Rural Relaxation: Where have all the people gone?

The Cafe in Wendover Woods

The countryside changes with the seasons and with the weather, and the trees seem very different when seen on a dark and misty day which drains the colour out of the scenery so that even the pale pastel shades of the table parasols jump out at you. I took this earlier today, after a visit to Stoke Mandeville Hospital where I am thankful that with their help I can still enjoy such a view, even if today I enjoyed it from inside The Cafe in the Woods while having my lunch. If it had not been for hospital's help I would now be permanently viewing everything through a thick mist. Now with cataracts removed from both eyes, and the glaucoma in the left eye  now well under control, I still enjoy the countryside, come rain or shine, well into retirement.

And I mustn't forget that I can now hear the singing of the birds in the trees (except that today they were keeping very quiet) thanks to hearing aids provided by the hospital - and there are several other departments who over the years have helped to make my old age more bearable. 

Rural Relaxation

Clouds over the Marsh at  College Lake

For various reasons I have not done many things I had planned to do during September - including posting to this blog. I need to relax - and using these pictures as wallpaper is helpful - although taking a break and walking round the Nature Reserve is even better.

Reeds on the water's edge at College Lake

click on pictures for larger images

Rural Relaxation: The Twist at College Lake

The Seat at the Top of The Twist

The Seat at the bottom of The Twist

When I want some exercise and a breath of country air well away from a computer key board (and with the mobile phone switched off) I frequently go to College Lake. The place has many different habitats and I have been taking photographs of the Reserve for 9 years - recording the changing seasons - and the improvement made by BBOWT, who run the reserve. 

I have decided that at the end of each month my "Rural Relaxation" post will concentrate on one feature of the reserve and include pictures taken at a range of dates. 

This month I visit The Twist, a winding path with a seat at the top, giving good views across the Lake. There is also a seat at the bottom (at present) which is currently the only place in the Reserve where you can stand really close to the water of the Lake. I say  "at present" because only three months ago the water was covering the path in front of the seat, while the other seat near the Octagon hide is already under water. 

For more pictures and descriptive text CLICK HERE

The Twist and nearby features of the College Lake Nature Reserve

Posted in Memory of Graham Atkins

Rural Relaxation - Whirlwind at College Lake

On Sunday we had a bit of a storm at Tring but once it had passed I decided to got to College Lake for a walk and cup of coffee - but couldn't get there as the road was closed because power lines had been brought down near the bridge over the canal at Bulbourne. So on Monday I went to see what had happened.

OK I was a day too late to photograph the whirlwind but had come from the west and cut a gap (see above) in the tall poplar trees that border the Canal.  Between those trees and the smaller ones closer to the water there is a small hay meadow and the second photograph shows broken branches that were lifted by the wind and drop in the meadow. Other branches could be seen on the track leading back to the Visitors Centre.

The whirlwind swept across the lake, a visitor's photograph showing the water whipped up by the island on the right in the first photograph. It then crossed out of the reserve and brought down a tree in Northfield Road, about quarter of a mile away.

Rural Relaxation - Graham Atkins

Graham Atkins at Book Signing

Many of my "Rural Relaxation" walks are around College Lake, a nature reserve only a few miles from where I live. It was created out of a huge chalk pit, associated with the Pitstone Cement Works, because Graham Aktins, a lorry driver who worked for the company, persuaded the management that when the quarrying finished  the site could become a wonderful home for wild life. The Site is now managed by the Berks, Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust (BBOWT), Graham having retired a few years ago.

Graham on College Lake Buggy

Recently a small sign has appeared at College Lake, under a picture of Graham, reporting he died at the end of June. This picture was taken the last time I saw him, in September last year when he was at College Lake when the Castle Hide was rededicated to George Goddard (the former quarry manager who supported Graham's work). In addition Graham signed copies of his wonderful book Creating a Nature Reserve. He was not well at the time and used one of the electric buggies to go to Castle Hide - and we must all be pleased that he was able to leave a written record of how College Lake came about, so that visitors can understand his foresight and achievement. It also provides important guidelines for anyone else planning to establish a nature reserve ona brown field site.

Rural Relaxation - A heron at College Lake

A Heron at College Lake

A pleasant afternoon - not too warm - and it would be a waste to spend it simply sitting at a computer.  So off I go to College Lake, a disused chalk pit which as been transformed into a wonderful nature reserve run by BBOWT.

In fact today I was lazy and rather than taking a brisk walk round the reserve I spent half an hour or so looking at the wild life on the area of shallow water and islands called "The Marsh" from the main hide. I kept an eye out for the otter, which had visited the reserve a few days before - but I am sure that it has returned to the nearby canal, the Tring Reservoirs, or the water courses that exist in the Vale of Aylesbury.

I then spend a bit more time in the small cafe, in theory looking out over the reserve, but actually dozing off. Then home via the supermarket for the last of the weekend shop.

Other Pictures of College Lake.

