Gardening in the community...

 

In an area that I regularly walk through on my way from where we park the car, to the office, can be found a series of small garden areas looked after by a group called Wanstead Community Gardeners. A quick internet search finds their website too - a delightful, whimsical space where they go into more detail about their organisation (a group essentially for anyone who wants to join) and the areas they look after (far more plentiful than I had imagined - ranging from tree pits to surprisingly substantial garden spaces) and it was one of the latter that caught my attention this morning. 

An area of formerly neglected ground hugging the wall dividing George Green from the busy A12 has been transformed by the group - they use whatever they can get their hands on to form their garden spaces as well as digging flower beds and planting directly into the soil. This one incorporates an old metal water tank as well as a wheelbarrow. They also use reclaimed items to create their signs for the various planting areas - while walking around the area I've seen old childrens slate-boards, upturned spades, and on their website there is a picture of an old edging tool being used in this way! Probably the most commonly used ttem I have spotted is old roofing slates - you can see one of those in the top image. 

As well as the flowers there are also herbs scattered throughout - a good example being the lush sage in the foreground of the second photo, and by way of other edibles are what look to be fruit trees - I may stop for a better look at some stage as I pass by but what do we think (photo above) - apples? Cherries perhaps? 

The planting used to continue along the wall where the fenced are you can see in the background of the last photo there is - it appears though that since that area has been fenced off, the community gardeners no longer have access, which is a shame - that space looked far better with their input! 

If you want to know more about the Community Gardeners, have a look at their website HERE - sadly the blog doesn't seem to have been updated in recent years, but there is some nice info about what they've got up to previously, at least! 

Robyn

Has it Sprung?!

 

Well hasn’t it been lovely starting to see the sights and hear the sounds of spring over the last few weeks? All of a sudden there is birdsong everywhere - our local Blackbirds are shouting from the trees, the Wrens are posturing all over the place, and the Blue, Great and Long Tailed Tits are chasing round in circles! Possibly my favourite of all at this time of year though are the Dunnocks. Generally shy, skulking little birds - drab in appearance with their grey heads and brown bodies - you barely see them until suddenly in spring - there they are right out in the open singing the most beautiful fluting song. Once paired up, they return to the undergrowth until the following Spring. We fairly often get one down in the garden - and in spite of their usual shyness it’s astonishingly trusting, happy to hop around even when it clearly knows we’re here, and watching,

Things are flowering beautifully all over too - although it’s to be hoped not too early allowing for the sudden cold snap and frosts this weekend. The blackthorn (above) seems to have lots of blossom again this year which promises a good haul of sloes for  the birds - and gin of course! We’ve had fairly significant frost here, although not reaching to the ground with any force, thankfully. Out and about the Magnolias are stunning this year - I’ve heard lots of people commenting on it too so that’s clearly not just down here!

Camellia too - I love the way these get so utterly covered in beautiful vibrantly coloured flowers. It’s definitely something  I would have if possible, although we definitely don’t have space here. No option for a Magnolia here either - there is a long running family joke about the space THOSE need after Auntie D planted on in their front garden years ago. My Nan tried to tell her it would grow too big and not be practical in the location she had chosen, but she was adamant that she wanted one... “They’ll be removing that again - you mark my words!” was Nan’s prophecy. Sure enough there followed a number of years of the Magnolia getting larger and larger, and of course promptly dropping its petals all over the driveway AND the parked car…and LOTS of gritted teeth from D but an utter refusal to give in and remove the offending plant. Strangely enough within a few months of Nan’s death, the tree was gone..! 

Another beautiful plant making an appearance at this time of year is the pretty blue Periwinkle - often found climbing through railings in parks - this one is a local authority gardeners favourite it seems. The pictured one is at the little gardens I often sit and eat my lunch in during the summer months - a sudden but intense splash of colour as you walk past. 

There is plenty of spring colour and life in our own garden too of course, but I’ll leave that for an “In the garden” post I think! 

Robyn

Local exploring...

During the lockdowns in 2020 and 2021, like a lot of folk, we did a huge amount of exploring our local area, both on foot and then once a small amount of travel by car was allowed, slightly further afield. Also like a lot of other folk though, once things were relaxed and life began to get back to some sort of normal again, we went back to doing all the things we'd done previously, and the local exploring got pushed aside again. There are habits we have stuck to - we still go for a walk first thing on any weekday morning when we are at home, but those walks tend to be constrained by distance, as usually MrEH has to get home to start work at his regular time.  A few weeks ago though while I was away at the Royal International Air Tattoo (might write a bit about that in another post, we'll see) MrEH went off to look at an area he had seen mentioned on several local birding forums/websites - the old Golf Course over at North Weald. He was so taken with it that he wanted to go back to walk around a bit more of it, and so recently, we did exactly that. 

