This is a wonderful shot showing why we all like living here in this part of Hampshire. The woods with a carpet of wild flowers just as they would have been for quite a while. Just how long is difficult to say as the woods in part times would have been worked and grazed. The trees would have been the providors of farm fencing, handles for tools, building materials and charcoal. Horses, pigs and sheep would have eaten what they could. So all there elements would have influenced the woods and the result is what you can now see in Doreen Rowles great photo. 

The rain in May and the warm daamp winds coming from the southwest have helped our garden to advance. The wild flowers on the Common have grown tall and thick with yellow from the buttercups and primroses being the predominient colour. The path across the Common which rolls up and down is a wonderful place to take all the colours in; when it is dry it is great to lie down amongst such very English flowers on the soft tuft of thos ancient meadow.

May saw the first of the hatching from the Mallards and the swans. It is sad to see the swans and ducks almost every day and notice that the number of chicks has changed, they see to loose quite a fw until they are down to two which they manage to bring to maturity. Here is a rather poor photo of a swan with five young but as I had a dog with me they kept away from the long bridge.

This has been an exceptionally dry spring, the underwater reserves have dropped by 20 feet or so and that means low water in the Test and Anton this summer. The warm weather has brought on the flowers and the trees. Here is a photo of May blossom taken on the 10th April on the Common. The Kingfisher is around and about fishing hard for its off-spring. I saw on the BBC a film about the Kingfisher which showed that 25% of chicks died from drowning, failed attempts to feed themselves. On the Common we only ever see one Kingfisher although it might be several birds we only see one at a time.Frogs and toads are still spawning but not on the Common the ditch where they spawned last year has been dry for most of the Spring. 

The first few days of April produced the warmest days of the year. The warm days were predicted by the wonderful evening skys that now last for 10 minutes or so and there is nothing nicer than to wonder onto the Common and see the sky change and change again and then as it gets cold the sun dips down behind the trees and is gone, from us anyway.

The cherry tree in its first full flush of blossom. Against the leafless trees around it its colour comes through. In the parks of Tokio at this time of year parents take their children, in full traditional dress, to be photographed under cherry trees in bloom. The parks are full of picnics and families and believe me there is not an inch of ground to spare. We just drive past and admire the flowering tree, I hope we do.

	The Princess and the Frog

The Princess and the Frog. A little girl trying to catch a frog in the spring water near the style which leads to the Common. The recent rains have help to boost the flow of water but it is still shallow and slow moving so frogs are taking their chances. Probably the first time this little girl has seen a frog.

This is a photo from one of our American friends from Georgetown, Texas showing us what March is like with them. They have temperatures up into the 80s, just image summers there!. The flowers are Texan Blue Bonnets, I brought a packet of seed back on a trip last year to Texas so Doreen is trying to grow some as to make the Texans feel at home; you can see cacti in the foreground.

March

March has been that on usually expects of March in this part of England, a mixed bag. We have had morning so cold and cristal clear that the cars windscreens are thick with frost but the bonus is that the night and morning skies are host to the full range of stars, and easy to see too. Then along come a few warm days and the shoots rocket out of the ground promising great showers of flowers later in the year. There are dead frogs flattened on the roads and their more active fellows doing their stuff in the few ponds which remain so spring must be here. The photo was taken on Good Friday which is at the Spring Equinox on the Common. The river level is still very low and I worry for the health of the river later in the year. I will add a photo of the church yard this weekend on Easter Sunday

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In the middle of the month of February we had very cold winds from the North and the East which gave us a flurry of snow around the 21st. The weather has been unusually dry with only one real day of rain this month so that the Test is very low, the shingle bank by the bridge has not been covered for about a year. This photograph was taken about 5.30 pm showing the rising moon and the sunlight on the Common. There have been pockets of frost on the Common all day and the water is being squeezed from the chalk as it compresses making it look like it is covered with cream. There will some great views of the stars tonight.

February

A nice e mail form Nick Hunt and a photo taken recently.

"Just discovered the Chilbolton website and I think its a great idea.  Having grown up in the village and now moved away, only returning to visit my parents, I find it interesting and I must admit a touch nostalgic to read.   I've attached a picture of the 1st bridge on the common, that to me encapsulates the whole common, the marshy areas, the trees, the valley in the background and of course the Test carving its way through.  You're welcome to use it if you like.

Thanks   Nick  

Nicholas HUNT"

 

	'The Old Cottage' Boxing Day (380mm telephoto from 'The Old Inn')

A great 'photo taken by Doreen Rowles's new camera, a present from Father Christmas. The clear sky and area of high pressure coupled with a Northerly air-flow gave us very cold weather but no snow. The Common was full of walkers at this time enjoying the still air and the biting cold weather.

	Taken on the Common very early on New Years day looking North

The early morning sky with moon light is surely the best time to see the Common at its best. Silent except for water passing over the shingle by the bridge and the occasional owl making one last swoop over its hunting grounds before bedding down for the day.

Early morning visitors, a small flock of Canada Geese. A pair of buzzards are just out of view, hovering over the Common looking for breakfast. This is the first time I have seen a pair on the Common. Whilst I watch one of them dropped down and lifted off with a small mammal in its claws.

	Chilbolton Common at 8am early January

 In the setting of Chilbolton Common, even the puddles look attractive with the early morning frost.