Best of the British countryside in December
From frozen rivers to snowy hilltops, here is our pick of the month's best photography from across the British countryside in December.
December signals the start of winter. Snow falls, wildfowl fill the waterways and the light sits low, creating multi-hued sunsets over frosty hills, farmland and mountains.
It’s a festive month too, when twinkling Christmas lights fill Britain’s villages and towns, and hot soups offer comfort and warmth after cold winter wanders
We’ve come across some spectacular photography while putting together the December print issue of BBC Countryfile Magazine, from seal pups and frosty walks to mistletoe and festive country houses.
Celebrate the weeks ahead with our pick of the month’s best photography from across the British countryside in December.
Christmas villages
The Christmas lights celebration in Clovelly is usually a joyful affair, with carol singing and a brass band procession down to the harbour, before the festive illuminations are turned on and fireworks sparkle over the cobbled streets of this pretty Devon fishing village. Sadly, this year’s event has been cancelled – let’s hope the lights return in 2021.
Neolithic hills
This extraordinary landscape includes Silbury Hill, Wiltshire’s prehistoric chalk and turf ‘pyramid’, built by Neolithic people and the largest manmade hill in Europe. Conical, with a (possibly uncontemporary) flat top, it remains a commanding and mysterious presence, stolidly keeping its 4,700-year-old authority to itself.
Juniper trees
Winter birds
Drupes (holly berries) from holly trees, rosehips, rowan berries and hawthorn berries provide red fruit for song and mistle thrushes, tits, fieldfares, blackbirds, redwings, waxwings (pictured) and finches during the winter months.
Winter nature reserves
If you’re heading to Shropshire this winter, don’t miss the opportunity to explore secluded Brook Vessons Nature Reserve, rich in its own arboreal treasure, and home to bats and dormice to boot. You will find hollies here, but of particular note are the ancient crab apple, birch and rowan, sheltered from south-westerlies by the hill. The trees are grown-out hedges, remembering the miners’ old boundaries and tracks.
Festive folklore
Where did wassailing originate and what does wassailing mean? This ancient tradition holds it roots in the south-west of England. Visit the region in winter and enjoy a short walk around the town of Pembridge, a place pivotal in the popularisation of the famous Christmas carol, Gloucestershire Wassail.
Snowy villages
Steep and cobbled Gold Hill, in the lofty market town of Shaftesbury, found lasting nationwide fame as the location of a much-loved 1973 Hovis TV advertisement. Sometimes called Hovis Hill, it runs parallel to buttressed walls built in the 14th century around ancient Shaftesbury Abbey.
Owls on the hunt
Often active during the day, the short-eared owl – one of several owl species resident to the UK – is restricted as a breeding species to upland moorland and, occasionally, coastal grazing marsh. This latter habitat is often used in winter, when it may hunt alongside barn owls. Rather nomadic in its movement, the bird moves between Britain and overseas in response to vole numbers. Population: around 1,400 pairs.
Mistletoe in trees
Often found on broadleaved trees, mistletoe can grow into thick spherical balls up to one-metre wide. The most highly prized plants are those with fresh green leaves and plump white berries.
Frosty rivers
A frosted landscape on a sub-zero winter morning is extraordinarily beautiful. Feel the crunch of ice underfoot and watch your breath smoke the air. Stroll along riverbanks, lakesides or ponds, their surfaces steaming in the early morning light. Walk along a frozen canal and smile at waterfowl slipping and sliding on the frozen surface. Climb above a valley to experience an inversion mist, the valley floor shrouded in fog while the sun shines brightly on top. Rising early to walk through the winter silvers of frost and mist is an invigorating start to the day.
Grey seal pups
A newborn seal pup rolls on its back among the sand dunes. Seal pups survive on their mother’s rich milk for the first three weeks of life; they then go without food or water until they brave the sea.
Country houses
Waddesdon Manor – one of Britain’s most beautiful country houses – was built between 1874 and 1889 for British politician and banker Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild as a weekend retreat where he would throw summer parties for important guests.
Queen Victoria visited in 1890 and was most impressed by the electric lighting, repeatedly requesting it to be turned on and off. However, she refused to use the lift installed specifically for her visit because she didn’t quite trust the magic of electricity.
Snowy mountains
Snow is never guaranteed in December, but if it falls, abandon the car and step out on foot. This is the time to relinquish all duties and make the most of a British rarity. Go sledging, build a snowman, create a snow angel or have a snowball fight. Take long walks and enjoy the crunch of snow underfoot. Admire frosted trees, branches lined in white and caught with buds of snow. If there is no fall where you are, take public transport to higher land and climb the hills until you reach the snowline, such as here on snow-shrouded Corn Du and Pen y Fan in the Brecon Beacons.
Cold coasts
Situated on the North Yorkshire Coast, the seaside town of Whitby is a feast for the eye and perfect for a winter visit. The beautiful Whitby abbey towers over the town on top of the cliffs looking over the River Esk, which can be crossed by the swing bridge that opens up when passing boats come through.
Dawn walks
A dawn walk in the depths of winter offers so much beauty and mystery. You see the countryside in a completely new light, such as here along the River Stour in Dedham Vale on the Essex-Suffolk border, which is famously green and lush in summer. Creeping frost transforms the sullen and slumbering vegetation while extraordinary peach and plum tints exploding across the sky reflect in the still water. Magical.
More related content:
- Beautiful churches in the Stour Valley
- Day out: Lavenham, suffolk
- Discover the Stour River in summer
Winter solstice
The longest of nights: the winter solstice is often described as the shortest day of the year. By default, this makes it the longest night, and an occasion worth celebrating. Ancient cultures saw it as a time of rebirth, welcoming back the light – a view maintained by many to this day. Here at Lammas Eco Village in Pembrokeshire, drummers, pipers and dancers gather together around a fire on the solstice to “honour the turning point in the Sacred Dance of our Earth Mother”.
Conifers at Christmas
Christmas Eve, and all around the country the centrepiece for celebrations will most likely be a conifer, festooned with fairy lights, surrounded by presents.
In the minds of many, that affection for conifers doesn’t extend beyond the festive season. In recent decades conifer forestry has often been mired in controversy, thanks to insensitively placed commercial plantings. Many see densely spaced geometrical plantations in much-loved upland landscapes as an abomination. Worse still, confrontations between conservationists, landowners and politicians over commercial forests covering large areas of Flow Country in the far-north of Scotland, which involved draining bogs that are critically important habitats for nesting wading birds, endangered wildflowers and rare insects, gave conifer forestry a bad name.
Whisky making
The story of single malt Scots whisky is an intoxicating tale – a heady mix of myths and legends, swirling beneath a dense veil of Scotch mist. One thing is certain: some of the most distinctive whiskies in Scotland emanate from the west-coast island of Islay, home to eight (soon to be nine) of Scotland’s 98 active distilleries.
Winter churches
Perched at the mouth of Great Langdale in the midst of the Lake District is Chapel Stile, a small community of blue-grey stone buildings, raised from the slate quarries that surround it.
On a rocky shelf overlooking the village is Holy Trinity Church, completed in 1858 on a site that has seen Christian worship for centuries. Like much of the village, the neo-Gothic-style building is made of local slate, giving the place a distinctly North-Wales flavour.
Winter trains
Icy rails and blustery snow won’t stop the North Yorkshire Moors Railway’s Santa Special from winding its merry way to Levisham station, with the man himself on-board.
