Alastair Swinnerton

I love winter – what a difference a day can make. One day it’s brilliant sunshine, the next the world is engulfed in mist, as you can see from these photos of the Riverside Walk, taken only a few days apart.

One day the trees are thrown into knife-edge contrast by the cold blue sunlit sky, but the next they struggle to push their way out of the gloom.

The concrete factory in the neighbouring trading estate is one of my favourite buildings in Yeovil, so stark and industrial against the municipal oasis that is the Riverside Walk, its functional beauty highlighted by both sun and mist.

The birds don’t mind what the weather is of course, as the Riverside Walk is their home come sun or mist – they’re just a little trickier to photograph in the latter.

Great Tit in the sunshine

Blue Tit in the mist

The dogs don’t care about the weather either – they’re just happy to be out and chasing each other around.

The reedbed boardwalk in the mist

Riley posing in the long shadows of the winter sun

I couldn’t say which I prefer – I love the sharp contrast the sun brings out in the trees…

Silver Birch in the sunshine

…but I also love the sullen mystery of the woods in fog…

This little Chiffchaff gives us the best of both worlds though – newly-arrived from somewhere no doubt much, much colder, his colours struggle to shine through the winter mist, but his chirping song hints of sunshine to come.