OHC - Winter Scavanger Hunt

We have had no snow to speak of yet, but plenty of rain! Too much in fact in some parts of England. The county of Somerset is virtually under water. It is tragic to see.

So with no snow  for our 'snow study' - one of this months Outdoor Hour Challenges - we decided to take Barb's lead and go on a winter scavenger hunt.

We downloaded the Winter Walk free printout from Hearts and Trees and set off on a rather cold and wet day. The ground is absolutely sodden, puddles of water lie in the fields and everywhere you walk at the moment is muddy.

Our walk did not last terribly long. I think a total of about 15 minutes - it was just too cold and windy, but we found everything on our list and a few things that we had read about in 'The Country Diary of An Edwardian Lady' before we left home.

A tree with only a few leaves .... 

A plant with berries - not they are few and far between at this time of the year but we found one with rather shrivelled looking berries...

An Evergreen...

A Tree with no leaves...

Something with thorns...

A Tree with a bud 

A tree with moss or lichen on the branches...

A feather...

A pinecone...

and then our 'Country Diary ' find. The reading from the Diary on page 7, ".... The mild winter has brought out the Hazel catkins, wonderfully early, the small green flowers are fully expanded on some of the catkins, and the pretty little red stars of the female flowers are appearing."

I do love the delicate female flowers - I had never noticed them before, it was only because we are reading through a naturalist's journal that we see things for the first time and learn from their knowledge.  We choose one a year and slowly read through it,  a little each week before we set out on our outdoor time.

My recommendations:

The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady

Janet Marshes Nature Diary

Travel Diaries of a Naturalist 

Travel Diaries of a naturalist Vol 3

The Nature Diary of an Artist