It's only about a 10 minute drive from home for us - and the parking is very easy, as the access is off a quiet lane, there is a small car park which serves the church, but in fact you could just as easily park on the road. Then it's just a case of going through the gate, and along a path leading to the golf course itself. Immediately the landscape opens up in front of you you are suddenly surrounded by wildflowers, butterflies and various bird calls. It's a mix of wooded areas, scrubland and more open heathland like spaces - I can only assume the bunkers have all been filled in as we didn't find any! There are also a couple of small areas of water, MrEH saw Reed Warblers around one of them when he was there the first time. The area is huge, and spans both sides of the busy A414, but handily there is a useful route under a bridge which carries the rushing traffic over your head - towards Ongar in one direction, and Harlow in the other. 

I can't recall ever having seen such a large number of wildflowers anywhere locally to us - with paths lined with  Bristly Ox Tongue, Ragwort, Thistles bearing their stunning purple flowers, Hawkweed, Wild Carrot, Teasels and much more besides. Right at the far side we emerged onto a farm field planted with beautiful blue borage - and regular crop locally, but always stunning to see. Of course with the flowers come the insects - crickets were absolutely everywhere, the entire walk was punctuated with the sound of them and I dread to think how many we must have inadvertently trodden on as we walked round! I don't believe I've ever seen so many Gatekeeper butterflies in one place before either, and that's before we come on to all the other varieties we saw!

We only walked just over 2 miles in the end, but there were plenty more paths we could have explored, and turnings we could have taken, and there was SO much stopping to look at things that just that short distance made a really good walk. There were deliciously ripe blackberries all over the place too -  we have already said we need to find a time to get back over there pretty soon with a box for some of those!

Robyn

Signs of a new optimism...

Something we have realised just recently is that over the last year we seem to have seen a lot more wildflowers - during the first lockdown last year of course areas that would usually be mown regularly were left to grow meaning things like the Speedwell in the lawn outside suddenly made its presence felt far more than usual. 

This time of year is always beautiful with the vibrant green of spring appearing everywhere - the willows in particular are looking wonderful just now, giving an almost lime-green tinge to great areas of the countryside.

Everywhere you look too, buds are breaking. The Blackthorn near here having been a riot of frothy white blossom just a week or so ago is now dropping the petals in great drifts, while all the tree’s energy seems to suddenly be going to producing leaves instead - and incredible metamorphosis!

We saw the first bluebells of the year at the weekend - native ones too rather than the pervasive Spanish invaders. It always feels like spring has properly arrived when the bluebells appear - although the sub-zero temperatures overnight and the snow flurries we’ve had do seem to suggest otherwise! The Hebrides had quite a sprinkling of snow this morning and while it didn’t last long I gather it did leave the landscape looking more winter than springlike!

One plant that seems to have thoroughly taken off around here over the past few years are these beautiful little violets - always seen occasionally, there are now great carpets of them on many of our road verges, in every colour from a deep, rich purple right through varying degrees of paleness to pure white. 

 Are there actually more wildflowers this year than usual or are we just seeing them more because we’re looking for the bright cheerful signs of optimism - confirmation that the changing seasons might hopefully bring a bit more of a return to normal? I’m sure someone knows the answer - I just hope that in future years we remember to notice them just as much! 

Robyn

Signs of spring...

 

After several weeks of freezing temperatures, icy pavements in the mornings, and even a little bit of snow, it’s finally warming up. Today was a balmy 13°C and with the sun out at times it felt absolutely glorious after what has felt at times like a really long winter! 

Outside this morning we noticed that some of the crocuses we planted years ago were showing their faces - a beautiful flash of colour in the grass. Then on our walk this afternoon we saw the first Blackthorn blossom of the year, and also Celandines - traditionally one of the first wildflowers that appear each year - absolutely everywhere! 

We’re also seeing - and hearing - masses more birds. Our local Blue Tits have clearly paired off - and my suspicion is that the two Robins we see regularly on the feeders - nicknamed White-flash for the white wing feather, and Flappy Robin (struggles to balance in the feeder without using one wing for balance!) are a pair too, and are nesting in the bushes just across from us. We’re also seeing a pair of Red Kites around a lot which is fantastic - we have seen an occasional one around for a few years now but it looks like these two have settled in. I managed to get some photos of them flying a few days ago so I’ll do another post with some of those at some stage. 

