Summertime blues

There comes a time in late summer, when the flower colours seem to tip over into cool soft blues, and mauves, leaving the hot vibrant colours of summer behind. In the garden it is the hydrangeas’ and Michaelmas daisies, in the verges it is the delicate harebells.

Hope Valley, from Mam Torr

In one corner of our field is it’s the devil’s-bit scabious, it’s always a relief when I see it flower, I’d hate to lose it.

We’ve just one plant, its buds are shaped like plump blackberries (please forgive the less than pin sharp images, its been a windy day, with just my phone camera to hand).

The bees love the pincushion flowers.

Devil’s-bit scabious gets its Latin name – ‘Scabere’, meaning to scratch – from its traditional use as a treatment for skin conditions, such as scabies and the sores of bubonic plague. Its common name arises from the fact that its roots look truncated, as if bitten off, legend has it, by the Devil.

The one plant, sitting at the edge of the field, under a young oak, looks kind of vulnerable, I’m on a mission to try and increase the number of plants.

In ‘Flora of Derbyshire’, by William Richard Linton, published in 1903 it describes the devils-bit (field) scabious as being ‘Plentiful along the old road.’ That very road is just 50m away from this specimen,and I’ve never seen any others nearby in the 30+ years we lived here, I feel duty bound to make amends, its the least I can do seeing as I can’t reintroduce the corncrake to our field!

I love the gold embossed cover of the book.

Now to order some more seed.

A Jewel

There are never enough opportunities to wear a bit of bling, I mean when did you last wear a tiara? And even if you had one, you couldn’t wear it to the Coronation

This gorgeous jewel, is displayed in the V&A Dundee, the Scottish design museum. We made a visit earlier in the year on our way to Orkney

The Winged Tiara was commissioned by the Duchess of Roxburghe the wings date to 1880-90 and the bandeau 1935 and were made by Cartier, there are 2,500 diamonds.

The museum opened in 2018, the architect is Kengo Kuma and its design is inspired by Scottish sea cliffs.

Set on the historic water front.

The dramatic interior felt ship like,

Sadly we didn’t have time to visit the Tartan exhibition, we’d a ferry to catch, but there are some iconic pieces of tartan on display in the permanent exhibition, this suit is by the late designer, Vivienne Westwood, a Derbyshire lass. Famous for her provocative designs. In the 1980’s she launched a now iconic collection made from Harris Tweed, a fabric that is protected by an act of Parliament, and can only be produced on the Scottish Island of Harris

When Westwood adopted a logo that was very similar to the ‘orb’ of the Harris Tweed logo, seen here on the buttons, it caused some controversy in the Harris Tweed industry. However since that time both brands have collaborated with much success

The V&A building is something of a masterpiece of engineering and design.

You can see in this video just how they did it.

Mr Uphilldowndale had a happy time chatting to the staff about their experience of getting the new build ready for the public, and had a look at a collection of ‘ hands on’ artefacts from the build.

Everybody was happy, I even got him to pose for an arty shot, before delicious spiced scones and cream in the cafe, plus the obligatory coffee.

A wagtail’s tale

We’ve had a lovely little family of pied wagtails nesting under the roof of the barn.

I’m not sure exactly home many chicks fledged, certainly at least one (and sadly one that didn’t make it). The parents certainly grafted, with the male endlessly on the move hunting for food.

The male was ringed, I’m not sure how common a thing that is, I got frustratingly close to working out the ring details, but not close enough.

I so enjoyed their industry and their chatter. I never managed to capture how the male would land on PV panels on the barn roof, give the dipping wag of its tail and slide elegantly down from the top to the bottom of the panel, it amused me for hours, I think he might have enjoyed it too.

When the chicks were hatched the female was hunting too. She got rich picking from the ants that were starting to fly, emerging from a hole in the wall under my office window.

This was just a couple of days before the true ‘flying ant day’ when a swarm emerged.

She just picked them off, there was no escape.

A flying feast.

