Violet-blue

The furthest we have travelled these past few days is over to the hospital, but as ever in amongst all the familiar and local there are many new treats to discover. How about this for an amazing berry colour. Bar a bit of gentle cropping these photos captured what I saw [again at Nymans]. I have never ever seen the like of them before and having asked what they were on FB, I'm told that they are Tasmanian Flax Lily berries.

Hope everyone has a good weekend.

Arilx

It's not been a good year for the roses

I am rather partial to roses, but we gave up trying to keep them alive many years ago. We inherited some when we first bought our house and bought a couple more in the early days, but we were always having to treat them for black spot, aphids and a multitude of other complaints. I am a lazy gardener [even that's stretching the truth a fair bit], but they really were more trouble than they were worth in the end. I'm glad to see that even the NT garden, Nymans, has had issues with theirs. The rose garden there has always been a delight, but they've taken a radical step and grubbed the whole lot out because of disease issues. The plan is to replant in two years. On my last visit all we saw were a series of empty borders, but who could be disappointed with these dreamy beds that are this summer's temporary replacement. Gorgeous.

Arilx

At 6am

 6am last Saturday at the local nature reserve. Sometimes pictures just seem to take themselves.

The reserve isn't usually open so early and nor do I usually get up at 4.45, but this was for a special bird ringing event. Thankfully both my friend Jak and I are natural larks, but I left David at home snoring his head off in bed! The quality of my bird photos is not great, but here's one of a Willow Warbler and one of our second smallest bird, the Goldcrest, which only weighs the same as a 5p piece. They were caught in a net and then brought in dark drawstring bags to keep them calm. The warden handled them at all times and he's trained for 3 years to become a ringer. They are sexed [where possible], coded if they are a fledgling from this year, their wing length is measured and their weight taken before they are taken straight back to the part of the reserve that they are familiar with. The process is very quick and is done on a weekly basis. The info is then logged onto the national database and they are able to tell how far birds are migrating, how long they're living for, breeding success etc. Due to it being a very good year for insects the birds on the reserve have raised lots of successful broods and only 8 out of the 100 bird boxes have stayed empty. Any bird born on the reserve is ringed on the left leg with the unique code to this ringer, but usually countries [bar France] ring birds on the right leg. I learnt so much and saw birds which I'd never be able to see at close quarters under normal circumstances.

What a great way to kick off my weekend....mind you my timing was out for the rest of the day with me thinking that it was far later than it really was😂

Arilx

The Wolves and The Windmill

 'The Wolves and the Windmill' sounds a bit like a European fairy tale, but when you're in Mythago strange portals open for you which can mean spending your weekends in ways you'd never imagine!

These two beautiful creatures are Lady Moonshine and Dr Jones. They are 90% wolf and are part of a pack of nine from Watermill Wolves. Both are socialised [they live inside] so are used to being around the public under controlled conditions, but you respect them and give them space. A few of them have been in films and others are used to help people who have experience trauma. The couple who share their home with them absolutely adore them and are very knowledgeable. A lot of their time is spent running a wolf sanctuary and giving talks about conservation. This was part of a Norse event we were dancing at on Saturday.

In complete contrast we found ourselves up a hill on Sunday at Rottingdean Windmill which is just down the road from Brighton. This time we had been asked along as part of the outside performances for an art installation called Wilde Volk all about the masked traditions of Europe. There were some stunning photos [not shown] and many hand made artefacts on this theme to admire. There is more info on this film which gives more of an overview 

We weren't the only masked entertainment wandering around as later on the Wild Men of Hastings joined us. Some of our newer members have commented on just how amazed they are at what Mythago gets up to. I've never taken it for granted and am still very grateful for the experiences it brings to my door. 

Hope you have a great weekend.

Arilx

Red, white and blue.

Despite the post title suggesting otherwise I promise that I'm not going to be talking about the Union Jack, but this instead- a boat trip that we took from Newhaven out along the East Sussex coast. Didn't we have the perfect day for it and yes the sea really is turquoise. It's down to all the chalk in the water apparently.

We started out from Newhaven and pottered along the coast passing Seaford, Cuckmere Haven and Birling Gap en route with stops for photos. Below we have the famous seven sisters except ongoing coastal erosion now means that an eighth is being formed. Each has its own name- Haven Brow, Short Brow, Rough Brow, Brass Point, Flagstaff Point, Flat Hill, Baily's Hill and West Hill Brow. Our guide told us that the name of the set of hills was coined by the French sailors because they reminded them of the wavy wimples the French nuns used to wear and there was me thinking that it was just as in brothers and sisters! You really get a sense of how tall they are when you're sitting below them at sea level in a rib.

