Summer and Winter on the same day

Global warming has been giving the UK some very warm February days in the last few years and this year seems to be following the pattern. We have had blue skies and Spring like daytime temperatures for quite a few days now. But with clear skies overnight there have been some quite frosty early mornings.

This week I drove over to Bakewell, another small market town in Derbyshire. I spent the morning wandering around the town looking for the best position to photograph the Parish Church of All Saints.

I eventually found a good position on the road out of the town which leads to Chatsworth. Here is the result:-



As you can see were it not for the lack of leaves on the trees, and the remains of the early morning frost on the grass, you would be forgiven for thinking it was Summer. How on earth is one expected to get decent wintery photographs any more?

Well the answer wasn't very far away.

At midday I resisted the temptation to taste the delights of the Bakewell Pudding Shop and drove over to nearby Lathkill Dale. The plan was to have a pleasant walk in the sunshine, maybe finding some very early spring flowers comimg out. But I had forgotten the topography of the dale. Descending into the dale from Over Haddon you immediately see the very steep sides of the dale on the south side of the River Lathkill. Even though it was midday the low winter sun just didn't have the height to illuminate this stretch of the dale.

Consequently it was like walking straight from Summer into Winter. Heavy frost covered the ground and moss-clad branches of trees, and a cold mist still hovered over the river surface. After a few hundred yards walking upstream I came to this stretch of water which seemed particularly cold and eerie looking:



If you look at the right hand top of the photo you can just see a warm glow where the sun is just reaching the top of the trees on the north side of the river.

Oh, and there were no flowers whatsoever, apart from a few forlorn looking snowdrops near the cottage which lies at the entrance to the dale. But in a few weeks time it will be a different story...