Spring in Northcliffe

It was a glorious blue sky day, though still cold enough to need a thick winter coat and gloves. I took a walk up the hill, for a change, to Northcliffe Park. There is blossom in the little copse of trees beside the big meadow. 

The meadow is a wonderful area, much beloved by dog walkers as their dogs can run free here. The lady in the distance had a cockapoo and, when they got nearer, it kindly brought me its ball and wanted petting. Seemed to take a liking to me... perhaps it could tell I'm already a cockapoo's granny! I rather liked the pattern of shadows cast by the trees onto the grass. 

 

There's a wonderful panoramic view from the top meadow. You can see right round from Bingley and the St Ives estate on the left, taking in Hope Hill and then round towards Shipley town centre. Blogger won't really display a true pano view so this is truncated. Saltaire is down in the valley on the left of this shot:

 

In my haste to avoid getting an ugly litter bin in my shot, I  managed to crop into the tree on the left (below), which was covered in yellow blossom (not yet leaves). I'm not sure what species it was. Some of these trees are birches but I don't think that one is. 

Lower down in the park it's less 'wild' and more cultivated. There are more blossom trees and in this area there is a children's playground.

Daffodils are planted on the slope beside the bowling green and in summer there will be a wildflower border here. 

Rather alarmingly, a 6 metre deep sinkhole has opened up on the edge of the bowling green, now covered with a metal grid and fenced off whilst the authorities decide how to tackle it. It has been identified as a collapsed unrecorded mine shaft. The area was extensively mined for coal up to the 1880s and at least 44 mine shafts have already been found in the park by a team of researchers. So this appears to be number 45!