A Walk in the Woods

Slowly, Summer is ending. It is not so hot anymore. The days are shorter. The trees are starting to loose their leaves. It does rain, but not continuously. 

So, what to do on a warm, dry Sunday afternoon? I went for a walk in the wood close to home. And moved  a little off the main path, following small trails. Maybe, they are actual hiking trails, maybe they are trodden paths by animals. I did not walk through the woods wild. And was very careful not to destroy the flora in the wood that already is suffering from the drought.

Let me show you some impressions of this walk:

Just a fancy tree trump with stones by the wide path.

This is where I left the normal path
and went down a steep slope.
Can you see the trail leading down??

The trail was there before the trees fell on it.
But it still seems to be used - by animals.

My "purpose" for going off-path was to check on a few big rocks I had seen from above. I found caves. If I were a rabbit - they sure would be nice for a hiding or resting place.

already filled with grass for sleeping =)

another hole in the ground close by

These two small caves were below these rock walls:

rock wall - one of many there

smaller wall 

And then let's walk along those rock walls. There is a rustle in the leaves. Ah, a rabbit just hopped up this tiny canyon:

It's just about a 3m climb - but not easy at all!

Smiling, not attempting to follow this rabbit, we follow the trails close the rock foot and hear water gurgling and splashing. There must a creek close by!! 

Found the creek, not much water, but lot of noise!

A small water fall a bit up the creek,
half a meter is enough.

Following the creek uphill to see were the spring is, the water stopped before we reach the edge of the ravine it flows in.

By now the walk has taken about an hour - time for a small rest before we leave the animal trails and go back to an official hiking path:

Take a rest and enjoy the wood, the birds, the wind in the trees. 

And then continue on the hiking path.

Until we reach the spring, the path leads to spring:

Very, very little water in this shallow spring. The drought is showing here.
The drought caused by very little snow and and rain in Winter and Spring time.

Walking back on the main paths now, The sound of running water suddenly is gone. The drought has made the small creek vanish in some places, to appear again a bit later. With some fish caught in the small ponds left. Hopefully it rains soon , so they can swim back to more water.

In very early Spring this small wood part
has been partially flooded - now it's all dry
and the stones in the creek overgrown.

A small pond with a fish, swimming
hectic up and dow

Fresh water coming out from under a  tree,
to flow into the creek.

Another dry part.

Finally another small bank to rest on and enjoy the scenery and atmosphere under the old pear tree before we walk back home. Passing a sole violet still flowering and some ferns. I hope, you enjoyed this walk with me. 

Let's take another short rest and go back the trails in memory.

A lonely Violet,
one last flower in the sparse sunlight on the ground.

Ferns grow in the shade of the big trees.

For more impressions of rocks and wood, and creek you can go to my album for that day: 

Walk in the Wood

Low Water in the Creek - Summer update

Another month or so has passed - the water is low in the creek. 

For this season - Summer - that's expected.

But, just a little but, it has been raining every 2 to 3 days since the end of June. And some days it was not just a normal rain but a whole downpour. When that excess water has moved off, the water level went back to low. Very low actually. And it isn't even hot. Seems we are somehow still in a kind of drought.

And although it's just the beginning of August the air smells of Autumn. Some trees, like cherries, birches and  beeches are already throwing off leaves. I have even seen one walnut tree turn yellow way too early.

The boodplum though in my garden has just cast off the fruits we couldn't harvest, but hardly any leaves. The years before it that regularly did in the Summer heat - due to being too dry. Maybe watering it a few times during the rare very hot days has helped.

Not so unusual anymore is the wild plant growing like a pest at the banks of the creek: a Himalayan Balsam

It does have nice deep purple, pink and rose colored flowers. But it suffocates and takes the nutrition for the rest of the vegetation.

And it spreads it's seed by "spitting" them far away when being touched only very slightly. So, if you want to get rid of this plant you will have to "harvest" it before the seeds are ripe. 

I admit, I thought it as a fun game to touch and see how far those seeds would jump. Until I found out about the invasive way of life of this plant here. 

Or should we "harvest" it as food??!!  The green seed pods, seeds, young leaves and shoots are all edible, says the wiki article.

Following a few impressions of the creek today:

Slow flowing water, clear and very low. Normal height is about 8cm higher in Summer than on this photo.

Usually the damp step is fully covered with water about half it's height. 

With normal water level you can't see the step of the inflow on the right side, and the sand bank is covered with water.

 and this Himalayan Balsam "Weed":

Low Water in the Creek - update IV

Haven't seen much of the creek for a few weeks.
And now it's banks are well overgrown in most places.
We did have rain and on July 5th it was a very heavy one.
Going to work just as the rain stopped I happen to have to cross the bridge over that creek.

And - WOW - was it full!!!


So, of course, I took some photos to show you how much water can be in that little creek after such an heavy rain:

Fast running, and dirty!!

Nearly touching the top roof of the bridge (still 50cm before it would flow OVER it)!

The barrier has already been puller up to let the water flow freely!!

From the train further down the creek after a few other smaller creeks have joined.

For comparison when the level was normal to low:

Not the exact same spot as it now is fully overgrown and I couldn't take the photo there from the train.

And here the photos from today when most of the excess water was gone: 

Low Water in the Creek - update II (or III)

So, it rained very strong all of last night. When going to work this morning, I checked the water level.

Now it has the level that is "normal" for this part of the creek.
But actually, it  is just "high" water running off as the dry soil could not take it all in such a short time.

Here the photos: the water is still dirty from the heavy rain.

To compare them here the links to the other creek posts:
http://michafire.blogspot.com/2012/04/low-water-in-little-creek.html
http://michafire.blogspot.com/2012/05/low-water-in-little-creek-update.html
http://michafire.blogspot.com/2012/05/low-water-in-little-creek-few-different.html

I actually have even more photos by now - but with the growing green at the edges it's hard to see the low water. Maybe I'll make a post with showing the different levels (chronological) from always the same place. These shown here are the ones I can access most easily all the time as they are from a bridge!!

Low water in the little creek - a few different views

Today I had time off from work, so I walked to the next village and took some photos of the low water levels of the creek there.

It HAS rained over the last few days - but besides the "clean-up" it had on the creek from Saturday to Sunday it did NOT have the effect to fill it more.

To start with once again the photo from last year May, 7th; followed by the others taken earlier this year to compare them:

Now the ones form the weekend: all "clean" of the sticks ;-)

And now the ones from the next village: the grass was not growing that far into the creek last year

This concrete creek is only half filled of what is usually is, with sand filling in as well as the water is slow streaming.

Keeping an eye on it!!