weathers' turning,
And the winds' an icy blast.

There are toadstools in the grasses,
And fungi all around,
Bracketing the ends of logs,
Helping them return back to the ground.

Although things are shutting down,
This isn't the woodlands' end.
As rotting leaves and logs provide
A start so that it can send

A helping hand to the spring to come,
When the flowers will bloom again.
For the woodland cycles through the years
Far longer than the lives of men.

The Moon

The Moon, La Lune,
La Luna, A Lua,
De Maan, Der Mond,
Ang Buwan, Bulan,
Selene, Phoebe,
Isis, Bendis,
Nanna, Abnoba,
Mani, Selardi,
Tsukuyomi, Anumati,
Chandra, Marama,
Whatever it's called,
It shines all the same,
Dappling the ground,
Creating shaded frames.
Circling the earth,
Inching away,
A romantic light,
Signalling end of day.

Explanation.

(Words for Moon in English, French,
Spanish, Portuguese,
Dutch, German,
Filipino, Indonesian)
(Next Moon gods - Greek, Greek,
Egyptian, Thracian,
Sumerian, Celtic,
Norse, Urartian,
Japanese, Hindi,
Hindi, Polynesian)

Deathstyle

After you've been buried in your clothes,
You'll soon be nothing but decomposing adipose,
In a box of wood, six feet under,
Having your flesh rent asunder,
By worms and beetles, the bones stripped bare,
They might leave traces of your hair.
But above the surface, little remains,
A headstone, on it written some short refrains.
It doesn't matter how you lived,
Your riches, or what you believed,
What you ate, or whether you went the extra mile,
Your lifestyle is not your deathstyle.

A Kingfisher in Hambrook

A flash of brilliant irridescent blue,
Darting up from a languid stream,
Before diving out of sight, but not from mind.
It might have only been a moment,
But the moment lives forever,
For who can forget such a magical moment?
Such brightness against the ivyed wall,
A natural effervescence, fleeting yet lasting.