Travel Theme: Fragant

Posted on November 25, 2013December 4, 2013 Posted in England, Nature, PhotographyTagged Cercidiphyllum, Devon, England, Gardens, Katsura tree, Nature, Photography, travel, Travel Theme: Fragrant18 Comments

One of the joys of the autumn is to find fragrance in a garden. I’ve known this wonderful tree for a long time, but it still catches me by surprise, and I smell it before I remember and find it.

It has dainty leaves that are a very pretty shape, and fresh shade of green in spring and summer, but then once they start to fall the divine aroma bursts out. It’s a Katsura tree, Cercidiphyllum Japonica, commonly known as a toffee apple tree. And that’s exactly what it smells like, especially if you walk on the leaves or crush them in your hands. Heavenly!

There will be another Katsura photo tomorrow for my Daily Post haiku challenge, but meanwhile this is my Ailsa’s Travel Theme, http://wheresmybackpack.com/2013/11/22/travel-theme-fragrant/

A Byegone Tradition

Posted on October 10, 2013 Posted in England, NatureTagged Conkers, England, Horse Chestnuts, Nature, Nostalgia23 Comments

When I was a girl one of the most exciting things at this time of year was collecting conkers! My route home from school was through a park with big, old, Horse Chestnut trees, and the big boys always got the first go. They would throw sticks high up into the branches, in the hope of knocking down some of the prickly cases. Boys being boys they were often just too impatient, and instead of waiting until they were ripe, succeeded in felling pale soft conkers that would’nt do the job. I would wait around until they were bored, and hunt in the rustling leaves until a found my shiny brown treasure.

Do you remember the game? If you grew up in England before the 1980’s you probably do. Conkers were more effective if you kept them to harden a little. Then you would make a hole with a meat skewer – do they still exist? Shove a piece of string through, knot it and then fight!

It’s the fighting that eventually called a halt to the free fun that had gone on for centuries. Apparently, when you aimed your conker weapon at your friends, there was a high chance you would do some serious damage, eyes would be knocked from their sockets, someone might choke, and there would be severe bruises causing agony all over your body. So health and safety required that conkers be banned from schools, and a whole generation has grown up barely noticing the September bounty.

Conkers were never really a weapon for me, I couldn’t hit my opponents to save my life, I was much more likely to hit myself. Strange though, I have no memory of any pain from those injuries, just lots of giggles and fun. Fact is I just loved the feel of them, their polished shine and rubbing my thumb over the pale bit. I still do and had to stop myself from bundling dozens into my pockets today. Let me know if lost an eye or bear the scars.

Lazy Poets Thursday Haiku

Posted on September 26, 2013September 25, 2013 Posted in Nature, Photography, Poetry, UncategorizedTagged Devon, England, Haiku, Lazy Poets Thursday Haiku, Nature, Photography, Rosemoor, Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly13 Comments

Small Tortoiseshell

Orange on orange

Sweet delicate butterfly

Feasting on nectar

Lazy Poets Thursday Poem

Posted on September 19, 2013September 18, 2013 Posted in Nature, PoetryTagged England, Lazy Poets Thursday Poem, Nature, Photography, Poetry7 Comments

Druantia

Once I was fertile fecund my flowers

were the favoured of bees by the swarm

birds spread my seed unaware of north south divide

now I stand hacked worn and idle baking in the sun

with most of the life sucked from me

but my foot is damp there is hope yet

should you move me a few steps to this rich earth

I may send down roots

But perhaps you would prefer to preserve

rescue me I am of good wood

and will outlast these pitiful shrubs that surround me

just oil me polish me to a shine

I’ll stand as statue in a palatial pleasure gallery

and be stroked by appreciative hands

Pollen Drunk

Posted on September 16, 2013September 15, 2013 Posted in Nature, PhotographyTagged Bee, England, Flowers, Nature, Photography, Sunflower17 Comments

One very happy bee!

Rommel told me off!

Posted on September 6, 2013September 6, 2013 Posted in England, Nature, PhotographyTagged Autumn berries, England, Nature, Photography, Plants18 Comments

I confess I’m not very good at responding to all you lovely people who comment on my posts. It isn’t rudeness or even laziness, it’s just pure overload, full time work, study blah, blah, blah! Now Rommel is an absolute treasure and he pointed out that I asked a question but didn’t listen to the answers so now I’m going to.

