Ways of Seeing

We would concur with David Attenborough when he says

“It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement; the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.”

but it can be hard to take the concentration to become immersed in the detail of that beauty and excitement.

The jottings on this blog show how we use the camera to focus our own attention. Wandering round today…

… on shape

and complexity

On structure

and symmetry

On pattern

and texture

On light

and tone

On distance

and proximity

On colour

and viscosity

We know well that looking while putting marks on paper forces an even greater level of examination but where is the time, where is the confidence…?

Today this man helped us achieve something that has been on our good intentions list for…. year and years

He has a way of saying its all right and a way of reminding how important it is.

So today we spent a little while looking in the same direction

but seeing different things

You can see him here

and even share your marks here

Orange on Red

First thing this morning

an Orange Tip (not showing much orange)

having a snooze

on the Red Oak (not showing much red)

Wing

and Leaf

Indoor Gardening

A polytunnel is an enclosed little world where we can ignore the unkempt outside beds and pretend we are organised

although the growth round the pond thinks otherwise

This acer is coming into delicate leaf

while the cherry has done blossom, and is now on to leaves & fruit

The carnivorous plants arrived last year

and are coming back to life after the winter

Peas on the way

Plus, having gathered the eggs

It is a good place for an afternoon break

Meanwhile, outside the bees (not ours) are busy in the berberis

Making Babies in the Spring

Making Babies in the Spring should be easy but…

The Rabbit who should be producing isn’t and the one who is not due for another two weeks is doing some crazy nest building

The Cayuga eggs in the incubator have failed but Cagney, the Muscovy, is determined to sit. As she has been successful before we give her some eggs

and hope to slip a few Cayuga eggs to add to her collection in a few days time as they have a shorter incubation time.

Broody hens normally get put in the Naughty Box but Claire has also succeeded in the past so we set her up in a maternity unit

We had to visit the bees again today

only for them does reproducing seem super-organised

Another Day of Life and Death

We have more Orange-Tips around this year, this one was filling up on the Aubrieta

could be because our Jack-By-The-Hedge is spreading

the food plant of the caterpillars.

A Large White joins in on the Aubrieta

while a Green-Veined White prefers the Forget-Me-Nots

Time for the first look at the bees

who seem very busy

and multiplying

We notice the Wood-sorrel for the first time

admire the Magnolia is it unfurls

and watch the slow decline of the recycled tulip

We have also been watching, with a proprietorial feeling, the progress of a juvenile blackbird as it quickly progressed from dependent to cocky adolescent. So it was a bit disappointing to see it fall prey to the Sparrowhawk, who wasn’t even able to stay and get a proper meal out of it.

Plant Trees Now

Gribin Isaf falls roughly into three zones

Garden and Vegetables, “Wood”, and Meadow (with pigs, hens, ducks, lake…)

“Wood” has those quotes because it is in reality a very small area

even the nearest bit in this view is over the lane from us.

Twenty-five years ago it was all bare fields, like the ones that still surround us. But our predecessors, by starting to plant trees, changed a small field which you could glance across into a complex enchantment.

As seen today:

The young Elm planted by our grandson at Christmas is showing leaf

The wonderful Beech buds

A Yew in the first 5% of its potential life

The birds are drawn in…

Chiffchaffs

Flycatchers

… and Sparrowhawks

Owls?

they roost but yet known to nest

You can almost like Laurals when in flower

the Lime glows

and even a corner for shaving and turning

So, although we are still developing the Meadow third of the plot, a sliver of it has been planted with trees

and recommend that the best thing to do right now is to plant a few trees (well, it might be a bit late this year but start planning)

Salad Days

It still seems remarkable how tiny little things

can turn into food

All seasons can be salad days

Bert dreams of his Salad Days

Birthday Expedition

Once a year, on April 21st, we step over the boundary of Gribin Isaf and go on a Birthday Expedition

up the hill.

So, fortified by a hearty Birthday Breakfast consisting of our first harvest of the year

we packed our Birthday Lunch

and set off.

The hedgerows are erupting…

Stitchwort

Primroses

Celendine

Violets

and, rather surprisingly this early, Bluebells

One exciting thing about an annual journey out of station is seeing birds that don’t venture on our plot…

Skylarks

and a bird which has nested at Gribin Isaf

a Redstart

Another thing about leaving home is being able to look down and see it

When we got to the top Jessie had to cool off

When got home again Jessie had to cool off

So at the end of the day, as the light shines through some of our newly planted trees

we look forward to a Birthday Dinner

49 degrees of sunlight

After brief weekend moistness today has been back to non-stop sun

But today’s sun only reaches 49 degrees above the horizon

a different angle to where it will be in two months time

So this April light slants through bringing unexpected highlights to shady places:

The Tulipomania

We are experiencing a bit of Tulipomania

a flower sometimes abused in municipal massed ranks

needs to be experienced up close as an individual

The same flower changes by the time of day and the type of light

[This tulip has an interesting provenance. When at the re-cycling centre we realised we had inadvertently brought a worm beneath the plastic bags. Asking the attendant for a bit of earth with which to transport the worm safely home we were offered a wooden trough. The worm safely brought back to its own turf the trough was abandoned outside the greenhouse. And then this white tulip emerged…]

The leaves are not as simple as they seem either

It is a name that even other plants like to steal

as in the case of our “Black Tulip” magnolia

So we are valuing our tulip time

in the manner of Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder

(who we keep in the kitchen)

and not in the manner of those mocked by his contemporary Jan Brueghel the Younger