Sunshine and Poole Harbour

Friday 11th March 2016

Max and I were later with our walk this morning, as always on a Friday, as I did my grocery shopping before I took him out. It was a lovely sunny morning and we went down to the Baiter and Whitecliff Park.

The strip of land between the Baiter and Whitecliff Park is all scrubby grass, but at certain times of the year you can find flowers growing in small patches there, and at this time of the year it is the turn of the daffodil.

When we got to Whitecliff Park this was the view over the yacht club.

Max wasn’t interested in the view though. He hopped over the wall and waited for me to throw something for him. Either that or he was playing peek-a-boo.

We had a quick play there and then headed back along the path towards the Baiter where we had a proper game of cone on the beach.

We continued along to the Baiter slipway where I loved the bright green of the seaweed that had washed up.

We turned across the Baiter and headed back to the car. Max managed to get covered in mud en route, but luckily there was a big puddle in the car park along Newfoundland Drive. I liked the tree reflected in it and thought it worked well in black and white.

And so back to the car via Poole Cycle Speedway track, which has this graffiti on the wall.

It had been a nice walk on a lovely sunny morning.

A year ago today

Frog spawn in the pond.

To the sea

Friday 26th February 2016

On Friday I do my grocery shopping before I take Max out as the supermarket car park tends to fill up by mid-day. This means that sometimes on a Friday Jez comes with us too, as she is up and doing by the time Max and I are ready to go out on our walk. Today was one such day and so for a change, and to keep the walk reasonably short for Jez I decided to go down to Parkstone Bay in Poole. We haven’t been there since last autumn I don’t think.

I had read that there was a new path down there, leading from the car park where we park (by the skateboard park) to the main path along the bay, and sure enough, there it was.

As you can see, the weather wasn’t great and, as is so often the case, there was a cold wind whipping across the harbour. The tide as in and the harbour, itself, was looking rather nice.

Poor Jez, though: she can’t get up on the wall along at Whitecliff Park any more, and she so loves to stand on the pillars there, so today I lifted her up.

Max, meanwhile, was the other side of the wall: waiting.

Here he is again, in the sea at the bottom of the steps.

And here he is with Jez.

I love that photo of them, even if Jez is a tiny bit blurred where she was moving.

We headed back to the Baiter, where Jez found herself a puddle.

And then we cut back through to the car park. En route, though, I spotted this Blackthorn blossom.

Spring is on its way!

A year ago today

It was a bit of a wet walk at Upton Country Park.

It’s been a while since we’ve been to Parkstone Bay

Wednesday 2nd September 2015

So today Max and I headed down to the Baiter and Whitecliff Park in Poole to enjoy the morning sunshine. Once again I had a polarising filter on the old EOS 20D.

We park the other side of the railwayline to Poole Park, which is celebrating it’s 125th anniversary this year. That means that the views aren’t good, but today I at least managed to get a half-decent photo looking across the boating lake.

The shoreline path between the Baiter and Whitecliff Park was busy today.

Max didn’t care about the people and the other dogs though. He just wanted to play in the sea.

The still, sunny conditions meant there were some nice photos to be had today. Here’s a boat.

And the view as we headed back along to the Baiter.

And finally, another view along the Baiter.

A nice place to sit on a morning like this.

A year ago today

It was not quite such a nice day for our walk on Canford Heath.

The sun is shining on Parkstone Bay

Friday 6th March 2015

While Jez stayed in bed this morning I took Max down to Parkstone Bay for his walk. It was a nice sunny morning and I’m pleased to say that what wind there was was not quite so cold. It was definitely warmer than this shot of the pond in the Baiter makes it look.

Alongside the railway line the isolated clumps of daffodils and crocuses are in flower.

We walked along to Whitecliffe Park where I took this view across the bay…

… before taking this photo of Max showing off his new haircut again.

As ever he was happy to be back by the sea and didn’t want to stay out of the water.

He wasn’t quite as happy as this dog, though, which, back at the Baiter, was racing around in the water simply enjoying life.

Max and I walked along the length of the beach at the Baiter end of the bay as I threw his cone in the water for him. Then we headed back to the car. As is frequently the case there was a flock of geese on the grass there, but I was surprised to see that instead of the normal Canada Geese this was a flock of Brent Geese.

Poor Max, he’d had such fun in the water but, despite the fact I’d towelled him off before he got in the car, he was shivering by the time I got him home. And even his towelling coat didn’t help, so in the end I got the hairdryer out and dried him out / warmed him up with that.

