Thursday 25th April 2024
woodland comes to life with colour and new growth. True to form we have had our fair share of rain and unseasonable weather during April. Nature is quite amazing and seems to adapt to the conditions on the Barff remarkably well. The Bluebells have had a very good month in flower, although not as many as last year, Garlic Mustard, Ferns, Stinging Nettles, and Brambles are growing at an alarming rate, Maple and Himalayan Balsam are shooting up through the Bluebells and come the end of the month will have covered all the Bluebells for another year.Tuesday 16th April 2024
It is only a thirty-five-minute drive from home, and having booked our tickets online, entry to the site was quite straight forward. It was a cold, dry, bright, and sunny morning, which was just as well as it is a good eight hundred metre walk from the car park to the main house.
Chippendale's furniture, including marquetry and japanned furniture as well as picture and pier glass frames.
Friday 12th April 2024
the courtyard to enjoy the ambiance of the place and to drink my coffee without spilling it down my jacket! Since our last visit, there has been an ‘Easter Animal Trail’ set up in the estate grounds, in fact it ran from the 23rd March and finishes this coming Sunday 14th April, although the trail was set up for children and families we decided to follow part of the trail this morning. Gracie one of our dogs has been quite lame since we returned from our holiday over the Easter weekend, so she is on short walks for the time being until she gets her mobility back and following the trail would be ideal.
borders during the winter months, which were all nicely dug over and weed free. I didn’t think there were as many Tulips in the borders as there has been on previous visits about this time of year, that said, we still had a very nice steady stroll through the walled garden and admired the various types of Hosta’s that were coming into leaf. On leaving the ‘Walled Garden’ we headed for the ‘Atlas Fountain’ passing the ‘Willow Peacocks’ sheltering amongst the trees forming the ‘Lime Terrace’. Unfortunately, the fountain was not running this morning, though had it been, we would probably have got soaked from all the spray, at least it enabled us to have a closer look at the beautiful carved figure of Atlas and his four Tritons, all carved out of Portland stone back in the early 1850’s. On leaving the fountain we headed back towards the house, stopping for a few moments on the south lawn to admire the huge ‘Rabbit and Hare’, before making our way back to the house and along the South Terrace towards ‘The Temple of Four Winds’. Before we reached the Temple though I stopped to take several photographs looking back towards the house, before the last of the daffodils die back. Continuing along the terrace we stopped again to have a look at the willow birds in one of the trees adjacent to the path. A little further on we stopped to have a look at ‘Meleager’, one of several sculptures at Castle Howard. The statue of Meleager, a naked young man with a short cloak around his neck, leaning on a tree stump with his dog along side of him. The statue is actually a lead replica of a Roman copy of a Hellenistic original from the mid-4th century and looks quite at home watching all the visitors who pass beneath him.
Saturday 6th April 2024
the car park around 10.15am. I had pre booked the tickets online, so it was just a formality checking in at the visitors’ centre. 
the Major brought back from America. The heathers on the opposite side of the footpath were in full flower and provided some vibrant colour to this area of the garden.
Wednesday 27th March 2024.
Blackthorn bushes in full flower, along with the yellow florets of the Gorse bushes which brings some early colour to the woodland. 
Thursday 7th March, was another dull, cloudy, and overcast morning, just 3c, and a tad chilly on the finger ends.
walk through the woodland, a lighter jacket required for tomorrows walk.
Elderberry bushes are sprouting their leaves, clumps of Nettles are popping up all over the place, and Foxgloves are beginning to grow, at this rate the Bluebells will be starting to flower next week. The Gorse bushes are still a mass of yellow florets. It is still very muddy and slippery on the top of the Barff.
to be finally drying up. The Wood Anemone are beginning to come into flower, as were more Bluebells. There was lots of birdsong this morning, including Chiffchaff, Robin, Dunnock, Wren and Wood Pidgeon.Friday 22nd March 2024
It was a busy start to the day this morning, I took Meg & Gracie out for an early morning walk as usual. After breakfast, and with the dogs hard fast asleep on the settee, we headed down the motorway to the outskirts of Barnsley, a forty-five minutes’ drive from home, to have a look around Canon Hall Farm. This is a family run working farm, (open from 10.00am till 6pm every day except Christmas day,) and visitor attraction on the foothills of the Pennines, It is a place I have been wanting to visit for several
years now since it started to appear on Television.
Prior to our arrival I had to book our entrance tickets online, which involved creating a ‘passport account’, this then allowed me to manage the booking online. We also had to book our arrival time slot online when we made the original booking, which was all very straight forward.
From our arrival in the car park, the staff were very welcoming and friendly. On leaving the car we headed down the slope to the well-stocked ‘Farm shop’, we popped into the for a good look around, making a note of some items to purchase before we leave later in the day. Leaving the farm shop, we headed to the farm entrance, on arrival we showed our ticket reference number to the receptionist and headed outside. Our first port of call was a visit to the Reptile House, where we looked at some impressive animals including several huge snakes, boggle eyed chameleons, impressive iguanas, some scary looking frogs, armoured turtles and tortoises and huge insects. Above our head was a specially designed walkway for an army of leaf cutter ants who were busily harvesting leaves, we watched them as they carried segments of leaves above their heads to the colony centre. On leaving the Reptile House, we made our way over to have a look at the Meerkats in their outdoor enclosure, before walking around the corner to the ‘Farmyard’ which consists of a series of barns, which give the visitor a good insight into modern farming. All the barns are undercover and have a purpose-built 
viewing platform above the animals, which runs around three sides of the barn and enables you to have a really good look at all the animals below. Most of the barns had an animal food vending type machine which dispense a small bag of animal food, this can be emptied into a specially designed shoot which delivers the food to the animals feeding trough below.
The first two barns we entered where the ‘pig breeding/farrowing barns’ where you could watch the mother pig and her freshly born piglets in their pens, all the piglets were busily suckling on their mother. Each sow can have between twelve to thirteen piglets each, weighing between two to three pounds each at birth. By the time these little piglets have grown to thirteen to fourteen pounds in weight at about three weeks of age they are weaned from their parent and placed into nursery pens where they are housed with other piglets from various litters. The barns have specialized temperature controls and ventilation to help support the health of the piglets, which are fed a specially formulated corn and soymeal diet. After about two to three months, they leave the nursery pens, when they weigh between fifty to sixty pounds. It was a good and fascinating insight into the life cycle of these beautiful animals. My time wandering through the pig units took me back to my youth when I would work on my uncle’s pig farm during the school holidays. I still have a soft spot for tiny piglets.
After reluctantly leaving the pig barns behind us we entered the ‘Mixed animal barns’, here there was a fine mix of woolly and short coated animals, namely various breeds of sheep, Llamas, Goats, Donkeys, Alpacas, Shetland Ponies and Shire horses, each breed in spacious sized pens with lots of sumptuous bedding. It was especially fascinating watching the goats, in particular the young ones as they looked full of mischief.
There looked to be many pens with Rare Breed Sheep in, I could make out the Jacob sheep but will have to have another visit within a week or so and pay more attention to the other breeds.
Of particular cuteness in this barn this morning was the Highland Cattle. In one pen was ‘Lady’ who had given birth to two bull calves earlier this year, called ‘Robert’ and ‘Bruce’, born on 20th February 2024, so today they were just a month old. At the other end of the barn was another Highland mother called ‘Hetty’ with a white Heffer calf which was born on Boxing day 2023, so today was just three months old, we do not often see a white Highland calf so today was quite a treat.
On leaving the barns we headed over to the ‘Roundhouse’ where the pregnant sheep are put to have their lambs, but today it was swarming with several school groups, so will have a look on our next visit. Next door to the Roundhouse is the ‘Red Squirrell enclosure’, though after looking for five minutes we couldn’t see any so decided to head over to the ‘Hungry Llama’ restaurant for a very pleasant brunch before the journey home.
It was easy to see why Cannon Hall Farm is officially the best family day out in Yorkshire after being named Best Large Visitor Attraction in the White Rose Awards, we will certainly be back for another visit.
Monday 18th March 2024
we arrived at Castle Howard just after 10.00am. 
house to see the full extent of the Daffodils (and to catch a breath). I think it will be several weeks before they are at their best, dependant on the weather, but they are certainly a picture today. On reaching Ray Wood we headed through the wooden gate, all the huge swathes of Snowdrops that were in flower on my last visit have all gone and replaced with large areas of Wild Garlic, which should start flowering in a week or two. What did catch my eye in the distance was the flowering Rhododendrons. I always remember member years ago, we always used to go up to the Isle of Arran for the Spring Bank Holiday and at that time the island was covered (well almost) in Rhododendrons, here we are forty years later, and the same bushes are flowering at least four – six weeks earlier than they were then. Several bushes were in full flower, their lilac, purple and white trumpet shapes florets providing a handy food source for the insects and bees etc. Continuing our walk through the woods we passed through another gate and down a gentle slope to leave the wood at The Temple of Four Winds. With the sun shining and a lovely blue sky there were some beautiful views over the Howardian Hills in all directions. After a walk around the Temple, we continued our walk along the South Temple Terrace, passing all the daffodils on the embankment on our right-hand side and on the left-hand side of the terrace, before stopping at one of the 18th century statues to admire the views across the South lake. It was nice to hear the gaggle of geese as they chatted to themselves on the water’s edge, interrupted only by the quacking of the Tufted Ducks. From here it was just a very pleasant stroll along the gravelled drive past the South face of the house, back to the courtyard where we enjoyed a very pleasant brunch in the Courtyard Restaurant, before the journey home. Monday 11th March 2024
suitably fed and watered and contently asleep, after breakfast we decided to head over to RHS Harlow Carr for a walk around the gardens. The weather wasn’t much better by the time we arrived at the gardens, although it had stopped raining. I popped into Betty’s restaurant for cake and a takeaway coffee before passing through the visitors’ centre. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of visitors here today considering the weather. After passing through the visitors’ entrance and down the steps I always stop to admire the views across the garden, be it the heather beds on the right which are currently in full flower or the view looking across to the stream, there is always something that catches your attention, even on a dull and miserable day like today. Passing the rockery on our right, we headed down the gentle slope to join the ‘Winter walk’ trail with lovely scented and colourful borders including the vibrant red and orange stems of the shrubs Cornus (dogwood) and Salix (willow) set against the white bark of the Betula utilis (Himalayan birch). Clusters of flowering Hellebores, Cyclamen and miniature Iris provide lots of colour at ground level too, and not forgetting the huge swathes of lilac and purple-coloured heathers. Many of the flowering shrubs along the ‘Winter Walk’ are strongly scented, and their intoxicating fragrances drift through the air before you can find them. One in particular was the Sarcococca, a bushy evergreen shrub with glossy, dark green leaves, their small creamy white flowers some tinged with pink produced a beautiful fragrance that just lingered in the air, Viburnum was another, its rounded white and pink flowers also produce a beautiful fragrance. 
down to the ‘Queen Mothers lake’, stopping for a few moments to admire the view across the water at the ‘Thaliana Bridge’, the water level has dropped since my last visit by at least a metre and the floating duck house looks to have disappeared, so I can only presume the staff are carrying out work in and around the lake. We followed the path around the lake to pick up the ‘Streamside Walk’. I love this section of the walk; I think it is that I just like being close to water. Huge swathes of miniature daffodils and flowering Hellebores provide lots of colour especially along the banking on your left-hand side as you head towards the ‘Old Bath House’, much of the planting along both sides of the stream has yet to come in to flower. Work on the replacement stone bridge continues apace, it has been interesting watching the bridge develop with every visit, it will look good when finished, though there will have to be some significant landscaping in the surrounding area. Work continues around the ‘Old Bath House’ so we avoided that area and crossed the stream at the next bridge past the one being rebuilt and headed up the slope to the ‘new’ rock gardens. Heathers, Iris, Hellebores, and daffodils lined the borders and provided lots of colour on this dull day and overcast day. We stopped for several minutes to enjoy the view over the ponds before heading further up the slope to the garden centre. Work on replacing the huge greenhouse was continuing and well out of bounds. We had a pleasant browse around the rest of the garden centre and more so the book shop, before heading back to the car and the journey home. It is amazing that even on a dull, cloudy, and overcast day there is always something to see in these beautiful gardens.
Sunday 3rd March 2024
After a dull, misty, and cloudy start to the day, by breakfast time the sun was beginning to break through the low mist, by 10.00am the mist and mirk had lifted and the sun was shining brightly.
After a busy week we decided to get out and about for the day so headed over to Pocklington for a walk around the Gardens at Burnby Hall. I cannot believe that my last visit here was in 2017. It is just a forty-five-minute journey by car from home, we arrived just after 10 o’clock and the car park was filling up quickly. It was a beautiful morning, sunny with just a very faint westerly breeze and 8c but very pleasant in the sunshine. After leaving the visitors centre, we headed in an anti-clockwise direction around the upper pond. A ‘new’ path has been created since my last visit with planted borders of Heathers, Hellebore’s, Cyclamen, and clumps of Snowdrops gently swaying from side to side in the light morning breeze. There must have been nearly a dozen white Doves take to the wing from their white dovecote, I think we must have startled them as we walked past, they took off on mass flying in a wide arch, heading in the direction of the café before heading back to the safety of their dovecote. We continued our walk along side the lake, dropping down passing the fenced off ancient tree stump on the left and the stumpery on the right. The views from this part of the garden looking across the lake towards the shelter and rock garden are beautiful, especially at this time of year with the heathers in full flower. Back in 2017 when we last visited, work to reconfigure the rock gardens and paths through were still very much work in progress, so it was nice to see the finished result today. Large swathes of heathers provided lots of colour along with Ferns, Primulas, and clumps of Daffodils, it really was a very pleasant and colourful walk through the rock garden. As we neared the upper lake it was nice to see some of the water lilies just breaking the surface of the water, it will be several months before they come into flower.
I was surprised to see the Koi carp coming to the surface for food, the water boiled as you approach the waters edge with the fish hoping for a feed, the water is still far too cold for them to be fed at the moment. After watching the fish for a few minutes, we headed over to the café for some refreshment, the sun was shining with just a very faint breeze so we sat outside the café and enjoyed a very pleasant pot of tea and toasted sandwich. I find it hard to believe that here we are in the first week of March and able to sit outside enjoying our brunch with the sunshine. I look forward to our next visit and not leave it another seven years before we return.
Thursday 29th February 2024
My monthly round up of daily obesrvations on Brayton Barff for February.
Friday 2nd February 2024, a dull, cloudy, and overcast morning, very mild for this time of year at 9c, brightening up later. Our resident Grey Squirrels were becoming more active and adventurous. The Song Thrush has been very vocal along with Robin,
Wren, and Great Tits. It was good to hear the Greater Spotted Woodpecker drumming away this morning. Small clusters of Nettles are beginning to grow, as are the Brambles. The Honeysuckle bushes on the top of the Barff are continuing to leaf up at an alarming rate.
Saturday 3rd February 2024 was another dull, cloudy, and overcast morning, it was quite mild at 10c, the early morning drizzle made for a very damp walk this morning.
Sunday 4th February 2024 and what a contrast to yesterday, it was still very mild at 10c and a lovely, bright and breezy pleasant walk with the dogs.
Monday 5th February 2024 a very mild start to the day, 10c again, with a breezy northwest wind, it was a dull and cloudy morning with rain later in the day. There were lots of Buntings in the Maize field again. Song Thrush, Wrens and Long Tailed Tits were quite vocal throughout the woodland this morning.
Tuesday 6th February 2024 was another dull, cloudy and overcast morning, it was very mild at 11c, with rain towards the end of the walk.
Wednesday 7th February 2024 Woke up to a cold overnight frost this morning. It was a bright start to the day with a watery sun rising from behind Drax Power Station. There was lots of activity in the old Maize field, I spotted and heard several Brambling, 
accompanied with lots of Tree Sparrows, and Reed Buntings.I watched the Buzzard for as good five minutes as it flew between the trees in the upper wood to the left of the service road this morning. A pair of Thrush’s were singing their heads off along the bypass trail this morning. As I moved further round the woodland I was accompanied with several Robins and Chaffinch which kept flitting from one tree to another. Wrens were a constant too, often chirping away in the background but occasionally coming to the fore. The Bluebells are pushing through at an alarming rate, along with Creeping Buttercup, Cow Parsley, and Celandine
Thursday 8th February 2024 A cold, dull and overcast morning, 2c, rain was imminent. A Yellow weather warning had been issued for snow today. Wrens, Robins and Song Thrush very vocal this morning. By 9.00am it had started to rain which changed to sleet and snow by mid-morning and continued throughout the afternoon changing back to rain by mid-afternoon. Rain continued late into the night. A strengthening NE wind made it quite unpleasant if you were unfortunate enough to be caught in it.
Sunday 11th after a wet and rainy night there was a slight respite this morning, temperature at 8.00am was 7c. There was little wind, the ground was completely waterlogged. The tracks of the main perimeter path are quite treacherous at the moment with thick squelchy mud. Very noticeable was the birdsong this morning, a Greater Spotted Woodpecker was drumming away within fifty metres of the car park, followed by Song Thrush, Coal Tits and Robins also contributing, their song certainly lifts the spirits on a dull, cloudy, and overcast day. Love them or hate them, the Grey Squirrels were more active than usual, chasing each other up and around the trees at 100mph, I watched several coming out of the Maize field and running across the Perimeter
footpath and up into the safety of the trees. It is nice to see the Bluebell shoots pushing through the leaf litter in many places around the woodland.
