Potential

The seeds of next years ‘honesty’ (Lunaria annua), all neatly stored in a ‘blister pack’

Honesty flowers attract butterfly’s, I like its silvery seed pods (a favourite with flower arrangers) that will develop as the summer progress, I suppose that’s where it’s Latin name originates from, they look rather moon like; it grows on a pile of rocks at the bottom of the yard.

(Note to self, to try and get some established  in the garden.)

All Roads Lead to the Lake District

We’ve been in the Lake District this weekend; Joe’s school had an activity weekend in Brrowdale, Mr Uhdd had a fell race to run and Tom’s school had a choir event in the South Lakes. I played out with the camera.

The Sunday morning dawned bright and clear, Mr Uhdd woke early and felt the need to share this information with me, in fact he was more direct he said ‘You need to get out with the camera, NOW!’ So at 06:00hrs on Sunday morning I was at the Summit of the Honister pass, it was a special place to be.

Despite the ridiculous time, it was so still and tranquil

Well it was tranquil until, I came across a quartet of cockerels at the Honister Slate mine, they were cock a doodle doing as such birds do at sunrise, (take a look at the mines web site for some excellent aerial photos of the area.)

the sound reverberated for miles down the pass, (Kingmagic, you would have been impressed.)

I’ve another busy week ahead, before the children break for half term holidays, so I might just drip feed you Lakeland scenes, watch this space.

Loitering with Intent

The local herons have been spending  a lot of time by the pond, eyeing up the fish. I don’t think they manage to take many as our pond has steep sides and herons won’t step into deep water they will only wade in from the shallows. I like seeing a heron by the pond and don’t begrudge them a few fish, we have more than enough and I think the golden orfe are now too big for the herons to tackle.

How ever Inspector Gadget explains that doing what comes naturally (to a heron) is reportable offence

‘Theft of Goldfish from Pond - main suspect - local Heron’

 

I disturbed a heron yesterday, it flew off  and perched in the sycamore tree, they do look rather ridiculous sat in a tree, there is something about herons that doesn’t seem to add up, as though there was a miscalculation at the design stage, herons legs look like they might snap and their beaks look too heavy, (I’ve yet to manage to get a photograph of one, so I’ll cheat)

the ability of herons to catch fish led to a belief  that their legs must produce some magical substance that attracted the fish, this resulted in anglers scattering pieces of herons legs around the fishing ground, in an attempt to attract fish, now don’t try this at home because

In Great Britain the heron is protected at all times under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, with fines or prison sentences available for anyone killing or attempting to kill one

 

and such a fishy incident will result in even more paper work for Gadget.

I adore our pond, you can see why,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We built it six years ago, we borrowed a mini digger and a dumper truck and Mr Uhdd set to work, it ended up a different shape and a  bit bigger than the original plan (not unlike the heron) and the liner cost as much as the new sofa we planed to buy at the time, six years on we still haven’t bought a sofa, but I have no regrets, the pond investment was the right one and the old sofa will be fashionable again soon. The pond is spring fed and whilst it doesn’t run all year round it is a big enough body of water not to need topping up. We were amazed by how quickly wildlife just turned up and took over it, (treat of treat has been a visiting kingfisher) This summer I will be on a mission to get more photographs of some of the visitors, this is the best I managed last year

I think I shall make a mug of tea and go up to the pond, bliss.

Feathered Nest

Gusty winds the other day must have dislodged this nest, I found it on the ground

It’s a work of art, dainty, only four inches wide and two deep, it’s constructed from a wide selection of materials, lichens, mosses, twigs, we could identify, both cat and the dog hair and it’s  lined with feathers

We were impressed by it’s craftsmanship and as Tom commented

‘ And just think, birds haven’t got any hands.’

He has a point, you try building that with no other tool than a beak!

Sadly they will have to start all over again, with better foundations.

Fast Forward

Spring has sprung

The weather over the last week has alternated between warm and wet, the result is that you can almost hear things growing, spring is gathering pace, it struck me yesterday evening that the stark, silhouetted landscapes I have been photographing and blogging about for the past few months,  are disappearing fast under a rising tide of ‘greenness’  I am not sure I know how to do ‘verdant’ or if I do, I’ve forgotten.

