not much changes

these pictures are separated by about 100 years. The black and white picture is taken from the Callington museum site which has many more similar photographs. It is very striking how little has changed apart from telegraph poles and wires(and qv). All of these people have lived their lives, but their descendants still live in the village.

my name is not oscar

Tara from Days missed on a hammock has given our blog the “Arte y Pico” award. Thank you Tara. Tara, although a New Yorker, lives on a long island and is therefore more Cornish than most and a fan of Spot's digressions and indiscretions. When you stop to think about it the net is drawing us all together in a way that none of us could have possibly imagined even ten years ago. Sharing our rich, if rural, life with anyone who cares to pop in for a look gives us the greatest possible satisfaction. Thank you for taking the time to look.

Awards rules:

1) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserving of this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogging community, no matter what language.
2) Each award has to have the name of the author and a link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.
3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that presented her/him with the award.
4) The award winner and one who has given the price have to show the link of "Arte y Pico" blog so everyone will know the origin of this award.
5) To show these rules.

downtown Rezare

quiet enough to play football in the street

sacred wells

the site of an ancient sacred spring in Rezare. This site and others are described at the Megalith information site (link). I can find very little information on Rezare (which might be because it appears to have been called Besair on the 1765 map see link)

Dunterton Church

unmistakeably from the same job lot as Stoke Climsland church but on the other side of the river (see previous page for view from the other side of the river.

red white and blue

the kennel decked out in patriotic colours in celebration of the Spring bank holiday.

inside the old mill

mysterious machinery lurking in the heart of the old mill at Beals Mill.

pendulous sedge and yellow archangel

pendulous sedge is common to damp woods and streamsides but the flower is striking nevertheless. Yellow archangel (this is a religious time of year for plant names, wood sorrel is often called alleluia ), in the lower 2 pictures, has a very striking landing pad on its lower lip.

swamp dogs

oh what fun it is to run around until you misjudge how deep the swamp is. No dogs were harmed in the taking of these photographs which is more than you can say for this monstrosity
These things make me feel so much pain and anger I have to turn away. Is it so important to be so clever?

sorrel

wood sorrel is associated with ancient woods partly because it is slow to spread. These cedars cannot be more than 50 years old so presumably it is the site of a much older wood.

the road to Stoke Climsland

the main road into our village (on the horizon) lined with bluebells. There has been a major effort to thin out the hedge trees (a photo in 2004, at the same site looking up the hill is included for comparison) and allow some more light into the lanes. It also allows the double decker buses to travel safely. The chicane in the road tends to keep car speeds to a reasonable level (there is just about room for two medium sized vehicles to pass).

pink mayflowers

a very pretty pink mayflower (or cuckoo flower, or lady's smock). This is one of the natural variations of this pretty flower. We found it in this field of mayflowers near the Lynher river at Golberdon (but no signs of any pastoral smocking)

wood sorrel 08

the soft and beautiful wood sorrel

bee collecting tringulins, no triungulins

now we know what this wild bee is doing. Or is it a collection of triungulins?

Pheasants eyes 08

narcissus poeticus, not native but naturalised and growing wild (and last year). I can't find anything interesting out about this plant but its name... Yes I can; it was allegedly brought back from the crusades by Sir Geoffrey de Fynderne and has become an emblem of the village of Findern, wherever that is. Is this true? Well done Geoff.

oil beetles

This is the female of the violet (or bluish) oil beetle (Meloe violaceus). Spot reads that this unusual beetle lays its eggs on the ground in leaf mould (as here). These hatch into long legged small larvae (triungulins) that swarm over plants in hot weather (they may have to wait a long time this year). They then attach themselves to a wild bee and are carried back to the bee's nest where they set about devouring the eggs and grubs. As they change into grubs themselves they eat the honey. They pass the winter as fat headless legless maggots then metamorphose one last time and crawl out in the Spring as adults to feed on buttercup plants. They also act as models for Alien. When picked up or otherwise irritated by inquisitive dogs they exude a foul fluid from their joints. They have overlapping wing cases. This one is distinctly blue.