Monday 12th, I have said this many times before but what a difference a day makes on the Barff, compared to yesterday. This morning there had been a light overnight frost, it was still chilly at 7.45am just 2c, but the sun was rising over the power station, and it turned out to be a very pleasant walk around the woodland. Within minutes of arriving a Buzzard flew high above me leaving the security of the trees to search for food over the Maize field to my left, just one beat of its wings and it must have glided over one hundred yards before it started to circle the field in search of its prey. It was a still morning with very little wind at all. Birdsong filled the air; several Robins were contently singing their heads off as we walked past them. A Greater Spotted Woodpecker was busily drumming away on one of the old Silver Birch trees, the sunlight was just beginning to break through the trees on the Barff, leaving its very pleasant shadow on the woodland floor. The Song Thrush were on good form too this morning, I think they sing nicer in the dappled sunlight, I must have heard at least six of them as we continued our morning dog walk. It was good to hear the Nuthatch calling today, they have been quiet of late, I know we usually have several pairs residing amongst the trees. It looks as though we have had some deer on the Barff overnight savaging for food, they have left some telltale signs around several of the holly bushes. They have a particular diet and do not generally eat holly due to its toxicity and unpleasant smell, though they may browse on holly leaves and stems, break branches, or damage the bark when they are hungry or when they rub their antlers on the plants. Birdsong was especially noticeable as I left the top of the Barff and headed over towards the old pumping station, a pair of Song Thrushes were singing their heads off accompanied by our resident Coal Tits, Robins and Wrens, it really does lift 
the spirits on this chilly morning. It is nice to see the sheep back in the fields opposite the old farm shop, busily grazing in the field. Another Greater Spotted Woodpecker was hard at work drumming on one of the old Oak trees adjacent to the service road.
Wednesday 14th February was a very mild morning the temperature was12c at 7.15am. The heavy overnight rain had made it very muddy and slippery underfoot.
Friday 16th February was another dull, cloudy, and overcast morning, the temperature at 7.30am was 9c. The heavy overnight rain made it very wet underfoot though it was nice to see some sunshine mid-morning. Lots of birdsong around the Barff including Song Thrush, Great Tit, Wren, Coal Tit and Blue Tit, which just lifted the spirit somewhat.
Sunday 18th February was a very mild morning, the temperature at 7.30am was 12c. The heavy overnight rain made it a very wet and muddy morning walk around the woodland.
Monday 19th February was another wet and rainy morning, 6C with a light westerly breeze at 7.45am. The rain making it very wet and slippery underfoot. The Daffodils have come in to flower on the Barff summit this week, several weeks earlier than last year, due to the milder, wetter conditions and lack of prolonged frosts, Creeping Buttercup, Lesser Celandine, and nettles are beginning to grow at an alarming rate.
Thursday 22nd February woke up to heavy rain, and the rain continued all morning, The Barff was like a quagmire, large muddy, slippery puddles and pools of water lying on the woodland floor. I had to put the dogs’ waterproof jackets on Meg and Gracie this morning such was the intensity of the rain, much to their disgust. Despite the rain it was good to hear the resident Thrushes blasting out their tunes this morning. It felt quite mild with the temperature just touching 5c at 7.30am and a faint westerly breeze.
Saturday 24th what a contrast this morning to wake up to an overnight frost instead of the rain of the past few days. It was a
beautiful morning, cold at –1c at 7.15am as I arrived on the Barff, the sun was already rising above Drax power station. There was a slight mist in the air just hovering above the ground rising from the warm earth and hitting the cold morning air. Rainfall this month is well above average for this time of year and in places we have had twice as much rain this month as we did last month, no wonder the surrounding fields are still waterlogged.
Monday 26th February was a lovely morning with some sunny periods for a change. There was a cool westerly breeze which kept the temperature down though it was still very wet and muddy underfoot. There were lots of birdsong around the woodland including Wren, Robin, Great and Blue Tit, Song Thrush, and Nuthatch.
Thursday 29th February was a dull and overcast start to the day, overnight rain had made the ground quite muddy in places, especially on the top of the Barff. It was pleasantly mild at 8c at 7.30am although there was quite a cool light westerly breeze. Bird song was lovely to hear on a dull morning and lifted the spirits nicely, Song Thrush, Robin, Wren, and Coal Tits amongst the top contributors this morning. Robins and Chaffinch seem to follow me around the woodland always popping up in front of me, Blackbirds were busily flitting to and fro searching through the leaf litter for any sign of food. Walking through one of the upper plantings just off the main service road the Buzzard was flying just above my head, flying from tree to tree with ease, its massive wingspan narrowly missing the tree branches, such a beautiful sight to witness in this woodland setting. The Greater Spotted Woodpecker are becoming more noticeable in that I have heard them drumming in at least three different areas of the woodland. Nuthatch are becoming more visible too, flitting in and out of their usual nesting boxes.
Well, February has been and gone but what a month weatherwise. I was reading recently that we have had ten yellow weather warnings issued since the start of this year. It has certainly been a wetter month than normal with some parts of Yorkshire seeing twice as much rain as normal for this time of year. The County has also had one of the warmest Februarys on record, due primarily to the lack of frosts. The average temperature in England for February 2024 was 7.5°C, topping the previous record of 7.0°C set in 1990.
The warmer weather has seen a growth in the Bluebells which look to be two to three weeks earlier than they were this time last year, and the same with the Daffodils which have been in flower now for a week or so. Hurry up Spring.
Thursday 29th February 2024
Something a little different for me this morning, after the morning dog walk and breakfast I drove up to York for a walk around the city centre following ‘The Norman Trail’.
The Norman’s invaded Britain in 1066, at that time York would have been a city with a Viking heritage, controlled by the Anglo Saxons. William the Conqueror (The King of the Normans) wanted to stamp his authority in York and began building a wooden castle in 1068 on the site of what today is Clifford’s Tower.
The same year the population rebelled and in 1069 William decided to build a second castle on the western bank of the River Ouse, now called Baile Hill, the purpose being to control river access to the city, thus preventing river traffic along that part of the Ouse.
In 1070, King Swein of Denmark’s warriors sailed up the River Humber and with the powerful Anglo-Saxon nobles, attacked the Norman Garrison. In a defensive measure to prevent their enemies sheltering in the city, the Normans set fire to it. The fire was significant, and much was destroyed including the fledgling Minster.
On hearing of his garrison’s defeat in York, William headed north. He bribed the Danes to leave the city and as he advanced to York he arrived without any opposition. Having restored both the castles he used the city as a base to remorselessly lay waste to the region in what has become known as the ‘Harrying of the North’, he adopted a ruthless strategy of systematically destroying large parts of the north. Norman soldiers stormed villages, killing many, burning fields, and destroying livestock and food stores. William commanded that all crops, herds, and food be burned to ashes, depriving the region north of the Humber of sustenance. It was estimated that 100,000 people died from the violence and famine. It took several generations for the region to recover.
William stayed till Christmas 1069 and by 1072 both his castles had been reconstructed. In 1190 the wooden keep was set on fire during the massacre of the Jewish population of York. In 1244 King Henry111 had the tower rebuilt in stone.
I started the walk in Museum gardens and the ruins of St Mary’s Abbey, Benedictine monks completed the abbey in 1088, Today
the walls around it are the best-preserved section of the wall from the Norman times. After leaving the ruins of the abbey I headed past the Yorkshire Museum and next to it, set back is the abbot’s house, today known as the King’s Manor. The house was the home of the abbot of St Mary’s. The current house dates from 1483 and survives as the King’s Manor because it became the seat of the Council of the North in 1539, the King’s Council was set up by Henry V111 to keep a closer eye on the north. Leaving the King’s Manor I headed into Exhibition Square, the home of the City Art Gallery, on the opposite side of the road stands Bootham Bar, its arch dates from the Norman times. Continuing along High Petergate you soon arrive at York Minster. The Anglo-Saxon minster was badly damaged in the fighting with the Normans. When William the Conqueror took York, he appointed Thomas of Bayeaux as his new Archbishop, he repaired the church only to see it ruined again in 1075 when the Vikings invaded. A new church was built by Archbishop Thomas on land that had been the Roman principia of the fortress, The new church was 110 metres long with walls 2.1 metres thick and taken just 20 years to build, it was visible for miles around and testament to Willam the Norman king.
The ‘new’ Minster which stands in front of me today was started in 1291 by Archbishop Walter Grey and took 250 years to complete. Some of the remains of the old Norman Minster can be seen in the Undercroft Museum of today’s Minster. On leaving the Minster I followed the road across Minster Yard and into Stonegate. I stopped at the passageway between 52 and 54 Stonegate on the right, it was here in 1939 that the two houses were demolished to reveal York’s oldest house dated back to the 12th century. Leaving the oldest house, I continued along Stonegate and turned left on to Davygate and St Helen’s Church. A blue plaque on the wall of the church explains that ‘a thoroughfare existed here for over 800 years and named after David, the King’s Lardiner in the reign of King Stephen (1135) whose great grandfather had come over with William the Conqueror. He had control over the nearby Forest of Galtres and supplied the Royal larder therefrom’.
Continuing along Davygate, passing Betty’s Tearoom on the right, I crossed St Sampson Square and along Parliament street. I turned left at the end of the street, just past the Marks and Spencer store and onto the Pavement, passing Lady Peckett’s Yard and Herbert’s House, this road runs into Peaseholme Green, where, on the left stands St Cuthbert’s Church, the oldest church in York after the Minster, which dates from the Norman times. After passing the church I continued along Peaseholme Green to the traffic lights and turned right onto Foss Islands road. After about half a mile I passed the Red Tower on my right. It was in 1068 when William the Conqueror decided to dam the River Foss (on the right) in order to flood the moat around York Castle, the area where I am currently standing became known as the King’s Fishpool. The Red Tower was constructed as a look out post. From the Red Tower I continued along Foss Island Road turning right into Walmgate and into the city centre. From the Coppergate centre I walked across the car park to Clifford Tower, one of the most iconic landmarks of York. The original tower, built in the Norman times would have been built out of wood, and used as a food and weapons store. It was the Normans who invited the Jewish people to England to help them finance their interest. By the 12th Century resentment amongst the Jewish community was growing due to the debts that people had incurred to them. Benedict of York was killed by a riotous mob in London, unrest and rioting broke out in some of the country’s major cities, including Norwich, Stamford and Lincoln. The York mob burned down Benedict’s house killing his widow and children. The rioters saw the riots as an opportunity to wipe out their extensive debts. 150 Jewish people
fled to York castle and sought sanctuary from the constable in the tower. The constable turned against them, and a group of knights arrived to lay siege to the tower. With a violent mob outside the trapped community saw no other option than to commit mass suicide and set fire to the wooden keep in order to take their own lives. Those who asked for mercy from the mob were refused and murdered by the rioters. No individuals were ever punished though the city was fined by King Richard. A plaque to the left of the steps leading to the tower entrance reminds you of those individuals who perished in the fire.
After leaving Clifford Tower along Tower street, I headed across the road and over Skeldergate Bridge. A small turret on the right takes you up some steps to the entrance of the city walls and the site of the motte of Baile Hill. I continued along the walls till I reached Micklegate Bar, thought to be Norman, passing through the Bar and past Holy Trinity church on the right. Before the conquest, a Minster stood on this site, complete with canons, alas by 1089 it was reduced to nothing. Alien Benedictine monks arrived, and a Norman monastery church was built here. Within the monastic complex there was a famous chantry chapel under the priory named the chapel of St James on the Mount. This church is all that survived the monastic complex due to Henry V111’s dissolution of Monasteries between 1536 – 1541. The church was allowed to continue and is the only parish church which was once Monastic, Unfortunately today, all that survives of the Norman church is the nave, which over the centuries has been reduced in size. After leaving the church I continued along Micklegate, turning left onto George Hudson Street, then right onto Station road, leading onto Museum Street and back to my starting point at Museum Gardens. The end most interesting, informative, and enjoyable walk. In summary, the Normans left an indelible legacy in York, transforming it from a Viking stronghold to a thriving centre of culture, religion, and commerce.
Monday 26th February 2024
I had a mid-morning meeting in Harrogate which finished earlier than I expected so rather than come straight home I headed over to the gardens at RHS Harlow Carr for brunch and a walk round the lovely gardens.
It had been a cool start to the day with some drizzle in the air first thing, before becoming brighter later in the morning, with
sunshine by noon. After passing through the visitor’s reception area, I headed down the slope behind the heather beds which looked extremely colourful being in full flower at the moment. The view looking over the gardens to the stream in the distance looked bright and quite vibrant for this time of year, many of the main borders although cut back were still in their dormant mode. The ‘new’ rockery in front of Betty’s restaurant was looking nicely established as I made my way down the slope to join the ‘winter walk’. The colours of the Dog Woods and Birch trees provided much of the vibrancy on this section of the garden, as well as the flowering Hellebores, Crocus, Snowdrops, and early flowering Daffodils. Many of the shrubs along this section of the walk are strongly scented including the Sarcococca with its delicate white flowers, the Viburnums and Wintersweet also fill the air with a sweet scent which will last through till April. Leaving the ‘Winter Walk’ I made my way up to the ‘Edwardian Garden’. A lot of work has been done along the terrace leading to the ‘Edwardian Garden’ in that an outdoor covered picnic area has been created on the left-hand side, the remaining border is currently barren and fenced off so I presume there will be more work to be done in this area. The area around the pond is quite dormant at the moment though lots of shoots are poking through and once the air and ground temperature warms up in the Spring, the area will be awash with colour.
After leaving ‘The Edwardian Garden’ I made my way down to the ‘Queen Mother’s Lake’, and over the ‘Thaliana Bridge’ you certainly see the lake from a different perspective as you make your way across the lake. Leaving the lake behind I followed ‘The Streamside Walk’ to the ‘Old Bath House’. Clumps of Hellebore and swathes of Snowdrops and miniature Iris provided a 
pleasant splash of colour, several different varieties of Daffodil were also coming into flower.
The weather was beginning to change a little as I made my way along the stream side, rolling dark clouds filled the air, I was expecting some rain but fortunately it held off and no sooner had the clouds arrived than the sun broke through and the blue sky returned. I always enjoy being close to water, so it was a very pleasant slow walk along side of the stream. Lots of work was being carried out on one of the stone bridges, it looks to have been stripped back with a large culvert fitted and work continues apace rebuilding the dry-stone wall over the stream. The newly established rock garden bordering the stream is looking more established on every visit. The area around ‘The Old Bath House’ was partly fenced off today due to some restructuring work around the house and Betty’s outdoor tea house. Although closed today the popular Japanese Shop (housed in the Bath House) will be opening on 29th February till 5th May, always a very colourful exhibition and shop.
I made my way round to Betty’s for a late brunch, it was very pleasant being able to sit outside, no sooner had I placed my cup of tea and sandwich on the table than a Robin came and sat on the chair opposite closely followed by a Blue Tit, they both enjoyed some pieces of crisp!
After my rest and refreshment, I made my way up the slope to the ‘Alpine House’ a lot of landscaping is being carried out in front of the house (South side) on the left hand side, so it will be good to see how it looks on my next visit, although access to the Alpine house was limited to the east door today, it is always nice, light, and airy. The landscaped beds are made from rock from a previous sandstone garden. Today there are over 2,000 plants which provide lots of interest, form, and shape. All are native to the mountainous areas from around the world. Today, many of the spring flowering bulbs were in flower along with some saxifrage, dionysias and primulas. From the Alpine house it is just a short walk to the garden centre, part of which is currently out of bounds due to improvements to the large glass house. After a browse around and a couple of small purchases it was time to head for home.
Monday 19th February 2024
On what started as a dull, damp and overcast morning ended up being a very pleasant sunny day at Castle Howard.
It was a cold, dull, damp, and drizzly morning as I set off on our daily morning walk with Meg and Gracie earlier today, morning 
walks like this can become a little off putting and a tad depressing especially due to the amount of rain we have had recently and the lack of sunshine, the only consolation is that it has been relatively mild for this time of year. So, after a shortened walk (due to the rain) we headed for home and an early breakfast, much to the dog’s delight. Once breakfast was done, we decided to take the dogs out again so headed over to Castle Howard for a walk around the estate and grounds and look at the displays of Snowdrops. It was just after 10.00am when we arrived in the visitor’s car park, although the sky was cloudy and overcast the sun was just starting to break through the heavy leaden sky. It was very quiet visitor wise when we arrived so we popped into the Courtyard café for a couple of coffee’s to take with us on our walk around the grounds. It was very pleasant as we made our way across the cobbled courtyard to the ticket office. After exchanging pleasantries with the staff, we made our way outside and headed towards the house. Huge swathes of Snowdrops covered the grass under the trees, their tiny white florets shimmering gently in the light morning breeze. As we got closer to the house, huge clusters of purple flowering crocus provided extra colour to the landscape. The house looked as beautiful as ever and once the sun broke through the cloudy sky and hit the south side of the
house it lifted the spirits nicely. Although the house is still closed till later in the month, we could hear contractors and workmen carrying out vital work in preparation for the house opening. We continued our walk along the south terrace in front of the house, the gravel underfoot crunching nicely as we made our way towards the ‘time capsule’, where we stopped for a few moments to admire the view of the house and ‘South Lake’. It is just a steady five-minute walk up the grassy slope to the top of the hill and entrance to ‘Ray Wood’. The Daffodils were pushing through the grassy meadows at an alarming rate and will probably be in flower by early March.
Continuing through the wooden gate and into the woods we were greeted with huge swathes of Snowdrops on both sides of the pathway. Some restoration work was being carried out on the small building on the left. It was nice to see some of the Azaleas coming into flower, their lilac-coloured florets adding an additional bit of colour to woodland. Continuing further along the path towards the Temple, Meg found a huge pile of Autumn leaves which she had a good role in, much to Gracie’s disgust. After going through the wooden gate, we continued through the Rhododendron bushes to the ‘Temple of Four Winds’. The views from this part of the estate are extensive with lovely views across open farmland, the ‘Mausoleum’ to the East as well as the ‘New Bridge’ a little closer to the Southeast. After stopping to admire the views we headed back along the ‘Southern Terrace’ towards the house. The views looking over towards the Atlas Fountain and the house are amazing. It was nice to hear the honking of the Geese over on the ‘South Lake’ enjoying some of the winter sunshine. On reaching the house it was just a steady five-minute walk back to the courtyard where we enjoyed a very pleasant brunch in the Courtyard Restaurant before the journey home with two tired out dogs.
