I love chooks and these were pecking their way around the courtyard at Buckland.
I’ll be back tomorrow with some photos of the Great Barn.
Buckland Chooks
Tag: Nature
Lazy Poet’s Thursday Poem, Primrose
Timid fragile flower with strength
to bear and thrive through frost
you push your way through compacted soil
to spread a sunshine blanket
under woodland canopy
where no sun shines
you remain pure along shoulders
of polluted carriageway
and in a cemetery of tombstones
you stand alert and alive
your palest glow a greeting
that follows with fragrance elusive
as your unfolding gown dallies
its subtle caress in green velvet folds
Grand Western Canal
I walked at the canal again today, starting from the Jubilee bridge this time. It does a horseshoe loop that is quiet disorientating, you feel as if you’ve turned around on yourself. It started cold but once the sun broke through it became a gorgeous day for a stroll, towards Halberton. 
The tow path winds its way through the Devon countryside for eleven miles.
With lovely views of farmland.
Under some very old bridges, the Devon section of the canal opened in 1814 so the bridges must be roughly the same age.
It was a muddy day and welly boots were called for – sadly I wasn’t wearing mine! Never mind, it was worth it to see this stunning tree.
There is lots of wildlife, but I took the wrong lens. When I was there a few weeks ago I had the zoom lens and needed the the standard, this time if I had the zoom I could have got a decent shot of . . . I’m hoping the Hobbit will tell me?
If you live in the UK you will have heard about the damage to the canal bank in November last year when many parts of the country suffered severe floods. This gallery shows some of the damage, and the temporary dams that are in place to prevent further problems until the repairs begin. Thankfully Devon County Council have budgeted three million pounds to rebuild the thirty metre breach in the embankment. The work begins in June and will take nearly a year to complete.
Now I’ll leave you with a photo from the end of today’s walk, hope you enjoyed it.
January Small Stones# Ten
A third of the way through January already, winter is creeping darkly along. There is a suggestion from the Met Office that we may have some snow and ice on Saturday, which I really don’t want. Today at eight fifteen, it was a morning for headlights. So different from yesterdays blue, I got wet but it wasn’t raining. 100% humidity and all of it settling on me, turning my hard work curls to frizz.
I walked the usual way to work, and along the path beside a row of Victorian terrace houses, and with nothing but fog ahead, I glanced down. Leaves from the sycamores across the road dotted my way, in various states of deterioration. In August they were rich, bright green – summer’s rain had stopped them from frying, and autumn was late. It was late October before they were yellow, then gold, bronze, brown.
Now a few deep bronze ones had found their way to the edge of the walls. Underfoot, some clear shapes in brown remained, many very dark. Some had felt heavier shoes than others, and had jagged edges. An awful lot were totally trampled into black marks on the flagstones, decayed, disappearing, and waiting for a hard frost or more heavy rain to wash them away. I wonder if they will be visible next week. I must remember to notice.
January Small Stone# Nine
Midweek. What to do to make Humpday pass well? On Sunday I walked at Bowling Green Marsh and the weather was dismal, damp and mizzely. There were hundreds, perhaps thousands of resting migratory birds, but I didn’t have my camera and I had my hands full with the dogs. This was the best I could do with my phone camera. 
These out of focus sweeties are widgeon. Today, the sky was brilliant blue, so I checked the tide tables and convinced a hobbit that he needed to drive me. I promised him treats – he’s a bird lover, he prefers birds of prey really but has never been there. I still only had my phone camera, but this was the view. 
I ran him down the lane, into the hide and then to the viewing platform. Pretty good for a lunchtime jaunt eh?
January Small Stone# Six
Red vested love bird
tweets declaring territory
scatters flyers its size twenty times
widgeon’s scarved with orange rise,
with wings a choir of sopranos
and a solo plover wades haughtily by
January mist over Riversmeet
tide covers a murking of mud
fading web prints rushing away
taken by sizzling foam
twitchers with tripoded lenses
gaggle off to identify geese
arriving as guests of the Clyst.
Lunchtime stroll
Jake’s Sunday Post: Wonderful
What could be more wonderful than an English Oak tree, spreading it’s huge canopy over the land for centuries? 
Check out Jake’s post and his other visitors http://jakesprinters.wordpress.com/2012/11/03/sunday-post-wonderful/
A Chestnut Walk to the Powderham Folly
Glorious weather and the dog’s need of some exercise made today a day for checking out Autumn’s progress. Earlier in the year I went to Kenton to take photographs for Lynne at On the Bench and found a new walk. At the time it was too cold to walk any further but it was always meant to be one to return to. The walk goes through the Powderham estate, the home to the 18th Earl and Countess of Devon. Building of the castle began in the 14th century and I’ve included a photo of the rooftop.
The start of the walk was a narrow muddy track through the marshes and then a climb up through the woods. There was a constant soundtrack from both the sawmill and the crazy sound of pheasants, whose presence tormented the dogs. There are many ancient and magnificent oak trees but prominent today were the chestnuts, gnarled and old but still very productive. Empty shells were everywhere; no doubt the squirrels have full larders.
I was hoping for more leaf colour but there was very little display from the trees, we have only had one frost so far in east Devon. Plants in the hedgerow were definitely more autumnal though. In the field at the top of the track is the folly, built in the 18th century, and the view opens up, showing the river Exe looking east.
Click on any image for a slide show. I hope you enjoy my Sunday walk and have a lovely week!
Cee’s Foto Fun Challenge: Contrasting Colours
It never pays for me to think very much. The more I think about contrasts the more confused I become, but I think I have a good eye for colour somehow. I’ve chosen three shots, hope they work and happy to hear if they don’t.
A crazy plant that I have forgotten the name of.
I’ve posted this image before, it’s one that I created from a black and white photo of a large sculpture, so cheating really!
So for this one I have only cropped out some excess green on the left.
Come and join in, there should be some stunning colour to be seen at http://ceeslifephotographyblog.wordpress.com/2012/10/02/cees-fun-foto-challenge-contrasting-colors/
Lucid Gypsy 