A walk to Dothill

[cmcmck]

Dothill is on the moorland side of town and is an interesting combo of marshland, wetland and lakes.

This path takes you in once you walk through Donnerville Spinney to get there:



The volunteers have been putting up traditional ash weave fencing:



A view across some of the wetland:



An ancient ash tree, once part of coppice woodland:



The low lying woodland is typical of the local moorland scenery. Rosebay willowherb still in flower although it's beginning to die back:



This is Tee Lake so called because it was created on the estate that was once here in a T shape:



This rather fine fungus is a venus saddle:



Mallards finding something to eat:



And a pair of swans:



It's a thistle of sorts and the grassland here was full of it!



These standing 'stones' are a combo of recycled wood, stone and metal:



These geese came scrounging and the big gander gave us a hiss to keep us away from his girls!



Another section of Tee Lake:





And a rowan tree in full fruit. We both pronounce it 'row' as in a noisy argument:



And from here we walked back into town and had coffee in Bowring Park.

Comments

[pauraque]

Beautiful! I love the swans. We do get them here on occasion as they pass through on migration, but I've yet to see one.

[cmcmck]

They're resident here.

[zavodilaterrarium]

The fungus is such a pretty orange, and the foliage is so lush!!!! (๑>◡<๑)

[cmcmck]

Height of the summer growth although it's green here all year round.

Knapweed

[frith]

Not a field of thistles, it's knapweed. Before intensive commercial agritech bought the field cross the road and nigh sterilized it, my view was of a horse pasture and this time of year it would be a sea of knapweed.

Re: Knapweed

[cmcmck]

Thanks! I didn't take a close look and the several local species of thistle all have those purple heads.

Re: Knapweed

[pameladean]

We've got that here as an invasive weed, but like many of those, it's so pretty I have a hard time hating it.

P.

Re: Knapweed

[cmcmck]

It's native here having checked.

[chestnut_pod]

I think that lovely thistle-like flower is a Centaurea species, a knapweed! Probably C. nigra?

[cmcmck]

I should have taken a closer look! :o)

[kazzy_cee]

Great photos!

[cmcmck]

Thanks!

[turlough]

What a lovely place for a walk! That fungus is so cool and the thistles are beautiful. I'm wondering what the purple flowers are on the other side in the last of the lake photos. Could they be purple loosestrife?

[cmcmck]

Those are a favourite of mine- it's rosebay willowherb.

[turlough]

Cool! I don't think I've ever seen them grow in such multitudes here.

[cmcmck]

It's all over the place here especially near pools and lakes.

[yourlibrarian]

Cool to see the fence weave. And that's a nice photo of the lake with the thistles in the background. Also though I've heard of rowan trees, don't think I've ever seen one laden before!

[cmcmck]

The thistles are actually rosebay willowherb!

We have a young rowan in our garden and it's now where near this level of fruit yet.

[full_metal_ox]

Is a small brown animal—perhaps a rabbit or hare—huddled in the grass to the left of the posts in photo #11?

Canada geese are something I wouldn’t have expected to encounter on your side of the pond, but there they are. (The high ratio of brown suggests that the goose at center isn’t quite fully adult.)

[cmcmck]

Baby rabbit.

Canada geese come to us for the Summer and they'll migrate back later. There were some semi mature young in the family.

[puddleshark]

What a beautiful spot, and wonderful photos!

That's an impressive crop of rowan berries. They seem to ripen earlier every year.

[cmcmck]

There were five rowans in that stretch of woodland and it was ablaze with colour!

[pilottttt]

I can feel the coolness from your photos, which usually happens on the shore of the lake ;)
Great shots and a great walk!

[cmcmck]

It is lovely under the trees and close to water on a hot day.

[linky]

These are beautiful!

[cmcmck]

It's a favourite spot of ours.