Meanderings and More March Flowers

11 Tue Mar 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in amphibians, fish, Gardening, plants, Rural Diary, Uncategorized, wild birds

Tags

blackthorn, daffodils, fish, frogs, hyacinths, lesser periwinkle, Leycesteria, marsh marigold, miniature iris, nesting, oak, pond, primrose, primula, rooks, rose, spirea, tawny owl, Twilight, viola

I went outside in the twilight this evening to collect my two sunflower seed feeders and bring them indoors. I’ll tell you why later. It was very cold – approaching freezing I should think – but so beautiful. The sky above, a deep blue with stars and a gibbous moon. The western horizon a strange mixture of misty yellow, pink and grey – a typical cold, wintry sunset. The strong NW breeze that had been blowing all day had dropped and everything was almost still and quiet, except for a few blackbirds singing and some pheasants calling across the fields. The largest feeder is hanging from the silver birch tree near the big pond and as I walked down the garden towards it a tawny owl sitting in one of the trees at the end of the garden gave a couple of loud, quavering hoots. I went to look at the pond. It was shining and the surface was a little puckered by the light breeze. It looked like pewter and reflected the trees nearby. Every now and then a ‘plip’ sounded as a fish leapt and rings appeared on the surface – frogs were croaking from the reeds at the far end.

Unfortunately, it was getting too cold to stand out there for much longer and I had the evening meal to prepare so reluctantly I returned to the house.

The rooks have definitely started nesting now. They no longer fly off to their night-time communal roost towards Beccles but are staying with their nests in the rookery. At nesting time they use a different call – almost a bleating sound – and as soon as I hear it I know that spring is here. The reason I collect the sunflower seed feeders in at night is because of the rooks. They descend on the feeders ‘en masse’, just at dawn and any seed left overnight disappears very quickly. I have known them unhook the feeders and take the lid off to get at the seed more easily. The smaller feeder is hanging from a pole stuck in the grass at the front of the house. At this time of year dawn is still quite late, but by May and June with dawn at 3.30am it is not pleasant to be awoken by twenty or more squabbling rooks just outside the open bedroom window. Until I decided to bring the feeders in I was having to get out of bed and shoo them away every few minutes. They soon realised that the noise they were making attracted my attention so they started eating in (almost) silence. Their rookishness always eventually got the better of them and some little ‘whispered discussion’ invariably got out of hand and there I was at the window again. I am a very light sleeper and I began to wake up at the slightest noise outside so something had to be done.

This morning started very overcast and cold but by 10am the clouds were breaking up and the sun coming out. I had some shopping to do so drove to Bungay. Bungay is a little difficult to get around at the moment as it is having lots of new pavements put in and the centre of the town is shut off to traffic. My ankle has been painful recently and I found walking through town difficult. Added to this, I was called ‘dear’ twice within about five minutes and I really object to being called ‘dear’ by strangers. I got home again at 11.30 and put the radio on while I had a cup of tea. Lisa Stansfield was choosing her favourite ~~records~~ tracks I mean (showing my age there!) and one of the ones she chose today was by Sylvester. Listening to this took me back to my youth. My friend W will remember that I used to go out with her brother who had a mobile disco which he ran with a friend. I used to go with them to gigs and help them set up and get the dancing going if it was a bit slow. I could dance for hours without tiring! (This also reminds me of a really good spoonerism I came out with at the time, when telling a friend what I did. I intended saying that I was ‘a roadie and a groupie’ but what I actually said was ‘a rudie and a gropie’). I thought a lot about this while drinking my tea. It didn’t seem that long ago when I was dancing all night with no aches and pains and now, here I was hobbling through town carrying my shopping bag and being called ‘dear’! What would be next, I wondered? Mowing passers-by down with a mobility scooter? Elbowing my way through shoppers to the freezer cabinet in the supermarket and running over their toes with my shopping trolley while they tut-tut and raise their eyebrows to each other over my head? Hmmmm….

To cheer myself up I went out into the garden and took a few photos.

We have a blackthorn tree at the back of the house. It is now in full blossom. The blackthorn at the front of the house is still covered with small tight buds. The temperature at the front of the house is very much lower than at the back and there is often about a weeks difference in flowering times.

Blackthorn tree

Blackthorn blossom

Blackthorn

Bumblebee on blackthorn

This oak tree was given me by my father a year after we moved into this house. He had dug it up from his garden and at the time it was only about nine inches tall. I call it Dad’s oak tree. He died nearly four years ago. A wood pigeon nested in the tree last summer and the shallow nest is still there.

