Eccentric Amblings and Ramblings From Gnat Bottomed Towers

The conditions haven't always played ball for the trap this month and so we've only put it out a couple of times. With being rank amateurs we're still learning what might work best so there has needed to be some tweaking and rethinking. It is also still quite early in the season. However, I have now seen my first Chestnut Moth.  Arilx

 Isn't it amazing how you can redo recent walks, but with a friend this time and be shown completely different stuff. A fresh pair of eyes and all that.  Friend E joined me for this seven miler [plus a couple of coffee breaks] and was raring to go out and explore. Although she lives nearby she hasn't been into the town in yonks and basically she said anything we did would be fine. She was just so excited to be out of her village😆 So without further ado and with no repeats here's another selection unearthed by the pair of us. I pass these wonderfully patterned chimneys at least once a week if not more, but I haven't paid them a huge amount of attention until now. It was quite a pleasant surprise to find that each one is differently patterned. Naturally I couldn't stop at just the one photo.....they are on a rather magnificent building that now stands in the middle of a rather up market housing estate. Originally Tan Bridge House was a family home for the Olivers wit

From another stroll with my friend H last weekend along the disused railway line which used to run from Horsham to Guildford [axed by Beeching in June 1965]. Nowadays it's been converted into a locally popular public path called The Downs Link. I've walked along different stretches in the past few few months, but this route was a new one for me. This amble started out from the village of Rudgwick [yes my second visit this month....still doin' that local yokel thang until I can travel freely again😄] and took us out to Baynards where the original station and platforms are still standing.  It's now privately owned and has been sensitively restored. You can see the platforms from the path, but there is a notice asking people not to share photos of it online as it their home.  It has featured in different films and if you've ever seen the Poirot episode "The Hollow" it's apparently in that.   There are however, other remnants in the public domain that I ca

 This still makes me laugh. The Trotters at their finest! Have a fabulous weekend! Arilx

 You would think that as a fellow who spends his working hours making things out of wood the last thing Mr GBT would want to do in his spare time is do more of the same. Ah well there you'd be wrong...in the 30+ years we've been partners he has always been busy designing and/or making something and more often than not it's out of wood. Somebody has cut back several of the bushes near us on the main road and left a tempting pile of logs....somebody else might have bought one or two home with him from his daily meander. Now we have scattered as part of some informal log piles we've created for the wee beasties and these ones he's drilled holes into to make some more bee hotels. They're attached to the new trellis he made a week or so ago. More recently I caught him with a piece of paper and pencil in his hand secretly sketching. He disappeared into the workshop and then reappeared muttering darkly about how he needed more wood [we've got loads, but it's al

  When I was working yesterday I happened to look up and see a blue tit tugging for all its worth at what looked to be a worm from where I was standing. This rather puzzled me as I didn't think I'd seen this behaviour before. Looking again I could see that what it was actually doing was tugging away at a particularly stubborn thread of moss in the lawn. Intrigued I watched it for a moment as it quickly gathered a beakful of downy material and flew away. I carried on and within a minute or so it was back again, repeating the same process. This time I stopped to track where it was going and to my delight saw it fly into my client's nestbox that she has on the back wall by her kitchen window. As my client came through I commented in passing about enjoying watching the little bird and how hard it was working. She was so excited as she hadn't known and said how much she will enjoy being able to watch their antics. She is 92 years young with an incredible zest for life. I hop

I have gone all out on the litter front this week. The "Adopt-a-street" litter picker got a dusting off [our road has very little litter so doesn't need doing all that often thankfully] and a quick whip round soon got it all licked back into shape. The wind had lifted some of the contents of a skip in the carpark so that was seen to and it produced a nice fat wodge of clean bubblewrap which came home with me. Mr GBT will soon use that up for his orders! Due to my ever changing work pattern I have continued to sort the bottle top recycling we receive for Sussex Green Living [free Terracycle schemes] in my garage. It might sound a bizarre way to spend one's free time, but actually it's surprisingly meditative. Everything's become hugely popular over the last couple of years and we have long since passed the point where I could still do it on my own and these days there's a whole bunch of lovely volunteers called the Wombles [I called them it originally for t

  Someone just couldn't resist the temptation of adding their stamp to the wet mortar could they! It did make me and my friend chuckle when we went past. She walks that route regularly, but because it's on the end of a low wall, she hadn't seen it before. All the best for a terrific Monday. Arilx

Indeed. I am that left field person.  Have a fabulous weekend folks. Arilx

Shots from my last two Friday doorstep wanders around different parts of my local town of Horsham. As ever many are just the random extra details that make my explorations just that bit more special and give me a greater appreciation of what's on my home turf. Much as I am looking forwards to go further afield these trips have been enriching and enlightening. This is one of several pargetting panels on the outside of an Indian restaurant. The seahorses are rather glorious. One day I'll ask Mr GBT to take some better close-ups so that I can really take in the detail. These tufted ducks are some of the regulars to be found on the nearest pond to us. There is so much pressure round here due to excessive building [we are in very real danger of losing 30% of our green space imminently] I was thrilled to read that the local residents who live round this pond and the common took matters into their own hands. The land came up for sale and they clubbed together and bought it at auction

 A rustic ramble round Rudgwick and Rowhook with sights to see and mud to march through. Yes that just about sums it up. We were treated to sunshine and one short shower whilst we tried out this newly added Fancy Free walk  https://fancyfreewalks.org/ Arilx