Wednesday 31st January 2024
My monthly ramblings and observations whilst out with Meg and Gracie on Brayton Barff continue apace.
Tuesday 2nd January. 08.00am, a pleasant morning, just 6c, dull and overcast, very wet underfoot. The rain started at around 10.00am and continued for the rest of the day and into the night. The Barff is absolutely soddened due to the vast amount of rain
we have had recently, many of the tracks leading off the main perimeter path are extremely muddy and slippery. We have a very vocal Song Thrush along the Bypass Trail often accompanied by several Coal and Great Tits. Blackbirds, Robin, Wrens, Long Tailed Tits and Chaffinch are still very active and noisy.
The Yellow Brain Fungi is still showing on the rotting moss covered trees and Creeping Corydalis continues to flower in several places around the woodland.
The farmers were out in the dark this morning with some big pieces of farming machinery, working under the light from their tractors, busily preparing the ground for the Summer crops, considering how wet and saturated the ground is around the fringes of the Barff, I am curious to know what they are planting.
Saturday 8th January, Persistent rain has seen flooding in several of the villages surrounding the Barff this past few days. The high-water levels in the River Aire and River Derwent have had an effect on the surrounding flood plains and soak aways, with many of the flood plains already holding water the water in the rivers has nowhere else to go, coupled with the inadequate sewerage system which cannot cope and starts to back up, it then finds its easiest means of escape which is through the manhole covers and into the streets of residential housing, unfortunately several streets around Brayton have been affected.
Friday 12th January was a cold 4c, it was another dull, miserable cloudy drizzly morning as it has been every morning this past week, the only consolation is that it is slowly getting lighter in the morning, and by 7.45am you can walk round the Barff without the need for a hand torch or headlamp. Although the perimeter footpath is quite dry, many of the tracks and trails leading off from the main path are still very wet and muddy, especially so those on the top of Tap Hill.
Saturday 13th and a touch of frost this morning, much brighter than yesterday with a lovely sunrise just after 8.00am. What a difference a day makes, compared to yesterday morning. Lots of birdsong this morning, The resident Song Thrush along the bypass trail was blasting out its song this morning but it was overshadowed by what I think was a huge flock of Corn Buntings on the other side of the bypass adjacent to the golf course, it was like a hundred piece orchestra playing out a symphony in the Royal Albert Hall, I have never heard as many birds as this before on the fringe of the Barff.
Grey Squirrels are still very active and am noticing several corn on the cobs left partly eaten on the perimeter footpath next to the maize field.
After two consecutive nights of frost, Wednesday 17th was the coldest morning of the year so far on the Barff, the temperature reading just -3c at 7.15am as I made my way across the woodland with Meg and Gracie. The ground was rock solid and has a distinctive crunch under foot as you stepped over the frozen soil, which made quite a change after several months of wet and mud. This morning was dry, crisp, and bright, it was a lovely morning for a walk. There was very little wind, and the only noise was that of the steady drone of traffic along the Selby bypass. The song thrush was busily chirping its head off along the Bypass
trail, lots of Blackbirds were busily scurrying around under the leaf litter in their never-ending search for food. Great and Blue Tits were very vocal today as was the high-pitched call of the Goldcrest.
Friday 19th, Another hard overnight frost, temperature at 7.45am was -2c with a chilling northerly breeze. Lovely sunrise just after 8.00am, pleasant dry bright walk.
Saturday 20th, what a contrast to yesterday, with a dull cloudy and overcast morning, 3c. Great Tits were very vocal, a small flock of Long tailed tits were flitting out of the hawthorn edge along the bypass trail. The ground still firm, the cold light westerly breeze, strengthening later in the morning brought in rain showers. A Yellow weather warning has been issued for tomorrow with ‘Storm Isha’ bringing with it dangerous strengthening westerly winds up to 50mph for most of the country.
Sunday 21st, was a mild, dull, cloudy, and still morning, 5c, heavy overnight rain made the tracks and paths around the Barff very wet and muddy again. A lone song Thrush sat in a hawthorn bush was singing away to its heart’s content along the bypass trail this morning, standing proud like a choir boy about to sing a solo piece to a packed cathedral. Storm Isha has been and passed us by, other than an old rotten silver birch tree adjacent to the ‘shooting range’ on the perimeter track being blown down this area seems to have escaped the storm.
Tuesday 23rd, a lovely but very brief sunrise filled the sky this morning just before 8.00am, for a matter of minutes before the cloud rolled in and the rain arrived, the beginning of another, cold, wet and windy weather front sweeping across the country named ‘Storm Jocelyn’. The rain continued for most of the day and into the evening, compounded by a strengthening westerly wind which continued throughout Tuesday night and into the following morning, reaching gust of between 45mph – 50mph.
Wednesday 24th ‘Storm Jocelyn’ continued throughout the morning, the strong westerly wind howled through the woodland, fortunately, other than a lot of kindling lying on the floor that seems to be the only damage on the Barff, which is surprising considering the 50mph gusts this morning. In some of the sheltered spots. It was nice to hear the Song Thrush, Robin and Wren singing their heads of and lifting the spirits of the passing visitors. The wind and rain showers started to ease off later in the day.
Sunday 28th, was a beautiful morning, it was colder than yesterday at just 3c by 8.00am. The cool, light North westerly breeze just reminding you that we are still in the winter months. it was nice to hear my first Greater Spotted Woodpecker of the year, drumming its head off within 50 yards of the car park. The calmer weather seems to have woken the birds up this morning, bird song filled the air and for once masked the noise of the traffic travelling along the Selby bypass, the old Maize field which has been left dormant since the crop was harvested a couple of months ago has hosted a plethora of birds recently, including Reed Bunting, Brambling, Chaffinch, and Greenfinch to name but a few. Several Song Thrushes were giving it their all close to the old firing range, a flock of Long Tailed Tits were contently scurrying around amongst the hawthorn bushes along the bypass trail. Great and Blue tits were very vocal too around the woodland. It was nice to hear and see a huge skein of geese fly over the Barff this morning, there was well over one hundred
birds all together in two flanks, honking and bleeping in a v formation heading over towards the ings at Fairburn. The big Crows and Rooks seem to have been out in force this morning, policing the skies around the woodland, closely followed by the constant purring of the Wood Pidgeon.
It is nice to see the Gorse bushes flowering and providing some colour in the woodland with their bright yellow florets. Love it or hate it, it does provide a good cover for many of our smaller bird species which take shelter in the bushes especially during the harsher weather. Gorse flowers also provide a good early source of nectar for bees and butterflies.
Monday 29th Overnight rain continued throughout the morning and late into the evening. It was exceptionally wet and muddy on the Barff this morning. A pair of Grey Squirrels were playing tig with each other on one of the big Oaks adjacent to the old Pump house, running up and down and along the branches at breakneck speed, how they do not fall off is beyond me, though I do know they have exceptionally sharp nails. The resident Song Thrush at the bottom of the sandy slope adjacent to the Bypass was on good form this morning, blasting out a melodic tune for a good five minutes or so. Despite the heavy rain it was exceptionally mild at 9c, with a very faint westerly breeze.
Wednesday 31st January started with a crisp overnight frost and temperature of 2C. There was a beautiful sunrise around 8.00am, lots of bird song once the warming sunlight hit the trees, especially walking along the top of Tap hill, our resident Thrushes were singing their heads off this morning, enjoying the morning sun, accompanied by all the regular choristers Robin, Wren, Blue Tit and Chaffinch, quite a cacophony of noise, I had to stop and listen to it for a few minutes. In the distance I could hear and see the Buzzard circling high in the sky over by the Maize field, being pestered by a pair of Crows.
As the month comes to an end, the mornings are certainly getting much lighter, you can walk around the Barff at 7.30am without the use of a head lamp or hand torch. Sunrise at the moment is around 8.00am with the sun rising from behind the cooling towers of Drax Power station.
It is nice to see leaves appearing on the Elderberry bushes and the Honeysuckle bushes on the upper slopes of the woodland, accompanied by several small clumps of Snowdrops which are appearing around some of the trees along the main perimeter footpath. Spring is not too far away.
Friday 26th January 2024
After a night of heavy rain and strong winds we woke up to a cool but bright and sunny morning. It’s been a busy week with one thing and another so this morning we decided to head up north with the dogs for a walk around Thorpe Perrow Arboretum. I was surprised to note the last time we visited here was the middle of last October, where has that time gone? I was a little concerned 
before we set of as it was quite windy, so after checking on their website everything was open as usual. It was just after 11 o’clock as we arrived in the car park, it was a straightforward one-hour car journey from home which gave us plenty of time for a walk and some brunch in the café.
After exchanging pleasantries with the staff in the café/ticket office, we purchased a takeaway coffee and cake before we set off on our walk. The sunshine was very welcome on your back as it was still quite cool in the shade. There was a lovely blue sky with just one or two large white fluffy clouds. We followed our usual route over the tiny stream, which is usually just a little trickle, this morning the water was flowing quite briskly due to the vast amount of rain we have had recently. Spring was very much in the air today with vast swathes of emerging Snowdrops coming into flower.
Amongst the woodlands at Thorp Perrow there are 41 different types of Snowdrop thriving in the arboretum, ranging from the garden favourite to some more rare and unusual types. I think it will be several weeks yet before they are at their best though.
We continued to follow the stream, passing the bridge over to ‘Henry’s Island’ on the right, here the stream opens out into a small lake, we continued following the streamside walk, stopping for a few moments to watch a pair of swans as they gracefully glided past us. Passing the house on the far side of the stream, we continued our walk alongside the lake, crossing the bridge over to ‘Kate’s Island’ and stopping to admire the intricate carvings in the tree stump adjacent to the bridge.
Following the lakeside path, we stopped to look at the view along the stream towards ‘The Catherine Parr Oak’ in the distance. The shrubbery on the bank sides had been trimmed back during the Autumn in preparation for the new growth in the Spring. We followed the path through the ‘Millbank Pinetum’ to ‘the Bird of Prey centre’ were he headed back inland and followed the path to the ‘big Jubilee Oak’, we turned right here following one of the smaller ponds to the ‘Catherine Parr Oak’. This tree always amazes me in that it has a planting date of 1534 and was planted the same year that Catherine Parr married Baron Latimer of Snape, it was after the Baron’s death that Catherine went on to marry King Edward V111, the final wife who survived him. The tree is currently part of a retrenchment programme which effectively reduces the size of the crown, relieves the stress and pressure withing the tree and allows new growth, hoping that the tree will last for another 500 years. We followed the path alongside the small pond to ‘the Acorn mound’ and as it was getting quite wet and muddy underfoot decided to follow the main path back to the children’s play area and on to the café tearoom where we enjoyed a very pleasant bacon and egg sandwich and pot of tea.
Monday 22nd January 2024.
This was my second visit to the museum just recently, such was my fascination and interest of the Victorians in York.
On this morning’s visit I stayed in Kirkgate, this is a recreated street built inside the Castle Museum and shows what life must have been like during the Victorian period in York between 1870 – 1901. The shop fronts as well as many of the objects on
display are all original. The layout reflects the cityscape of a typical Victorian high street with the eclectic mix of shops and small workshops. There are well over thirty shops along Kirkgate, some of which I have described and photographed below.
As soon as you walk onto Kirkgate your imagination takes you back to the Victorian era, one of the first things that hits you as you walk along the cobbled stones is the variety of smells, the majority of which are not very pleasant. The staff are extremely informative and dressed in period costume bring the street to life. The Hansom cab on display, would have been a common site in Victorian York, although the cab on show was built in Birmingham, its designer was Joseph Hansom an architect who was born in York. The Hansom cab was the equivalent of today’s taxis.
William Francis Greenwood were Antique dealers and furniture makers, established in York in 1829, they owned the well-known 'Tudor House' in Stonegate (now number 33 Stonegate), York during the early 20th century, which was set up as a series of period rooms with antiques for sale.
J Kidd was a boot and shoemaker in York, The company was established in the early 1800s and continued to operate until the mid-1900s. The company was known for its high-quality boots and shoes, which were made using traditional methods and 
materials. J. Kidd’s boots and shoes were popular among the upper classes of society, and the company was awarded several royal warrants. In 1896 there were 137 boot and shoemakers listed in the Trade Directory in York, the shoe shop was just as important as the local greengrocer.
Kendricks Toy Dealers and Fancy Repository was an upmarket toy shop for wealthier families, poorer children would have had their toys made for them by family members such as skipping ropes or wooden tops. Parents saw toys as educational; girls were taught domestic skills through the toys.
Thomas Ambler was the family grocer and Provisions dealer, his shop was originally situated just behind the city walls, and most of their customers came from Nunnery Lane, a working-class district of York. This shop offered a one stop general store for food such as tea, sugar, bacon, and butter as well as household goods such as soap, boot laces and tobacco.
The Temperance Cocoa Room. Alcohol consumption was very much part of everyday life during the Victorian era in York. Alcohol was often prescribed by doctors and was considered to be restorative! The Temperance societies formed in the 1830’s encouraged followers to moderate their alcohol consumption. During the Kirkgate period Francis Bacon a former domestic servant ran the Ebor and The York Temperance Club and Cocoa Rooms where customers could find cheap accommodation, rent rooms, and buy hot dinners, teas, suppers, and cocoa.
Horsleys and Sons were Gunsmiths in York from 1856, with premises down Coney street. By the end of the 1880’s the firm was also selling outdoor sporting equipment as well as running a shooting range. By 1900 they were also listed as a cycle agent.
Edward Allen was a taxidermist, and his shop displays specimens which he had preserved. His business was established in 1846, but he took over the business in 1880.
CE Barton was a confectioner, baker and caterer who opened his first shop on Davy gate, York in 1881. He specialised in making butter scotch as well as running his own ginger beer brewery.
John Saville was the Pharmaceutical Chemist originally located on Goodramgate in York in May 1876. John Saville was a pharmaceutical chemist who founded one of York’s longest-lasting retail and pharmaceutical chemist businesses in May 1876. The chemist mixed and prepared pills, powders, lotions and tonics. He also sold perfumes, sauces, inks as well as a range of cleaning products. He had a wide customer base including leading business leaders to those less fortunate people living in the slums in the surrounding area, to those people Mr Saville became a surrogate doctor.
Leak and Thorp were drapers and house furnishers, they were sometimes referred to as todays equivalent of ‘Selfridges of York’. The firm was established on March 11, 1848, when William Leak opened premises at 35 Parliament Street. He began with just one or two assistants, and turnover at first was not large, according to company ledgers. Before long, Mr Leak was joined in the business by Mr HB Thorp, and the business took on the name by which it was to become so familiar to generations of York people. In 1869, the shop moved to Coney Street. Customers could buy dress materials, gloves and hosiery, millinery, and underclothing. Inside shelves were stacked with bolts of fabrics including cotton prints and floral chintz used for upholstery. The 1871 census shows the shop employed 14 shop men, 16 teenage apprentices, 11 shop women and seven servants.
These are just a small selection of some of the shops down Kirkgate, round the back is the Rowntree Snicket which houses the Tallow Factory, and I will describe this and some of the other shops after my next visit. Now time for a coffee and cake in the museums café.
Friday 19th January 2024
We arrived just after 10.00am to a practically deserted car park, it was a bitterly cold morning, the car temperature gauge was reading 1c, the sun was shining in a beautiful cloudless blue sky. The overnight frost was glistening in the wintery sunshine. 
Many of the Rhododendron bushes were covered in buds though it will be another three to four months before they come into flower. Fortunately, the ground was well frozen otherwise it would have been a muddy walk through the trees, it was nice to see the sun shining casting all sorts of shadows through the trees. We followed the path through the woods, stopping occasionally for Meg to have a good roll amongst the fallen autumnal leaves which had blown into heaps along the sides of the fence, several minutes later we arrived at ‘The Temple of Four Winds’, standing proud and basking in the cold winters sun. The views looking across the Howardian Hills from the Temple always look amazing as does that looking over towards ‘The New Bridge’ and in the distance the ‘Mausoleum’. We didn’t hang around for long as there was a bitterly cold North Westerly wind blowing, so we headed down the banking towards the ‘South Lake’ where it was more sheltered from the cold wind. The lake was frozen across its full length and breadth with a thick layer of frost laying on the surface. The resident swans were nowhere to be seen, though you could make out the footprints of several Crows and Rooks which dared to venture on the thin ice. I always enjoy the view looking across the lake back towards the house, but today with it being frozen over it looked quite spectacular, especially along the southern edge of the lake. Continuing our walk along the side of the lake we followed the track around the western side and made our way up the slope towards the house, stopping to look at all the Daffodils emerging through the grass. It is just a steady five-minute walk from the house to the Courtyard where we enjoyed a delicious brunch in the Courtyard Restaurant, Meg and Gracie grateful for a thirty minute snooze under our table.
