larchmaggedon

This is a view I never wanted to see. Our village was surrounded by conifer plantations and mixed deciduous woods. Suddenly we have a new view of the village through the woods especially at night driving home. This is because the larch trees have been cut down. They are the host of a fungus, phytophthorum ramorum (see link), that has suddenly become rampant and is killing trees. It is a threat to our native oak, and the removal of larch is part of a scorched earth policy to prevent its spread. Unfortunately we are also at the beginning of an epidemic of fungal disease in our ash trees. We have lost 90% of all our elms, and there are threats to horse chestnuts and other trees (see link). Perhaps mother Earth is trying to shrug us off, or maybe we should stop importing all foreign plant species just to make money.

Venterdon

a panoramic view of the village of Venterdon, looking North, with Spot's house behind the big cedar tree in the middle. And just for a bit of colour, a bird's eye view of our Rowan tree.

redwings

and in sight of the Temple a flock of gregarious redwings, winter visitors from Scandinavia and other colder climes. They have  red flashes on their sides and a distinctive creamy streak above the eye.

the Temple of Diana

the huntress caught watching over the Temple

(at which you can come and stay for a weekend see link and we would come and visit you!).

sleepy mornings

a quiet morning walk

stoke climsland

our little village in its autumnal clothes

Burell farm 3

and Summer out for a gallop chasing a rainbow

Burell farm 2

dogs, cats, doves....

Burell farm near Trematon

 At Burell farm today where a friend keeps some horses. It is the site of an old tudor house, now in ruins, and its origins go back to William the Conqueror. The yard is full of animals large and small.

Cassie one year on

Cassie left us a year ago today and still we miss her sorely.

winter time is here

the Tamar, below Luckett, looking North towards Horsebridge, and Penny's piece (qv) in its autumnal colours.

summer is over

so, of course, the weather improves, and the sun returns just in time for winter.

on Brentor

the little church at Brentor that is such a prominent landmark from Kit Hill. The bottom photo is looking towards Dartmoor, quite a view for one's last resting place.

Kit Hill

It was a good to be alive sunny morning on Kit Hill today.

birds of a feather

Waiting to munch,one colourful goldfinch and one not so drab house sparrow, as it happens and probably for the best, they prefer separate feeders although most birds appear to follow some sort of bird table etiquette at least between species.

on Kilmar tor

mare and foal ambling across the seemingly barren landscape of Kilmar tor. In fact these moors support a large number of sheep, cattle and ponies.

never can tell

These mushrooms have appeared in our paddock. As far as I know this is the first time they have appeared. It is very hard to identify mushrooms without some expertise but I think these might be sheathed woodtufts (who knows?). No wonder we don't eat wild mushrooms. There seem to be more mushrooms around this year than for some time so it looks like it may be a good year for fungi.

coal tit

We normally only see coal tits on the bird feeders as they make fleeting visits, usually in pairs. They are in fact birds that like conifer woodlands and this male was singing very loudly in the cedar tree next to our house

sorrel

this very pale pink sorrel has appeared in our garden where an old privet hedge was grubbed out last year. It is far too late to be wood sorrel, so it may be pale pink sorrel which likes to grow on banks and under hedges, but it is a new species to me. If it is it is yet another introduced species, this time in 1739 from South Africa.

our house

Hate to think it but autumn is here.

hell hound returns

in the same woods lies the entrance to the Excelsior tunnel which leads deep under Kit Hill. It was used in operation Orpheus by the atomic Weapons research agency to test whether explosions could be hidden or disguised from seismographs (hence no doubt the reference to the underworld by some classicist in the Ministry of Defence). For more on this interesting part of local folklore see this link.

deer park woods

just for a change today we went for a walk in Old Deer Park woods (see link SX381724). We came across two invasive species, one of which, mimulus, we quite like, and the other, Japanese knotweed, is regarded as an absolute pest. The Japanese knotweed appears to have displaced the mimulus which is now growing along the course of the small streams in the wood. I am not sure that many of the plants in the woods are truly native, we must have one of the most disturbed and unnatural floras of anywhere in the world.

showing off our long tails

about this time of years groups of small birds of the tit and finch families, like these long tailed tits, start to group together and forage on the berries and seeds. Long tailed tits seem to be very excitable and flit quickly from tree to tree which makes them elusive subjects to photograph. They usually give themselves away by making a high pitched squeaks (Si Si)

another spot of colour

And just as conspicuous a tortoiseshell sunbathing on Felix, our monumental cat.

spot of colour

a fritillary adding some vivid colour to a meadow full of devil's bit scabious and betony (below). To our eyes these butterflies seem very conspicuous; maybe they are advertising that they are highly inedible.

web central

mission control receiving data from the tortoiseshell rover

curiosity

the tortoiseshell rover has landed, our mission of exploration has started

Spot is in the building

Oh to be outside when the sun is shining!

(large paintings by Dianne Nevitt see link, small pictures by Mary Stork ..it is worth googling Mary Stork images for more)

butterfly heaven

For the first time this year the air is full of butterflies.  One can see why the buddleia is called the butterfly bush. There was even a solitary painted lady on the bush amongst the dozens of red admirals, peacocks and tortoiseshells. Below are two pictures of a female wall brown and friend. Wall browns are usually very skittish and hard to photograph but the weather has been so wet they are probably desperate to refuel.

m

yum yum

William, the new kid on the block, tucking in to his mare's milk, and showing signs of his curious and friendly temperament. He was born 3 months ago.

the sun has got his hat on

Despite the most miserable wet cloudy cold dreary August ever (bar the golden days of London 2012) a warm day has brought out some of our more colourful butterflies en masse. Make love while the sunshines! The butterflies have been getting so desperate they have even been on the wing in the rain. We are getting so desperate we may join the mass exodus leaving Cornwall every weekend.

a peacock and a silver-washed fritillary at the
knapweed bar, above, and on the right a handsome peacock.

confrontation

a young hawk (not sure which type) and a magpie confront each other in the garden today.