A year ago today

It was a bit of a grey day for a walk at Upton Country Park.

It’s been a while

Friday 20th February 2015

Max and I went down to the Baiter and Parkstone Bay this morning. It’s been a while since we’ve been as it’s not the nicest place to walk if its wet or windy. But although it was overcast the wind had dropped and there was no rain, plus tides are high at the moment, so we went there for our walk. This was the view from Whitecliff Park towards Parkstone Yatch Club.

As usual there were quite a few people walking along the water’s edge.

Plus someone fishing.

And although I said the weather was ok today, you can tell how much rain we had because the road under the rail bridge was flooded again.

Max was a happy dog, though, and as usual waited eagerly behind the sea wall for me to throw soemthing for him.

And here he is a bit further along, still waiting patiently.

As for those winds I spoke about. Well, we didn’t have any today, but you can tell by the trees down at the Baiter that it blows a bit across Poole Harbour.

After our walk I called into Go Outdoors and replaced by walking pole which broke some time ago after Jasper clattered into it. I also treated myself to a scissor/penknife thingy, which I’ve been wanting so that I can carry something in my pocket to cut away stray bits of grass and twig when I’m taking photos.

A year ago today

We saw one of the buzzards at Upton Country Park.

And the hawthorn buds were starting to burst.

Two dogs for my walk this morning

Friday 28th November 2014

Yes, Jez decided to get up and come for a walk with Maz and I. I was so surprised. We went down to Parkstone Bay. I was lulled into a false sense of security by the thermometer in the car which said it was 12C outside. It might have been, were it not for the bitterly cold east wind blowing across Poole Harbour. By the time we’d finished our walk I was chilled to the bone.

I parked, as usual, at the Baiter end of the bay, and we walked across the grass to the Whitecliff Park end, before turning round and walking back along the shoreline. Going was fine, but coming back there was a bit of an obstacle course to negotiate.

Yes, there were quite a few fisherman there, so I had to get the dogs past them, their rods, lines, bait boxes and their lunch. It wasn’t easy, especially when Max is forever in search of food and Jez likes to investigate everything she sees. At least they were by their rods though. Further up at the Baiter one guy had just stuck his rod on the beach and then retreated to his car. To be honest, it would have served him right if Max had knocked it over.

There were also lots of sea birds on the grass at the Baiter, but as usual the photos I tried to get of them weren’t that great. I was very impressed that the dogs were happy to walk past the very large flock of geese without chasing them though.

And so today I’ll leave you with a couple of photos of the dogs. Firstly Max, peering over the sea wall.

And then Jezebel, standing on one of the pillars looking very pleased with herself.

A year ago today

We went to Upton Country Park where they were having a bit of an autumn tidy-up.

Sunshine and sea

Friday 14th November 2014

We had some sunshine again this morning, which meant that while Jez stayed snoozing in the sun Max and I went down to the Baiter and Whitecliff Park in Poole for our walk. Max was happy to be back by the sea and after we’d walked along to Whitecliff Park he made a B-line for the steps and the water.

Sadly many of the cones I’m picking up at the moment sink, so although I threw a cone in for him to retrieve he couldn’t find it. He spent quite a while looking though.

We walked back towards the Baiter and Max headed for his next watery playing place.

It’s such a shame that he won’t go in the water and play around of his own volition. He just stands there waits for me or Chris to throw something for him. Today I chose not to throw anything at this spot (due to the sinking cone problem) and so we walked on to the beach area where he was a very happy dog.

You might be able to spot that there are quite a few dogs in the background playing in the water too.

We continued on round past the Baiter car park and headed in the direction of Poole Quay.

If you are wondering what has caught Max’s attention in that photo I can tell you that it is a large, bloated, dead fish that was rolling around in the waves at the water’s edge. Max was scared of it!

We walked a few yards further and I threw a cone for his a couple of times more to wind up his walk along the beach. As you can see, waiting for someone to throw your cone is a very serious business.

After that I put Max on the lead and we turned inland, as I wanted to go to a nearby shop to get a final birthday present for Chris (his birthday is next Tuesday). Max liked it in the shop. He got a big fuss made of him by the girl on the checkout, as well as a couple of doggie biscuits. He’ll be wanting to go back.

A year ago today

We were by the sea again, this time at Lake Pier, Hamworthy, where the canoe club had lined up their canoes on the beach.

Mud, mud, glorious mud

Friday 31st October 2014

Today has been the warmest Halloween on record in the UK. We didn’t quite have the temperatures they had in Kent, but it was 19.5C here. And it was sunny, which meant Jez stayed snoozing in bed. So it was just Max and I who went down to the Baiter and Whitecliff Park this morning.