These are the berries from a Guelder Rose, or Viburnum Opulum. The bush likes moist soil to grow in and I saw this one beside a village pond in Hampshire. The berries are a good source of Vitamin C but they have to be cooked and apparently they need a lot of sugar to make them palatable.
These are elderberries, and not good to eat. Many, many years ago I picked bucketfuls to make wine. It was a rich, dark and syrupy drink that wasn’t really sweet enough for me, a bit like cough medicine. I prefer the light summery flavour of elderflower champagne, made from the delicate sprays of creamy white flowers. I’ve never tried making it because I worry about the little creatures that feast on the berries. If the flowers are all picked there wouldn’t be any would there? But it doesn’t make sense to simple Gypsy, because some people DO make it and there are still plenty of berries, perhaps they’ve done the maths.

This is a Cotoneaster, a common garden shrub that hugs a fence or wall and provides food for birds in winter and attract butterflies and bees. They are poisonous and would give you a very bad stomach.

Blackcurrants! Pretty and very shiny, but straight from the bush they are an acquired taste. They make delicious jam or jelly and are cooked with apples in a pie. The best possible use in my eyes is in a certain blackcurrant drink, full of Vitamin C that begins with R and ends with A!

Raspberries are one of my many favourite fruits and of course they are lovely in jam, and all sorts of desserts, especially with my dark chocolate brownies. But I prefer them straight from the cane, I never wash them just pick, blow away any lingering bugs and pop tehm right in my mouth.

So Rommel, am I forgiven?

If you don’t know him you should go and visit him, he’s been missing for a while but he’s back now and I’m so glad, he’s an absolute star. http://thesophomoreslump2.com/2013/09/03/eisa-festival-saying-sayonara-to-the-summer-in-style/

A Killerton evening

Posted on September 4, 2013 Posted in Devon, England, Nature, PhotographyTagged Devon, England, Killerton, Nature, Photography, The National Trust, travel14 Comments

Would you give away your family home for your political beliefs? Sir Richard Acland did in 1944 with Killerton, his 6400 acre estate just a few miles outside Exeter, handing it to the National Trust. The estate includes 20 farms and 200-plus cottages, many miles of footpaths and woodlands to walk, and the main house that is open to the public. A walk that has long been a favourite of mine and my children when they were growing up, is at Daneswood, great for an hours pootling. Here are some of the sights in and views from the wood this misty, late summer evening.

Berry Bounty

Posted on August 30, 2013August 27, 2013 Posted in NatureTagged Autumn berries, Berries, Nature, Plants15 Comments

It’s that time of year again, with lots of goodies for little creatures to put in their winter store cupboards!

Do you know which we can eat?

Weekly Photo Challenge: Focus

Posted on August 23, 2013 Posted in Nature, PhotographyTagged dailypost, England, Leaves, Nature, Photography, Weekly Photo Challenge, Weekly Photo Challenge: Focus28 Comments

Cheri Lucas Rowlands tells us about the basics of depth of field and aperture and compares the effects of using a shallow depth of field to a a greater one. She asks that we :-

Snap a photo of something or someone in focus, against a blurred background.
Share a panorama or landscape in sharp focus, in which you can see details far away.
Use a camera app to force focus (or blur) in an experimental way.
Take multiple photos of the same scene or subject using different aperture settings and publishing the results.

Do you agree that my first photo is rather dull, whereas the second is okay?

Can you post some photos that show the effect of changing apertures? Join in at http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/08/23/weekly-photo-challenge-focus/

The Meon Valley Trail

Posted on August 13, 2013 Posted in England, Nature, PhotographyTagged England, Hampshire, Harlequin Ladybird, Meon Valley Trail, Nature, Photography, Privet Hawk Moth14 Comments

The Meon Valley trail wends its way through around thirty miles of Hampshire countryside on a disused railway branch line that ran from Alton to Knowle until Mr Beeching closed it down in the 1960’s. It’s now a lovely walk used as a footpath, cycle and bridle path. On Sunday my daughter and I walked for an hour giving baby Scarlett some fresh air.

There is an abundance of flora and fauna, we saw