The chick I did see, hung out in a willow tree, calling for yet more food, the parents both feeding and chasing off persistent predatory magpies.

Then it was quiet, the nest empty, and its residents off on the wing. I hope they will return next year, it’s the first time they nested with us. I like to think (hope) it is because of the changes we’ve made to how we mange both the field and the grass around the house and apple trees, we cut much less, and much later, and I think this is making a big improvement to the number of insect there are around.

Wherever the wind blows

These thistle seeds will be going too

Every seed is a wonder of design and engineering.

I love to see insects and birds feasting on the thistles, but when it get to this stage my inner gardener start to panic.

Not everyone wants or loves a thistle, and there can be too many, and in the wrong place, on pasture land and on land used for silage and hay; the law says so.

Who knew how many dilemmas there are in growing a more diverse garden that has a rich diversity of plants. We go for a gentle ‘curation’ so no one species is allowed to get too thuggish. This page looked to offer some sound advice.

Down but not out.

Pummelled by yesterday’s rain. But still rather lovely. I’m not sure if the insects want to be thigh deep in rainwater or not. Wherever you are in the world, I hope the weather is benevolent.

Rainy daisy

Striding Out

Long time readers will remember our much loved dog Spud and his many adventures. He died on boxing day 2021, we still miss him so much.

It’s taken us a while to feel ready for another dog to join our lives, the time had to be right.

And here he is, Finn, a working cocker spaniel, we brought him home on New Years eve aged eight weeks, he’s six months old now and keeping us very busy.

A little dog on a long lead

Having a pup around without the assistance of two teenagers is hard work! I had hundreds of photos of Spud ant this age, mainly because the boys would play with him and I could snap away, this time round I’ve no spare hands for a camera!

We took him to meet our son Joe, who now lives in Cardiff, another dog owner in Bute Park, told me Finn looked lush, I have to agree! He’s a very handsome boy.

A box of eggs for Easter

Beautiful sketches from the archives of Macclesfield Silk Museum. I can’t resist a plain brown cardboard archive box, and the surprises it might hold, so I’m a History Hunter, volunteering to help find the personal stories and connections behind the artefacts and to catalogue and record them.

Delightful watercolour eggs from the sketch book of Miss Annie Sutton, of the Leek School of Embroidery,

It appears she was a prolific designer of church textiles.

I can imagine that the little girls dresses might be duck egg blue, or that very distinct shade of green, of village hall teacups from the 1940s, a utility design called Beryl Ware, and though we couldn’t pin down a date for her work but our curiosity is piqued, there is more work to be done.

Many of the designs were for Mothers Union banners,

Such banners are to be seen in just about every Church of England parish church in the UK, I’d never given their design a second thought before.+This one is for All Saint’s Church in Leek, I shall have to go on a sortie to see if it is still there.

Nine newts a swimming, seven bats a flying

Why have I never taken a torch to look in the pond at night? So many newts, to photograph them may take a little more effort on my part, but I did manage, after a fashion  to capture my first sighting of bats for 2023 skimming over the pond.

There were some ripples, not sure if they were drinking on the wing, or catching insects.
20:30 hrs 8.7c April 7th

Other sightings
Goldcrest
Heron
Hares x 2

Life Force

Spring is rising, feel the force.

Heartwood

Ancient oaks, the setting sun.

I mentioned in a previous post that the death of Queen Elizabeth II has evoked for many people (myself included) memories of our own personal grief and loss.

Looking at this image (taken this weekend at during a lovely family gathering near The New Forest) I was reminded of a description of grief and loss that I was told many years ago, it resonated with me at the time, and has done so many times since.

That grief never leaves you. But that as time passes, the grief, like the growth ring of a tree, becomes encapsulated within you as the years pass. Hidden from view, hopefully a little easier to carry, but always there in the heartwood. Not forgotten.

So today, the day of Queens Elizabeth’s state funeral, for all who grieve, I leave you with this beautiful song.