A quiet bench…

Posted on June 30, 2023June 30, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bench, Childhood, Life, Memory, Relaxed, Tree, Walking, Water, Weeping willow, Westport lakeLeave a comment

Bench at Westport lake last year. It was taken on a drizzly day like today. It’s good to see the weeping willow tree a bit further round the lake sweeping like a curtain across the side of the waters edge. It brings back memories of another one I knew….

I used to hide under a weeping willow when I was a child. It stood on its own in a park and I would sit with my back against it and imagine I was in a green tent or hiding behind a green waterfall. I had many adventurous thoughts sitting there in peace and quiet.

Relaxing on a bench is good when you have a view like this at Westport. After you have walked half a mile it’s nice to stop for a chat. Or a sandwich and a cup of tea. Refreshed and calm you can carry on with your walk. By the way there is a bench appreciation society page on Facebook for those that are interested….

Chocolate and oatcakes

Posted on February 12, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged bird flu, Birds, Feeding, Food, Geese, Hot chocolate, marshmallow, Nature, Oatcakes, Westport lakeLeave a comment

Afternoon tea, a couple of cheese ant tomato Staffordshire oatcakes with a dab of brown sauce and a hot chocolate with squirty cream, marshmallows and a tiny jammy dodger biscuit with a ram heart at its centre, presumably for valentines day? (which I have hubby). We had this at Westport Lake visitors centre. We sat on the balcony in a slightly chilly breeze, overlooking the lake. The geese were calling, I think they wanted bird food. But we couldn’t feed them because there us bird flu in the area and feeding a flock can help spread it. The latest news is that it has jumped species to small mammals which is very worrying. Anyway, sorry to put a downer on this post!

Tree views

Posted on February 12, 2023February 12, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged bund, Day out, lakes, Life, Photo, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Trees, Visit, Walk, Westport lake, wildlife centreLeave a comment

Trees on our walk today. (somehow I seem to have posted the same thing twice so I’m editing this into a new post). Anyway this was at the far end of the big Westport Lake where a large plot of land has had tons of hardcore rubble placed on it I don’t know if its an industrial site or housing, but they have builf a huge bund (piled up slope) hopefully to hide it from the lake. Previously it was a muddy rocky mess adjacent to the nature reserve and the main train line that runs to one side of the reserve. I’m glad these trees have been left to screen off the area.

Today’s amble

Posted on February 12, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Day out, lakes, Photo, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Visit, Walk, Westport lake, wildlife centreLeave a comment

Two lakes, the smaller in front. One is a quarter of a mile to walk round, the other a mile. Its at Westport in Stoke on Trent in Staffordshire. A bit of a haven for water birds. It’s also a reservoir for the Trent and Mersey canal I think. It’s a flooded area of old coal workings or marl pits I think? Sorry not to have better information, I shall have to check. Its run by Staffordshire Wildlife Trust. There’s a cafe there and wildlife csntre. The only thing is the local council have bought in car parking charges (it used to be free). Its sad because in this day and age people might be put off coming because of the cost of living crisis.

Canal boats

Posted on February 12, 2023 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Boats, Canal, Painting, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Traditional, Trent and mersey canal, Walk, Westport lake2 Comments

On our walk today round Westport Lake we incorporated a bit of the Trent and Mersey canal. We saw a few canal barges as we walked along the towpath. It made me think of a song we sing at choir which goes ‘fifteen miles on the Erie canal’. Most of the boats were painted dull blues and greys but there was a more traditionally painted cafe boat in primarily green and red but with yellow and white details too. It made me smile to see it.

Wild

Posted on November 25, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Animals, Frogs, Life, Meditation, Nature, Poem, Poetry, toads, Water, Weather, Westport lakeLeave a comment

Wild birds

Wild land

Flowers and sedges

Bullrushes

Frogs and toads

Dragonflies

Watery world

Weathered fences

Water voles swim

A meditation on Westport Lake

Rain

Posted on October 2, 2022October 2, 2022 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #bandofsketchers, Art, Drawing, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Rain, Sketching, Weather, Westport lakeLeave a comment

Trying to draw rain on a dry day! This was for todays #bandofsketchers prompt ‘rain’, I drew Westport Lake and then added strokes of pen to indicate rain and dark clouds above. It was a black and white drawing but I decided to add watercolours to it when I got home. Beyond the front line of trees is the A500 and the main railway line. Above that the hill leading to Newcastle under Lyme.

Lakeside

Posted on September 21, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Calm, glass balcony, Lake, lakeside, Nature, Photo, Reeds, rushes, View, Westport lakeLeave a comment

The plants are turning red in places, golds too. The rushes by the lake have dark heads. We are just starting to head into autumn. I took a photo through the glass on the balcony of Westport Lake Cafe. The cafe is a few meters above the lake. It is curved wood like a boat standing on massive metal legs. It is built into a slope because of the way the land falls away. The entrance is at ground level on the side opposite the lake. There is a white curve in the just above and to the right of the middle of the photo. That’s a reflection. Not sure what caused it.

Another idea

Posted on July 23, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Bees, Butterflies, England, Exercise, Photodirector, Plants, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Walking, Westport lake, Wildflowers2 Comments

I might do a painting based on this photo that I have added texture to in the Photodirector app. The wildflowers were all in bloom at Westport Lake today. I could not identify many of them but they did make a lovely show. I managed to get a few thousand steps in for a change, I haven’t been doing enough walking recently. It is the season for bees and butterflies. We actually saw a few today.

Shards

Posted on July 23, 2022 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Mugs, Plates, pots, scattered, shards, Small lake, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, turn over club, Westport lakeLeave a comment

On our walk we came across a green metal table. There were fish and chip wrappers discarded on it at one end, but also these pottery shards, like an archaeological dig. I didn’t want to disturb them but I took a photo. If you live in Stoke-on-Trent you might look at the backstamps on the back of pottery. I just zoomed in on the mug base it has a green lion printed on it, a scroll or banner shape under that and then just about decipherable ‘Maddocks and Sons Ltd’ there were other words below I couldn’t read. People who look at the bottom of pots sometimes say they are part of the ‘turnover club’. I haven’t looked at the image much yet but I can see a dark band that would encircle a plate with a white interlinked chain on it. Perhaps these came from the waters edge? The small lake at Westport, next to the table, looks to have a lower water level than normal so they might have been scavenged from there.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Westport lake