We have had a period of unbelievably gloomy weather the last few days - continual fog and mist, the air full of moisture that made the rim brakes on my bicycle scarily useless at times, and a sun that may not exist anymore for all I've seen of it.
Earlier in the week however, I accidentally saw a wonderful sight in the night sky as I was cycling home from work, and stopped to take photographs. The moon, Jupiter, Saturn and Venus were all in a line across the night sky just after sunset, with Venus just hovering above the lights of the industrial estate of food factories and chicken hatcheries.
Sadly Saturn was a mite too faint for my camera to pick up. The next mobile phone I get better have a night photography mode on it!
This weekend, I've managed to get some decent walking done, although there hasn't been an awful lot to see apart from bare trees in a clinging damp fog. However, my attempts to find the first flowering plant of the new season in the cemetery have succeeded, and it was not what I expected.
Was it a snowdrop or a winter aconite?
No. It was a red dead nettle, which come March will form a vital source of nourishment for early pollinators.
Of course, at the moment there is nothing flowering.
Si
All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 19.12.21
