Wednesday 11 March 2015

Early spring walk to Penpole Point - and Penpole Dial


I thought I'd take you  on a walk. Yesterday was  a beautiful early spring day, so late in the afternoon I packed my sketching bag and headed up to Kings Weston. I decided to walk up to Penpole Point, through the wood.


 Celandines carpet the woodland floor like tiny golden stars.



I found the first signs of  spring cleaning activity at our badger sett, under the ancient lime trees - the badgers know spring is here.


The woods were filled with bird song, and squirrels busy scurrying about; or  like this one - doing a spot of  sunbathing!



Woodpigeons  cooed lazily and enjoyed the sunny hillside of Shirehampton Park.


 And tiny white violets covered the ground along the footpath.

David Martyn
David Martyn
The beautiful old stone compass dial on the hill top looked wonderful in the afternoon sunshine. It's been here for at least 400 years, acting as a navigation point for  ships entering the Port of Bristol. Although the trees  and scrub have hidden much of the view it's still a much loved local landmark; our wonderful KWAG conservation volunteers have done loads of work to clear the brambles and this image gives  you an idea of what it was originally like when the hillside was clear. I bet it could tell a few stories! Here it is, painted in 1840 by Joseph Walter, with the view across to the city and port of Bristol - what a change!







7 comments:

Rachel said...

It doesn't look as though the sundial is easy enough to see, nowadays, to be a navigational marker. Just as well they have GPS!
I'm very envious of that sunshine, by the way...

Deb said...

Thanks for a lovely walk in the British countryside Jules! Your signs of Spring are farther advanced than they are here but soon I hope to see a viola or two peeking out of the ground. How wonderful to have such an amazing piece of history in your backyard, love the 1840 painting that shows how the stone compass looked in the past!

Andy Lloyd Williams said...

Lifts your heart to see the sunshine and signs of Spring. Beautiful photos, Jules. Those little violets are wonderful.

Starr White said...

Thank you for sharing your beautiful walk, Jules. Your spring is farther along than ours! absolutely love the wonderful painting of the historic compass. Your photos make me want to step into them and into England in the springtime - swoon!

Valerie Gardiner said...

Lovely photos Jules, you were lucky to catch that squirrel before it ran off!

Alex said...

That was lovely - there's a real feel of spring everywhere now, isn't there?!

Shashi Nayagam said...

Wasn't it a lovely day. It was lovely today as well. You did the right thing by taking this chance to find the magic of the woods. Love the squirrel photo. Sadly the one that used to gobble up the bird feed in our garden has passed on to a better world. Saw him lying on the road. I miss him even though he used to annoy me sometimes by eating all the food kept. For the birds.