Friday 31 July 2015

St Justinian to Abercastle

A lovely sunny walk with superb views along the coast and good wildlife.
The Mill at Trevine and Careg Sampson.

Linnet; grey seal; comma and mating emperor dragonflies. 

Thursday 30 July 2015

St Justian - Pen Berry- St David's headland - St Justinian

What a lovely varied round walk. Footpaths, lanes, ponds, tracks and coastal footpath (16 miles).
Common blue and painted lady - among many butterflies in the lanes.
Towards Pen Berry; St David's head; Carn Lidi and towards Ramsey in the sunshine. 

Common blue damselfly; common darter; emerald damselfly and black-tailed skimmer.

Wednesday 29 July 2015

Choughs and Corn marigolds.

Lovely to have seven choughs accompanying us as we dropped down into Porthgain and then a golden treat of marigolds on our return to Abereiddy.



Abereiddy to Porthgain

A lovely walk along the coast and then back across the headland.

Abereiddy for graptolites.

What a superb day - started off finding lots of graptolites on the beach - much of the car park has disappeared since we were last here - torn away by winter storms over the past few years. 

Graptolites; the beach and the blue lagoon - where the sea came into the slate mine.







Tuesday 28 July 2015

Porthclais to Caerfai

Continuing today's walk....
Peacock; chough; rose chaffer...and views. 

St Justinian to Porthclais

A lovely sunny and breezy day: gannets feeding with dolphins; glimpse of a peregrine; fantastic coastal heath.
Gannets and Grassholme on the distance.


Ling and dwarf gorse; dodder and bindweed.


Monday 27 July 2015

Tynewydd - Porthselau - St Justinian

A 7.5 hour journey down to Pembrokeshire to hurriedly pitch the tent before the promised gales arrive. Then a breezy walk around the St Justinian headland. Fantastic typical flowers.

The post box was great - I started to peel a piece of masking tape off the front, to make a better photo,
but got buzzed off  by several bees - it was clearly inhabited! 

Saturday 25 July 2015

Potfest in the Park 2015

A super morning at Potfest in the Park, Penrith. Good to talk to so many stall holders - thanks for advice and inspiration. So here are some compilations!

Cups, vessels and animal sculptures.

Textural pieces.

Friday 24 July 2015

Bowness Common NNR

A lovely walk up to Rogersceugh Farm and to the Lily pond. Good view of a barn owl and a fresh hatching of small tortoiseshells - the thistles were certainly attracting the insects.
Meadow brown; cattle; large drone fly; sneezewort; longhorn beetle - strangalia quadrifasciata; brambles and the lily pond. 

Glasson Moss Nature Reserve, near Wigton, Cumbria

A lovely afternoon trying to photograph dragonflies!
Mating pair of black darters; large red damselfly; immature southern hawker
and  male four-spotted chaser.


Varied habitats on the moss. 

Thursday 23 July 2015

Rocky's day on the Dry Gill shales

What a happy dog!

High Pike and Dry Gill shales

A lovely walk up High Pike via the Dry Gill shales. Lots of shiny minerals to find and a rather poor specimen of trilobite - well the head anyway. On the summit of High Pike there was a good expanse of Thamnolia ( an upland specialist - not that common in the Lake District) and also a 'high level' wasp feeding on the thyme flowers. On  the way down - a lovely emperor moth caterpillar feeding on bilberry.
Carrock Fell; looking over Bowscale tarn and a view from High Pike over Caldbeck.


Top left - copper
Top right- mimetite - campylite - green barrel shaped crystals that are mainly lead based and associated with quartz, apparently Dry Ghyll is a world famous site for these! 
Bottom right - trilobite head.
Lichen fruiting bodies; thamnolia; wasp on thyme and a fabulous emperor moth caterpillar.



Double summer moth trap

Last night we put out two moth traps and were able to compare the results. On the front of our property - which is quite open and faces north over the Solway plain - the highlights were, buff tip; peppered moth; gold spangle; poplar hawk and many swallow-tailed moths. At the back of the property - in a sheltered and some what over grown vegetable/flower garden the highlights were, peach blossom; antler moth; marbled minor; elephant hawk and barred yellow. In total we had 50 species which is only 2 less than last year at this time.
Garden tiger; buff tip; lesser swallow prominent; dark arches ( f.aethiops) and light arches.

Garden tiger scales! 

Wednesday 22 July 2015

Textile cards

A day making cards.....apologies for the poor lighting in the photos!


Sunday 19 July 2015

Greenhouse guttering, silver birch bonsai

Over the last 5 years, a silver birch has  been growing in our greenhouse guttering. Due to the lack of space for it's roots, the tree has naturally miniaturised. Tom extracted it and potted it in a bonsai pot- lets hope it survives! 
The silver birch in a bonsai pot.

Friday 17 July 2015

Thursday 16 July 2015

Summer moths in Cumbria

Finally we have decent weather- and the moths have come with it. With 37 species we are still a bit behind last year's 16th July figures of 62 species.

Clouded border; light emerald; barred yellow; garden tiger; burnished brass; barred straw and a plain golden y

Monday 13 July 2015

Felt balls installations

With an exhibition about to start at Mae's tea rooms in Uldale, I'm pulling things together to mount these felt balls.
Ammonite ball ; seaballs ; Xanthoria-lichen ball ; Sea urchins.

Sunday 12 July 2015

Mawbray - space for a hurtle!

A lovely bright and fresh day with the dogs at Mawbray....a natterjack ...and then chips at Allonby!



Wednesday 8 July 2015

Silk paintings as cards

With the forthcoming exhibition up at Mae's tearooms Uldale - here are the newest cards.

Sunday 5 July 2015

Sprays of dog rose.

The dog roses along our road are just coming out - it promises to be a spectacular week!

Sweetheart Abbey, Dumfries

Founded in 1273 it was the last Cistercian abbey to be founded in Scotland.

Saturday 4 July 2015

Complete coastal hunter gatherer course in south-west Scotland

Over the last week Tom's been on the complete coastal hunter gatherer course run by the Coastal survival school (http://coastalsurvival.com/bushcraft-courses/complete-coastal-hunter-gatherer)
He thoroughly enjoyed it and was buzzing with ideas and experiences when he came back. The whole experience was fab and the food - well I'm waiting for the fish stews, soups and chilli!
The guys who ran it were brilliant; very supportive and knowledgeable (run by Fraser Christian). Thanks lads!
Willow crab trap; a variety of oak and blackthorn hooks on nettle cordage.

Bass; working the lines; preserving the fish above the fire; shanny (which was not eaten!);
 starry-eyed smooth hound; dog fish; bass; dover sole.