Today’s walk was a favourite route of ours - along the river. The light was wonderful and the reflection of the trees in the water really rather beautiful.  Also rather beautiful is the way the days are lengthening now - we got back from our walk today in broad daylight at 5pm, and there is still an appreciable amount of daylight in the sky an hour later than that, too. I always forget, from year to year, how special that first proper glimpse of Spring on the way feels! 

Robyn

Day 42...

Returning home from our sculpture trail walk yesterday we were somewhat perplexed to find a large patch of wild garlic cheerfully flowering away to itself not 300 yards from home. We’ve made a point of keeping an eye out for this wonderful plant locally for years with no success, so it’s slightly baffling to think how quite such a sizeable amount of it had managed to escape entirely unnoticed! anyway, having spotted it we wasted no time in making use of it - I wandered back to it his afternoon and gathered a bag full, half of which got eaten with pasta this evening, and I will be coming up with a plan for the other half tomorrow.

We made it out for a run this morning - I took MrEH on my new favourite route up through Potter Street and over the common - all either off road or using quiet streets, we covered a nice 4 miles before heading back for him to start his working day. I’m still struggling a bit with running at the moment - when I’m out doing it I’m happy as Larry, and for the rest of the day after a run I’m totally fired up for doing more, yet by a couple of days later when it’s time to run again the motivation has disappeared. At the moment I am mostly managing about one run a week which is far from enough so I need to enlist MrEH’s help to get me back to a rather more reasonable 2 - 3 time s I think. A job for tomorrow is to tot up my current distance for my RAF Museum challenge so that might encourage me!

Robyn

Day 3...

At 8pm this evening something rather special happened - across the UK people stepped outside their doors, leaned out of windows and walked onto balconies to deliver a resounding round of applause as a thank you to all those in the thick of things caring for people - it was originally intended to a gesture specific to thank the NHS, but I think it has extended far beyond that now. Individually a small thing - but at least in our area the majority of households seemed to be taking part - and that added up to a fair level of appreciation. Very special indeed, and very engendered a feeling of togetherness that I think most of us need about now.

 ...In other news, day confusion has started - this afternoon I had to check my calendar to be sure it was a Thursday before confirming to my boss that I intend to treat tomorrow as a "normal" Friday - by which I mean I won't be working. I love my 4 day weeks - but usually on a Friday I would be getting out and about - often a long run by the river first thing, maybe the weekly shop, and possibly a trip to the RSPB reserve with the camera in the afternoon, and in between catching up with the houseworky bits. My plan for tomorrow in the interest of keeping up some sort of routine is to try to stick as closely to normal as possible - MrEH and I will head out for a run/walk first thing, then he'll start work once we are back. I will need to go to the shop at some stage , and there will be various bits to do around the house.

I may manage to get outside with the camera again - today's project was entirely contained within our little balcony, and was inspired when I saw the sun shining through the beautiful anemone flowers.

My macro lens doesn't get as much action as it should these days - but perhaps the next few weeks might be an opportunity to remember how much I love it. I'd also quite like to see if I can get some shots of our resident local birds on and around our feeders, but one thing at a time, perhaps!

I may write a Frugal Friday post for tomorrow - it feels like a good time to post one perhaps, with lots of people feeling that now is a good time to overhaul their finances, and also getting a bit of a "leg up" with an enforced period of lower spending. Keep an eye here through the day if that is something that interests you.

Robyn

Hard to believe...

...that just a month ago we were in the Hebrides! I've been too busy to really think about it much for the past few weeks, but thought it was about time I took a look at some more of the photos. Here's some of my favourites from the first week...

One thing we did this year was spent a fair bit of time on the beach - in fact our first Sunday, and our final full day were spent on the same beach - the one within walking distance of the cottage. That was one thing we really appreciated this year, that a stroll down the track could get us to this...

That was just a tiny bit of it too - it stretches for miles in each direction! The following day we headed south to South Uist, and visited the beautiful little community garden at Lochboisdale, which was just FULL of chives this year...

...just gorgeous! It's really nicely done, and just such a blaze of colours! Talking of a blaze of colour, there was more of that the next day at RSPB Balranald too...

That's fairly standard for late May on the Machair - just an astonishing carpet of flowers. The daisies appear first, then the yellow of the Birds Foot Trefoil, and the purple of the pansies...a perfect harmonious blend of colours. It doesn't stop there either because as June arrives the orchids appear - their colours from white through to a deep bright purple - just stunning.

The following day was our long awaited boat trip out with Nick on the Lady Anne - we were just so pleased to finally get out on one of these trips - it's felt like a conspiracy these last few years with things stopping us doing it! It must be said that it entirely lived up to expectations, especially seeing this amazing White Tailed Eagle so close up...

