Midwinter's day 2007, a hoary frost decorates the riverbanks and meadows and woodlands alongside the River Ribble...
...but the Ribble continues to ensure her wildlife survives, those intertidal mudflats replenished by every tide, every day, whatever the season and whatever the weather...
...our over-wintering Redshank joining the Mallards, Teal, Goosander, Moorhens, Lapwings, Cormorants, geese, and many other bird species feeding on the Ribble mudflats...
...and even the Mallard numbers are swelled by their cousins who migrate to the Ribble every winter from Iceland and beyond.
The view from the Old Tram Bridge linking Avenham & Miller Parks to the Penwortham Green Belt also attracts constant visitors whatever the season...
...as does the Old Tram Road itself.
The Heron's stream on the Penwortham Green Belt has solid sheets of ice clothing its banks as the receding tidal waters have frozen in sparkling sheets...
...and the hedgerows and meadows and scrubland are glorious in the wintry sunlight as the frost sparkles and glitters...
...giving old seed heads the aspect of exotic winter flowers...
...and highlighting the Holly with rimes of frost...
Yet signs of Spring are already unmistakeable, and absurdly early as the Willow catkin buds have already begun to emerge, their silken silvery sheen a strange echo of the frosted buds around them.
The hoary frost crunches underfoot on the meadows and riverbanks...
...glittering and sparkling in the Midwinter sunlight...
...and the autumn leaves rotting in the undergrowth give a new pleasure to the eye as they are highlighted by the thousands of perfect crystals which trace their veins and shapes anew...
And as the sun sets over the Ribble on the shortest day, the Herons soak up the weak wintry sunshine...
...and the River Ribble flows by, as she has always done...
Long Live the Ribble Wild!
Apologies if you are still waiting for further installments of our adventures walking The Ribble Way, but we've been very busy spending time by the Ribble and Saving The Ribble to Blog the Ribble! I will, however, get the next installment of our Ribble Way Adventures on here soon...
You can contact me at savetheribble@tiscali.co.uk
