Ardingly Reservoir

Only a very short drive from where we live is Ardingly Reservoir.

Let’s clear this up from the off: not being native to this part of the country it is only recently that I learned that Ardingly is not pronounced as it’s spelled – it’s actually pronounced are-ding-lye for no doubt some sort of etymological reason. Point is it’s still a reservoir.

It was a bit of a grey and damp day on the cusp between winter and spring when we visited. That said the weather was pretty calm, making the water almost glass-like. At least until some guy drove his dinghy across it.

Being a reservoir there was a thingamajig in it. You know, a whatsit. Where the water goes. One of these things.

I used it – whatever it is – to anchor the edge of a multi-shot panoramic image, which was stitched together in Lightroom.

The clouds on the day added to the texture of the scenery.

As we strolled around the water, we encountered quite a sizeable puddle, the result of the rain the night before our visit.

We managed to navigate the puddle and continue our walk around the reservoir. Soon the groundwater would be more of a problem but for now we were happy to continue wandering.

We passed a gate and I turned back to get a shot of it in all its damp muddy glory.

A bit further on we came to a signpost, the mossy textures of which caught my attention.

As we walked, the muddiness of the path started getting worse. Ultimately it became impassible, at least for us with a baby in a tricycle, and we had to stop and turn back.

As we turned around, some of the wildlife started showing itself, such as these geese.

On the walk back, I focussed less on the macro of the reservoir and more of the micro of the flora and fauna.

Being a damp morning, there were quite a few spiderwebs covered in moisture.

As we neared the car park we saw some sign of the activities you can do at the reservoir, presumably mostly when the weather is better. The bright colour of these canoes caught my eye the most.

I also took a stop to photograph one of my favourite sights, water droplets on green leaves.

Ardingly Reservoir is yet another untapped resource we have near us that we’re only just exploring. It would be good to go back when the weather is nicer and we can explore more, and there’s a bit more activity happening on the water.