I think this is a marsh marigold. Please correct me someone if I’m wrong. I found it today at the top of a shady ditch near the big pond.

This is of of my newest miniature iris ‘Natascha’. I only planted the bulbs last autumn.

Early daffodils with pretty hanging heads

Early pale daffodils

Perhaps these photos of my Delft Blue hyacinths show up their lovely colours better.

Delft Blue hyacinths

Delft Blue hyacinth

New leaves on the Leycesteria or Pheasant Berry

A self seeded primula in the grass

A yellow viola

Lesser periwinkle

New leaves on R’s spirea

Deer damaged daylilies

New leaves on one of R’s roses

Primroses

March Flowers in my Garden

10 Mon Mar 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in Gardening, plants, Rural Diary, Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Delft Blue hyacinths, flowers, Goldbrook, Hoxne, iris danfordiae, lesser celandine, Rip van Winkle daffodils, scillas, tautology

Looking at the village map of Hoxne that R picked up on Saturday, I see that the little river running through the village is called the Goldbrook Beck. Another example of tautology. A beautiful day today though much cooler than yesterday. We have a strong NE breeze blowing which is drying my washing very well indeed.

While I’m posting I might as well add a couple of flower photos.

Lesser celandines growing in the tub containing my standard bay tree.

Iris danfordiae

The scillas have grown a little!

My very favourite hyacinth of all – a Delft Blue. It isn’t easy to see with this photo, but the outside of the flowerlet buds and the centre of the flowerlets are a wonderful turquoise. The outer part of the petals are a lovely clear blue which darkens with age to the purpley- blue of Delft pottery. I think I like blue flowers best.

Rip van Winkle daffodils

And again

Tubs of tete a tete daffodils outside the house

A Busy Week

10 Mon Mar 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in amphibians, churches, cooking, Gardening, Insects, music, plants, Rural Diary, Uncategorized, walking, wild birds

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Ash Wednesday, Billingford, birds, burdock, church, embroidery, fish, Flixton, food, frogs, Goldbrook Bridge, goldcrest, gorse, Hoxne, ladybirds, Lent, lichen, moss, Norfolk & Norwich Hospital, orange tea bread, pancakes, Porgy & Bess, pulpit, rood screen, RSPB Minsmere, Rumburgh, Shrove Tuesday, St Edmund, St Felix & St Michaels church, St Mary's, tapestry, trees, windmill

This has been such a busy week that I have only had time for two posts.

R had Monday and Tuesday off work and it was so nice to be able to spend more time with him. I always have lots of boring chores to do on Mondays so I rushed through most of them and was ready to go out with R at lunchtime. We decided to go to the RSPB reserve at Minsmere which is about nine miles away. The day was fine and not too cold. We had lunch in the café at the reserve and then walked round the woodland walk. The walk out past the Scrape to the sea seemed a little cold and windswept and we thought that as some damage had been done during the tidal surge in December we would be better off avoiding that walk. It was very pleasant to be visiting during the week instead of at the weekend. It was peaceful and quiet. We didn’t see many birds as we decided not to go into any of the hides and it wasn’t quite warm enough to stand still for long. We did sit on a seat in the sun for a while and watched a goldcrest in the branches above our heads. I tried to take a photo but it flew away and I only got a picture of the lichen-covered branch it had been sitting on.

We saw lots of gorse bushes in flower and tried to smell the flowers (to find out if they do smell of honey) without spiking our noses.

We noticed many fallen trees from all the storms we have had this winter.

I love this picture! Whoooooooooo!!!

A moss tuffet.

Tuesday began with mist and frost but both soon disappeared and the sun came out. R took E to Norwich and they spent the morning there shopping and then had lunch. I had to take Mum to the eye clinic at the Norfolk and Norwich hospital again in the afternoon. She had both eyes assessed and all seemed to be going along well. Afternoons at the hospital are very busy and the carparks are always full. A new carpark, only opened at the end of last year, was nearly full when we arrived and completely full when we left so I think they will have to find some more carparking space before long. It is quite a new building but the architects didn’t make it big enough. It was apparent within a very short space of time after completion that they would have to add to the hospital and they have been adding to it ever since. It is on the outskirts of the city and there is still a little land that can be used for building but not much more, I think. They also assumed that most people would be arriving by bus from the city centre or using the park and ride service. They were wrong there as well!

