Walk At The Beginning Of Winter

One of the RSPB's newest nature reserves lies on my doorstep. 

This reserve is becoming important for bitterns, water rails, cuckoos, owls, all kinds of duck, and various birds of prey. The top photo on the signboard shows a marsh harrier; the bottom a little ringed plover.

The morning was fine but cold. The leaves had now fallen from the trees and winter skulked around the corner. A low and intense sun turned the reed beds gold and a sharp breeze ruffled the blue water of the old gravel pit lakes.

There were not many birds about; I barely spotted twenty species. But the sun illuminated brilliantly the glossy green heads of mallard and goldeneye and the snowy-white feathers of a mute swan near the causeway.

Inside the delightful wooden 'beach hut', which serves as a tiny reception centre.

On one wall there's a display of 'natural curiosities', including the oak apples (or oak galls) you can see on the right (these would originally have been home to gall wasp larvae).

As I began the walk home, long rafts of cloud blotted out the sun, and it seemed more like early evening than early afternoon.

Electricity pylons striding across the flat plain of the Trent valley.