Radley Lakes – January 2022

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I cycled along the Sustrans Route 5  to Radley Lakes mid afternoon. In this view St David’s Meadow can be seen on the left with Thrupp Lake beyond.

There seemed to be a lot of birds about round Thrupp Lake.

They included ducks, coots, moorhen, gulls,

swans,

grebes,

cormorants, and others.

On some smaller areas of water, and on some shallow ponds and lakes, ice had not melted all day.

This view is across one of the lakes that was filled with ash from Didcot Power Station where trees have grown. There is a path all the way round and there is still wetland and shallow lakes or ponds at the far side near the railway and River Thames.

After the sun went down, at 4:20, there were trails of birds in the sky heading north.

A sunny January day

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The sun was shining today after a hard frost last night.

Here is the Old County Hall reflected in yesterday’s rain.

But being January the sun never got very high in the sky. Here are trees with long shadows in the Abbey Meadows.

This is some of the old man’s beard nearby.

These swans were on the Mill Stream. Somebody was telling me you can tell the male swan by the thicker neck and the bigger black brow.

Abingdon Ichthyosaur

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In December 1988 fossil bones were found at a gravel pit at Oday Hill, Abingdon. A small group of archaeologists investigated and identified the front half of a huge ichthyosaur. (The composite picture, above, of the crushed up skeleton is on display in Abingdon Museum).

The bones were put together with the help of staff from Oxford University Natural History Museum and can be viewed in the attic gallery at Abingdon Museum.

The museum blog has more about the Abingdon Ichthyosaur.

The attic gallery has other fossils showing how the changing climate has influenced life in Abingdon.  The ichthyosaur ((Ancient Greek for “fish lizard” ) lived here during the Jurassic period when this region was under water. In the museum basement you can find out about how humans have influenced the changing climate in recent times in what some are calling the Anthropocene epoch (proposed geological epoch where human impact on Earth’s geology and ecosystems has become significant).

Christmas every day

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It may take a bit longer to clear away Christmas this year. The tree in the Market Place is still there even if the lights and baubels are gone.

The sign outside St Edmund and our Lady in Abingdon still has the joy of Christmas.

On the church noticeboard a poem says the work of Christmas begins when the Kings have gone home and the shepherds are back with their flocks. Peacemaking is never complete.