columbine

wild aquilegia, or columbine in the Tamar valley. Garden varieties tend to have smaller nectar horns and paler colours. The flowers really are this vivid lilac blue. Columbine comes from the latin for dove because the nectar horns are supposed to look like five doves together.

flood plains

 When the Tamar floods it creates a new channel through the woods below Carthamartha. The debris contains many of the plastic tubes used to protect the mixed deciduous saplings that have been planted out up stream (top picture). The floor is scoured clean, revealing the first signs of this years crop of purple toothwort (looking very dental!)

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windy days

We have experienced a succession of wet and windy days recently. It is hard to capture the wind in a photograph but the pampas grass gives some idea of the strength of the wind. And the scene below is of the Tamar valley in its autumnal clothes. There hasn't been much to photograph recently!

Tamar views

Reflections in the river, at Latchley, below Old Solomon's farm.

one of the crow family, that includes rooks, carrion crows, ravens and jackdaws,  that lives in the woods along the Tamar. It looks like a crow or a raven but in the bright morning sun appears to have a lot of grey on the underside of the wings and throat. The silhouette is typical of a raven, but both crows and ravens are meant to be a glossy black all over. Hooded crows have well defined grey markings but are confined to Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Man. Maybe it is just a trick of the bright light.

the wooded valley

this photo, taken in Wareham woods (or Dunterhue woods, the names on the maps vary) looking West towards Carthamartha and Dunterton, gives a good idea of the wooded nature of the Tamar valley. The river is just visible through the trees at the bottom of the photograph (about 150 feet below). The  conical hill to the right in the background is a hill fort, Carthamartha. These hill forts are the remnants of a line of defensive fortifications guarding the points where the Tamar can be forded easily.

a Spring walk 1

The mallard squadron returns. Two drakes and a female showing off their fancy specula (?). the speculum (in birds) is a bright patch of coloured feathers on the upper wing (see link), purple in the drakes and blue in the females.

Up in Greenscombe meadows there is little evidence of any meadow flowers yet, except for a few solitary daffodils that indicate what these meadows were used for many years ago.

Lammerhooe

the Tamar below Lammerhooe, in its flood plain and calming down a bit before tomorrow's torrential rain

Bridge farm to Horsebridge, land not yet owned by rich banker

Noah where are you 2

and the scene at Horsebridge this afternoon, Royal Inn still accessible but you may need to go now if you want a pint before Christmas.

floodtime

the turbulent Tamar at Horsebridge today. It is already breaking its banks and if it rains as much as is forecast tonight it will flood tomorrow. It is a powerful force when in spate.

winter time is here

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

tamar valley news

I only show again this unusual picture of our beloved river Tamar looking unusually blue to provide an opportunity to advertise a BBC programme on the valley which manages to capture some of the essence of the beautiful place we live in (minus the mispronunciation of the place names) and which lies at the heart of this blog. The village of Gunnislake mentioned in the programme lies across the ridge at the top, and Cotehele is the building below the woods to the left of the picture. I am not sure if visitors from outside UK will be able to access the film but if you can it is well worth watching.

link to BBC programme

Tutwell

the little hamlet of Tutwell, where Uncle Max was born, Dartmoor in the distance. Tutwell sits on the top of the Tamar valley. In the panorama below it is to the left, and a little hamlet called Townlake in Devon on the other side of the valley is visible to the right. As usual the photo has suffered from making it fit onto the blog page!

Pentillie

Pentillie Castle is an interesting place not unlike its better known cousin Cotehele. It has a strange history (see link). The top picture is of old squireTillie  sat in his mausoleum. I felt like calling the picture below the sermon on the mount, but in fact it is the Saltash walkers listening attentively to David Readman. It was very congenial, even if Spot was not allowed to join in! More AONB events at this link.

Pentillie

the river at Tamar at Pentillie castle, looking down river towards Weir Quay (for photo up river in blog see this link). Pentillie House is on the extreme right of this photo. It has been much reduced to fit it on the blog page! Full version is in picasa web album (see link to right)

Morning has broken

The clocks have gone back so we caught the early morning sun bathing the mists in the river valleys below on our first walk along our favourite lane since yesterday. What a difference a day can make in the sense of things. One person, three dogs and the spirit of the fourth poddling along behind us. Everyone is very quiet now that the leader of the pack has gone.

last of the summer wine

a comma warming up on an apple at Old Solomon's Farm, Latchley, and below the view looking up river towards Old Solomon's farm (on the Cornish side) and Weir cottage to the right on the Devon side. At long last the weather has turned warm and fine, just as we are heading off to Canada. Spot and the rest of the OHG will be house sitting for us with Ruth so this will be the last blog for a couple of weeks.

cowslip corner

cowslips growing in abundance at Kingsmill farm (a very good place to stay if you are interested in the flora and fauna of the Tamar valley, see link)

 and it has been a very very good year for dandelions

steam gets to Cotehele

steam arrives at Cotehele this morning ... parking outside the pub of course (well, tea room now).