Tuesday was Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day. When I got home I mixed the pancake mixture and then made us a light evening meal of fish and mixed vegetables. R made the pancakes for us; he is extremely good at making them and we enjoyed them very much. R and I had two each and E had four!

Wednesday morning was bright and frosty and poor R had to go back to work. Wednesday is my day for taking Mum shopping in Diss and we managed this quite quickly for a change. The supermarket didn’t seem as full as usual and we were soon on our way back to her house. A beautiful day – everything seemed shiny; mainly blue and green. The first day for months that I have gone out without a coat. After a chat and a cup of coffee I drove to Halesworth to do my shopping and to visit the library. I also drove up to the doctor’s surgery to collect my prescription and then called in at Rumburgh church to change the colours from green to purple as it was now Lent; Ash Wednesday.

The church of St Felix and St Michael, Rumburgh.

Rumburgh began as a Priory founded in 1064 which was later that century given to the Benedictine Abbey of St Mary at York. In 1086 there were twelve monks under a Prior at Rumburgh. It was never a rich priory, as you can see from the variety of materials the church was built out of. It was suppressed in the reign of Henry VIII on 12 September 1528. The church building here is all that is left of the original small priory.

In our benefice we are so fortunate as to have some very talented needlewomen. Below is an altar frontal made a couple of years ago. As you can see we have to drape everything in plastic sheets when the church isn’t being used to stop water (condensation and water penetration) and bat urine and droppings from ruining everything.

Our Jacobean pulpit with another example of our church’s embroidery

The Millenium Tapestry which hangs near the south door. All the kneelers in the church have been covered with lovely tapestries too, depicting the houses, buildings, plants, animals, organisations, families etc. associated with Rumburgh.

The nave and chancel with the lovely Rood screen between.

There was an Ash Wednesday ashing service at Rumburgh that evening but I couldn’t go as I had promised to take Mum to the service at her church at Eye. Mum’s church’s service had a communion as well so I didn’t get home until just before 10.00pm.

A much quieter day on Thursday also quite cloudy. I took E to the surgery at 9.00am for an appointment and then went home for the rest of the day. Did a little gardening and some ironing as well as other household chores. All the ladybirds in our bedroom have woken up now and only two were left wandering about on Thursday. Another quiet day on Friday spent catching up with the housework.

I made Orange Tea Bread on Saturday as we had all been asked to provide some food for a Bring and Share lunch party after church on Sunday. This is to say thank-you and good luck to Caroline our former Reader. It is quite amusing that the first thing we do as a church on the first Sunday in Lent is to have a party with lots of lovely food! R took this photo.

R and I have bought a new really good camera that we can share. We decided to go out on Saturday to try it out and so drove to Billingford, Norfolk just on the other side of the Waveney River to look at the windmill there. Some of the following photos were taken by R and some by me on my smaller camera and one by me on the new camera!

Billingford windmill

R took a lovely picture of a burdock seedhead.

We then drove to Hoxne in Suffolk to look at the village. Traditionally this was the place where Edmund, Martyr-King was captured, tortured and killed by the Vikings. Nowadays, historians think this was more likely to have taken place at Bradfield St Clare just south of Bury St Edmunds.

This is the inscription on Goldbrook Bridge, under which St Edmund was supposed to have been captured.

Goldbrook Bridge.

Hoxne village.

The Old Butchery. The window has a lovely etched glass picture of a bull.

We shopped in Harleston on the way home and had an Indian takeaway meal that evening.

Sunday morning service was at St Mary’s church at Flixton. The weather was glorious – already 14 degrees celsius on the way to church and the sun shining brightly. The service was quite well attended and the lunch afterwards was very nice with such a lot of lovely food provided. We had all clubbed together and bought Caroline an i-Pod with case, a bench for her garden, a bottle of champagne and a couple of other bottles of drink for her husband.

When R and I got home we decided to work in the garden all afternoon. We dragged some branches and other bits of plants out of the big pond. I heard frogs croaking for the first time this year and the fish had woken up and were leaping out of the water. This made me think of Porgy and Bess with the fish jumping – we don’t have cotton but R said the grass needed cutting so he tried to get the petrol push mower to start but couldn’t. Fortunately, we have a sit-on mower which he was able to start, so our grass got it’s first trim of the season.

For our evening meal I cooked a tasty low-fat meal of lemon and honey chicken with rice and green and yellow beans.

Aside

Music? Food? I’m Sure There’s a Quote There Somewhere. Play On!