Many will recognise this famous light house at Beachy Head [there's a similar one at the Needles off the Isle of Wight]. It was built in 1902 to replace the Belle Tout one which is still standing, but frankly was never fit for purpose. It was powered by oil to start with, then electricity and these days it's completely solar.

If you squint you might just about be able to make out a Statue of Liberty. There's a group which carried out extreme beach cleans and a local artist called Planksy creates a work of art in situ with any drift wood that they find.

It was a marvellous way to spend an afternoon and very different to anything we've done before. Originally we were due to be going to Cheltenham for a few days in April, but David's illness meant that we had to cancel. Booking time away at the moment is not straightforward as we often don't know what we're doing very far in advance and plans can change quickly so this was our replacement jolly.

Arilx

Caterwauling

 Richard Bassett was the clerk and sexton of Buxted in Sussex for 43 years. I can tell you that he was buried on 20th September 1666. Beyond that I can't tell you any more save for a delicious tidbit which was recorded in the parish register at the time of his death...' whose melody warbled forth as if he had been thumped on the back with a stone'.😂

I gleaned this from 'Old Parish Life. A guide for the Curious' by J Lovill which I borrowed from the library and have just finished reading. It sounds as if it should be as dry as a bone, but if, like me, social history is your thing then it's packed full of fascinating details about the lives of our forebears. People really don't change that much and much of what the author describes is quite surprising shall we say.

Have a good weekend.

Arilx

Caving in

 On a hot a Saturday being down a series of caves which stay at a constant 12C was the perfect place to be. Please don't think for one minute that I have latterly taken up potholing. Heavens forbid no....just a couple of gentle tours led by passionate volunteers round the Reigate Caves. 

As caves go these look quite reassuringly substantial don't they. What you're actually looking at in the shot below are sand mines. That's sand not sandstone. If you gently draw your hand over the surface it feels like a damp sandcastle and the sand tumbles away. It is just moisture holding it together and if it ever dries out Reigate is a goner because basically it's been built on the top of a giant sand dune which is now riddled with holes like a colander.

From the discovery of this Roman tile kiln you can see that these underground passages have been utilised over a long time. From 1740 onwards the sand began to be extracted on a more formal basis and would have been sold on for many uses included scouring. The phrase 'happy as a sand boy' derives from the young lads who wheelbarrowed this sand round the pubs of the day and were paid in beer. Come the end of their working day they would have been fairly relaxed and drunk. The pubs laid the sand across their floors as an alternative to sawdust.

People have also been accessing these caves for a long time unofficially and flytipping all their rubbish. When they were cleared properly a few years ago they found all manner of deitrus including this old meat cooler. It came into its own during the two wars, but one wonders how the residents of the town might have felt had they known that the caves were packed with live munitions during WWI which had been brought down from Arsenal and they were living directly on top of it. During WWII it was used as an air raid shelter and the football rattle was used as an air raid warning alarm. It must have been terrifying.

During times of peace the silver band used to practise down here and the local rifle club still shoot down here. It turns out that it's also rather good for wine and beer storage. One of the original company name remains in one of the outer walls and more recently the local Pilgrim brewery has pressed it back into service. It's also been used as a filmi location and was seen in both the drama series 'Gold' and a BBC documentary about art for which they recreated the stone age hand print with ochre seen in places like Pech Merle [which I was lucky enough to see many years ago].

At the time of the Norman Conquest Reigate didn't exist as a place as such, but it came into the ownership of one William de Warenne who was one of William I's Dukes. The new king parcelled out land to his cronies to keep them onside. This chap found the highest point in the area and the proceeded to build himself a castle upon it. Despite appearances this stone edifice is not it, but an 18th century folly. The original castle has long since fallen and disappeared, but this marks the spot and the so called sallyport [a fortified rear entrance] dating from that time does remain and is now known as the Barons' Cave.

This second cave gets its name from some fanciful story that claims that all the barons met there before travelling over to meet King John and witness him sign the Magna Carta. As an interesting aside he never actually signed in the sense that we would understand it today, but it meant that he added his seal. 

It seems to not have had quite such a remarkable history as the caves we'd seen in the morning, but certainly in more recent years the local groundsmen led paid tours round it. The walls are covered in graffiti and strangely horses heads seem  to be one of the most favoured motifs. It's certainly been used for illegal parties and at one point in time it had half a mini down there. These days it's opened on a few dates a year and maintained by the local caving society. 

We thoroughly enjoyed exploring with the tour guides. As ever they kept us entertained with colourful tales and fascinating snippets.

Arilx