Yes, you don't need to be a bird expert to recognise that one, do you!  The weather went a bit grey and gloomy the next day...not though we let that stop us getting out and about. We headed back to South Uist again and climbed a hill....views weren't bad but better was spotting this Golden plover and it's mate...

They head to the hills to have their chicks, no sign of babies yet with these two but they were clearly thinking about it! Absolutely stunning birds in their full breeding plumage - and unmistakable once you've seen them the once, too!

Last shot for now, and it's one from one of our favourite hills on the Islands - Rueval on Benbecula. I don't think there's a year gone by since we first climbed up it that we've not gone back - it's only quite a small one but the views are phenomenal...

...this is the advantage of Benbecula being a quite flat island! I suspect that next time we're there though we'll probably have to give it a miss as the winter isn't the most ideal time for hill climbing - we'll see though!

Expect to see some more shots of RAF fast jets coming up over the next few weeks, as we have several airshow trips planned and a visit to Scampton for an In Season Practise with the Reds. July is looking hectic, and while I do intend to carry on with Frugal Friday posts if I miss another week please do bear with me!

Robyn

All over for another...SIX MONTHS!

Well that's it - we're back, everything is unpacked, the car is breathing a sigh of relief outside, and the washing machine is set ready to run later with the first load of washing. We left the cottage at 10am yesterday - packing up never takes us long these days, we're well practised at it, and by 10 not only was the car fully loaded but the cottage was returned to the spotless state in which we found it. The nice thing about taking the later ferry is that we have a lovely relaxed final day - so we stopped at Baleshare on the way through and look....

...I promised I'd try to show you what all that lovely yellow Iris looks like when it's in bloom - it gets better than this but it didn't quite make it while we were there - still pretty good though no? From there we carried on South down through the islands - arriving at Lochboisdale where the ferry to Oban leaves from in plenty of time. As usual, we ditched the car in the ferry queue (in spite of being VERY early - they're used to that!) and went to grab some lunch - actually warm enough to sit outside too - amazing! Wandered back towards the ferry - still very early, but bumped into a pal who'd just driven down to drop some folk off for the boat so we had a nice chat with him while we waited! The boat arrived bang on time and we were one of the first few on thanks to the extreme earlyness! This has the advantage that on a busy day you are up on deck in time to watch the loading of the final vehicles - which can sometimes be entertaining - they cram cars into the smallest of gaps...

Oddly enough we were further forward in that line, and I commented to MrEH when we got out that I was surprised they'd not put me another couple of inches forward - I bet the driver of that red car wishes they had! Once everyone is on they waste no time in getting away...

...always a little sad seeing the Hebrides slipping away behind us like that, but at least this time we knew it's only a few months, rather than a whole year, until we're back again! Anyway, for the next 5 hours we had a ferry crossing to distract us - and for the first part of it the weather was just lovely - hardly any wind, water like a millpond, and lots of birds to look out for - Razorbills, Guillemots, Black Guillemots, Gannets and puffins can all be seen easily from this crossing, and with a bit more practise Manx Shearwaters and Storm Petrels too. The Petrels are the toughest to spot - tiny birds, a little bigger than a sparrow, and they rarely come in close to the boat either! Our favourite spot from the boat this time round though was a little easier to see...

...a Basking Shark! They're seen in Hebridean waters quite often during the summer, but this was the first time we'd seen one - amazing! There were Dolphins too - always lovely to watch them leaping and diving. A little after that the rain started falling and the decks emptied indoors - us too, and the rest of the crossing was spent reading, dozing, and eating surprisingly good fish & chips. We arrived at Oban on time and with the rain still falling quite heavily drove the 2½ hours to our bed for the might just outside Glasgow.

The rest of the journey today is straightforward enough...as usual we share the driving, stopping for a late breakfast/early lunch, and then again to change drivers as required. As we spotted the sign for Doncaster's Robin Hood airport from the A1 I realised that it was only 20 minutes or so until the UK's sole remaining airworthy Vulcan Bomber - XH558 - was due to leave to fly out for a couple of air displays, so we diverted to there to see her leave...

...well if you're that close it would be rude not to really, wouldn't it! Amazing to see her on the ground - but even better to watch this...

...the local residents clearly agreed too as there was a good crowd there watching. She nearly reduced one old chap to tears - he was saying that he remembered living in the area in the 1950's when they used to scramble three of them at a time - flying out right over his house "My, the windows used to rattle and the whole house shook" he said - still gazing at the departing aircraft, now just a faint speck in the sky. Definitely a complete contrast to the past fortnight, but a nice way of ending the holiday nonetheless!