Thursday 18th January 2024.
popping into Betty’s for a coffee and cake we headed through the ticket office and out into the gardens, the steps leading onto the main path had been taped off due to the ice so it was a gentle walk down the slope behind the heather beds which were looking quite dormant at the moment though the ‘December Red’ variety will be coming into flower over the next few weeks and will provide some early nutrients for the insects at this time of year.
was well frozen. Continuing our journey down the slope to the QM lake, the new ‘Tiormina Bridge’ was closed, I presume due to the very slippery conditions underfoot. We followed the old route around the lake and stopped for several minutes to admire the lake with its winter jacket on. We continued along the ‘Streamside path’ heading for the ‘Old Bath house’, there was plenty of water cascading down the stream, clumps of Crocus, Snowdrops and Daffodils were poking through the sides of the bank and hellebores were coming into flower. Work continues with the replacing and rebuilding of one of the stone bridges, it looks like it is going to be a long job by the size of some of the heavy machinery on site. We continued along the streamside path a little further before crossing one of the other bridges and heading up the slope to the ‘Sandstone garden’. Looking over to our left, towards the ‘Old Bath house’ and ‘Bettys Tea house’, the area appears to be fenced off and I presume out of bounds to the public, whilst the whole area is relandscaped. Although the ponds set amongst the Sandstone garden were frozen over, some of the huge rocks were etched with frost, glistened in the afternoon sunlight. It was nice to see the Snowdrops and miniature Iris shoots just poking through the frozen ground, they will be in flower in a week or two. I do like this part of the garden though I just like being close to water.
Friday 5th January 2024
Festival which actually finishes today.
is so much to see and capture the eye, the draper’s shop, the toy shop, pharmacy to name just a few all based on real shops that existed in York between 1870 and 1901. This was a time when York was already a tourist destination, known for its railway works and confectionery factories. It was a place of luxury shopping, but also a place of extreme poverty.
On leaving the Sixties we entered the ‘Debtors Prison’, There have been prisons on this site for over seven hundred years. We were in the oldest of the surviving prison buildings, which opened in 1705. It was called the Debtors’ Prison because it was the first purpose-built prison for debtors in the country. Before 1869, people could be imprisoned for commercial debt – they weren’t considered criminals, but if they got into debt and couldn’t pay it back, their creditor could apply for them to be held here. They were held until either they – or a kind friend – paid off their debt, or until they had served their time. Although creditors were free to forgive debts, this was very rare. Being in this part of the prison made you realise how harsh the conditions must have been.
Friiday 5th January 2024
A Happy New Year.
myvisit to the last day is a poor excuse really, but at least I managed to see it, unfortunately though the huge Advent Wreath which had been suspended in the Central Tower had just been removed prior to my visit.ps.jpg)
the West wall of the Minster. The statue is 6ft 7in tall and weighs almost two tons. It is made from French Lepine limestone and shows the Queen wearing Garter robes and the George IV State Diadem and holding the orb and sceptre. The design of the statue was chosen by the Queen herself. King Charles 111 unveiled the statue after her death in 2022.
Archbishop of York would sit along with all his canons, the names of which can be clearly seen above each seat. The beautiful vaulted ceiling is another marvel. On leaving the Quire we headed under the stairs and into the Crypt. This is the earliest part of the present Minster, and its architectural style is late Norman from the time of Archbishops Thomas and Roger and well worth a visit. After leaving the Crypt we made our way up the stairs to the East end and the magnificent newly restored 15th century East Window, the largest expanse of medieval stained glass in the country. Sunday 31st December 2023
December on the Barff has been exceptionally wet resulting in the ground and surrounding area becoming waterlogged. We saw our first snow of the winter early on in in the month and several morning frosts. Christmas Eve morning saw the temperature rise to 13c. Several highlights for me were listening to the Tawny Owl close to the old pump house, listening to the Linnets in the Mase field, and watching the beautiful sunrise in the East. Fungi continues to flourish in the woodland as do the stray wildflowers. As the month comes to a close the Song Thrush and Coal Tits has come to the fore producing some lovely morning choruses to cheer up the sole on even the dampest of mornings. 
perilous early this morning, I arrived on the Barff for 7.00am, it was a ‘little warmer’ than yesterday morning at 0c, but still quite nippy on my finger ends, I really need to find my gloves. it was still dark as we arrived on the Barff, though the snow made it a little lighter. The snow certainly transforms the landscape, Blackbirds were busily searching for food under the leaf litter. The Oak leaves were falling from the young trees like confetti.
Saturday 9th we woke up to another wet morning of persistent rain, I added an extra loop on my walk this morning and headed off along the Bypass trail as a change from my weekday walk, mainly because it is easier to get across the bypass at the Mill Lane junction with much less traffic than during the week. It was good to see that the council have been along the bridal path (along the golf course side) this week with some heavy grass/shrub cutting equipment and restored the path back to how it should be maintained, I wonder when the Barff side of the path will be cut back? Considering the amount of rain we have had since the beginning of December and the cooler temperatures, I am amazed how much fungi there still is in the woodland so late into the year, Yellow Brain Fungi, Birch Polypore, Earthballs and Candle Snuff can still be seen. 
warm, they are able to store fat in their bodies to help them survive periods when food is scarce. They also spend a lot of time during the Autumnal months gathering food and stockpiling acorns to last them through the winter. They manage to survive the winter by being prepared, staying warm, and having a little help from each other.
chilly start to the mornings walk around the woodland. The entire Barff is now completely waterlogged, not helped in part by last night’s heavy overnight rain, although the main perimeter footpath is still quite clear most of the tracks branching off the footpath are extremely muddy and slippery. It was good to see someone had been in the car park and cut back the fallen tree which now frees up at least three parking places.
Wednesday 6th December 2023
was ‘Christmas in Neverland’, and we were entering the world of JM Barrie’s ‘boy who never grew up’.
hear the mermaids sleeping peacefully in the chamber. On leaving the mermaids behind we entered the ‘Music Room’, one of my favourite rooms of the house, today it had become Captain Hooks Cabin, and is full of all his stolen treasures. His frockcoat was draped over the back of a chair along with his wig, in the cabinet were all his gleaming hooks, one for every occasion.
Thursday 30th November 2023
It has been a wet weekend making the ground waterlogged, and more rain is forecast over the coming few days. 
westerly winds blowing the leaves off the trees like confetti and forming a huge golden-brown blanket on the woodland floor. It was much milder this morning with the temperature gauge reading 9C at 8.00am. The wind increasing as the day wore on and by mid-afternoon, we were getting gusting winds of between 50mph – 60mph with squally rain showers. The surrounding fields have been waterlogged for several weeks now with standing water forming huge pools, we really do need some heavy frosts to give the ground the opportunity to dry out a little. 
Saturday 18th was yet another dull and dark morning, it was slightly cooler than yesterday at 6C, the overnight rain making the ground extremely slippery and muddy, the exposed tree roots are quite hazardous if you should stand on one. I heard a flock of Goldcrest this morning as I walked along the Bypass trail, their tiny, delicate song quite unmistakable compared to the much coarser Wren and Robin. 
Harrogate, what is usually a good fifty-minute journey took us one and a half hours today. The reason for the late start today was the opening night of the winter 'Christmas 'Glow Event, when the gardens are illuminated. It was five o’clock as I ordered a coffee from Betty’s restaurant adjacent to the entrance to the gardens.
the daytime. On leaving the sunken garden, we headed down the slope to the ‘new Thaliana bridge’ which was very cleverly floodlit with a variety of colours, we stopped on the bridge for a few moments to admire all the colours and the reflections on the water. After walking around the lake our route took us past the ‘Logness Monster’ which this year had been illuminated to enable children to play on it whilst visiting. We continued our walk along the ‘Winter route’ stopping to admire the views looking across the stream towards the summerhouse and main borders. On the left amongst the trees three deer were nicely illuminated, the lighting alongside the stream was dramatic and very effective, the York stone bridges looked very good, the white lighting highlighting the shape and form of the brickwork. On the left of the streamside trail the Doric Columns were bathed in a white light, with the surrounding trees highlighted in greens, white, red, and purple lighting. The views looking over the stream to the right towards the gardens entrance were just as colourful the red, green, white and purples highlighting the shrubs and trees in a dramatic and colourful fashion, especially set against the black night sky. The ‘field of gold’ set on the main lawn was new this year and looked very effective. After a few moments we were walking down the slope to the ‘Old Bath House’ where an arts and crafts exhibition was taking place. ‘Bettys Tea House’ was nicely floodlit and busily selling a host of festive refreshments, the mulled wine was very warming and welcoming.Friday 10th November 2023
I cannot believe it was three months ago since our last visit to Castle Howard.
After a week of typical autumnal weather combined with rain and wind and more rain, it was very pleasant to wake up to a bright and sunny morning. After a short early morning walk and breakfast, I packed the car, and we headed off to Castle Howard for a walk around the estate. The house has been closed for several weeks now as they prepare for the Christmas opening tomorrow
Saturday 11th November.
We arrived in the car park for 10.30am after an uneventful fifty-minute journey from home, there was just a handful of other visitor’s cars parked up. We popped into the coffee shop in the courtyard for a takeaway coffee before continuing across the courtyard to the ticket office. On leaving the ticket office we stopped for a few moments to admire the autumnal colours of the trees, the morning sunshine glistening through the golden-brown leaves as we walked amongst them heading for the Boar Garden and the west wing of the main house. The statue of the Boar was enjoying the autumn morning sunshine today, it is usually covered over with the onset of the colder winter months. On reaching the corner of the west wing of the house we headed in a southerly direction across the lawn passing the neatly trimmed hedges to the Atlas Fountain which today was in full flow. Its four cherubs spewing water over the copper made globe, its gilded band glistening in the beautiful autumn sunshine.
The Atlas fountain has always fascinated me, the huge figure of Atlas, the decorated basin, and the four tritons with their conch shells were carved out of Portland stone by the Victorian sculptor John Thomas. Weighing more than 20 tons, they were transported in sections by rail from London. The fountain was turned on for the first time in October 1853. Today the fountain is a grade one listed building.
We continued past the fountain and through the trees to the bottom Southwest corner of the South lake. A pair of Swans with their three signets were gracefully gliding along the slightly rippled water, the parent swans keeping their distance from the youngsters. We followed the line of trees along the south side of the lake, the views looking across the lake to Ray Wood looked beautiful with the trees taking on their autumn colours, what a difference some sunshine and blue skies makes especially at this time of year.
As we reached the far corner of the lake, we stopped to take some photographs and admire the views looking back towards the house. We left the lake and continued up the slight slope to the Temple of Four Winds. There were some interesting fungi growing out of the stumps of some of the trees which had been cut down earlier in the year. The sunlight was shining nicely on the south face of the temple, and the views looking across to the mausoleum and new bridge were breathtaking. From the Temple we followed the Temple Terrace back towards the house, the sunlight highlighting the beautiful golden bronze colours of the trees on our righthand side.
On reaching the Courtyard we headed for the restaurant for a very pleasant brunch, Meg and Gracie contently settled under the table, grateful for a quiet thirty minutes or so before the journey home.
Friday 3rd November 2023
RHS Harlow Carr - Harrogate
Having not visited the gardens at RHS Harlow since mid-July, today’s visit was long overdue. We have had some very wet and miserable days recently, so it was nice to get out and enjoy the sunshine. Autumn at Harlow Carr is always a special place to visit just because of the myriad of autumnal colours around the garden.
It was just after 10.30am when we arrived, I was aware before we set off that we were visiting the gardens during the latter part of the school half term holiday which usually means more visitors, but that aside the need to get out of the house for some fresh air and sunshine was greater than worrying about too many visitors. I popped into to Betty’s for takeaway coffee’s before heading into the entrance hall and exchanging pleasantries with the staff on the desk.
The view from the steps looking straight ahead to the summer house and stream in the distance is always quite breathtaking, especially at this time of year with the trees changing to a beautiful golden colour. I stopped for a few minutes to admire the view and enjoy my coffee. It was a lovely morning, about 12c, a gentle breeze with a blue sky and white fluffy clouds, such a contrast to the weather we have been having of late.
We followed our usual clockwise route around the garden, passing the teaching gardens on our left-hand side. There was lots of Pampas grass swaying gently in the light autumnal breeze and beautiful colours too. The views looking across the QM lake are worth a pause. I was pleased to see that since our last visit, they had removed a lot of the weed which had been choking the pond and its wildlife.
I popped over to have a look at the Edwardian sunken garden for a quick peep but there was a bus load of visitors also wanting a look around, so after a quick photograph, I made a hasty retreat and headed down the slope to the new ‘Thaliana bridge’ over the ‘Queen Mothers lake’, love it or hate it, at twenty one metres long this new bridge certainly enables a different view looking across the lake. Today the lake was flat calm and the reflections of the trees on the water looked beautiful.
We continued our walk along the ‘streamside footpath’ towards the ‘old bath house’. I enjoy this part of the garden as much as
the borders really. The Japanese Maples looked stunning in the sunny autumnal light, as did the Acers, the bright red vibrant foliage making quite a statement.
Civil engineering work continues along the streamside path to reinforce the banks of the stream. One of the footbridges has been demolished and a new culvert channel fitted where the bridge crosses the stream, work continues to reconstruct the footbridge over the culvert and stream, though the wet weather during October and early November is hindering the progress.
We arrived at the ‘Old Bath House’ which today was holding an arts and crafts exhibition. We popped inside to have a look at some of the beautiful paintings and artwork on display. It is very difficult to have a look around and not part with any money, I came out with a couple of gifts which will be sent to Father Christmas. The picnic area around the Bath House is in the early stages of being redeveloped and was heavily fenced off and out of bounds to the visitors. We took a slight detour to reach ‘Betty’s Tea House’ for some brunch, fortunately we were able to sit on some of the re positioned picnic tables. I was reading on one of the display boards that the RHS had purchased the old Harrogate Arms hotel which stands majestically at the rear of Bettys tea house. The building was originally built in 1844 as a hotel where guests and clients could go ‘to take in the famous Harrogate spa waters’ alas over the years peoples habits change, the building has had several uses since until it became empty. Today the RHS have purchased the building and are busily refurbishing the property and landscaping the surrounding area with the intention of opening it as a cafe in early 2024.
Suitably refreshed we continued along the path which follows the other side of the stream, stopping occasionally to admire the changing colours of the streamside trees and made our way up the gentle slope to the sandstone rock gardens. The sunlight was glistening on the water of the rock pools casting flickering shadows across the water and beautiful reflections. We continued our stroll through the trees to the top perimeter path, the main borders are still colourful and vibrant in the autumn sunshine, the golden grasses gently swaying in the morning breeze, set against the autumnal foliage of the Maples and Acers. It certainly was a wonderful mornings walk around the gardens.
Tuesday 31st October 2023
Brayton Barff Monthly update
After very heavy overnight rain on Sunday 1st October the morning started dull and wet but very humid. The temperature on the Barff at 7.30am was a barmy 17c.
Autumn is here in earnest, spiders are casting webs their all over the place, the lush green ferns that grew to over six feet tall during the summer months are beginning to die back, their leaves shrivelling up to just a fine golden brown skeleton, nettles are
beginning to fade slightly though can still give you a nasty sting on the back of your hand if you brush up against one. The farmers were busy this morning harvesting their potatoes. This year's harvest must have been a nightmare for them due to the damp wet weather which has prevented them from lifting their crops on time, let alone carrying out the prep work for the winter.
The Grey Squirrels were extremely active amongst the leaf litter, busily chattering away to each other as they were stashing food for the colder winter months ahead, they have been active in my garden too and I live about a mile and a half away from the Barff.
Having been away on holiday for a several days during the first week in October, it was nice to be back on the Barff with Meg & Gracie. What a difference a few days away from the Barff can make especially at this time of year.
Sunday 8th was a dull, foggy, and humid morning, it was 16C on the Barff with little breeze, because of yesterday's strong wind the ground was covered in fallen acorns, twigs, and the leaves. The heavy overnight dew has made the ground very wet and slippery underfoot. It was nice to hear the dew drops falling on the tree canopy like rain. Birdsong was notably quiet today, though there were lots of Grey Squirrel’s scurrying about their business. The forecasted wet weather for our area has not yet materialised but my thoughts are with my friends in the Yorkshire Dales, and Scotland who are experiencing heavy rain and flooding at this moment.
It was good to see some movement around the hole in the road at the entrance to the car park this morning, most of the big blue water pipes look to have been fitted finally.
I was on the Barff for 7.00am on Monday 9th. We had another very heavy overnight dew, it was dark, dull, cloudy, and overcast. One of the highlights was listening to a Tawny owl calling over by the old farm shop.
Wednesday 11th was a very mild morning again,15c, there was no wind, and it was cloudy and overcast. Due to the humid weather, there has been an abundance of fungi on the Barff, especially the Birch Polypore, Earthballs and Sulphur Tuft. The Autumn colours are becoming stronger every day, ferns that have been prolific throughout the Spring and Summer are dying back and turning a lovely golden bronze colour, beech leaves are beginning to change into their autumnal colours. The acorns are starting to ripen, providing a winter fuel source for the Grey Squirrels, though there does not appear to be an abundance of them this year, the squirrels will have to supplement their winter diet with sweetcorn cobs which are being grown in the field adjoining the woodland.
Thursday 12th October was a much colder morning, temperature on the Barff at 8.00am had dropped to 5C and there was quite a chill in the air, I will soon have to get the winter gloves on.
Friday 13th was miserable, it was awet and rainy day, I was late up and did not get on the Barff until 7.30am this morning. The autumn colours looking beautiful despite all the rain. Large clusters of Sulphur tuft fungi were popping up all over the woodland floor, especially on the ancient rotting tree stumps.
I had an early start on Saturday 14th October, which made up for yesterday's lateness, being on the Barff for 6.15am, it was dark
with the sun slowly starting to rise in the east. What a contrast to the wet damp start of yesterday. This morning was bitterly cold, 5c, dry and no breeze. I stopped for a few moments between the old farm shop and car park (which is still closed) to listen to a solitary Tawny owl calling for its mate. Continuing our walk along the perimeter footpath, I stopped to have a look at the ongoing groundwork being carried out on the main road adjacent to the car park, I presume all the pipe work has been completed as they have filled in the large hole in preparation for the top layer of aggregate before being tarmacked.
