Trees of Distinction

A wooded, ancient lane that leads down to Mill Bay.

It’s proved nigh on impossible to capture the magnificence of these trees (I think they are lime trees*)

Whilst I was faffing around with the camera, a passing walker suggested I Photoshop in some fairies to help capture the atmosphere of this special place. Another asked if I’d ever been here in the spring, when the lane if flanked by primroses, I haven’t but I’d like to see it then.

Ferns, mosses and badger tracks are abundant,

Spud loves it down here, in places there are steep banks, he came running off the top of one bank at full pelt, it was was about 7ft high, he hit the ground legs out, forward and aft,  but still with forward momentum, he shot straight through my stride, a fraction of a second either way, he’d have he hit me: he’d have taken me off my feet that’s for sure.

(*but don’t quote me on that, I’m on holiday, I’m not spending my time Googling trees; and look how wrong I got the bee stuff)

Looking in the Long Grass

(If you’ve just landed here from Gadgets blog, this is the back story. )

I’m still looking for the leverets, no joy.  The other morning, I could count 5 hares cavorting around a field and a half away, but nothing photo worthy.

This is what I found in the long grass, in the corner of the now shorn meadow.

They are at it all over the place, apparently: must be the time of year. I should warn my family, looking at the quality of Nic’s photos, that one of these days ,I’m going to have a nice big lens. OK? ( oh and the knowledge  how to use it!)

The Big Day

Tomorrow is the big day. What big day? The launch of Vision & Verb a collaborative blog, by women of a certain age, and I’m one of them!

 Toni and Marcie have been grafting away, getting the site looking tickety-boo, marshalling the team into a running order and gathering in biographies and vintage photos, we have a forum and buttons and, well everything we need to get the show on the road. So pop along to Vision & Verb and meet the gang ( and you can add a Vision & Verb button to your blog if you’d like to help us get the ball rolling.)

 

I was very flattered to be asked along, I hesitated a little before accepting but only because the invitation came a few days after I’d made a sweeping statement about making sure I didn’t ‘over commit’ myself in the new year. So I’d like to make it clear, from the outset, I’m not over committing, I taking on new challenges. OK?

Tomorrow is also a big day for Spud, but more about that later.

 

As the snow fades away, I’ll leave you with a ‘while stocks last’  random selection of fresh and fluffy snow.

Football, languishing on the trampoline

 

Hawthorne tree

An ‘oasis’ of green,  the water from an emerging spring is warm enough to keep the boggy grass clear of snow

Snow blasted tree

A very wobbly slippery stile

and a view across the valley

And the other news from the home front is that Mr Redcar, has been reunited with his car and they are heading south.

Hope Show

August Bank holiday Monday, means Hope Sheepdog Trials and Agricultural Show. (I’ve shown you a shot of the Hope Valley before) Hope Show, as it more usually known, is a traditional sort of agricultural event, cattle,sheep, horses, dogs, tractors, beer, burgers and ice cream, all you need for a grand day out.

I nipped in and out of the show this morning, I’m not one for lingering on the Peak District roads on a bank holiday, they’re too busy for my liking.

Plenty of photos to play with later in the week, but as a taster; fine looking animals

In a beautiful location

Technorati Tags: Hope Sheepdog Trials and Agricultural Show Show 2009,Show sheep,Hope Valley,Peak district National Park,bank holiday traffic.

Balance

Just a puff of wind and I’m sure this snoozing duck will fall over

The open water around and about was still frozen, so the local ducks were hanging out in a field.

Are you a ‘elder duck’ if you have a grey beak? is a yellow beak a sign of youth and virility?  They weren’t too phased by me observations, they just toddled off across the field when they had enough, taking the snoozing duck with them.

The hills in the distance were still snow covered

 

and as likely as not it was busy up there.

Technorati Tags: Ice climbing, ducks, heron, ice, snow

Walk to Work

 

Another beautiful day, I had to go to a meeting in the next village, I walked there and back. So a 90 minute meeting took up the best part of the morning, I did dally a bit on the way though.

Good Morning America, it’s a Beautiful Day

It’s not so very long ago that today’s events would have been impossible, this is how it was in 1957 and this was 1964 when  Dr King predicts an African-American president “in less than 40 years.”

There is not much I can say to follow that. Other than the fact it is a beautiful day here too.

Happy birthday Mr Uhdd xx

January Colour

 

There’s not a lot of it about, the setting sun gave a blast to a patch of burr’s but it lasted just a few minutes

This scrubby piece of land that’s home to the burrs has turned out to be a little haven; it’s where I found the seed pods and lots of birds, like this goldfinch, who was munching away at the seeds

I’ve already made several return visits  to the spot in different conditions, which is a bit of a breeze really,  because it’s just across the lane. 

Technorati Tags: Seed pods, finch, scrub land, sunset, snow, colour

Blowing in the Wind

Dowhatyoulove asked if we might like to see her significant other’s blog of wildlife photography, northwestnaturalmoments; I strongly suggest you go take a look, the images are scrumptious and I’ve shamelessly lifted this quote, I hope that’s OK.

Dive into the Underworld,

Deep within your Psyche,

And retrieve those things about your Self

That you have lost

Or have carelessly thrown Away

(note to Gadget and Noddy, I think we are talking about a different underworld than the one you have to deal with.)

Technorati Tags: Feathers, Birds, Photography, Thoughts

*Watching Me, Watching You, Part II

But what does it see and what does it think about what it sees?

Cows have wide-angle vision and can see for 300 degrees around them. But cows only have 3D vision looking directly in front, so this is the only direction in which they can estimate distances well.

And if you want to know what this cow is thinking, this is the book for you, it’s by Temple Grandin she’s an associate professor of animal science at Colorado State University and has pioneered how animals are handled when they are taken to slaughter, so as to minimise their distress

Temple Grandin has been interested in these matters for a while. This is a book full of remarkable things, and few within it are more remarkable than that she has written this book at all, as she is autistic; and autists, as she remarks, do not think in language. They are also not meant to write books; and worse: “I remember in college when one of my professors told the class that animals weren’t conscious because they didn’t have words to think in. Since I didn’t think in words myself, I was shocked when he said that. If an animal isn’t conscious, I remember saying to myself, then I’m going to have to assume I’m not conscious, either.”

*This was part I

Edit, having touched on topic of autism, this is breaking news, here in the UK today.

Technorati Tags: Cow’s vision, animal behaviour, livestock handling, Autism, Asperger’s