Downs and flooding.

Between Christmas and New Year I walked out over the downs above Shoreham. The views over the Adur valley and northwards to Beeding brooks showed that the recent heavy rainfall had caused considerable flooding. It was a very windy walk and in the picture above you might be able to pick out jackdaws playing in the wind.

This bit of the downs is rather barren, but I was drawn to this rather imposing pylon and the blue sky beyond it. I would still rather it wasn't there however.

This is the track that runs from Trueleigh hill to Thundersbarrow.

The Youth hostel at Trueleigh hill with its distinctive Scots pines. In the 1930s this was a nudist camp, but the temperature  today would have tested even the most committed naturist.

George walking off his Christmas dinner. Thundersbarrow is on the skyline to the right of the picture.

A few days later I decided to walk up the river Adur and view the flooding at close quarters and the following pictures are of that walk. The picture below just fails to capture a hunting short-eared owl that has just flown out of shot; a few minutes later a barn owl was hunting over the same meadow.

The youth hostel and Scots pines seen from Beeding Brooks.

 

About 4 weeks later the first snow of the winter turned Trueleigh hill into a quite different landscape. On the other side of the valley some scrub was being cleared and burnt and I though how much I would like to be doing that job.