I’ve had other posts recently with swans so, sorry if you are getting fed up with them. (Makes a change from cormorants I guess!) This is a simple one. A swan was swimming towards me at the end of the day and the backlight gave some nice colour to the water and emphasised the outline of the swan nicely.
While strolling around the centre of Winchester one Sunday morning, I cam upon the entrance to Wolvsey Castle. This is a ruin of the residence of the Bishop of Winchester which was used in the Middle Ages. It is an English Heritage site and I am not currently a member but, when I saw that it was free, I figured I would stick my nose in briefly to have a look. I was heading home as I had an appointment so didn’t have time to explore fully.
The old stone walls of the residence are pretty impressive although sadly a few areas are cordoned off with metal fencing which does rather take away from the medieval feel of the place. I will go back at some point to look around further, but I was taken by the stonework in the arches in one area. Cropping in tight on them made for a more abstract feel. The woodwork has generally decayed and falling so you can see openings up on the walls that probably had a floor near them in the past! Probably not a safe place to walk at this point!
A group of swans was swimming up the Itchen as I was out walking one Sunday morning. Suddenly they decided to get airborne, and I was almost caught out by them. The first two were by me before I was able to get a shot, but I was very close to them and struggled to get something framed. The third was close behind them and I was able to pick it up earlier. A swan at low level over the water is a graceful looking creature. I suspect I will be out and about trying to get more swan flying shots before too long.
I mentioned in a previous post that I had been to Lee on Solent and seen and AW189 on the coastguard ramp. Chatting with a few of the locals, I found out that this one was due for delivery to the Irish Coast Guard that day. I was in the café and thought I would notice it as it fired up for departure. Sadly, I was wrong about this. While eating some lunch, I look at FR24 and saw that it was taxiing. Just as I stood up, I saw it out of the window as it lifted and flew off. I was a bit annoyed with missing it but went outside anyway. The guys told me it might be back shortly and, sure enough, it flew a brief sortie and then came back.
After it touched down, the word was that they were finalising some last-minute snags and that it would depart to Ireland. The team seemed to be loading up some items and the beacons were still on so I hoped it would not be too long before they got going. Thankfully, I didn’t have to wait too long for them to fire up. There was a small rise between where I was and where they taxied which was a little frustrating but, before too long, they were ready to lift and then a quick turn and they climbed out before turning en route. No sign of them returning this time and they were gone. Nice looking helicopter and the normal style of coast guard colours was improved by the nice green stripe.
The station in Winchester is the start and finish for most of my workdays at this point. The station is on a long straight section of the main line to Southampton. From the platform, you can see a long way in either direction. Looking south, there are a number of bridges across the track before it curves out of sight. On a misty afternoon, the view looks quite pretty.
I was taking a walk along the River Itchen in Winchester and there were some swans swimming up the river towards me. One was swimming along quite normally but a second was following it and was swimming in a strange way. It had its head low to the water and was swimming in a surging motion rather than the regular paddling. I don’t know whether this was some sort of mating action or just a weird swan! Video seemed to be the best way to record this.
I may have paid a visit to Lee on Solent to go to the Hovercraft Museum as will appear (or might already have done so) in another post but it does happen to sit on the edge of an airfield. Airfields often provide an airport café, and I was after some lunch, so I made the short walk to theirs. It was a bloody cold day so the idea of being in somewhere warm overlooking the field, even if nothing much was happening seemed like a good plan.
The hot food was good, and the windows looked out over the field. There was an AW189 sitting out on the coastguard ramp but more of that another day. Meanwhile there were a few light aircraft and helicopter movements. I did head out to the viewing area outside the café on a couple of occasions to see some of the aircraft. I didn’t get everything moving, though. It was pretty cold and being outside all of the time didn’t look like fun.
The R44 arrival occurred while I was inside but, when I saw the occupants heading back out, I thought I might get the departure. However, if I was going to make my connection home, they would have to go swiftly. That didn’t seem like it was happening, and I didn’t want to wait an hour for the next connection. Eventually I bailed and as my journey home took me by the airfield, I could see them still on the ramp, so I am glad I didn’t wait.
When I first moved to Winchester, I was initially staying in a couple of Airbnbs before we moved into the house we are renting. One of them was up in the roof of an old school building. The view out of the windows was across the rooftops of the neighbouring houses. The chimney pots caught my eye. One of them seemed to have a serious branch growing out of it. I think it was dead, but it did look like it had done well to get established in the brickwork.
When I was a small kid, BHC was stretching a couple of the SRN-4s to the Super 4 configuration. Despite living in the same town, I never saw them while they were being tested. The late 90s and I got to travel on one for a Channel crossing as we went on holiday to France. Not long after that, they were withdrawn from service. The two hovercraft made their way to the Hovercraft Museum at Lee on Solent. One has since been scrapped but the other survives and is on display.
Getting this close to it, you really appreciate the size of the machine. It is interesting to wander through the passenger cabins on the side, up the main ramp, through the car deck and around the outside. It really is a most impressive piece of engineering. It dominates the grounds of the museum and gets you thinking about what it was like when it was in service rising high up on the massive skirt.
It was a cold and dreary day when I was there. The grey skies don’t provide a nice backdrop to the exterior vie and I will have to try and go back on a nicer day at some point. However, it was worthwhile having the chance to view it when few other people were around so a cold and gloomy winter day might have had it advantages.
The Bishop of Winchester has an official residence close to the cathedral. It seems like a pretty nice house to have in the centre of the city but the thing that caught my eye on the Sunday morning when I was passing was the flowers sprouting from the lawn. A combination of snowdrops and crocuses made the place feel rather nice, so I got the camera low to the ground to get them to be the main part of the shot.