Sunday 15th October was another early start, it was a bitterly chilly morning with an overnight ground frost, the first of this Autumn, (it did warm up slowly during the morning with sunshine, and by lunch time the thermometer was reading 11c.) The Tawny owl was making quite a commotion as were several Grey Squirrels playing a game of chase with each other, running up and down and around some of the old Beech trees at an alarming speed. Bird song seemed more active than of late, Robin, Wren and Song Thrush were very vocal in several areas of the woodland today.
There is a lot of fungi around on the woodland floor, I have just spotted some Fly Agaric on this morning's walk, it is such a colourful fungus. I have never seen as many Earthballs as there are now, Sulphur Tuft is popping up overnight on anything that is rotten. The Teasels have had a good year, there has been lots of them on the top of the Barff, some reaching heights of over six feet, alas they have all died back having been at their best during the summer months, the seeds of the teasel are very important for birds, such as the goldfinch, which can often be seen feeding on the old, brown flower heads this time of year, 'teasing' the seeds from them.
Wednesday 18th October was another early start being on the Barff for 6.30am. After a couple of morning of air frosts with the temperature hovering just above freezing, this morning's walk was ridiculously mild at 11C, with a slight breeze. After several weeks of disruption around the car park, the huge hole on the main road adjacent to the car park has finally been tarmacked, some groundwork must be done around the verge before the red protective barriers can be dismantled and traffic lights removed. Bird life was more notable this morning than of late, many of the usual regulars were flitting amongst the trees, including Blackbirds, Robins and Blue Tits, the tiny Wrens were singing their heads off. I am sure I would have hear more had I spent more time in the woodland.
Clumps of Sulphur Tuft, Shaggy Ink Cap and Earthballs continue to flourish on the woodland floor and have been for several weeks now, Birch Polypore and more Fly Agaric fungi are shooting up every day.
Thursday 19th October was a damp and overcast morning, it was noticeably quiet on the Barff. The weather forecast for the next 24 hours looks quite interesting with a yellow weather warning being issued for Yorkshire and Humberside as ‘Storm Babet’ is set to batter the country today with extremely heavy rain and strong winds. Up in central Scotland the forecasters are predicting as much as eight inches of rain could fall and winds could reach up to seventy miles an hour in that area.
It was good to see that the Barff car park has finally reopened to cars this afternoon.
On Friday 20th October we had a very wet walk, Storm Babet has arrived on the Barff, bringing with it high winds and heavy rain which battered the woodland, causing some damage to the trees, with twiglets and small branches littering the woodland floor. Autumnal leaves were falling like confetti. The intense winds and persistent rain lasted all day and into the evening, fortunately we have not seen any of the flooding or power cuts that other parts of Yorkshire have had to cope with.
Saturday 21st October and the rain continuing through Friday evening and finally abated at around 9.00am this morning. Reports
in the local papers are saying that we have just had a months’ worth of rainfall in twenty-four hours. Fortunately, apart from yesterday, Storm Babet seems to have passed us by, with minimal damage on or to the surrounding area, unfortunately though, certain parts of the county have not been so lucky and have had to endure significand flooding and disruption especially in West and South Yorkshire.
Tuesday 24th October. I was on the Barff for 7.00am this morning. It was a very dark with only the light from my headlamp to show the way. We were walking along the top meadow on Tap Hill when I heard a Tawny Owl screeching in the trees in the distance, I got to within 50 yards of where the noise was coming from when the owl turned around to face me, its two bright orange eyes reflecting in my headlamp. Without getting too close and not wanting to disturb it further, I stopped in my tracks and headed off in the opposite direction towards Sherwood’s farm, by the time we had walked down the slope to the outer perimeter footpath there was another Tawny owl adjacent to the farm, making a similar screeching noise. I continued my walk along the perimeter footpath towards the car park.
Friday 27th was a very foggy, drizzly morning. My headlamp was more of a hinderance this morning as the white light just reflected in my face and the fine drizzle did not improve the visibility either. The rain over the past couple of days has made the woodland floor extremely wet, muddy, and slippery, which after all is to be expected this time of year. It was nice to hear the gently melodic bird song of a Wren and Robin this morning, having a sing off between themselves amongst the trees, only momentarily being disrupted by a squawking Jay.
The last day of the month Tuesday 31st was another very wet morning, the ground was still saturated, and the smaller tracks around the woodland becoming very wet and muddy. That said the autumn colours are looking beautiful, the Oak leaves are turning a yellow and golden-brown colour, Silver Birch leaves too are similar colour as are the Beach trees. The forestry people have been in amongst the woodland over the past couple of days and felled some random trees, their four wheeled vehicle cutting up the ground quite badly.
Bird song these past few mornings has been noticeably quiet except for the Robin and Wren who between them seem to be able to produce a song every day of the week no matter what the weather.
There have been several highlights for me this month, including bumping into the Tawny Owls on two consecutive mornings was amazing, seeing the variety of Fungi around at this time, the beautiful autumnal colours of the trees especially during the sunshine and finally listening to the Wren and Robin singing their early morning tunes.
Monday 16th October 2023
It is always nice to visit the arboretum at Thorpe Perrow near Bedale, no matter what time of year, and today was no different.
We arrived at around 10.30am, I went for a stroll under the Horse Chestnut trees close to the entrance and car park area to 
collect a handful of fallen conkers for the grandchildren. I was pleasantly surprised as to how many visitors were arriving considering we are still a week away from the children’s half term holiday, that aside the arboretum is also a popular meeting spot for young mums, dads and babies in pushchairs, the paths are flat and level, there are toilets at the entrance and a nice café, everything you need for a nice day out.
We stopped at the café for a takeaway coffee before making our way around the Arboretum. One of the nice things about visiting this time of year is the variety of colour amongst all the trees, with such a variety of different types of trees the colour spectrum is quite wide and colourful, even though today was quite dull and overcast there was still plenty of beautiful autumnal colours to see.
As well as coming for a nice walk with Meg and Gacie, there is also a very good ‘Halloween Trail’ to follow (which runs from 7th October – 5th November,) trail sheets can be collected from the café shop to guide you along the trail, with a small gift for completed trail sheets. We have been coming to Thorpe Perrow for several years and the Halloween Trail gets better every year.
We started our walk from the coffee shop and followed the stream for a couple of hundred yards till we found the ‘Trail sign’ for the start of the ‘Halloween Trail’. We passed numerous ghosts suspended in the trees, accompanied with skeletons, coffins and huge spiders. The skeleton sat upright in the pet’s graveyard was quite startling, followed shortly after by the skeletal wedding with accompanying skeletal dog. The flying academy was good with a coven of witches crowded around a campfire. Crossing over the wooden footbridge just before entering the Milbank Pinetum is always a good spot to stop and admire the view looking towards the ‘Catherine Parr Oak’ in the distance, no matter what time of year. Just below us and waist deep in water was a Gruffalo character with a pot full of skeletal remains, we passed a pair of skeletal gardeners cutting and raking the grass. A little further on was a pumpkin scarecrow selling his whares, a little further on was a pair of skeletons accompanied by their skeletal cat at the dining table being watered on by a skeletal butler. Several skeletons were out camping accompanied with their pets. We left the trail at that point and made our way to the ‘Cathreine Parr Oak’ where we sat and had a rest for five minutes, by which time the sun had started to breakthrough the cloudy sky. We continued our walk towards the monument, the views through some of the terraces were beautiful, the sunlight picking out huge swathes of golden and yellow colours with the leaves changing colour as they prepare for the colder winter months ahead. We had another rest at the monument to admire the views down the ‘Main Avenue’ looking towards the house. It only seems five minutes ago when we visited in March and the entire area was covered in Daffodils. From the Monument it is just a steady five minutes’ walk back to the café, where we enjoyed a very pleasant sandwich and pot of tea before the journey home.
Wednesday 4th - Saturday 7th October 2023
of the hotel overlooking the tennis courts. Suitably refreshed we had a good hours walk with the dogs exploring the hotel grounds. 
The cliff lift is the oldest operating water-balance cliff funicular in the country, it was constructed between 1883 and 1884 and replaced an 1870 vertical cliff hoist. It has a height of 120 feet and a track length of 207 feet, resulting in a 71 per cent incline. A pair of 12-person cars, each fitted with a 240-imperial-gallon water tank, run on parallel tracks; by removing or adding the water to their tanks, movement is achieved, regulated by a brakeman at the top.
there for most of the morning whilst Meg and Gracie enjoyed chasing the waves and running on the beach. By the late morning we made our way back to the shore for a coffee after which we headed back to the car. Suitably refreshed and rested I drove north to the lovely coastal village of Staithes. After parking the car in the small car park on the cliff top, we headed steadily down the steep road to the ‘Cod and Lobster’ public house situated at the bottom of the hill on the sea front. After having a breather for five minutes I took the dogs for a very pleasant walk along the seafront. This lovely little village clings to the surrounding hillside, it was once one of the largest fishing ports in the Northeast, alas no more. Its charm today lies with the narrow-cobbled streets and charming 18th century holiday cottages. Staithes is also best known for its connection to Captain James Cook the sea farer and explorer. It was back In 1746 that James moved to Staithes when he was just 16 years of age to be apprenticed as a shop boy to a grocer and haberdasher. It is believed it was whilst he was looking out of the shop window that he first felt the lure of the sea. After 18 months, and not proving suited for shop work, Cook travelled to the nearby port town of Whitby where he was taken on as a merchant navy apprentice. The rest as they say is history.
Saturday 30th September 2023
had risen to 27c. Alas all good things come to an end and late afternoon on Saturday 9th September thunder was in the air and could be heard for several hours to the south of the Barff. By late evening around 11.00pm we had a heavy rainstorm, accompanied by thunder and lots of sheet lightening.
forked tail with yellow and green flashes and a black head, we do have some resident birds, but these visitors have come over from Europe to overwinter in this country. Wren and Robins were quite vocal around the woodland this morning too.
their leaves albeit due to the strong winds of late, accompanied by some heavy rain showers.
Friday 15th September 2023
temperature of 16c, not to hot and not to cold.
With tantalising titles and themes inspired by the crime writing greats, we headed into the house to delve into the exciting world of mystery in floral form with Detective Rufus Smythe, the sleuth extraordinaire, to discover the thrilling ‘Blooms of Deception’. The opulent principal rooms of this beautiful Grade I listed house had been transformed by a host of talented florists including celebrity floral designer Jonathan Moseley and award-winning florist Helen James to become the canvas for a floral narrative straight off the pages of a mystery novel. I have to say the arrangements were stunning and set the grand rooms of nicely.
Thursday 31st August 2023
A monthly round up on Brayton Barff. The heavy rain in July continues into August, on Tuesday 2nd August it rained for 24 hours and dropped over 40mm of rain on our part of the county, more than a month’s supply in 24 hours. The Barff is looking quite 
sodden. Fortunately, the rain eased somewhat overnight, and Thursday 3rd began bright and sunny with a cooling 12C northerly breeze, though late evening we had a massive storm with very heavy rain and strong winds. After more heavy overnight rain Friday 4th morning was quite humid 12C, needless to say it poured down during our early morning walk and despite wearing waterproofs ended up being as wet on the inside as outside due to perspiring! The ‘warm’ humid weather has seen a massive surge in the growth of fungi, be it on the woodland floor, on the base of rotten trees or on the branches of the Silver Birch, it is shooting up at an alarming rate, especially Sulphur Tuft and Earthalls. Birdsong has been relatively low key during the heavy rain.
‘Storm Antoni’ swept across the country on Friday 4th and Sat 5th, fortunately our part of North Yorkshire seems to have missed the worse of the storm.
Sunday 6th was quite a contrast to the previous few days, the wind had changed and now coming from the North which brought a chill to the Barff, 10C at 7.00am, bright and dry sunny morning, venturing over the top of Tap hill I noticed some Teasels in flower which were seven foot tall, they were head and shoulders above myself and I am just over six foot tall. Grey Squirrels were very active with their kits, chasing each other around and up and down the tree trunks.
What a contrast with the first two weeks of August, the first very wet, the second week in August saw afternoon temperatures rise to 22C – 23C. The morning dog walks were dry and very humid with temperatures ranging from 12C – 18C.
Spear Thistles continue to flower mid-month, their purple-coloured flower heads attract a host of insects and moths, during the Summer and later in the year the seeds feed the birds.
As the month continues the yellow flowering Ragwort has started to die back for another year. Buddleia bushes are still in full
flower and the Hawthorn bushes are full of red berries.
Fungi continues to thrive Sulphur Tuft and Earthballs shooting up overnight. Good to see the wheat field adjacent to the car park has finally been cut and harvested during the second week in August, bails removed within 24 hours of cutting. Though harvesting in general has continued well into the third week making the most of the dry weather.
‘Storm Betty’ hit the uk on Friday the 18th early evening, mainly along the Southwest coast and the west country, strong 60mph winds and heavy rainfall. Fortunately, the Barff and our part of North Yorkshire missed the storm and other than rain and light winds all Friday evening that was our ‘Storm Betty’. The weekend of the 19th & 20th turned out to be very warm with early morning temperatures at 6.30am averaging at 16C whilst afternoon temperatures rose to 23C – 24C making for a very pleasant weekend, a light rainstorm on the Sunday evening was immediately followed by warm sunshine & 23C for the remainder of the evening.
Monday 21st was a much cooler and humid morning with an air temperature of 11C, we had a pleasant dry and sunny morning walk through the woodland. The Buzzard very vocal opposite the old pump house.
The third week of August has been a relatively dry, bright and sunny week. The morning walk has seen temperatures vary from 11C – 18c and extremely humid at times. Bird songs seems to have eased off of late, Chiffchaff, Robin, Blue Tit, Wren and Thrush can still be heard most mornings, along with the Willow Warblers and Nuthatch. The Buzzard is still very vocal too, though with the tree cover being as dense as it is at the moment, I tend to hear it more than see it. Spiders are becoming more active just recently, casting their strands and webs across the smaller tracks and trails away from the main perimeter footpath, I seem to be forever wiping them away as they get tangled across my face and hair.
Acorns are forming nicely on the older Oak trees. Sloe Berries are ripening nicely on the Blackthorn bushes and the Bramble fruit is ready for picking. Apples on the fruit trees along both sides of the Bypass trail are beginning to ripen and fall, many succumbing to the Wasps.
I keep mentioning it most months but the Bridal path which forms part of the Selby Horseshoe walk and skirts the Barff is now very heavily overgrown and should be avoided especially after a heavy rainstorm. Let’s home September brings some warmer and dryer weather.
Wednesday 30th August 2023
and Gardens, when ever cake and coffee are involved it is a no brainer.After a hectic but lovely week entertaining the family at home, it was nice to escape the mundane tasks of housekeeping and pop over to Castle Howard for a breath of fresh air and change of scenery for a few hours.
I’d taken the dogs out earlier in the morning for a shortened walk, so after we had our breakfast, we set of for Castle Howard. Needless to say, the traffic was backing up on the A64 at the usual place namely the Hopgrove roundabout, fortunately we were quite early and although it held us up by fifteen minutes, we arrived at Castle Howard by 10.15am. It was a pleasant morning, not to warm or humid about 14c with just a light breeze and cloudy, a nice morning for a pleasant walk without having to wear layers of clothes etc.
We popped into the courtyard café for our compulsory coffee before crossing the courtyard to the ticket office, the courtyard was quiet this morning with just one or two estate workers going about their business. There was a lovely display of fruit outside the farm shop in the courtyard.
One of the things I remember about our last visit towards the end of July was how nice and colourful the walled garden was, so, on leaving the ticket office we headed over to the walled garden for another look and to see what had changed since our last visit. We were not disappointed, the borders were still full of a wide range of flowering shrubs, glowing in the morning light. The giant Alliums for example although they had past their best, still looked beautiful without their tiny blue florets, I am certain they would look lovely once dried out and sprayed and put into an autumnal flower arrangement. Sea Holly too looked lovely with its very sharp prickly leaves tinged with blue and their thistle like florets a magnet for bees and butterflies when in full flower, but today they were dying back gracefully, another plant that would look good
in a winter flower arrangement. Huge swathes of flowering lavender filled the borders along with several late flowering Azaleas all providing a bright and vibrant splash of colour on this dull, cloudy morning.
We reluctantly left the garden and made our way up the terrace towards the south front of the house. I was pleasantly surprised as to how quiet it was, though that said I think many visitors had stayed away due to the horrendous weather forecast issued by the met office yesterday. We continued our walk along the south terrace in front of the house till we reached the time capsule where we headed over towards the South Lake. Much of the grass meadow had been left to go to seed much to the delight of Meg and Gracie who although on a lead, loved running into the long grass and having a good roll before re emerging wet through and covered in grass seed! We continued our walk around the lake watching the swans and their young family as they lazily swam across the lake before dipping their long necks into the depth for food. We stopped at the far end of the lake for a rest, photographs and just to admire the view looking back towards the house. After a few minutes we continued our walk up towards the Temple of Four Winds, though on reaching the South Terrace we decided to head back to the courtyard for an early brunch in the Courtyard restaurant before it got too busy. We decided to sit inside primarily because the chairs are more comfortable and should it decide to rain then at least we had some cover also there were less distraction for Meg and Gracie, who contently laid at the side of our table and drifted off to sleep, completely oblivious to all the compliments they were receiving from visiting diners. We enjoyed a very pleasant brunch which set us up nicely for the journey home.
Thursday 10th August 2023
The exhibition was taking place in St Mary Church, adjacent to the Coppergate centre in York.
lifetime. He is now famed for the great vitality of his works which are characterised by expressive and emotive use of brilliant colour and energetic application of impastoed paint. The traumas of his life, documented in his letters, have tended to dominate and distort modern perceptions of his art.
