meanwhile Spot has learned to walk on water. But posing has never been a problem.
this nuthatch was singing very tunefully today. His upper parts are a blue grey, but his underparts shown here are a fetching orange, and his beak is unmistakeable.
dog's eye view inside the stellata shrub, contemplating the sky
In early Spring there are no leaves on the trees and shrubs to obscure the view from the end of our land, so the church is framed by primroses and celandines in the foreground, and a purple splash of aubretia in the mid ground
meanwhile the puddles in the woods are a seething mass of tadpoles, and the water-boat men are once again demonstrating the properties of surface tension
barren strawberries, wood sorrel, stitchwort, and dog violets, all out together as Spring gathers force
red dead-nettle is supposed to be very common, but perhaps due to changes in farming practices it is not that common locally. Like many common "weeds" it has a fascinating and complex flower, with an upper hooded lip, and a deeply notched lower lid with darker markings. In the old days (many many years ago) it was boiled and eaten as a pot herb, and used to make pig swill. It was also used to treat scrofula, the King's evil, a form of subcutaneous tuberculosis.
this poor little robin came to grief today despite every effort to save it. It had been attacked either by a cat or by a hawk, or possibly another robin.
Greenscombe meadows, showing the beautiful late winter colours, just before Spring repaints everything, and for any Americans who may be visiting Latchley (it is a small world).
Dad's second cousin once removed, hanging about at Sepilok. He says they are semi wild but I think they don't keep pets. Baby is about 3 months old.
well, we are all back from our hols in Holwell (well named I think for vacations), and they are back from visiting their second cousins in Borneo. Of which more later no doubt. But can anything anywhere compare with the perfection of a wood anenome bathing in the sun? The weather has been fine and warm in the last two weeks, and everything is bursting out all over. Spring is here. Hooray!
There are murals all over Callington. This is the most subtle of them, and for some reason it puts me in mind of The Canterbury Tales. Andy can unlock just about anything.
and we couldn't let St David's Day (see link) go by without a picture of the native wild daffodil we found this morning growing by the Tamar. They are just coming out. And the love birds are on the wing.
It was misty this morning, so we went for a long walk, to the site of the butterbur patch (top photo), where as predictably as ever, the flowers are emerging once more. The colours this year with a mixture of orange (old) and green (new) have been striking. Not far from here we found some otter spraint which suggests that otters are active on this part of the Inny, not that with 4 hounds there is any chance of catching one unawares. We saw one once for about 15 seconds, on the other side of the river, during a great spate, when it had been flooded out of its holt. We remain hopeful that the renegade Gunnislake beaver will move upstream and pay us a visit. At 6 1/2 stones he sounds like quite a character. In the meadows Mole has been very busy, but no sign of Ratty.