One of my Hertfordshire Photo was Picture of the Day on Geograph

As you may have noticed, from the box in the right hand column, I occasionally post photographs of Hertfordshire, parts of Buckinghamshire, and occasionally other places, on the Geograph web site.

Low Water at Startops Reservoir, near Tring, in 2012

It seems somewhat ironic that on January 23rd Geograph chose one of my pictures of the effects of drought on the Tring Reservoirs to be their "Picture of the Day" when a visit I made a few days earlier had shown that all the reservoirs in the area were filled to capacity. This picture shows (not very clearly) part of the medieval ridge and furrow area I reported on my other blog on December 3rd 2011 and March 11th 2012.

One of the frustrating things about Geograph's "Picture of the Day" is that the photographer is not told when one of his pictures has been selected and it sometimes appears years after the picture had been added to the web site. (I posted the above picture on January 24th 2012).

I know two other pictures of mine have been selected in the past - but there may have been others.

The first was this picture of tulips round a war grave in the churchyard at Halton, Bucks, near Tring, which I took in 2009, together with other pictures of the church and village.

The other was this view of  barges moored on the Grand Union Canal at Marsworth on a frosty winter morning in December 2012.

Rural Relaxation: Mallard Ducks at Ashridge

Mallard Ducks in Clickmere Pond close to the Bridgewater Monument, on the National Trust Ashridge Estate. The pond is a former dew pond - and originally there were a number in the area, probably built for the cattle on the drove roads that crossed the Chiltern Hills.

Rural Relaxation - A Winter Afternoon at College Lake

Winter Sunlight gives a warm glow to College Lake

Because I have been busy on other things I have rather neglected this blog recently - but I still find time to get out into the countryside. This picture was taken yesterday at the College Lake Nature Reserve, which is only a few miles from where I like. It is an ideal place to relax as there is always plenty of wild life to see, and (until an hour before the site closes) a small cafe where you can get a hot drink after a bracing walk.

More Pictures of College Lake 

Rural Relaxation - The Creation of College Lake Nature Reserve

My daughter Lucy's tragic death in 1985 had a major effect on my life, and was undoubtedly an important factor in my abandoning my research and taking early retirement. As a result I spent some 20 years on voluntary work to try and improve the lot of the mentally ill - and I urgently needed somewhere to relax

And I found just the place - a new reserve was being set up only a few miles from from where I live - called College Lake. When I first visited it there was a large white hole in the ground with the promise of a nature reserve at the south end - and a working chalk quarry at the north end. Graham was often seen with an enthusiastic team of volunteers, while Rita's little Sunday cafe in the old barn was not to be missed.

Rural Relaxation - Getting one's feet wet

In March last year I posted this picture (A Rainfall Crisis looming in Eastern England) which was actually chosen to show how low the water had got in the College Lake Nature Reserve near Tring! College Lake is actually a disused chalk pit and when quarrying was abandoned it was estimated that that water entering the lake would seep away through the chalk. The calculations as to the equilibrium level were badly wrong and the water rose to flood the track through this gateway some years ago. However they had seem to stabilize and during the drought of 2011 and early 2012 the water actually dropped to revel about an extra foot of this gate.

Rural Relaxation: I see a "Dragon" on Bookham Common?

I like to spend and hour or so each day walking, preferably in the countryside. Yesterday I was walking past the ponds on Great Bookham Common, Surrey, and was surprised to see in the distance a large animal which had come down to drink on the far side of Lower Hollows:

Rural Relaxation: Red-crested Poachard at College Lake

A couple of days ago the sun was shining and  I decided to bus to College Lake (I normally drive) and walk all the way round - taking photographs as I went. The highlight of the trip was when I was down at water level and through a gap in the water edge vegetation I could see this pair of Red Crested Pochards diving for food.

Rural Relaxation: At Weston Turville Reservoir

Yesterday was a lovely sunny November day and I decided to take a walk round Weston Turville Reservoir. The reservoir was built about 200 years ago to ensure a supply of water to local mills when the local stream was diverted to feed what is now the Grand Union Canal. It is now used by anglers who fish from the dam and from a path which runs below this viewpoint; by Aylesbury Sailing Club, and as a nature reserve managed by BBOWT. Wendover Woods cover the hill beyond, where I often used to take my dog Franki for a walk, and where I still go occasionally.

The walk was most enjoyable - although no birds (apart from gulls in the distance) were visible from the new hide. The only problem was the mud - particularly where the path is narrow behind the boating club clubhouse, so if you want to walk round be sure to have good shoes..

For other photographs I have taken of the area, including part of the Wendover Canal, see Geograph.

Rural Relaxation - On Monument Green, Ashridge

The area immediately around the Bridgewater Monument appears deserted when I visited it today. However the Brownlow Cafe a few yards away was reasonably busy and I enjoyed the special of the day - a very acceptable Beef Bourguignon,
See some other of the other pictures I have taken on the Ashridge Estate.

Rural Relaxation - An Autumn Afternoon at Ashridge

Ashridge is a large National Trust Estate a few miles from Tring, Hertfordshire
Click for a larger image