Yesterday I had to go and have a scan on my empty head at the hospital in a nearby town so on the way back after being told that my head was indeed empty with no obvious signs of any problems  the dogs and I went for a wander down the bank of the River Dive.

One of the first things I saw were these wild hops that had dried in the winter wind and were hanging over the river spreading their seed for their new growth later in the year.

 

 

Hops look as good green or brown and we often bring them home and hang them in the kitchen for their great aromas...........here are more seed heads that were all also along the bank of this fast flowing river.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was surprised to see these snow drops, they did look good popping out of the water - however it would have been nicer if I could have caught some nice reflections. 

 

Finally this is one of the trees along the walk. It has some very strange marks in the bark that have formed some great patterns.

 

 

 

 

First Footing

Firstly before the footing business I would just like to wish you all a

HAPPY NEW YEAR for 2013.

So today we took the dogs for a walk in the woods at Pé de Jojo and the weather was great with the sun shining through the branches and illuminating the wonderful green blankets of moss all around the trees.

 

 

Moss does not have flowers but these stems have capsules on the end that contain spores for its reproduction.

You will often see Ivy and Moss living happily together

 

 

another close up of the capsules - different varieties seem to have different coloured stems

 

 Moss on an old rotten bough



Ivy berries ready to burst and the tip of a youg Yew branch

 

 

 

When we got back home we could see this chap just roaming around outside the Gite. It was getting dark but I did manage to get this one shot of him without getting to close and then left him to wander around the garden with our own birds.

 

 

 So this is our First Footer of 2013 not bad aaaaaaaaaaaa