Monday 31st July 2023
succession of “low pressure systems”, making it feel at times more like autumn than summer. The conditions are in sharp contrast to this time last year, which saw a series of heatwaves and temperatures soar as high as 40C in some areas.
seed will have been washed out by the heavy rain towards the end of the month and not harvested. Most of the wheat fields as you approach the Barff look to have been successfully harvested and bails gathered in in-between the rain showers. Maze and sugar beet in the surrounding fields seem to be growing at an alarming rate, the humidity and rainfall aiding their growth.
the edges, I am surprised the council/waterboard contactors haven’t been and cut them back as they have done in previous years.
Friday 21st July 2023
What turned out to be a dull and cloudy start to the day manifested itself into a very pleasant, bright and sunny morning.
After breakfast we packed the car and headed over to Castle Howard for another walk around the gardens with Meg and Gracie, it was three weeks since our last visit.
It was just after 10.30am as we left the Courtyard café. The weather looked somewhat grey and cloudy, but in the distance you could see the sun was trying to break through the leaden sky. It was pleasantly warm at about 16C the slight breeze keeping the temperature quite pleasant. After fifteen minutes or so the sun was shining, and it turned into a very pleasant morning. After leaving the ticket office we headed over to the Walled Garden for a look at the beautiful borders and vegetable/kitchen garden. I find it quite tranquil and peaceful inside the walled gardens. The lawns are neatly cut and tidy, the borders for mid-summer, look beautiful and full of colour. The clusters of Alliums amongst the borders, although they have lost their colour still looked amazing and would make some great dry flower arrangements, some of the flower heads the size of a small football. After leaving the Walled gardens we followed the path around the South Lake and had a pleasant walk along the water’s edge. There was plenty of activities on the water with lots of Tufted ducks and plenty of geese flitting around the water.
I was pleasantly surprised as to how quiet it was on the estate this morning with not as many visitors as usual. After the stroll around the lake we headed back to the courtyard and enjoyed a very pleasant brunch in the Courtyard restaurant.
Thursday 13th July 2023
After an early morning walk with Meg, (Gracie is carrying a paw injury at the moment so it is only very light garden exercise for her, much to Meg’s displeasure) I had to pop over to Harrogate for a meeting, which isn’t usually a problem, but this week the Yorkshire Show is taking place from Tuesday 11th July till Friday 14th July at the showground and attracts visitors from around
the country. In light of this I added an extra thirty minutes to my journey time, as it happens, I needed that extra 30 minutes due to the traffic flow which took me away from Harrogate before being able to double back onto the Skipton Road, a bit of a nightmare but not to worry.
My meeting finished by 11.00am so I headed over to RHS Harow Carr on the Otley Road for brunch and a walk around the gardens. It was a lovely bright and sunny morning as we approached the gardens. I popped into the coffee shop for a takeaway coffee before popping into the visitor’s reception. The view looking down the steps leading into the garden looked lovely, with a bright blue sky and wispy white clouds. It was seven weeks since our last visit, I don’t know where the time goes.
I’ve noticed in previous years when the Yorkshire Show is on, the visitors come to Yorkshire from all parts of the country, making a holiday of their visit. After they have visited the show, they will visit RHS Harlow Carr the following day making the most of their time in Yorkshire and this was quite apparent as we made our way around the gardens today, with lots of visitors and different accents.
The gardens today were looking quite vibrant, lush and colourful, the borders in front of the restaurant especially so. We followed our usual route passing the Learning centre on our left, here too the borders were full to overflowing of plants and shrubs, the 
Alliums in particular swaying gently in the breeze, attracting bees to their bright and vibrant purple coloured flower heads. We continued our walk to the Edwardian sunken garden, its borders full with perennials, roses and dwarf evergreens. Looking over to the Queen Mother’s Lake on the right, it is currently covered in weed forming a huge green blanket across its surface. The native yellow flag iris’s along the waters edge looking vibrant in the morning light. Further moisture-loving plants thrive along the banks, including astilbes, daylilies and Lythrum. Hidden amongst the grassy mounds are plenty of wildflowers and Marsh orchids. Down at the water’s edge it was nice to be able to watch the beautiful emperor dragonfly’s flitting amongst the Irises and reed beds. The Moorhen chicks providing extra entertainment as they paddle and swim between the weeds on the waters surface, they look to have made a nest in the floating duck house. Continuing our walk past the lake we followed the Streamside walk to the old bath house, I always enjoy this part of the walk and today was no different, the streamside banks were full of plants and shrubs, lots of Hosta’s, huge Gunnera’s and Rheum, with giant rhubarb/type leaves, standing five to six feet tall with massive green furry leaves. Clumps of Rodgersia added further colour with their purple and pink coloured leaves, all thriving in the damp conditions along the sides of the stream.
Work continues apace repairing/renovating one of the stone footbridges, a large JCB helping to lift and manoeuvre some of the huge boulders into place, looking forward to see what it looks like when complete later this year.
We popped into the Old Bath house to have a look at the arts and crafts on sale, some lovely paintings and prints and jewellery. We stopped for brunch at Bettys Tea House, which was very pleasant, sitting outside in the afternoon sunlight, we had a cheeky chaffinch join us too, in search of some crumbs from our sandwiches. After our break we headed back along the other side of the stream before bearing left through the ‘new’ Sandstone rock garden, some of the Japanese Maples and Acers look absolutely beautiful. After a few more minutes and a steady walk up the incline we arrived at the Garden centre for a steady browse at all the pot plants etc. I tend to head indoors and have a look in the bookshop, it is not very often I leave without buying a book and today was no different. A lovely day at the gardens.
Wednesday 5th July 2023
It was a dull and gloomy start to the day this morning, I had been out earlier with Meg and Gracie for a shortish walk. It was quite overcast and humid, with rain threatening in the distance. After breakfast we packed the car, and all headed up the A1 to the .jpg)
Thorpe Perrow Arboretum on the outskirts of Bedale. It is just a steady fifty-five-minute drive from home and quite straight forward. We arrived at the ticket office for 10.30am, ordered a takeaway coffee before heading off into the arboretum. We followed our usual route, following the stream, I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of water flowing into the main lake, especially since June has been a relatively dry month. Wildflowers about a metre tall lined the banks of the stream adding a nice splash of colour on a gloomy morning. We continued following the stream till it opened up into the main lake in front of the house. This stretch of the walk is always lovely, no matter what time of year you visit, when we were last here towards the end of May, the bank side and avenues were awash with daffodils.
Recently, I had been doing some work in the loft at home and came across some old oil paintings of my late grandfather. One of them was of two Victorian ladies walking alongside a stream, with trees in the background. I looked on the back of the painting at the title and description of where the picture had been painted, which happened to be at Thorpe Perrow Arboretum. From my memory I tried to envisage whereabouts the picture would have been painted, which turns out to be alongside the lake, nearly adjacent to the house. I will have to take a photograph of the painting with me and try to pinpoint the exact spot, just to satisfy my curiosity. I
never actually saw my grandfather painting, though his bungalow was awash with his oil paintings, which I estimate must be well over one hundred years old. We stopped for a few moments to admire the reflections across the water before heading off towards the Milbank Pinetum and Birds of Prey centre. It was very quiet in the Arboretum today, other than chatting to another couple about some ancient trees in the Arboretum we must only have seen a handful of people during our visit, which I found very pleasant. On reaching the Mamal centre and Birds of Prey centre we headed along ‘Birch Avenue’ to the huge ‘Jubilee Oak’, where we turned right along the ‘Millennium walk’, part way along I thought I could hear some Tawny owl chicks calling in the trees on my right-hand side. On closer examination I never found the chicks due to the dense tree cover, and the fact that they were quite high up in the tees, it was still lovely to hear them though. We continued our route to the ‘Catherine Par Oak’ where we sat for 5 minutes just listening to the bird song and admiring the views. After our rest we continued along the edge of the woodland till we reached the stone ‘Bothy’, following ‘Cherry Avenue’ till we reached the ‘Monument’, after a short photo break we continued along the outer perimeter track till we crossed the stream and back to the cafeteria, where we sat outside, under the shade of one of the umbrella’s and enjoyed a very pleasant brunch of bacon and egg sandwiches and pot of tea with Meg & Gracie, before the journey home.
Note to myself’ I must remember to bring my booklet entitled ‘Thorpe Perrow Tree Trails’ on our next visit as it contains lots of useful information about many of the ancient and veteran trees within the Arboretum.
Friday 30th June 2023
After all the glorious weather of late, today was somewhat dull, cloudy and overcast, the air temperature had dropped from 18C yesterday to 12C this morning. After a short early morning walk around Brayton Barff with Meg and Gracie followed by breakfast, we packed the car, loaded the dogs and headed off to Castle Howard for a walk around the Walled Garden and South Lake. It was just over a month ago since our last visit, so todays was long overdue.
It was 10.30am as I parked the car and made our way over to the courtyard coffee shop for a takeaway coffee and cake. Drinks in one hand and dogs in the other we made our way across the cobbled courtyard to the ticket office. After showing our cards and exchanging pleasantries with the staff, we made our way under the arch and across to the walled garden. It has been several months since our last walk around the garden, so today made quite a pleasant change.
The borders were a mass of colour, the Alliums in particular caught my attention, due to the size of the flower heads. Everything in the garden was huge and much bigger than say the same plants in our garden at home. The vegetable beds were full of various types of vegetables. The Walled Garden was originally laid out during the 18th century as a kitchen garden. Today, although vegetables are still grown, the vast majority of the garden is laid out with roses, shrubs and cut flowers, dedicated to the memory of Lady Cecillia Howard. It is estimated that there are 2000 modern roses of all varieties in the garden, making it one the country’s most comprehensive collections.
On leaving the Walled Garden we headed over to the house along the Lime Terrace and as rain looked imminent, we shortened our walk with just a circuit of the South Lake. Much of the grass meadows around the lake and up towards Ray Wood has been left to seed with several tracks cut through by the ground staff. It is amazing to see the different wildflowers including Orchids that have grown amongst the long grass. As we headed back towards the house and courtyard we called into the courtyard restaurant for a very pleasant brunch, Meg & Gracie contently sleeping alongside our table as we had our lunch. As we left the comfort of the restaurant and made our way back to the car the long-awaited rain arrived, fortunately I managed to get the dogs to the car before the heavens opened. Needless to say we had a very wet drive home.
Thursday 29th June 2023
Brayton Barff, monthly round up. After several weeks it was good to see that Yorkshire water has finally managed to cap the water leak that was cascading over the perimeter footpath.
Yorkshire Water has been quite proactive this month on the Barff, clearing a lot of the foliage under the overhead cables, a job 
that has needed doing for some time. Heavy machinery was brought in on Wednesday 14th June, when the Barff was closed to the public for the day to clear some of the bigger trees and bushes. The clearance has made quite an impact on the landscape around the Barff. I wonder when they will return and clear the Bridal footpath which forms part of the Selby Horseshoe walk? The trails on both side of the bypass are now heavily overgrown with invading Bramble and Blackthorn bushes and barely wide enough for one person to walk along, I certainly wouldn’t lead my horses down them.
Early in the month the sweet scent of Honeysuckle was filling the air, especially around the top of Tap Hill and occasionally around the perimeter footpath.
I have seen several dead voles recently on the smaller trails around the woodland, there was no sign of disease or injury on them and when I returned later in the day, they had disappeared presumed predated.
The Oil seed rape has finally finished flowering, it seems to have been in flower for ages, and started to turn to seed, it will be around another six weeks or so before it is ready for harvesting, weather permitting.
Since returning from our holidays, it has been exceptionally warm on the Barff, morning air temperatures at 6.00am averaging at 14c mid-afternoon temperatures 25C. As a consequence to the warmer and humid weather the undergrowth is exceptionally lush and green, nettles appear to be growing at an alarming rate, in places they are over five feet tall, and can give a nasty irritating sting on your arms and legs, I have never known Bramble runners grow as fast as they are at the moment, they too can give you a nasty scratch on your arms and legs. Ferns are flourishing too, they have even started shooting up on the ground just recently cleared by YW.
Although we have had several yellow weather warnings for thunderstorms this month, we have got away quite lightly, the rain that fell at times was heavy, mainly in the afternoon or evening, but only short lived and within several minutes the road and paths would be dry again. It has been exceptionally muggy with early morning temperatures (around 6.00am) varying between 12C – 18C.
This June looks to be heading for the hottest on record according to the Met office. The next few cooler days will not be enough to prevent June 2023 from exceeding the previous mean average record of 14.9c set in both 1940 and 1976. The Met office has not recorded a June this hot since it began collecting temperature data in 1884. What has been particularly unusual is the persistent warmth for much of the month, with temperatures reaching 25C widely for at least a fortnight and at times 28C – 30C, whereas we would more typically expect maximum temperatures in the high teens or low 20’s at this time of year.
Bird song around the Barff seems to be as strong as ever, I am frequently hearing Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Song Thrush, Garden Warbler, Wren, Goldcrest and Mistle Thrush, most often on top of the Barff.
Wednesday 31st May - Friday 9th June 2023
After a four-year break from holidaying overseas, due primarily to the Covid Pandemic, this ten-day holiday was our first since all the travel restrictions had been lifted back in 2022.
Jenny and I had been to Sicily back in 2004 and our friends some forty years ago, so we were due another visit. This holiday was a touring holiday organised by Titan holiday group, whom we have used for several of our overseas holidays, so we had a pretty good idea on what to expect.
Our holiday started when our Titan driver collected us from the front door at eight forty-five am on Wednesday 31st May, for the journey down to London Gatwick airport.
We met up with our friends in the departure lounge during the afternoon. Unfortunately, our flight was two hours late departing Gatwick and by the time we arrived in Catania it was ten thirty in the evening. We finally arrived at our hotel in Syracuse just after midnight.
The following morning, after a restless sleep, we had a walking tour of Syracuse and then boarded the coach for a guided tour around the archaeological site before heading over to Ortigia a suburb of Syracuse, which included an open topped boat trip around Ortigia.
Friday was a busy day touring, we visited the towns of Noto, Ragusa and finally Modica. All towns which had been destroyed by the earthquake of 1693. Returning to Syracuse for the evening.
Saturday was another busy day, touring the towns of Enna, Cefalu and finally Palermo where we checked into Hotel Mercure a city centre hotel on the North part of the island, where we stayed for the next two nights.
Sunday morning was spent having a guided tour of Palermo and a fascinating tour around the Palatine Chapel, the golden mosaics on the floor and walls of the Chapel were incredible and a fine example of Byzantine art. Later that day we headed over to the small town of Monreale to have a look around the beautiful Cathedral.
We woke the following morning to heavy rain. After breakfast we left Palermo and drove over to the Northwest part of the island to the small town of Erice, stopping first at the ‘salt pan lakes’ at Trapani. It was raining that heavy when we arrived in Erice that a stream of water was gushing down the centre of the narrow-cobbled street. We called in to Maria Grammatico’s bakery for coffee and cakes and some shelter from the rain. Suitably refreshed and a little drier, we headed over to Selinunte and the archaeological site for an interesting tour of the Greek Temples. Fortunately, it had stopped raining as we headed back to the coach and our onward journey along the south coastal road to Agrigento and our hotel for the night. A massive thunderstorm during the early hours prevented a good night’s sleep. Tuesday morning after breakfast we had a guided tour around Agrigento before heading over to the Valley of Temples and an excellent guided tour of the ruins. It gave an interesting insight into what life must have been like during the 5th Century BC. After lunch at a private estate in Geracello we boarded the coach and drove over to the Roman Villa on the outskirts of Piazza Armerina, where excavations have revealed one of the richest, largest, and most varied collections of Roman mosaics in the world, dating back to 6 AD. On leaving the site, we had a long drive over to the East 
side of the island and our hotel for the next three nights at Giardini Naxos.
Wednesday was a lovely day with a walking tour of Taormina where we stayed some 19 years ago.
Thursday morning was a visit to Mount Etna. We had a lovely view from the front of our hotel, the snow-capped summit crater standing out against the clear blue cloudless sky. Unfortunately, by the time we arrived at the dropping off point some 6,000 feet above sea level the mist and fog had shrouded the entire area and the temperature had dropped to single figures. I was quite surprised how much the area had been developed since our last visit, there is even a hotel on the site! Due to the low cloud, we decided not to buy tickets to go any higher in the cable car so found the nearest coffee shop and stayed there for the remainder of the morning. Some of our tour party did venture a little higher but alas the views from the top of the cable car station were non-descript. For lunch we headed down to the lower slopes and arrived at the Cantina Mungo Winery for a very nice brunch and tour of the winery, the change in temperature was quite remarkable, bathed in bright warm sunshine the temperature reaching 25C! and views for miles around.
Friday was our last day, we left Catania Airport just after lunch, our flight to London Gatwick was on time. We said our goodbyes to our friends once we arrived in the UK, and by the time we arrived home it was just after 10.00pm. On reflection this was a really lovely holiday but extremely tiring, with a lot of walking and sitting on a coach travelling, but this was an ideal way of seeing all of the island, and it was nice that our tour operator did all the driving. We now need another holiday to recover.
Sunday 28th May 2023
Here's my monthly round up of whats happening on and around Brayton Barff this month.
It has been a good year for the Bluebells on the Barff, that said, they were probably at their best towards the end of April and the first week in May, as I write this note towards the end of the month, they have all but died back or been smothered by the emerging ferns, nettles and Sycamore seedlings. 
Song Thrush, Black Caps and Dunnock all very vocal and can be heard and seen most mornings, along with Wren, Robins, Blue & Great Tits, and Long Tailed Tits, just to name a few.
want to lead my horse down there until it is cut back somewhat, that said the council have been down there once with a small grass cutter, they now need to get down there with a big tractor and hedge trimmer to cut back all the brambles.
footpaths around the woodland have dried up nicely. We have experienced several cold days with a cool easterly wind coming off the North Sea which kept the temperatures down a little, but the high pressure of late has seen afternoon temperatures range between 18C – 22C.
