The Magpie's Hoard

A gibster, perhaps?

What do get if you cross a lobster with a gibbon?

This is Kiwa hirsuta, which I spotted in the Hairy Museum of Natural History.

Here comes the flood

"Sheffield’s five valleys carried their rivers along, now feeding the mills and wheels which in turn fed the industries, the grindstones, tilt hammers and other machinery which helped make Sheffield the steel capital of the world."

That's an extract from the prologue of 'Flood Waters', a new novel by Lett Rowe. It's based on the Great Sheffield Flood of 1864, which claimed several hundred lives. Chapter one of the novel can be downloaded free-of-charge from www.syci.org.uk/floodwaters.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

With just three weeks to go before the official start of British Summer Time, some 'proper' winter weather has finally arrived!

Yesterday evening it snowed - just enough to create Christmas card scenery, but without causing major disruption. Today I took my camera out to Wyming Brook Nature Reserve, which is an exceptionally pretty spot when it snows.

As Wyming Brook lies on the north-facing flank of the Rivelin Valley, it doesn’t catch much sun in winter. On the rare occasions when we get snow, it often lingers amongst these conifer woods long after it has melted away elsewhere. It almost feels like being in the Scottish Highlands.

I spent a couple of hours snapping away. I was so engrossed that I didn’t notice that I was getting rather cold. To thaw out, I crossed over to the south-facing side of the valley and followed the path below Rivelin Rocks where there was hardly any snow left. I sat basking in the sunshine for a while then wandered home via the Rivelin Valley Nature Trail.