Winter Walks for Small Bears

Although the weather is cooler and it is dark before four o'clock, we bears like December.  We enjoy helping to put up Christmas decorations and we like Christmas food - especially Christmas pudding! - and we also like going for walks on winter days.

Because we have fur and nice warm jumpers, we don't mind if it's cold outdoors, as we stay very snug and warm, and if it gets damp, we can always jump into our bear bag to stay dry.

 Trentham Gardens is open every day except Christmas Day itself.  Although there are not many flowers, there is still plenty to see.  The tall clipped yew trees and little evergreen shrubs show up best of all at this time of year, and are fun to jump in, as they are all springy.

There are some shrubs in flower, like this witch-hazel, and you can see lots of bracket fungi on the trees.  In fact, with the leaves off the trees, you get much better views of lots of things. 

We ran around in the woods, jumping in the leaves and finding interesting mossy stumps to sniff and climb.

 Sometimes, there were holes in fallen tree-trunks to explore.  Hanley Bear and Endon dared each other to climb inside this one, but Polar caught them before they could get inside.

'Don't go in there, little bears!' she warned them.  'You'll get your fur and your jumpers all slimy!'

We were all lifted into the bear bag and carried further along the path around the lake, past the mushroom sculptures and the leaping stage and doe.  When Polar found a nice tree we could climb, she stopped.

 Hanley and Endon were soon scrambling up the trunk, but I decided to stay in the bear bag.  My tummy was rumbling and I could smell cake and hot chocolate smells coming from the café.

 Polar and Grizzly fancied a snack too, but Endon Bear wanted to keep climbing.  Polar had to stretch as high as she could to lift him off of the branch when it was time to go.

 

While Polar was catching Endon, Grizzly had gone on ahead of us but, when we got to the cafe, there was no sign of him inside.  We stood on the windowsill, looking for him, while Polar got us hot drinks.  Just as she got back to our table, we spotted Grizzly, who had been talking to one of the park staff.

On our way back to the entrance, we saw a lovely sculpture of some trout.  Usually, it is hidden in the reeds, but during the winter, when they die back, you can see these lovely fish.

There are some other lakes to explore, not far from our house.  On another December day, Polar and Grizzly took us all to Astbury Mere, near Congleton.

Congleton is sometimes known as 'Bear Town' but this is not for a good reason.  In the olden days, the people there used to watch bears being 'baited' by dogs, which was very cruel to the bears and the dogs.  There is a bear statue by the lake and a notice which explains how, hundreds of years ago, the people of Congleton sold their town bible to buy a new bear!

 We decided to stay in the bear bag after reading that and we were glad we had, as there was a very big buzzard perched in a tree near the lake.

Polar and Grizzly had a good walk but there were lots of people walking their dogs about, and some of them weren't on leads, so Hanley and I stayed in our bag and Endon only jumped out very briefly for a little climb up a fence post.

We like it much more at Knypersley Reservoir, near Biddulph, as there are many more good climbing trees and lots of birds and squirrels to see there.

We always enjoy climbing on the old pumping machine.  It's a pity the wheels don't turn to make a roundabout for small bears!

We bears have to stay still and quiet while Polar takes photographs of the wild creatures, but when she has finished, there are plenty of places for us to play. 

 Last time we visited, we scrambled down the bank that forms the front of the reservoir to see the water pouring over the overflow, then Polar carried us further down the path to another waterfall, where the water runs out of an old mill pond.

This flows along a stream and into the Caldon Canal and some of it might end up in Westport Lake, which is Hanley Bear's favourite place for walks, as Mrs Kay's famous Oatcake Boat is often moored there.

We hope to do more exploring soon, but first I have to write about our adventures over Christmas, as we had some brilliant presents from Polar and Grizzly, and did lots of exciting things.