Friday, 23 November 2012

Seasonal Splash: the Norfolk Broad at UEA

I seem to have been in Norwich quite a bit this last week! I spent my teeneage years here, so it has a special place in my heart. On Tuesday night I went on a twilight tour of the Cathedral Cloisters ...


.... and then on Wednesday I had the chance to wander around the lovely grounds at UEA, where there is a Broad. It was a rather bleak November afternoon, but I managed to spot drifts of autumn colouring.


The photo above shows another view of the UEA Broad, an artificial lake that had been marsh in a previous pre-university existence. I wonder how many British universities have their own wildlife trail. Norfolk is full of Broads

I approached the Broad from the iconic Sainsbury Centre, pictured below. 


These are the ziggurats, designed by Sir Denys Lasdun ... You can read about the original ziggurats here


The larch above was brown, perhaps due to the time of year. The seed heads below were looking pretty bare.


I believe it is National Tree Week. I looked closely at these Ash buds, hoping that they would escape the die-back disease ...


It was a shame that there were so few birds about, though having said that, I noticed a Magpie, a Jay, several Long-tailed tits, a Robin and this Black-headed Gull ...


I must go back in the Spring, and see how different the landscape looks.


These bright leaves were a glorious sight on a drab afternoon! 


I felt we needed Mr and Mrs Andrews (without the gun!) to complete the scene below ...


4 comments:

  1. Hello Caroline, at first i was so curious what a broad is, then you defined it. And it is a manmade lake, oh it is wide! I bet there's a lot of subjects that can be photographed there!

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  2. I saw some Long Tailed Tits this morning for the first time in ages. Lovely photos and beautiful colours. I've always wanted to see the Lasdun building up close but never have. I studied architecture in the early eighties when he wasn't really in fashion!

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  3. Lovely shots of the Autumn countryside, Caroline. And compare the beauty of the ancient architecture in your first shot with the hideous modernism of the later pics. Why this deliberate creation of ugliness? Very strange. (I'm afraid modern architecture is a pet hate of mine!)

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  4. What a beautiful place! It is always interesting to see places connected with our youth. I had no idea what a broad was....glad you explained.

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