06 Thu Mar 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in music, Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Bach, classical music, cooking, London Youth Band, music, Panasonic, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky

I listened to my new C.D. (the one I bought second-hand at the coffee morning) the other evening while cooking. I have to listen to something while cooking as I find it calming. It would be so dull if all we human beings were the same, but I still find it amazing that some people cook to cheer themselves up or calm themselves down. If there is nothing on the radio I listen to music or the spoken word on C.D. I have an i-Pod but invariably as soon as I put it on someone comes in to the room and starts talking to me. My i-Pod is for when I am alone! If I can’t find anything to listen to I either get very grumpy or I start thinking of something – making plans or decisions etc. This is when things get a little risky! I sometimes get so caught up in my thoughts that I go off to look something up in one of my books or to ask someone a question, and then I might get distracted by something else. Before I know it I’ve left a half-prepared meal for ages and I have to rush to catch up or, even worse, something has got burnt and I have to start again. So, I listen to something that will keep me in the kitchen and stop me wandering off.
I listen to all sorts of music – I have an eclectic taste (to use an extremely hackneyed phrase). Classical, pop, rock, country, folk, world, religious, old, new – anything in fact, as long as it’s interesting/clever/tuneful/brings back memories and so on.

The new C.D. is a classical one; part of a Russian Masters series, it is of Sviatoslav Richter playing three old favourites – Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B flat minor, Sergey Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.1 in D flat major and Johann Sebastian Bach’s Concerto No.1 in D minor for Harpsichord but played on the piano. All recorded in the mid 1950s . Just because a recording is old does not mean it should be cast on the scrap heap and ignored. Richter’s playing is sublime and stands the test of time.

The Tchaikovsky was played too much during the 50s and 60s and then not played at all on the radio for a very long time – people had got bored with it. It is lovely and reminds me of when I was nine years old and a member of the London Youth Band. I had just started playing the clarinet and in our series of concerts I had to play a solo with other new members in a section in the middle of the concert. The rest of the time I had to stand on a chair at the side of the stage with other young children and play the tambourine. The tambourine had long ribbons on it and we all had to shake our tambourines and beat them in absolute unison or the band master would scream at us and go purple with apoplectic rage. He was an old army bandsman and treated us young people like soldiers. Everything was regimented – we even rehearsed in the barracks at Woolwich (where that poor young army bandsman was murdered last year). The band master (like Mozart’s father) always told the audience how old we were but always said we were younger than our actual ages. As if eight or nine wasn’t good enough!

This first year I was in the band, one of our oboe players, who was also a fabulous pianist, played the first movement of the Tchaikovsky No. 1 with the band accompanying her. I was entranced. By the following year I had been promoted to the ranks and played 4th clarinet and helped to accompany her again.

One of our regular pieces was the music from the film ‘The Dambusters’ and the band master used to get the father of the girl who played the oboe/piano to shout from the back of the hall, “What about ‘The Dambusters’!” as if he was a fan totally unconnected wih the band, at every concert for many years. I’m sure nobody was fooled!

Prokofiev’s music always reminds me of a girl I used to work with in South-East London. In the early 1980s advertisers on TV and the radio had just started to use classical music a lot in their adverts. We are used to it now but then it was really exciting and new. A colleague and I were discussing this in our lunch break and we were trying to name all the pieces we recognised. An electrical goods company had just brought out a new music centre (this dates it for certain!) and they were using Prokofiev’s ‘Dance of the Knights’ from his ballet ‘Romeo and Juliet’. My colleague started singing the tune and I joined in and then we both said Prokofiev together. “Nah!”, said the girl, “Panasonic”. Which proves just how effective classical music can be in advertising.

A Week in my Garden

04 Tue Mar 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in domestic animals, Gardening, plants, Rural Diary, Uncategorized, wild animals, wild birds

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

bluetit, chickens, daffodils, goose eggs, greylags, hyacinths, mallards, Muntjac deer, photography, pond, sunset

Here are just a few photos I have taken over the past week in my garden.

I looked out of one of the bedroom windows early in the morning and saw this muntjac resting under our hedge.

We have had large congregations of geese in the field behind the house.

Another picture taken from an upstairs window of two graylags and two mallards feeding under the birdtable. The birdtable is leaning a bit because of the high winds we have had and also because twenty or more rooks descend on it early in the morning and their weight causes it to list.

The greylags have started laying eggs on the island.

A couple of photos of the greylags swimming on the pond.

