As you might have guessed we have been having a bit of snow here. It has taken me a few days to get out of the village where I live where we have had over 2ft of snow over the last few days. Word on the street was that there was a bit less at Flanders so equipped with a landrover, shovel and flask of coffee I headed off to see what state things were in. The track leading to the car park had a good layer of snow and only the local farmer had been down on a tractor. A good 6 inches of snow covered the car park and the path round and made the usual circuit a much harder walk. Up the viewing tower the sub zero temperature made it self felt, it was so cold I could only keep gloves off to take photos for short periods of time. There was enough snow to blanket everything leaving all the heather and sphagnum hummocks looking like a lumpy white duvet. A brave person or two had walked round a few days before leaving smoothed footprints but otherwise there was no sign of visitors at all, hardly surprising. As for wildlife everything was hunkering down hiding from the bitter wind. There were signs that deer had been scratching around at the heather as this is about the only thing with some nutrients left at this time of year. Over the previous week the geese have been heading south in numbers fleeing the advancing bad weather but a few straggling pink feet 'wink, winked' overhead. Apart from the wind there was silence and no colour. Back in the car park the sun broke through, splashing colour, adding warmth and brightness the landscape. Heading back out the sheep looked expectantly as did the rooks and pheasants but unfortunately I had nothing for them. So if you are feeling like heading down to Flanders the track is really only passable to 4WDs and the path is hard going so take care.
