Sunday, March 11
A Sunday Sojourn - St Catherines Hill
Sunday afternoon, MP3 player loaded, and the final part of the BBC Radio 4 Classic play Caesar to listen to along the way.
So off to an occasional spot I visit, St Catherines hill to the West of Christchurch. This is one of the local high spots, well I say high - it doesn't even make 50 m, but with surrounding floodplain, the views are great as long as its NOT south towards the Bournemouth sprawl.
The height advantage is shown by its two trig points within a mile or so of each other, even if the first trig point now gives no hint as to its past function.
The scrub ash and pine obscuring any view that there once was.
And on the way to the Avon valley views I spotted some nesting boxes, high on top of a hill in a solitary tree.
If you take a closer look you may be able to make out the lack of any front entrance holes, so I guess these are bat roosting boxes.
So onwards to the north side of the ridge and more welcoming views.
The recent rainfall now fast disappearing from the land.
But the widespread flooding still very visible. (Ooo - I can see my house from here!) The Dorset section of the River Avon is in the middle of that lot somewhere, and its only about 10m wide at best.
So ..... 
....finally to the second trig point. Looking south towards the Isle of Wight.
The white cliffs of The Needles visible to the naked eye today.
But apparently camera shy from the look of this picture when I loaded it up.
And not a single shot of the 30 or 40 people I came across during my wanderings.
(Note: All these are highish res pictures today, so they are best clicked on to see the full detail. Apologies to you low bandwith users)(Note2: And that explains why the formatting is snafu as well - this has been posted 20 times already. Bugger)
So off to an occasional spot I visit, St Catherines hill to the West of Christchurch. This is one of the local high spots, well I say high - it doesn't even make 50 m, but with surrounding floodplain, the views are great as long as its NOT south towards the Bournemouth sprawl.
The height advantage is shown by its two trig points within a mile or so of each other, even if the first trig point now gives no hint as to its past function.
The scrub ash and pine obscuring any view that there once was.
And on the way to the Avon valley views I spotted some nesting boxes, high on top of a hill in a solitary tree.
If you take a closer look you may be able to make out the lack of any front entrance holes, so I guess these are bat roosting boxes.
So onwards to the north side of the ridge and more welcoming views.
The recent rainfall now fast disappearing from the land.
But the widespread flooding still very visible. (Ooo - I can see my house from here!) The Dorset section of the River Avon is in the middle of that lot somewhere, and its only about 10m wide at best.
So .....
....finally to the second trig point. Looking south towards the Isle of Wight.
The white cliffs of The Needles visible to the naked eye today.
But apparently camera shy from the look of this picture when I loaded it up.
And not a single shot of the 30 or 40 people I came across during my wanderings.
(Note: All these are highish res pictures today, so they are best clicked on to see the full detail. Apologies to you low bandwith users)
(Note2: And that explains why the formatting is snafu as well - this has been posted 20 times already. Bugger)
All site material © John Hee - ask before you snatch