Some early daffodils.

And some rather stunted hyacinths.

Some miniature daffodils.

Some cuddling, sunbathing chickens. The cockerel forced himself inbetween the hens to get the warmest place. The hens didn’t seem to mind – just look at their faces!

A bluetit hiding in the hedge.

And a lovely sunset.

March

04 Tue Mar 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in churches, plants, Rural Diary, Uncategorized, walking, wild birds

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

bacon onion potato sauté, blackthorn, cattle, chickens, Coffee morning, common reeds, cooking, ditching, Dog's Mercury, electric fence, farmyard, good food, greylags, Italian alders, ivy, lesser celandine, Lords and Ladies, marble galls, narcissi, nature, phone box library, photography, primroses, quiz night, rookery, Rumburgh Church, sheep, snowdrops, St James South Elmham, St Margaret South Elmham, St Michaels South Elmham, stinging nettle, the Beck, trees

A wet start to the month. R and I went off in the rain to the benefice coffee morning at the Rector’s house. We could find nothing to bring with us this time and, as usual, I had not done any baking, so we just took ourselves and a little money. We bought raffle tickets, a classical music c.d., a jar of the Rector’s home-made lenten three-fruit marmalade (i.e. without whisky) and a jar of plum jam. After indulging in a bit of chit-chat and getting the local gossip (no raffle prizes this time!) we left to go shopping in Halesworth. Boring groceries shop in the Co-Op and then, while R read the paper in the car, I walked in to town to see if I could find some flowers for the church. I eventually found what I was looking for in the third place I visited – some really pretty multi-headed narcissi, some in yellow and some in a creamy-white. The individual flowers very tiny and delicate; I bought two bunches of each colour.

The rain was easing off a little by the time we got to Rumburgh church but the path to the church was very puddly and muddy. The snowdrops were still looking good and the primroses were just starting to come out. The churchyard will be a mass of wild flowers very soon. We found a suitable vase in the cupboard and just put the poor flowers in water. I cannot attempt anything more than this and even this made the flowers look as if ashamed to be where they were. They all huddled in the middle of the vase and faced inwards and no matter what I did they twisted back and hid their faces. I eventually gave up, put the vase on a ledge and checked that the other flowers in the church were all o.k.

I went out to feed the birds later that afternoon after the rain had stopped and the sun had come out. Something, probably a squirrel, had pulled the top off one of my fat block feeders and had removed and taken away a block that I had only put in the day before. I mended the feeder, replaced the block with a new one and wired up the top to prevent it being pulled apart so easily again. We shall see! I took a couple of photos of the geese and some of next door’s ****** chickens in the garden again.

I discussed with E what she would like for her evening meal and we decided on one of her current favourites – fried bacon, potatoes and onions. I added some diced eating apple as I thought that might go well with it. E was of a different opinion!

R and I set off for the quiz at St James at 7.00pm. We had become quite reluctant to leave our nice warm home and get into my very cold, damp car. It was just 1 degree celsius outside and it took the whole journey to de-mist the windscreen. I drove most of the way bending forward and peering through the only clear bit at the bottom. Fortunately, we met no-one on the journey but the real danger is in the deep ditches at the sides of the road.

The quiz was great fun and the six of us on our team all know each other and get on well. We eventually came second which was very pleasing. R and I also won two prizes in the raffle. The food provided by the village hall committee (I suppose) and cooked by two ladies from the village was really good. A pork casserole or a vegetable bake with a baked potato and a little pot of butter for the first course and then a choice of four or five (I can’t remember how many) desserts with cream or custard for the second course. This was followed by tea or coffee with a chocolate mint – all for £8.00 per person. There was thick frost on the cars when we left just after 11.00pm.

A lovely bright morning and hardly any wind the next day. We went to church at St Michael’s. This is a very small church in the middle of fields and has only recently had electricity put in – only a couple of sockets though. There is no electric light, I think, and no heating except for an enormous very old gas heater at the back of the church. If they have evening services they have oil lamps which makes it look so lovely. The lane is very narrow and there aren’t many places to park. R squashed up as close as he could to the electric fence and had great difficulty in getting out of the car. The fence might not have been switched on as there weren’t any animals in the field – we weren’t going to take any chances though!

By the time we had had lunch and washed up the sun had disappeared and the wind had got up again. R and I went out for a walk in the lanes near our house.

There is still a lot of standing water about. This water is as the base of a hedge on St Margaret’s common.