A Landscape of Water and a Field of Hares

Will it ever end? More storms here and heavy rain - but at least we're not under water like all the poor folk in flooded areas.  In a rare moment of sunshine this week I went to have a look at one of my local rivers, the river Wid, to see if it was about to burst its banks. It was very high and flowing fast, but there was mercifully no flooding. I remember driving over an old hump back bridge over the Wid not long ago and straight into the river. Eek! The road had completely disappeared under water. When a river has burst its banks, it certainly swallows up everything around it.

I was thinking about the Wid because I've been listening to the arguments in the news about rural verses urban when it comes to flood protection. This debate has already been had here, because it's been decided that Chelmsford (England's newest city) will be protected by a flood alleviation scheme that will impact on a couple of local parishes on the Wid.  The river will be diverted from its historic flow through the parishes, new embankments will be constructed and a flood storage area created. Chelmsford has been built on three rivers and dredging in this area has not been considered an option because (among other reasons) water would then flow more quickly into the city and the water levels would be higher there.

The gatehouse at Ingatestone Hall

Anyway, wandering along part of the Wid, (which doesn't happen to be a very long river), I came across the sixteenth century Ingatestone Hall. This has been closed to visitors for winter, so I couldn't take any photos apart from the gatehouse (Ingatestone Hall may be familiar from TV and films - I know it was used as the exterior of Bleak House in the superb BBC adaptation a few years ago). I've been inside the Hall once and the features I remember most were the priest holes (the owners of Ingatestone Hall in the 1500s were Catholics).  It's clear that someone would really have to be desperate to hide in these holes.  It made me feel claustrophobic just looking at them.

The most exciting part of walking in the countryside on this day was spotting four interesting bumps in the middle of a large field.  Through the binoculars, I could see that the bumps were four Hares. I wondered if these were pairing up and if so, were they thinking of boxing? We're coming into that time of year and I'd love to see it take place - I've never seen it before. Sadly there was no boxing today; instead they seemed to be too busy enjoying the sun. They were also keeping a wary eye on me, because I was moving closer and of course each time I did, they moved further away.

But I'll be back over the next few weeks, to see if I can catch a glimpse of them boxing at last.

Something else has been keeping an eye on me, too...

I didn't see many Kestrels last year, but I've already seen a handful around here this year. I hope it's a good sign.

Back that evening to feed the animals, I've two new companions that follow me around looking to take some of the food for the Chickens and Geese.  This little Robin nips in and takes the Chicken food in a daring raid when he thinks that me (and the Chickens) aren't looking...

And this Duck has taken to following me around, too. She's very cute, half the size of the other females (and the Drake she hangs around with), but she's twice as noisy and is always at my heel letting me know she's there...

You can see how muddy it is around the Geese and Chicken houses.  Some of these squelchy holes are quite deep, too.

We've also had some lovely Swans visiting the surrounding arable fields...

I expect they're comfortable wandering everywhere at the moment, because everywhere is so wet.  I think this is a landscape for them.