Thursday 18th May 2023
I was up a little earlier than usual this morning, Meg and Gracie think its great fun when I get up at the crack of dawn. I took them for a shorter walk around Brayton Barff before breakfast as we were going to have a busy day.
at the building and followed the main trail through the woodland, it wasn’t long before we came to the Rhododendrons and Azaleas. The scent from the flowers filled the air, the colours were vibrant, pinks, reds, whites, orange, and blue, mixed with more pastel colours. We veered of the main path onto a smaller track and followed the meandering trail, around every corner was a palette of colour, it was absolutely beautiful. I think we spent nearly two hours just meandering along the several trails, stopping to admire and photograph the sheer beauty and colour of the plants. As it was getting near to brunch time, we headed out of the woods and up the slope to the ‘Temple of Four Winds’ where we had a sit down for five minutes, the dogs had a drink and biscuit. The views looking over the Howardian hills were breath-taking, the pastureland was looking lush and vibrant, I watched a Buzzard soaring high above a copse of trees over towards the Mausoleum, the warm air enabling it to glide effortlessly on the thermals. After a few more photographs we headed down the slope towards the ‘South Lake’, stopping every now and then to photograph yet more Rhododendrons. Just emerging through the long grass were lots of ‘Bugle’, I had to take a closer look as at first as I thought they might have been emerging orchids. Bugle is an unusual wildflower standing about three to four inches in height, with a long stem with rosettes of green, purple-coloured leaves and blue flowers with white markings. After leaving the wildflowers we headed down to the South Lake, stopping for the compulsory photograph with the house in the background. We continued our walk along the southern edge of the lake, stopping occasionally for some other visitors wanting to chat and stroke Meg & Gracie. Passing the west edge of the lake, we headed through the trees and made our way over to the ‘Atlas Fountain’ which looked majestic, especially under the bright sunshine and with the house as a magnificent backdrop.
Monday 15th May 2023
side the lake, joining ‘The Streamside walk’ to ‘The Old Bath House’. This part of the walk never disappoints, no matter what time of year you visit. Hosta’s, miniature Irises, Gunnera and Astilbe provide lots of colour as do some of the early flowering Azaleas and Honeysuckles, the scents from the later filled the air and made a very pleasant heady aroma. Lots of Primulas (Primula bulleyana and Primula beesiana) lined the banks of the stream and unfurling ferns added lots of form and shape to the waters edge. Maintenance work is continuing along the streamside path with a slight diversion whilst restoration work is being undertaken on one of the small footbridges over the stream. The Streamside rock garden was looking a picture, although now set back a little due to the re-routing of the pathway away from the water’s edge. Saturday 6th May 2023
Hot Jets in the Cold War
Whilst at the ‘We’ll Meet Again’ weekend at the Yorkshire Air Museum, I had a very reminiscing browse around the latest exhibition entitled ‘Minutes to Midnight’ commemorating the aircraft that would have had a huge role to play had the ‘Cold War turned Hot'.
The Cold War began after the surrender of Nazi Germany in 1945, when the uneasy alliance between the United States and Great Britain on the one hand and the Soviet Union on the other started to fall apart. The Soviet Union began to establish left-wing governments in the countries of eastern Europe, determined to safeguard against a possible renewed threat from Germany. The Americans and the British worried that Soviet domination in eastern Europe might be permanent. The Cold War was solidified by 1947–48, when U.S. aid had brought certain Western countries under American influence and the Soviets had established openly communist regimes. Fortunately, there was very little use of weapons on battlefields during the Cold War. It was waged mainly on political, economic, and propaganda fronts with the constant threat of nuclear war in the background.
The Cold War started to break down during the administration of Mikhail Gorbachev, who changed the more totalitarian aspects of the Soviet government and tried to democratize its political system. Communist regimes began to collapse in eastern Europe, and democratic governments rose in East Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, followed by the reunification of West and East Germany under NATO auspices. Gorbachev’s reforms meanwhile weakened his own communist party and allowed power to shift to the constituent governments of the Soviet bloc. The Soviet Union collapsed in late 1991, giving rise to 15 newly independent nations, including a Russia with an anti-communist leader.
If the stalemate had been broken, aircraft would have played a significant role in what happened next. In Minutes to Midnight the air museum has shone a light on the aircraft at the museum that played a part in the Cold War, from the mighty ‘Handley Page Victor’ to the ‘Buccaneer’, ‘Hawker Siddeley GR3 Harrier’ and ‘Tornado’.
I spent several years as a young 17-year-old apprentice at the then ‘Blackburn Aircraft Factory’ in Brough, working on the Buccaneer aircraft, both on the air frame and later fight test, at the time not realising the significance of this aircraft had war broken out. The Buccaneer was designed as a nuclear strike aircraft for the Royal Navy, armed with the ‘Red Beard’ nuclear bomb, later to be replaced with the ‘WE177’ bombs. The aircraft would have been tasked with destroying Soviet ships in the event of a nuclear war. Had the Cold War turned Hot, the aircraft would have been scrambled from RAF bases in West Germany. The Buccaneer is like an old friend to me with lots of happy memories whilst working on it. It is nice to see three of them (one freshly painted) in the hanger, alongside the GR£ Harrier.
Outside of T2 hanger on the airfield apron are several other aircraft from the ‘Cold War era’ including the Victor, and the French Mirage 1V.
Over in the HP Hangar is a fascinating and interesting display and exhibition about how the ‘Cold War’ came about with lots of information about the WE177 nuclear bomb which were carried by the British aircraft until the 1910’s
Over in the Astra Cinema were lots of films and eyewitness accounts of the Cold War from the people who had lived through it.
This really is a fascinating and interesting exhibition and I look forward to another visit.
Saturday 6th May 2023
weekend as the Coronation of King Charles 111.Thursday 27th April 2023
month at 5c, the afternoon temperatures rising to between 12c to 15c. April’s rainfall has been above average for this time of year and we have had a fair share of rain on the Barff this month making some of the tracks quite slippery and muddy in places.
The Birds have been much more vocal as the month progresses, I was concerned last month about the lack of sightings of Nuthatches around the Barff, well am pleased to say that I have seen at least two pairs recently, utilising the bird boxes around the woodland. Buzzard continues to prowl his patch and can be heard and seen most mornings calling and soaring high above the trees. Mistle Thrush continues to fill the air with a cacophony of bird song, I hear and see several most mornings on my daily ramble. Chiffchaffs seem to be increasing their numbers since the beginning of the month, their distinctive chiffchaff call quite noticeable at times. I always enjoy watching the Blackbirds going about their daily business, searching amongst the leaf litter in their quest for food. Thursday 20th April 2023
After leaving the main hall we ventured outside to browse at the trade stands lining the main avenue, it never ceases to amaze me the variety of items there are relating to gardening, everything from plants to Gazeboes, hot tubs, every kind of garden implement, statues, bird baths, bug houses, outdoor ornaments, wicker styled animals, the variety was endless.
Monday 3rd April 2023
It was an early start today as I was meeting Paul Fowlie a fellow wildlife photographer in Hawes, Wensleydale, to film Red Squirrels for the day.
I left home at 6.30am on a cold and frosty morning, the outside temperature was -2C which I don’t really mind, it was daylight and the weather forecast for the day was for a dry sunny day. After a steady drive up the A1 motorway, I arrived in Hawes a few minutes before 8.00am. Paul arrived a few minutes later and after exchanging pleasantries we set of in our cars further up the dale along the B6255 before branching off onto a track into the heart of Snaizeholme some seven miles from Hawes.
It is steady five-minute walk from the car, down the side of a valley and into the woodland. The ground underfoot was extremely wet and slippery. March had been a very wet month in Wensleydale and much of North Yorkshire, records have shown that it was the wettest March since 1981. After a few minutes we were able to settle down in the hide.
Looking back through my diary it was April 2021 since I last visited and prior to that it was December 2017 with Simon Phillpotts. Needless to say, we have had three years of Covid Pandemic in between, otherwise I would probably had had a few more visits.
I remember from my previous visits how cold, damp and wet it can be up here, so I came well prepared with all my winter gear including my wellies! Although the sun had started to shine it was still quite chilly in the confines of the hide which is protected from the sunlight by the woodland.
As I was setting up my gear the red squirrels were being very inquisitive outside the hide, along with a variety of bird life including Pheasant, Robin, Chaffinch, Greater Spotted Woodpecker Great and Blue Tits. I was using two Canon cameras today, one with a 100 – 400mm lens, the other with a 500mm lens with a 1.4 converter fitted, so I had most scenarios covered, the
problem was not knowing where the squirrels were going to appear from which determined which camera I should hand hold, that said the 500mm lens was too heavy to carry, so I had that secured to a portable fitting screwed to the Gimble head, which enabled me to quickly lift it from one viewing window to the other, depending where the subject was. The 100 – 400 lens was much lighter and versatile than the longer lens.
Paul had mentioned earlier that a Greater Spotted woodpecker was nesting in one of the trees round the back of the hide and sure enough, throughout the morning I could hear it drumming on one of the trees in front of the hide, at that it dropped down from the tree and started pecking at the top of the ‘public footpath’ signpost, it turned out to be a regular visitor for most of the morning.
The Red Squirrels were round and about all the time often having three or four around the hide at any one time. Once you had got used to their mannerisms and movements it made them slightly easier to photograph. As soon as they found some food they would stop and eat it on the spot after which they would scamper off into the distance, before returning a few minutes later. Being much smaller than the Grey Squirrels they are far more agile and can run up and down a tree as fast as they can along the woodland floor.
The sunlight, although very pleasant and warming, made photographing the squirrels tricky at times, dependant on where they appeared next, I had the hide to myself today so was able to film out of two sides of the hide, be it the front or the right hand side window, the sun was shining in from the left and I was constantly having to adjust my ISO and aperture settings, though I did manage to get some nice back lit images which I was pleased about.
As well as the squirrels, I was pleasantly surprised with the birdlife around the hide, Chaffinch, Robins and a pair of Pheasants were with me all day, other visitors were the Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Coal Tit, Great Tit and Blue Tits.
It was great to be back in the hide and hopefully not too long before I can return again.
Friday 31st March 2023
Well, here we are at the end of what has been a very wet month here in North Yorkshire, the stats for March state that it was the wettest month since 1981. Rainfall was well above average in most areas of the country with over twice the average amount for many southern areas, and only north-western Scotland was drier than average. The Country had 155% of average rainfall
for the month, and it was the sixth wettest March since records back in 1836. What was surprising was that it was a sunnier than average month for the western side of Scotland, but rather dull for most other parts of the country, with some places having barely half their average sunshine. Overall, it was the dullest March since 1910.
Daily temperatures for this month ended close to the average for this time of year at around 5.7C
We had several Yellow Weather Warnings issued by the Met office, for ice and snow, and several mornings were the temperature dropped just below freezing to give an overnight frost. During the early hours of Thursday 9th we woke up to a light dusting of snow which had all but disappeared by mid-morning. That evening it started to rain and during the early hours of Friday 10th the temperature fell to -2c. We woke up on Friday morning to 1” of snow. Embarrassingly this caused our two Secondary schools in the area to close for the day! By the following morning (Saturday) all the snow had melted and we woke up to a cold and frosty morning. I might add that the Yorkshire Dales and parts of the North Yorkshire moors had some significant snowfall with roads closed for several days and powerlines compromised, so we were very fortunate in this part of the county to escape the harshest of the weather.
Spring has arrived in earnest on the Barff, all the trees are in bud, The Gorse bushes are covered in lovely tiny yellow florets, Blackthorn bushes are in full bloom covered in blossom so it should be a good year for Sloe berries by the amount of blossom. Huge clusters of Celandine are growing and spreading quite wildly around the woodland floor, within the next week or so their little yellow florets should be flowering. Lichen and mosses seem to have taken a good hold on many of our rotting tree stumps and branches, shoots of wild garlic are springing through the leaf litter at an alarming rate, Creeping Buttercup are growing and will be coming into flower shortly, I have noticed along the Bypass trail a couple of patches of Sweet Violets in flower, their tiny purple/blue florets keeping close to the ground. The Bluebells are also beginning to come into flower, the first ones started to flower around the middle of the month, though by the end of March many more are now in flower, the early ones benefiting from the early morning sunlight, it will be mid-April before they all come into flower and the eastern side of the woodland will be covered in a huge blue blanket. The Foxgloves are coming to life after being quite dormant over the winter months, I have spotted several about six inches tall recently. Wood Sorrel is coming into flower all over the Barff, its tiny white florets although still closed early in the morning are opening up once the temperature warms up during the day. Dandelions have shot up this month and are even flowering, Nettles too are shooting up all around the woodland, especially alongside of the main perimeter footpath as well as deep into the woodland under the canopy of the trees. It is nice to see clusters of Daffodils around the woodland in full flower, their colour brightening up even the dullest of mornings.
It interesting to see that fungi continues to thrive in the Barff woodland, even at this time of year, I have noticed several clumps
of Sulphur tufts, shooting out of some rotten Birch trees recently and I have heard of several sightings of Candlesnuff, Yellow Brain Fungi & Scarlet Elf Cup around the woodland, though I have not yet seen them.
The Buzzard continues to be very active around the woodland, as are the Kestrel and Tawny Owls. The Chiffchaff have returned from their winter vocation in Africa to the Barff this month, their numbers seem to be increasing on a daily basis. It is nice to hear the Mistle Thrush has returned to the Barff. Our resident Robins, Chaffinch, Great & Blue Tits, Goldcrest and Redwings can be seen and heard most days. Male and female Pheasants can be seen most days too, Meg & Gracie occasionally send them scooting off into the distance, alarm calling as they go. Treecreepers are quite visible at the moment, their white breast catches my attention as they scurry up the tree trunks, stopping every now and then to prize a grub from under the tree bark with their short, curved beak. The Nuthatch’s has been very quiet, I haven’t heard them for several weeks now, I’m hoping they are sat on eggs in which case they will be quiet, once the weather settles down a little they may become more vocal again.
I had a look at our solitary Wych Elm tree the other day, sadly, just before Autumn last year it started to lose it leaves, a little sooner than usual, it should be in bud by now, but many of branches were dead and dried out, which is such a shame. I wonder if it has succumbed to the Elm Bark beetle?
Several highlights for me this month have being seeing how the snow completely transforms the woodland, albeit for just a couple of days, secondly, on Wednesday 15th there were some beautiful early morning cloud formations and finally, there is nothing better than a walk around the Barff in glorious sunshine, and although we have had some variable weather this month, the sunshine certainly lifts the spirits. With the Easter holidays just around the corner lets hope we can enjoy some sunnier and warmer weather. Have a good holiday.
Thursday 30th March 2023
With the Easter holidays just around the corner, we decided to have a ride over to Castle Howard with Meg & Gracie before the influx of holiday visitors.
After a straightforward journey along the A64, it was just a steady 50-minute drive from home. The car temperature gauge was 
reading 10C at 10.30am as I parked up in the car park and unloaded Meg & Gracie from the rear of the car. It was a pleasant sunny morning with a moderate breeze which is always good for a walk around the estate grounds, the weather forecast for today though, was not good with a band of heavy rain forecast for our area, fortunately it didn’t materialise and was probably the reason why there were so few visitors here today.
After purchasing a coffee & biscuit from the takeaway café we headed across the pebbled courtyard to the booking office. After exchanging pleasantries and showing our passes with the reception staff we headed under the arch and into the grounds of the house.
The tree lined path towards the house is a mass of flowering Daffodils at the moment, with clusters of yellow primroses and Bluebells dotted amongst the trees, it really does look colourful. A small herd of willow crafted fallow deer were posing nicely amongst the trees and daffodils.
We continued our walk, passing the main house on the left, the house re opens on Saturday 1st April after its winter spring clean, so I can imagine the staff were busily preparing it for all the visitors on Saturday. On reaching the Time capsule we paused for a few moments to watch the geese squabbling on the South Lake and to admire all the daffodils heading up the slope to Ray Wood and over towards the Mausoleum in the far distance.
We continued our walk up the slope, pausing again on reaching the top to admire the views behind us. After a few moments we headed through the gate and into the woods, several of the early flowering Azaleas were in full flower, their purple and red florets brightening up the area which is nicely coming back to life after the winter, it will be a few more weeks before the rest of the shrubs are in flower, today our main focus of attention was the daffodils. Meg, as usual, was full of mischief, rolling in the piles of autumn leaves along the sides of the fence. After a few moments we left the woods to walk around the Temple of Four Winds, the views from here looking over the fields to the moors or over towards the New Bridge and Mausoleum are breath-taking.
From the Temple we followed the South Terrace back towards the house, the flowering daffodils swaying gently in the morning breeze, forming a huge yellow blanket on the grassy slopes. Looking over the South Lake I spotted another willow sculpture on the far side of the lake, on closer examination it turned out to be a huge fox. The willow sculptures will be at Castle Howard from the 1st April to the 16th April, created by a local artist Dragon Willow. Apparently, we still have to spot the hares and owls that are around the estate somewhere, we will have to return on another day to try and find them.
After reluctantly leaving the giant fox behind I retraced my steps back to the house and on to the courtyard were we enjoyed a very pleasant brunch in the courtyard café, which was bathed in afternoon sun.
Thursday 23rd March 2023
On a damp, overcast and cloudy morning we left home with Meg & Gracie for a walk around the Arboretum at Thorpe Perrow on the outskirts of Bedale in North Yorkshire. The weather forecast for today actually looked pretty good, hence our decision to visit the arboretum. We left home just after 9.00am and had a good, uneventful 55-minute drive up the A1 to the lovely market town
of Bedale, the Arboretum is just a short 5-minute drive from the town on the Masham road. Unfortunately, no sooner had we shown our admission tickets at the entrance, did it start to rain.
The newly born spring lambs in the field opposite were hurriedly trying to get some protection under their mothers as they huddled close to the wire fence.
