pond life

water is appearing in new places everywhere at the moment. A new waterfall has appeared (visible through the trees just above H's head in the photo) from water flowing out of old mine workings. Some frog spawn has appeared (quite late this year despite the mild temperatures) with an unidentified predator.

frost tricks

the magical frost sticks are back (see previous pages and this link). This was a surprising find because it has not been that cold and there was no frost on the ground at all. The ice crystals must be the product of an unusual combination of air temperature and saturated vapour pressure in the still air of the sheltered river valleys. The picture below shows butterbur beginning to flower, this is very early indeed based on past years at this spot where it normally comes intop flower towards the end of February. The  ground has been scoured clean by the floods over the Christmas period. It may be that that butterbur likes a good soaking. At this point where the Inny runs into the Tamar the flood waters can reach 3 or 4 meters above normal, and very large trunks etc can be found well above river level. The volume of water involved in these floods is massive.

drawn in the valley

a couple of images from the studio of a local artist, Mel Guy (see link for more), which magically capture in pewter the rhythm and laminar flow of the Tamar, plus one photographic image of the water which illustrates the visual synergy of metal and water to be found in her work.



Her studio was open as part of an event arranged by Drawn to the Valley, a group of local artists, and part of the ever flourishing artistic scene in the SouthWest. Martin Clark is another member of this group, who lives in Stoke Climsland and paints many local scenes. Aren't we lucky.

flow

this picture captures better than most the hectic flow in our little babbling brooks. My friend Brian , who occasionally makes an appearance in the comment columns as the Rationalist, and who is, I have just learnt, the celebrated author of the seminal work on de-umbilification, drew my attention to a passage in the Book of Silence by Sara Maitland which I want to quote in its entirety because it describes what we seek on our walks and occasionally find.

" And there, quite suddenly and unexpectedly, I slipped a gear, or something like that. There was not me and the landscape, but a kind of oneness: a connection as though my skin had been blown off. More than that - as though the molecules and atoms I am made of had reunited themselves with the molecules and atoms that the rest of the world is made of. I felt absolutely connected to everything. It was very brief, but it was a total moment."

For me these moments seem timeless, and above all I feel present and deeply interconnected, the boundaries have dissolved, but it is wordless, pre-verbal; and Spot shares this with me. It is not thought free, in fact it feels deeply thoughtful but wordless, unconstructed, unlabelled. I think it must be how we thought before we used names to crystallise out the world around us, and perhaps is similar to the inner mental space of other creatures like Spot.

down at Downderry 2

Spot and Max under the soft cliffs at Downderry that are fast eroding into the sea, watching the gulls body surf, dreaming of being Jonathan Livingston SG himself. These days most gulls seem to hang out on farmland or close to take-away fast food outlets. I guess these are the nostalgic ones who like the occasional dip by the shore, the lonely sea and the sky.... and a star to steer them by.

at the rock face

intricate and mysterious imagery from the quarry at Kit Hill. It looks like a natural (wild) version of a Japanese garden, or vice versa

flood doggling

maybe Spot and co knew something we didn't because the rain was torrential this afternoon. The scene at Beals Mill was one of devastation. No one can remember floods like this before. And then the sun came out.

water falls

not ice but water, a small waterfall near Broadgate

Inny daffodils again

for me this is an enduring image that epitomises something about this quiet little bit of Cornwall, something restful and loveable and endlessly satisfying.

(painting by paintshop pro XI ... I wish I could paint like that myself. Perhaps it does count as creative painting but just in a different way that anyone can achieve)

global freezing

Spot wants to know where we would stop if we could control global warming. For example would we allow northern Europe to freeze over if we could return the Sahara desert to fertile grasslands? And who would decide?

more images from a Sunday morning walk

ice and water; quartz veins in the bed of the Inny.

flowing past

a soothing image of the Tamar flowing past on a sunny day

Kit Hill quarry

It was a very still day.

And please note you can get a guided tour to see the heath fritillary in June (16/06) (see previous post with excellent pictures)

flowing

a water picture shown solely because I like water pictures, especially from the Tamar

trout rising

leaving only a trace of a ripple spreading through the reflections on the river; an instant in the fabric of space and time.

wood anenomes

the first wood anemones are appearing by the stream between Latchley and Luckett about three weeks earlier than last year (see link). Along with plastic bottles, plastic bags, polystyrene containers and any other garbage worth chucking out of your car.

Spot fishing

contemplating a death defying leap across this raging torrent

quicksilver

the river flowing like quicksilver this evening

streaming

more images of the streams in Greenscoombe woods, and one of the water with the light giving it an almost crystalline appearance.

the flow

water is about all there is to photograph at present. These woodland streams run down to the Tamar at Luckett and are usually very quiet little glades but have become very lively following the torrential downpours we have experienced recently.