A Winter walk before sunset at Railway Fields

It's never a bad time to visit Railway Fields but just before sunset on a cold November day is absolutely magical.

I had the place to myself but the bushes and trees were alive with birds and the odd squirrel. Robins, blackbirds, a thrush and a magpie were the birds that I could identify as they flitted frantically. At this time of year, the search for food is a serious business.

There is a special English sort of magic to the light and the landscape at this time of year, like wandering into the pages of a Susan Cooper novel, and that magic can be found just off Green Lanes on our side of the bridge, a walk back in time. 

Here the frost crackled underfoot and the leaves were just right for kicking through.

Here and there weird structures hinted at secret inhabitants.

The colours of winter: black and brown, white and green

And then the sun sank behind the trees and houses of Lothair Road Sth