HAIL THE DAY

Now, forgive me for going on about expected rain, we had it today again , but in frozen form ... hail. First I woke to the sounds of the cheeky sparrows! They are nesting in the eves next door and oh boy are they trumpeting their success, telling all the nearby world how chuffed they are, drowning out the blackbirds and our strangely silent normally jocular jackdaws. Today being Friday it was Alan the Milk day. Not that he and his wife don't deliver the rest of the week, but on Fridays they also sell fruit and veg. So we got our weeks worth of green, healthy produce, then headed out with the dog, just as the hail came in full force.

 But, luckily for us there was a break in the stones from the sky and just time to espy >>>
this chocolate coloured ewe with twins, one white and one black.
Now, given the fact that the ram has to be one of these two ... 





one wonders whose genes are whose?
Meanwhile Ffin was investigating a rabbit burrow, deeply sniffing down one of the two holes in the bank, but ... what was he scenting?

 

 Close inspection of the deep entrance, and you can just see the soft rabbit down in front of the hole, but what you cannot see clearly is the fox paw prints in the fresh earth, I wonder who had a lucky night, Reynard or Rabbit?

We headed back as a westerly front headed in and just got back to the car in time as yet more hail pelted us with ferocity. The drive back home was noisy! Having sheltered indoors and had a rest in the afternoon we went down to the Docs and just not far from the surgery a welcome sight, promising summer fruits when the sun warms the earth ... wild strawberries and round here, they grow in their thousands. Mmmm!

A sight like this is enough to cheer any hail pelted soul, with thoughts of warmer weather!

STONE WALLING

Now, as you can see I mean a stone wall but also delaying tactics too. This is a boundary between farm land and commons. Not in the best state of repair, but I love it and I'm going to ask you to join me as I share with you some of my favourite parts of it ...

 this is why I refer to delaying tactics because, the we were promised three days at least of rain but we've had it heavily (and noisily) during the nights. So... to make the most of the blue and cloudy skies I took my time splodging gently along in the wet rushes with my other constant companion, my camera. The dog tried his best to attract my attention but, getting fed up, he went off exploring muddy puddles.
Now I have over the years trogged along a lot of our local walls and it is interesting to see the difference between one man's work and another's. Be it simply in the lay of the stone or, repair work done in later years.

 These weather worn old posts not only help keep the the stones in place but also provide anchorage for the later addition of metal fencing, though as  you can see, that too is in a state of rusted disrepair. The fence all along this wall is in dire need of renewal and ... I am sure that given time the son taking over from his dad will attend to the problem. But I don't want to take photo's of new shiny steel and freshly tanalised wood because I just love the oddities to be captured as it is now. Don't get me wrong but I do want to see renewal in my farming community, but I also want to capture on camera, the way it has been.

 I also love the tiny details, such as this lichen <<< on old wood, you would not find that growing on new fence posts with their modern preserving techniques. This, may not be old fashioned black and white photography, but still the images are of a time of change as the landscape evolves. One day all this may be renewed, but meanwhile this old weather worn wall with it's time decayed fence posts, holding in the stone is there to be caught on camera. Few people I know would pay so much attention to detail, but this is how it is now. I also look forward to the changes as new young enthusiasm takes over the old and regenerates this wonderful landscape.

These images will not be there for much longer, as new farming blood changes the landscape with the renewal of boundary fences to keep their flocks safe. One only has to witness the curiosity of young lambs (as seen the other day) to realise that barriers are there to be challenged and ... oft times broken. So ... my meandering, seemingly time wasting efforts to capture these details is not entirely wasted.

Already some of the photo's I took years ago show a time of change and regeneration, and ... I am glad of that because it means that this area is not dead, but alive and, at the moment thriving, all be it by the nearest of margins.

 Yes ... farmers had to make do and mend by using other folks discarded gates to provide protection for their sheep getting penned in at lambing or inoculating time, but they were truly recyclers of their age because they had to be, it kept their flocks safe and if it used a discarded garden gate, then that was good use of the old, though maybe some small doors are no longer used for the purpose of letting sheep out onto the mountain as in the years before.

but one thing never changes, our farmers keep a close eye on the weather!

WATER & WASTE.

  Just after the hail hit hard last night, the heavens opened to drench us with much needed rain ... so heavy at times through the night that it kept me awake, so we slept in late.
It may seem strange, but to don waterproofs and wellies and go splodging about in the new wetness was fun. Despite the lack of sun, small details stood out, clearly defined.

 Areas that had been dry and grass looking somewhat winter starved seemed to have drunk deeply and seemed fresher and greener for the overnight drenching and the damp fleeced sheep seemed content. So much rain had fallen overnight that recently dry watercourses were freely flowing. The whole area just seemed to be smiling, even with more rain promised from the drizzly grey clouds overhead. We were wet but happy as we waded through the newly formed pools and rivulets that ran freely again across the moors, 

 it all looked so clean and fresh, except ... for a residual problem, a food related one ...

