PORTLAND BILL IN WINTER

Rain.

That's what this winter's been about round here.

And wind.

And high tides.

And floods.

So I've been indoors and, on the whole, have kept away from the cliffs and the sea (they could be lethal) and from the rain which would finish off my camera.

Thus - silence.

Here and there, hawthorn leaves open, alexander seedlings spring up and . . . and I expect all sorts of other things are happening which would be interesting to notice if I could see anything beyond my streaming spectacles. Even when the rain takes a rain break the wind carries on and everything not set in stone keeps dancing. Nothing is still. So it's all a spin of water here and everything's blurred and not very blog-friendly.

But I wouldn't want you to think I've dissolved or have been swept out to sea - so I went to look at Portland Bill. My intention had been to walk between the rock gullies where plants are stiff and protected from the wind. I've been there before. It's interesting to see change . . . or lack of it . . . Except on that side of the headland the sea was rougher than usual and I was scared. It wasn't going to leap over and 'get' me - not at that moment, it wasn't - but there are big rocks missing from the sea, shattered by recent storms. I didn't want to go missing from land. The waves coming in were fifteen or twenty foot high. A ship was ploughing along, dipping in and out of view as it hit even bigger waves further out.

Erigeron glaucus  (I think).
(I'll take its picture again when it flowers.)

Being a coward . . . I pottered round to the other side of the lighthouse where everything was much calmer than it often is in winter and found . . . not a lot.

Which isn't quite true. There probably was a lot but I didn't stay long enough to do much more than photograph a few plants a million times so something would be in focus - and come home.

Proves I exist though!

* * *

Burdock (Arctium)

PHOTOS TAKEN on 28th January 2013

Portland Bill is the southernmost tip of the Island of Portland - which isn't quite an island and which is joined to the mainland of Dorset by a causeway and a bridge.

Other Portland Posts on Loose and Leafy:

The Last Plant in England

Lights and Bells, Mists and Flowers

Sea and Sea and Rocks and Stones and Sea

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