This morning it’s rained, heavily, but soft rain if you get my drift, ‘growing rain’ my dad would have called it. Earlier on the dandelions were tight shut, but within half an hour of the sun braking through, the field had come out in a rash of yellow spots.

The field next to ours is more intensively managed, it’s had sheep grazing on it, so there is less length of grass and not a dandelion in sight.  But in our field, there is work to be done, but where do you start, one bee so many dandelions..

I must away to to give a little thought, to the Noddy challenge

Gone With the Wind

Little Fluffy Things

Got a bit of a fright yesterday, when taking an empty bottle to the recycling tub in porch, something grey and furry, shot, at speed, round the back of the tub, now we have over the years had all sorts of wild and wonderful things brought in through the cat flap (and into the house for that matter, before mad Moss the dog, became kitchen gate keeper refusing ingress or egress to cat or vermin)  and I was a bit worried it might be a rat,we know they are out there, so very  cautiously  peered around the back of the tub to find this little sweetie

So whilst I caught it, Tom got the camera; the rabbit was so grateful to be rescued from the jaws of death,

that it peed all over my fleece, and it also had (for such a sweet looking little thing) very sharp claws (the rabbit not the cat.)

Tom and I released it back into the field, our dilemma being which field, north, south east, west, we had no idea in which direction it’s burrow lay. We settled on west, although on reflection that might have been a mistake, as that is also the direction, as the crow flies, of our neighbours vegetable patch.

The cats have brought us, wildlife as diverse as bats and stoats, I was sort of glad and sad that the stoat was dead, I imagine they aren’t as easy to catch as a young rabbit and they have very sharp teeth, have a read about such a thing here, an excellent blog, as recommended by the Scottish Officer

 

Have a sublime Saturday.

 

Technorati Tags: Cats, Rats, Rabbits, Stoats, Mice, Vermin

Little Weed

Question. When is a weed not a weed?

Answer. When it is feast.

This bee was carrying so much pollen I was starting to wonder if it would mange to get airborne and make it back to the hive.

The dandelion, Taraxacum officinale; as a child I used to spend hours in the fields collecting these flower heads, by the bucket full for my Dad, who used to make dandelion wine from them, just taking that photo has wafted back in time, to the smell of them being boiled up in a steamy kitchen and gluup, gluup noise of the air locks on the demijohns as it brewed.

nezza has a lovely photograph of a dandelion ‘clock’ on her Flickr site

Red Letter Day

Today is a red letter day at the Uphilldowndale house, for several reasons. It is twenty years today since Mr Uhdd and I bought our first home together; 18 years since we got married and 11 year since Joe made his precipitous arrival into the world, our wedding anniversary is now upstaged enhanced by Joe’s birthday celebrations and we would like to point out that when it is his 18th birthday it will be our 25th wedding anniversary, so we can share a party! He might think this is a good idea now, but I doubt he will in the future, only time will tell.

We also expect some important visitors to arrive today, they are very welcome guests who always arrive on the 21st of April, I don’t know how they find there way here or how they know when to come, but the swallows swoop around the barn from the 21st of April, its just how it is.

 

In bed this morning I proclaimed that the swallows wouldn’t be here today, ‘the weather is too cold, they wont be back from Africa yet.’  Wrong, on my way out to work this morning by what did I see,  swallows. Now as the as the old adage goes ‘two swallows don’t make a summer’, but it’s a welcome sign that summer is on its way (well a bit of spring would be good for starters) and the forecast is good, warmer than of late and dry for the next few days, so they can feed up a bit after their long journey.

Migrating swallows cover 200 miles a day, mainly during daylight, at speeds of 17-22 miles per hour. The maximum flight speed is 35 mph. 

If we are really lucky some might nest in the barn

Surface Tension

It was frosty again last night, the frogs and toads have retreated to the bottom of the pond, this photo is from last Friday, taken during the day, when it was warm and spring like

But is it a frog or a toad? I’m getting in a tizz with the identification, could someone do me a favour and work it out please? I think the answers might be here It looks like an interesting site and I’d like to spend some time hopping around it, but I have work to do, *sigh*; but first tea, much tea is needed, I’ll go and get the kettle on.