My camera will now get turned back to aviation matters for a while - with a couple of days at Scampton later this week, and then Biggin Hill Airshow next weekend, to start me off. Lots planned, and lots to look forward to!

Robyn

Last day...

And what an excellent last day it's been. The sun has shone ALL day and we've managed to be out enjoying it for most of the day too.  We started with one of these...

 



You'll have to excuse the utterly rubbish photo - of course it's a Corncrake - secretive little birds and at this time of year you're doing well to see one at all as the vegetation has now grown high enough that they can stay under cover a lot of the time!  At the same place (Balranald) we also saw what seemed like an entire field of those beautiful purple orchids...

 





Fabulous aren't they - they were right across the field!  The we stopped so I could wander up a hill and capture this view...

...that's all four of North Uist's notable hills there - North Lee, South Lee, Burrival and Eaval.

After that and with the weather SO glorious we had the traditional last-day walk on a beach...

...this one was a bit special though as this was the beach that is walking distance from the house we've been staying at - and the whole time we were walking on it there was not another soul on there with us - amazing!

Finally the day ended with the most amazing sunset....

As ever we've had a wonderful time - fabulous to catch up with friends who are lucky enough to live in this fantastic environment all the time. We're very excited to be heading back up in just over 6 months too - and already have this house booked for next year's fortnight too! For this time though, tomorrow morning the car will be packed and we'll drive south down through the Uists, Grimsay and Benbecula to catch the ferry back to Oban...

Robyn

A bird explosion!

As we were heading south yesterday morning in any event, we decided to pop into the Salar Smokehouse and buy our packs of their delicious Flaky Smoked Salmon to take back home with us at the end of the week. We always go home laden with the goodies that we can only get when we're here, and that salmon is a firm favourite. The shop isn't *quite* the same now that the business has been bought out by the Loch Duart people, but thankfully they've not meddled with the fish.

Periodically some of the fish "remains" from the smokehouse evidently get lobbed out onto the road for the gulls, as when we drove up we saw this...

...which each time a car drove towards it turned into this...

...a sort of "bird explosion" that could thoroughly freak you out if you'd seen "The Birds" recently!

The weather the last two days - a proper sea fog was drawing in when we went for our late walk along the beach on saturday night, and didn't really lift until the middle of the day yesterday. It's very odd to look out of the windows and not see the usual familar landmarks - from here that's the sea on three sides, and Loch Sandary and Cleattraval (the hill with the internet mast that's enabling these posts) on the other. We didn't let it get in the way of doing things though - Sunday was always going to be a gentle pottering sort of day in any event, and yesterday we headed to South Uist to do one of our favourite walks - a circular one with all sorts of interesting things along the way, as well as a fantastic cafe for lunch.

The wildflowers get more stunning by the day - this field of Buttercups, Marsh Marigolds and fluffy white Marsh Cotton was beautiful...

..and we're yet to identify this intense purple flower - this is probably one of a number of photos that will be winging its way to Fay in due course for an expert eye!

Once we'd got back to the car from our walk we set off to drive along one of our favourite roads - the Uskevagh road on Benbecula which winds out miles across to the east of the Island - the reward for some challenging driving (MrEH behind the wheel on this occasion) being the absolutely stunning views. On this occasion I can't show you I'm afraid as the cloudy weather didn't really make photos that worthwhile - you'll need to take my word for it! We did spot this handsome Snipe standing calmly on some heather just next to the road though...

...and then a little further on this glorious Golden Plover...

...not so easy to see at this time of year these - a few weeks earlier there are entire fields covered with hundreds of them, but once they are in full breeding plumage like this one they head off to the moorland and hills in pairs to breed. The other one was present but wasn't in a position I could photograph the two together. Typically as I got back into the car again the two could be seen standing together in full view!

Robyn

Stalker alert!

Yesterday in the wind and sideways drizzle we went off to channel my lovely chum Fay with a bit of wildflower stalking. OK she gets to stalk the rather wonderful and rare Scottish Primrose, and we don't get to see anything that exciting, but when we're here, we do get these...

The Northern Marsh Orchid. They come in a range of colours from a deep pink through to this stunning purple - which is of course by far my favourite of the lot - and they start to appear up here from late May. You can be walking around looking for them and there's no sign,then the next day you spot one, and then realise they're everywhere! They're not shy about where to grow, either - we spotted one happily flowering away in the middle of a track yesterday! Orchid identification up here can be a nightmare - some iof the plants which are common elsewhere in the UK are never found here, while there is a "western isles Specific" Hebridean Spotted Orchid. However, none of them are exactly what you would call "chaste" either as they happily interbreed, creating various crosses and hybrids. Confused yet? You should be!

Robyn