 Now, this bag marked "Farm Food" contains food wrappers, be it bottle, tins, plastic or paper. It is full of discarded litter from a mere half mile of mountain road. Now the better half, cannot stand the sight of this litter and picks it all up and bags it, then sorts it out into what is recyclable and what aint. The worst half cusses and swears like a trooper at the ignorant gits that spoil our lovely landscape, but on the whole, most of this bag contains glass, tins and plastic, so goes into the recycling bin behind the old church. At least two kind, caring souls have treated one of the benches to a brand new weatherproof coat, so it was good to sit in a "dryish" break, rest the weary hips and legs and look out at the freshly watered flowers.

Then we took a small walk across the field to look across the changing skies above the valleys, just as a brief hour of sunshine highlighted the heights and lows of the landscape below us. One type of waste at least will be recycled into future new growth, and with the sun on the fallen beech leaves I just couldn't resist this ... 

It sort of reminds me of the chartist figure of last week, though I doubt there are a million beech leaves in the shadow of this well washed figure of a photographer!

WINDY & STICKS

Yesterday I wrote about looking forward to days ahead of rain, well today it did, but in disappointing drifts and drabs, but now as I sit didgiting this, hail is hitting the windows. 

Frozen rain!!

But earlier today as the clouds scudded across the sky, it was windy, and I mean gusty.

Enough to blow the bright blue corrugated roofing almost off this farmers sheep shed. The noise of the sections flapping in the tempestuous gusts could be heard for at least a mile.

I took the above photo as I was on a hunt ... for a certain straight length of ash sapling. I've had my eye on a particular one for some years now, watching it grow by the side of the road, I also know a fellow stick maker had his eye on it too. Well ... next time he looks all he will see is this freshly cut stump! At the moment my stick doesn't look that much ...

as you can see by the said cut length leaning against on of my favourite gates, but ... give it time, at least a year when the wood is slowly cured and then cut to size and it should make quite a nice stick, as will the hazel to the right, which is now no longer growing, as it added my second cut of the day and is currently amongst other woods curing at home.

A third addition to my collection today was a rather fine thick holly, just beyond the gate. So I added three new potential sticks to my collection today, thanks to no rain today.

Now ... I don't make standard sticks as seen winning at shows like the Royal Welsh, I like mine to be a bit quirky (no surprise there then!) Some of the sticks I use regularly have  little bends in them because I like the way they feel more comfortable in my hand whether I'm going up hill or down, they have different holds to suit the inclines. I also don't make standard horn headed, crook or thumb sticks. But I have collected odd "knobbles" of wood, usually beech because of the odd ways they grow. I'm quite proud of the fact that my Dad regularly uses one of my "Knobble sticks" as he finds it the most comfortable and secure. Dad is doing well since I've returned, doing more and more each day which is brille news! We catch up on each others news every day and he really has been doing amazingly well after the many tough months that he has been through. 

But I shall leave you with one final oddity seen today, which amused me a lot ... a farmer with a sense of humour put this find on top of a fence post and as the tin pot states ...

 it was indeed "Tea Time" I was tired and ready to head home to the warmth and comfort indoors from a hail and rainy night, my new sticks starting a long curing process.

I'm ready for a bath a bit of television about scandalous Romans and then bed!

LOW LEVELS

  Having checked out the weeks weather forecast (rain coming in for the rest of the week) hooray!! Yes, I really mean that, we, like other areas of the country ... need lots of it.

 I took Ffin to The Canyon, a steep sided gorge that once saw very active mining activity, the remains of which can still be seen. If you look at the rock on the left you can clearly see the washed up detritus is almost four feet above the level of where the water is <<< now.

Ffin just loves swimming in the this area of water >>>

 diving in off the edge into the deep, clear depths and then having emerged, trying to shake the excess all over me, but it gives his coat a good clean out and he ends up with a dry, gleaming, sweet smelling coat after returning through the forest.

After the concentration of sun on the canyon floor it is lovely to go along sun speckled paths, littered with the remnants of squirrel nibbled pine cones littering the needle strewn forest floor. Now ... I'm still a big kid at heart and I still find great pleasure and wonderment in the beauty of natures complexity and simplicity. The fact that a small seed may start to sprout in the earth and grow a new plant be it a small, year old Scots pine as seen here amongst the sun dried crevices of sphagnum moss and lichen patterned rock ...

 or that a similar sized seed may one day grow into a giant redwood or sequoia. Amazing!

All need water to nourish and grow and as the pasture here is short for this time of year ...

the ewes and the lambs will need the days of long grass ahead too. So, come on the rain!!!