a definite swallow

A swallow, with long tail streamers and a red chin. It is now clear that the swallows and martins arrived on the same bus yesterday. I had half a thought that I could see swallows and hear martins but they are very quick in flight and a bit blurred on the photos. Nevertheless is it is a joy to see them back.

million dollar view?

the view from Spot's kennel.

sky salute

and a special welcome from the sky

martin buzzard

and to prove the point, the common sight of a buzzard hanging around about to be mobbed by the Duchy rook gang, and below a newly arrived martin bombing about. Happy days.

editor's note: on closer inspection, Spot, it is a swallow although the martins are around as well (30/04/08)

campion and martins

campion is beginning to flourish again, turning a darker pink as the sun gets stronger during the year. The little white fur collar in the middle of the flower is characteristic.

And our house martins are back. I share that strange sense of anxiety at this time of the year that they will not return and that will be the beginning of the end (see Simon Barnes in the Times on Saturday) but hooray for optimism and the struggle for life.

books

Spot isn't naturally well informed but he reads a lot, and these are some of the reference books he has to hand in his very untidy study. Please feel free to borrow one.

wild garlic

and a sea of wild garlic, otherwise known as ramsons. Ramsons is derived from a german or swedish word (rams) meaning rank, ie a strong smell, imparted to milk when the plant is eaten by cattle.

bluebells

deep in the woods now one can find a quintessential English scene. The air was heavy with the scent of lime and wild garlic, and the birds were in full voice. Every now and then there was the slap of water as if some large but secret animal was moving stealthily into the water but it was simply the sound of the river folding in on itself.

It is very difficult to capture the blueness of the bluebells, especially close up. This is our native slender bluebell. Be careful in the woods because the plant will die if the leaves are crushed.

if it moves, run for it

large visitor to the pond. Duck on right is saying "if it tries to get into the water run for it."

peacock

common, somewhat tattered, but exceptionally pretty, the peacock butterfly showing the deep abstraction so characteristic of Nature's painting. We saw orange tips, a brimstone, painted ladies and a fritillary of some sort all today so the butterfly season is well under way although it is not very easy to identify some (eg the fritillary) when the pack insist on pushing in to find out what it is that you are looking that can be so much more interesting than they.

greenfinch by magnolia

neatly combining two harbingers of real spring, the greenfinches are fighting each other and the magnolia is very slowly coming into flower.

bridge over untroubled water

the view looking downstream at Beals Mill. Nothing much changes around here (see link)

coming out

a hedge oak just on the verge of coming into leaf, and well before ash, so we are in for a splash

global wrapping

the new rural scene, away with green, let's have lots of polythene. Vincent eat your heart out.

St George's Day breakout

It's that time of year again. The Venterdon pond gang make a break for freedom, and review nesting places where no one can see them (except for the Orchard House mob who are watching every move). Spring is certainly springing.

pink purslane 2

Pink purslane is now naturalised to dark and shady places in the South West (? which must mean Cambourne). It is a native of North America and is closely related to Spring Beauty aka Indian lettuce, because it was used in salads and as a vegetable, or winter purslane and native Americans prized its bulbs as a food. PP is very common around here.

fields of silver

all of a sudden fields around here are being covered in acres of polythene. This is not natural. What happens to the polythene? And if it breaks down what does it break down to? Who has done research on the long term side effects? The only silver to come out of this will be that taken by agribusiness.

ramsons

the striking stellar flower of wild garlic (aka ramsons). Normally ramsons are slightly ahead of bluebells but this year the relatively cold weather of the last few weeks seems to have held the ramsons and a lot of other wild flowers back, and they are all going to flower together in May. Watch this space.

mob rule

two buzzards are being bullied by one agressive rook. You can almost hear the buzzard in the bottom photo saying "oi! you let go of my wing"

sheep's sorrel

much smaller and more compact than common sorrel, sheep's sorrel grows on grassy and heathy places often on bare patches with acid soils. Sorrel is supposed to be derived from the old french word surele meaning sour; the leaves contain calcium oxalate which can be poisonous in excess. Of interest (to me) sorrel was used as a herbal remedy for kidney and bladder problems. Most kidney stones are made of calcium oxalate and one might think that eating sorrel might well have made them worse.

green beetle

unidentified beetle on bed of moss with ivy leaf garnishing and drizzle of twigs