cow-wheat

the trees have been thinned out and lo and behold there is masses of cow wheat (the little yellow flowers) appearing. This is one of the plants that the heath fritillary buttefly feeds on, so part one of the conservation plan is working.

black holes of silk

surrounding the orchids are lots of these funnel webs which have become easily visible because of the rain, plus occupant, enlarged below.

heath spotted orchid

see this in a field near you! Lots of these lovely orchids, probably crosses between common spotted and heath spotted.

Hendrix and the green eyed monster

flash news

the boss has met Hendrix. Harriet swoons with jealousy.













unique opportunity

be my thousandth visitor and win an actual picture of me, myself, in person signed personally by me and sent by email. There can only be one winner!

three visitors

first a fat hen pheasant, then

a fat rook


then a young jackdaw.

come to my party

how do they know it's my birthday, I haven't told anyone. And I hear that there is an enormous celebrity opening the fete. Could it be me? It must be, surely. And there's a special screen saver with lots of these pictures on sale on a CD. Fame!

Blair's rain

these daisies are out everywhere. One small detail should suggest that this is out of the family archive. Will it rain on my party? Will it ever stop raining?
was this poem written by a Cornishman?
"All b****y clouds, and b****y rains,No b****y kerbs, no b****y drains,The Council's got no b****y brains,In b****y ........... ." (Put in your own wettest place). Thank you Hamish.

stannary towns I know

Tavistock from Kit Hill, Dartmoor in the background. Terrano somewhere in the centre of the universe. Pylon marks Spot. Aren't England and Cornwall green and pleasant lands? Plenty for those of us "chewing on a grassy blade" like http://duckyouduckme.blogspot.com/

Kit Hill

Kit Hill is still very bleak at the moment. Everything has stopped growing again except grass. This stack is visible for hundreds of square miles around here, and is strangely iconic for the hidden secrets of the Tamar valley.

Kit Hill twinkles

further to my reflections on the Terrano (our four wheel drive monster) you will notice that there appear to be stars in the water. Is this another galaxy? Is this more evidence for alternative lurcher universes where I am called Blaze and was invited to THE party? It reminds me somehow of the snow last year (see http://tamar-valley-life.blogspot.com/2005/11/twigs.html )

wild crab apple

this is wild crab apple. In the background is Stoke Climsland and my house. I have noticed something strange and interesting, no matter where we are or where we go we always return to the Terrano. I have come to the conclusion that somehow space is not euclidean, but curved. The Terrano must have an effect on space time curvature such that it is always wherever you are coming from and going to, it is some sort of Riemann machine (for further help see http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/64459.html. ) This leads me on to speculate that the world is more complicated than it seems.

the rescue

here I am helping her down.

climbing

when I saw this nice person climbing up the quarry on Kit Hill I immediately rushed up to offer to rescue her.

p(h)easants

all in all it's been a bit of a wild life day. Pheasants 1 lurchers none.

and the roe deer escaped without being photographed. roe deer 1, boss none.

and I hear you are more pithecoid than you think. I could have told you the split was relatively recent http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4991470.stm and the X chromosome is the least changed!! (see the orginal article in Nature).

swallows

but there was no need for this victory roll. Swallows 1 lurchers none.

where's it gone

actually we weren't chasing this swallow, it was chasing us.

caught red handed

world cup football destroyed by rif, on behalf of rabbits against football. Lurchers do nothing.

Venterdon vandals

three militants caught gate crashing Posh, Becks and Spot's party. Lurchers do nothing.

party blues

where is my invitation to Posh and Becks party? Have you got one? I cannot believe that mine hasn't arrived.

Tormentil

Just coming out in the woods. Part of what has been called the tormentil complex of closely related plants including cinquefoils; sounds like a suitable case for the boss. A VERY powerful herb with all sorts of medicinal uses.

native bluebells

and this is the native bluebell, slender, with all of its flowers to one side.

one more balm

OK I know it's boring but you've got to get it just so. At least I don't have to tell you what it is anymore.

training

Sundays:-It is so wet and miserable today that we have had to amuse ourselves by training the boss. Here he is giving us a Bonio after a lot of whining and moaning (it takes a lot of effort, really) when he knows he should be taken for a walk but he insists on standing at the window and talking about moving to France. Will he take me? Should I be worried? I hear the poodles there are very haughty. Is that halo above his head significant?

aliens have landed

harri appears to have grown a middle hind leg. And she still can't catch me.

more bastard balm

a better (less rain and wind) picture of this beautiful rare deadnettle.