The tide was out quite a way today. This was the view across Parkstone Bay from Whitecliff Park.

Now the mud here is normally a sort of orange colour. I don’t know what’s been going on recently, but it wasn’t like that today. Here is Max at the bottom of the steps. You can see the current shade of the mud behind him. I called this one ‘Whatever you do, don’t go in that mud Max’.

So what did he do?

Can you get mud any blacker that that?

Fortunately he was able to go in the sea a bit further along and wash it off. Here he is with two ladies and their dogs relaxing in the late autumn sun.

And finally today, back at the Baiter car park, a crow.

As for Halloween night, it was a bit of a nightmare. As usual Max barked at the poor little Trick-or-Treaters. It’s not aggressive but I’m always worried he’ll frighten them. And then Jez barked at all the fireworks, and there were lots. Poor little soul was in such a state. It wouldn’t have been so bad if they’d stopped at a reasonable hour, but we had some really loud and really close at about 11.20pm. What is it with some people?

A year ago today

Max and I were at another park of Poole Harbour – Hamworthy.

Jez hurts herself again

Friday 11th April 2014

Poor little Jez. She doesn’t have much luck. No sooner is she getting better than she aggravates her injury. It happened down at Whitecliffe Park in Poole. We had dropped Linda off in Bournemouth and said a quick Hello to her friend Gilly before leaving them to wander down to Bournemouth beach before heading back to Oxford. I didn’t take the dogs to the beach – it would have been too much for Jez. So instead I drove back to Poole and parked in Whitecliffe Park to do our normal Friday morning walk but the opposite way around (Whitecliffe to the Baiter and back). But having met Gilly and her granddaughter Jez was so excited she was dashing around and twisting about. Then she fell over and yelped, and when she stood up she was holding her front leg out straight. After a short massage, though, she put it back down so I thought I’d see how she’d get on.

Well the answer was that she didn’t seem too bad. First off she headed for the sea, I think to get cold water on whatever was hurting.

She wandered in the shallows and had a lie down in the water. As you can see, the tide was out quite a long way.

We took it easy, at least when Jez wasn’t trying to play with the other dogs she met. In fact, we hung around by the steps for quite a long time while I threw cones for Max and Jez just paddled and explored. And had a good old shake.

Here’s another photo of Max at the bottom of the steps.

And here’s a photo of both dogs a little bit further on.

I didn’t walk quite as far as normal, so we turned back short of the Baiter car park. Walking along near the railway line I was surprised to find what looked like a crab apple. I say surprised as I don’t recall seeing a crab apple there before, but can’t think what else it could be. The buds…

… and the flowers…

were very pretty though.

As for Jez, well she seemed pretty stiff and sore when we got home, but that didn’t stop her wanting to go out with Chris and Max in the afternoon. They only went to Delph Woods, though, where she was able to have a gentle pootle about.

A year ago today

I was busy taking photos of flowers. Like this grape hyacinth.

Foggy, damp and cold

Friday 14th March 2014

This morning didn’t have much to recommend it at all. It was pretty foggy and with no sun around to burn it off it hung about until after lunch. That meant we had a cold damp walk down The Baiter and Whitecliffe Park this morning. Jez decided that she would come to: it was a very last minute decision that took us all by surprise. And I managed to leave the SD card out of my camera, so all of today’s photos were taken with my iPhone.

First, the fog (taken at Whitecliffe Park).

You may have noticed that you can’t see much of Poole Harbour!

Jez had to do her usual stint on top of one of the pillars along the sea wall. Something seems to have caught her attention though, the way her ears are pricked.

As for the sea wall, you may remember that I mentioned that a lot of the rock section of it had been damaged during the storms. Well the council are busy repairing it now.

Along at the Baiter slipway the fog didn’t seem to be deterring two intrepid boaters.

What made me laugh, though, was that Jez spotted them and had to go an investigate. The water was a bit deep for her, but she persevered and got a bit of a fuss made of her for her troubles. Here she’s just coming away from the boat.

After that both dogs decided they were going to stay on the beach and head round to Poole Quay. I walked along the footpath above the beach keeping an eye on them, and eventually managed to get them back when we got to the first slip. As a result we were actually down there a lot longer than I’d intended and I had got pretty chilled. It took me most of the afternoon to warm up again.

On this day a year ago

We went for our walk over Upton Heath, where they had been clearning away a lot of the bracken and scrub near the little birch copse.