BRASHING ABOUT

Only yesterday I was telling you about an area of forest getting replanted after years of being lain waste. This area is owned by a local farmer who planted Sitka Spruce when he was 22 years  and last year he saw this Spruce stand harvested ... 45 years later. The machine that did the work was just amazing to watch. Each living tree was cut, turned on it's side, stripped of  branches and bark and cut into lengths all within a single minute! Then his co-worker took the poles away and stacked them by the main road for huge transporters to take them away. It all took just a few days to clear it, leaving behind the brashings (branches, twigs etc) to die down and for the sun to get into the soil. In the time I've been away, they have gathered the brashings into lines of windbreaks and as I discovered today, replanted hundreds of tiny young trees.The son, in his thirties now has worked hard but will be 70+ by the time he reaps the rewards of the effort of father and son. But what has been left behind will slowly return to the earth, though some of it attracts a wood loving collie ... who likes to play with the bigger chunks left behind ...

 he was totally engrossed and determined to try and get this large lump of stump home with him. Which gave me chance to explore the area more. We've walked through this area many times, during

.

summer evenings when the Sitka pines gave cooling shade and the cool flowing water under this old wooden bridge gave the hot dog a drink. Now as you can see, the whole area is responding to the light and is greening where for years there was a thick brown carpet of pine needles.

Unlike the saplings in the Commission forest (only a few miles away and therefore getting the same weather) these have been planted in moist hollows with the protection of the piled brashings and are thriving. Yet oddly enough it was the Forestry Commission that dictated how these young trees all the way from America, had to be planted. It seems a bit a bit of a contradiction in forestry management put into practice!

These young trees will grow tall and strong and the needles when infused in wine vinegar make a lovely salad dressing, though not to everyone's taste as it is quite a strong flavour.

Meanwhile father and son are busy not just with lambing time, which is nearly over for all our local farmers but also with calving. Like lambs calves are inquisitive and eager to sniff at the photographer on the other side of the wall ...  

whilst their mams looked on

and the father of them all was gently nuzzling up to a cow, seemingly without a calf

He's a fine looking feller and so are his progeny, when they'e not making faces at me!

NEW GROWTH

This is a lovely time of year

when the old bare trees ^^^ start to sprout new growth ^^^ and everything turns green.
Every day there are pleasures to be treasured when finding the first sighting of newness, especially in an area that for years has seemed to be a neglected area of the forestry.

so,to see, the planting of young trees in amongst the old brashings of a forest cut back years ago, was just wonderful to see. Over the past few years, this area of the forest has just seemed like a dead area of sun bleached pine bones. A seemingly dead space. The Forestry Commission have added an extra touch by planting Rowan Berry seedlings around the outer edges. Years from now, the contrast of foliage and the bright red berry clusters will be wonderful for autumn foraging birds and regular walkers alike.

For me, the real treasure of the day was this pink veined oxalis.

The leaves are edible and have a refreshing, lemony taste, a good addition to salads. Also I spotted the first wild strawberry flowers, so I am looking forward to free fruit salad too!

Meanwhile overhead the deciduous tree canopies are starting to provide shade

such as this sycamore and soon we will have the delicate greens of the beautiful beeches.

there is always something to look forward to.

BIG SKIES

Well the last few days I've woken up to some noisy little critters singing their hearts out,

though I shouldn't really complain, because across Britain their numbers are decreasing ...

Yes, it's that once common bird, the sparrow, and they are nesting outside the bedroom.

This morning I managed to sneak a few photo's of one of them against a clear blue sky, but over the last few days the skies over us have been impressively magestic   ... 

This was taken from the trig point yesterday overlooking the Severn Estuary, I could see

the water clearly, highlighted in the sun's rays and looking like a gleaming mirror.

Our walk took us over the moorland, looking for grouse. Now normally at this time of year there are few sheep out on the mountain, a few barren ewes but to our surprise this bunch came munching into view and seemed as surprised to see us sharing their freedom.

The heather here is just starting to sprout new shoots (good for grouse who feed on it voraciously) but of the common red or the elusive black grouse, neither sight nor sound, just their droppings amongst the scrub. Still the skies above made up for the lack of ground birds as the skylarks sang from their ariel views of all that passed below them as sheep, man and dog trogged through somewhat soggy terrain, getting feet well soaked yet again. Not that these four lambs escaping their mothers minded!

They were playing truant and having fun.

Later in the day we drove up to watch the last of the days skies parade their greatness and as we parked up on a high spot, this is what we were standing on, hail stones >>>

Looking around one could see the weather front moving swiftly over the horizon, with patches of sunlight spotlighting the land beneath in between the clouds delivering rain or hail to other parts of the country. A man on a motorbike set up his tripod unlike my constant pocket companion, he had all the full photographic gear. We left him to his panoramic photo shoot heading homewards but ... just had to stop for these creatures ...

lambs doing what they do best at this time of the year, playing King of the Castle on an old twmp and racing around whilst their mams sagely graze or as in some cases stand gazing across the road, as if wondering what's going on ... 

or like some other adventurous youngsters ... who have escaped to the wrong side of the fence and have found that there is only one way to go, on top of the wall that is at the side of the road. This adventurous trio were so intrigued by what they could sniff at, that they didn't even notice me as I got out of the car to take photographs ..

Just as we got home and shut the door, the thunder and hailstones started again.

So it was a case of warm food, a hot bath and an early night.