I was surprised to note that this was only our second visit to the Arboretum this year, the weeks are certainly flying along. We have been quite fortunate with the weather on previous visits, so a bit of rain made for quite a pleasant change, needless to say that I and the dogs didn’t mind it either.
After leaving the visitors’ centre we followed the trail towards the lake, the views from the visitor’s centre/café are always pleasing to the eye and today, although wet, was no different, clumps of flowering daffodils were in flower under the trees, and the trees were just beginning to come into leaf. Work was well in hand with the ground staff setting up the Easter trail which this year is based on the magical tales of Beatrix Potter, the trail runs from 25th March – 17th April.
We continued following the trail which runs alongside the lake, a pair of swans were laid on the water’s edge hard fast asleep, completely oblivious of passers-by. A little further along a pair of Mallard ducks were busily feeding on the lake, not deterred by the rain which was now falling quite heavily. Huge swathes of Daffodils covered both sides of the pathways and brightened up a dull morning. The ground was getting quite muddy in places so we aborted our usual long walk and kept to the main paths and made our way along the ‘Lime Avenue’ before turning left passing ‘The Bothy’ and onto ‘The Monument’ where we stopped for a few moments to take some photographs of the Daffodils, always a scenic stopping point. From the monument it is just a short 5 minute walk back to the café. As it was still raining, we stopped in the outdoor shelter where we enjoyed a very pleasant bacon & egg sandwich and pot of tea from the cafe. Needless to say that whilst we were having our brunch the rain stopped and sun came out which made for a very pleasant journey home.
Friday 17th March 2023
This morning we headed over to RHS Harlow Carr on the outskirts of Harrogate for a walk and breath of fresh air. I had been up earlier in the morning with Meg & Gracie for their early morning walk. The weather sempt to be quite changeable though the 
temperature gauge in the garden was reading 10C, it was quiet a pleasant mild morning, compared to Wednesday, two days ago, when the same gauge was reading -3C and bitterly cold.
It was just after 10.30am when we arrived in the car park at Harlow Carr, the temperature had risen a couple of degrees and was a barmy 12C, with a gentle westerly breeze, the sun had just started to break through the cloud and every now and then there was a glimpse of blue sky. I popped into Bettys for a couple of coffees and cake for our ramble around the gardens.
After leaving the reception area we headed outside, passing the huge colourful heather bed on the left, the heather cultivars have knitted tightly together to give a seamless mix of colours. Even when not in flower they give an eye-catching effect, from zingy golds to glaucous greys and vibrant greens. We continued on our way and headed towards the library and learning centre. There was a lot of work being carried out around the site today with some major work continuing along the streamside footpath, it looks as though they are going to start to refurbish and rebuild one of the stone bridges over the stream. We continued on our walk to the sunken Victorian Garden, where much of the winter grasses had been cut back to ground level since our last visit. The heathers and Dogwood shrubs were looking exceptionally colourful in the borders. We continued following the path down to the QM lake and crossed the new footbridge over the water, the bridge certainly gives a new perspective to the lake. We followed the path around the water’s edge to the streamside walk. Large clumps of miniature daffodils provided some colour, along with crocus, yellow primroses, and miniature violets. Lots of tiny snowdrops and hellebores added additional colour along with the miniature Irises. Scent of Daphne’s drifted through the air and the delicate pink flowers of the Vibrums added additional colour. The ‘Streamside walk’ is always a nice walk, no matter what time of year, though today major landscaping was taking place and probably will be for the remainder of March and into April. In a few weeks’ time the Primula’s will be flowering adding more colour to this beautiful stretch of garden.
On reaching the Old Bath House we were going to continue up the slope in to the Arboretum but as the weather had taken a turn for the worse we decided to head back to the visitors shop and garden centre for a spot of brunch.
Tuesday 14th March 2023
March has seen a variety of weather to date, Spring has certainly arrived, along with several yellow weather warnings for our area which, fortunately the weather didn’t match what was predicted.
Today was no different, the temperature at 10.00am was 11c with a light westerly breeze and bright sunshine all day, which
contradicted the national weather forecast for our area. So, with a blue sky and white fluffy clouds we headed over to Castle Howard for a walk with the dogs around the estate. I had an early morning meeting first thing which was over by 9.00am after which we packed the car and headed over to the stately home. The journey there was quite uneventful with no hold ups on the A64 and within 45 minutes I was parking the car in the visitors car park.
We popped into the courtyard cafe for a takeaway coffee and cake before heading across the courtyard to the booking office. It was surprisingly quiet, I thing the predicted weather forecast of bad weather had kept everybody away. After showing our entrance tickets and exchanging pleasantries with the staff we made our way under the arch and headed through the trees towards the house. The daffodils were just beginning to come into flower, their yellow heads swaying gently in the westerly breeze. We stopped for a few moments at the head of the Lime terrace to take some photographs, the sun was shining through the trees casting shadows across the main gravelled path. The house was looking beautiful in the bright sunshine and set against a blue sky it looked quite palatial. Contractors were busily giving the Atlas fountain its spring clean prior to the house re opening on the 1st April. The powerful power washing machines blasting off all the moss and debris which congregates in and on the fountain over the space of the year.
Considerable work was also being carried out inside the house, with staff busily cleaning and preparing the house for its re opening at the beginning of April. After walking along the south terrace passing the house on the left we walked past the time capsule and made our way up the slope towards Ray Wood. Both sides of the grassy bank were covered in a mass of emerging daffodils, it will be several weeks before they will all be in full flower, probably by the Easter weekend 7th & 8th April they will be at their best and the whole embankment and slope will be covered in a huge blanket of yellow. We stopped several times whilst walking up the slope to admire the view looking back towards the main house and across to the South Lake. On reaching the top of the slope we headed through the wooden gate and into the woodland. The clusters of snowdrops which were in flower on our last visit had passed their best and were beginning to die back, most of the trees were in bud, some even coming into leaf. We followed the track through the woods, Meg, one of our dogs found great pleasure in rolling amongst the piles of autumnal leaves on the woodland floor, scattering them far and wide. We emerged from the woodland adjacent to the Temple of Four Winds, as always the views around the Temple are quite breath-taking, especially on a nice, bright and clear day like today. One or two other visitors were also admiring the views across the open farmland. After a few moments we headed back towards the house via the lower terrace, I followed the path down to the edge of the South Lake to take some photographs looking back towards the house, it was quite breezy today so any chance of some nice reflections to photograph was out of the question for today, the water was quite choppy. It was quite amusing watching some of the smaller Tufted ducks swimming across the water, often being swamped by the big waves. Clusters of early flowering daffodils provided plenty of photo opportunities as we made our way back to the main house. The contractors were still busily cleaning the Atlas Fountain with their high pressure water hoses as we passed, we gave them a wide berth as there was quite a lot of water flying about and we could quite easily have got a good soaking. After passing the house it is just a steady five-minute walk back to the courtyard where we enjoyed a very pleasant brunch in the courtyard café before we headed for home.
Tuesday 28th February 2023.
Well, here we are at the end of February with Spring just around the corner.
Fortunately, winter seems to have missed this part of the county to date. For most of February it has been relatively dry, with temperatures ranging between -2C to 10C, most of the tracks and trails around the Barff have remained dry and what little rain 
we have had has fallen during the hours of darkness. As I write this, I have just read a note from the Met office which has published its provisional figures for February, which states that this month has been the driest for 30 years and that the UK as a whole saw less than half the average rainfall for February with just 1.7in falling.
We have had some beautiful sunrises, some foggy and misty mornings and some dull and cloudy mornings too. No snow yet. It is nice to see the mornings getting lighter and brighter.
No two mornings on the Barff are the same, it can be dull cloudy and overcast one day, the following morning it can be bright and sunny, some mornings the bird song is amazing whereas another morning it can be quiet. The light has been quite varied too, mostly dull and cloudy, then on another day just before the sun rises, we catch what I call ‘the golden hour’ where a warm golden hue fills the air, then, after a cold overnight frost there is a tinge of blue in the air.
Signs of Spring are beginning to appear all around the woodland, Hazel Catkins are in excess of three inches in length and still growing, nettles are sprouting up amongst the brambles, various species of fungi continue to appear sometimes on a daily basis. Elderberry bushes are coming into leaf, one or two patches of Snowdrops have appeared and are still in full flower. Gorse
bushes are still in flower, their tiny yellow florets adding a touch of colour to the Barff, and the Hawthorn bushes are beginning to come into flower with tiny little white florets appearing. Clumps of daffodils are beginning to flower especially those positioned in full sun and small clumps of Crocus are currently enjoying this milder weather. The green shoots of Bluebells have really shot up with the Barff greening up on a daily basis. What is interesting to note is that several of the Oak trees have yet to shed their leaves, although the leaves have died back and perished, they are still clinging on to the tree branches, no doubt after a few severe frosts and some high winds they will eventually fall.
Several highlights for me this month were the Skylarks hovering high up above the trees and scrub land singing their hearts out, The Song Thrush belting out a chorus of tunes along the bypass trail and finally, I had a dark 6.00am start one morning and heard at least three, possibly four Tawny owls, both male and female were calling to each other near to the old pumping station, I must have disturbed them with my headlamp. Other birds I have seen most days are Tree Creepers, Robins, Long Tailed Tits, Dunnocks and Blue and Great Tits. The Nuthatch, Great Tits and Greater Spotted Woodpeckers have certainly become much more vocal as the month draws to a close. Grey Squirrels continue to thrive amongst the trees in the woodland and can be seen and heard most days as they squabble and chase each other along the tree branches. On Sunday 12th I watched a young Fallow deer for a few moments, not very far from the perimeter footpath and relatively close to the car park, it soon disappeared into the heart of the woodland once it had picked up my scent.
I spent a very nice week down in Kent during the middle part of the month, though it is always nice returning to the Barff to see what has changed since before I went away and with Spring in the air the countryside is changing daily. Lets see what March has to bring.
Thursday 9th February 2023
the ‘South Lake’ at Castle Howard.
path but today, instead of heading up the slope to ‘Ray Wood’, we headed over to the ‘South Lake’ and walked along the South side of the lake. There was lots of activity on the lake today, the resident mute swans were steadily feeding and guarding the lake, a large flock of geese was causing general mischief and mayhem amongst themselves, and a small group of Tufted Ducks were busily minding their own business, ducking and diving and feeding on the food stuff below the water surface. There was a cold gentle breeze blowing across the surface of the lake which kept the temperature down a little, but in the sunshine it was still quite pleasant. On reaching the far corner of the lake we stopped for a few minutes to admire the view looking back towards the house. We continued up the gentle slope to reach the grassy terrace and the ‘Temple of Four Winds’ taking care not to stand on the emerging daffodils. The views from the Temple were breath-taking, be it looking across the grassed fields to ‘the New Bridge’ or across to the ‘Family Mausoleum’ over in the distance. We walked around the Temple and again stopped on the far side to watch a pair of Buzzards circling high above us. The views looking across the open fields of the Howardian Hills were amazing, understandably it is a designated area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Some 6,000 acres of Castle Howards estate are set aside to agriculture where they can produce a variety of crops including, barley, wheat, potatoes and oil seed rape. There is also a large beef herd of Angus Cattle which supply the farm shop.
Friday 3rd February 2023
It was 10.30am as I popped into the coffee shop for a takeaway coffee before heading into the ticket office. It was a lovely morning, 10C which is quite mild for this time of year, the sun was beginning to break through the clouds and the gentle westerly wind reminding us that we are still in winter. After leaving the main entrance we turned left and followed the main footpath towards the ‘Lakeside Gardens’. It was nice to see large clusters of Snowdrops adding some colour along with some purple heathers amongst the newly established water feature adjacent to the restaurant. We continued our walk heading past the ’Learning Centre and Library’ to the ‘Sunken Victorian Garden’. Some re modelling and landscaping work is being carried out to the left-hand side, the low balustrade wall has been removed and the ground levelled and re soiled, it will be interesting to see what it will be like on our next visit. A lot of gardening work has been carried out around the sunken garden since our last visit, most of the large grasses have been trimmed down to the ground, the borders look quite sparse but tidy, in a couple of months’ time they will be full of colour again. We continued our walk to the ‘QM lake’ and as the landscaping around this area was now complete, we were able to walk over the newly installed ‘Thaliana Bridge’, it certainly gave a new perspective of the area. We continued our walk alongside the lake and followed ‘the Streamside walk’ to the ‘Old Bath House’. The bank sides were quite bare as to be expected at this time of year but clumps of Snowdrops brightened up the area. Considerable hard landscaping was being carried out today, big diggers were cutting a new pathway alongside of the stream and several of the large borders were being reconfigured, it will be interesting to see how they have progressed on our next visit. The four Seasons Sculptures have now been removed to pastures new. The Japanese shop currently housed in ‘the Old Bath House’ is always worth a visit, selling some lovely handmade and painted gifts including traditional wooden Kokeshi Dolls, exquisite Japanese tableware, beautiful Japanese art prints, and much more. After leaving the warmth of the old bath house we continued along the opposite bank of the stream and headed up the slope to the ‘Sandstone Garden’, the pools had thawed out since our last visit. I always enjoy this part of the garden, the huge sandstone rocks, the planting and the pools, I find it quite relaxing and peaceful. After a few moments enjoying the peace and quiet, we continued up the slope and into the garden centre before finishing off our visit in Betty’s for brunch.
Tuesday 31st January 2023
parts of the country saw their average rainfall for the whole of January within the first two weeks. Again, though, this proved to be a month of two halves, with much drier and colder weather here in North Yorkshire from the middle of the-month, and saw temperatures gradually edged upwards in the final week to somewhere near or slightly above average. This was also a particularly sunny January with some beautiful sunrises on the Barff. The early morning sunshine and hard overnight frosts made for some beautiful early morning walks on the Barff with Meg and Gracie.
One of my highlights this month has been the beautiful sunrises and especially those after a hard overnight frost, several mornings we have also had an hard hore frosts, covering the trees in a large white frosty blanket. 
The catkins can be found on the Hazel, Alder, Silver Birch and Oak trees on the Barff, the Hazel Catkins are quite prolific at the moment. Male catkins are 4-5cm long and yellow-brown in colour. They hang in groups of two to four at the tips of shoots, like lambs' tails. Female catkins are smaller, short, bright green and erect. Once pollinated, female catkins thicken and change colour to a dark crimson. Masses of tiny seeds are borne in autumn – they have tiny ‘wings’ on each side of the seed to help them travel on the wind. The Catkins we see at this time of year are primarily on the Hazel trees. The Alder trees flower during February to March, Silver Birch from March to May and latterly the Oak trees from April to May.Friday 27th January 2023
surprised to see that our last visit to the arboretum was October last year for the Halloween week.
swimming on the water, several ducks were bobbing and diving, feeding on the plankton on the bed of the lake. The water was flat calm and the view looking over to Thorpe Perrow Hall looked quite enchanting, especially with the sunshining on the house, the blue sky and the beautiful reflections in the water. I could sit here for ages to admire the view. After passing over another footbridge we headed through into the Milbank Pinetum, this was where in the 1840’s and 1850’s Lady Augusta Milbank the then owner, received seeds from many parts of the world including North America and raised and cultivated them here in what is now the arboretum.
Monday 23rd January 2023
After a cold overnight frost, it was a dull, cloudy and overcast morning when I returned home from our early morning dog walk. After breakfast, the sun was beginning to break through the cloud so I decided to have a morning photographing at RSPB Fairburn Ings, especially after my initial visit last Thursday.
It was about 10.30am by the time I arrived at the reserve and parked up. I headed into the visitors centre for a coffee before I made my way round to the ‘Pick up Hide’. The ground was frozen, as were the ponds and small pools, frost was still hanging about on the tree branches were the sun still had to reach as well as the long grass on the edge of the adjoining fields.
Other than a pair of passing bird watchers there was nobody else in the hide, so I set up my tripod clamp on the shelf overlooking the bird feeders. It looked relatively quiet bird wise, probably because the bird feeders hadn’t yet been filled up. A lone Moorhen was busily scratting under one of the feeders in the hope of finding some food. There was several Robins popping in and out but they didn’t stop long either. I soon noticed that since my last photo visit the hide apertures had been modified and made smaller (height wise), which was somewhat frustrating for someone with a long lens, as the range of up and down movement becomes very limited and restricting especially when you have the camera clamped to the shelf. I use a Canon 500mm lens which is a very good lens but it is heavy and hand holding it after a few moments becomes quite unstable, hence the tripod clamp. On my next visit I will have to bring a smaller lighter lens and leave the tripod at home. I think this is certainly a bit of short sightedness by whoever modified the hide windows!
The water on the lake in front of the hide was still frozen so there was no activity on the water, although, considering the bird feeders were empty, there was plenty of small finches and Robins which kept popping in for a fleeting visit. As well as the Robins, Great and Blue Tits were regular visitors as was several Goldfinch and a small flock of Long Tailed Tits. A Female Bullfinch was keeping a low profile in the dense bramble bushes next to the Sand Martin Wall.
After about an hour of constantly readjusting the height of my tripod clamp, I decided to call it a day, there was a bitterly cold westerly wind blowing in my face and although I was wearing gloves my finger ends were getting cold, so after dismantling the camera gear I headed back to the car, somewhat frustrated that the hide apertures had restricted the use of the long lens. Although it was good to be out and about in the fresh air.
Friday 20th January 2023
After a busy week it was nice to escape for a walk around the grounds at Castle Howard today with Meg and Gracie. It has been bitterly cold all week with hard overnight frosts making the ground rock solid, but it has been lovely being out amongst the cold 
weather and it has stayed dry.I had been out earlier in the morning with Meg & Gracie but only for a shortish morning walk knowing that we would be having another longer walk after breakfast. The journey from home was quite uneventful, approximately forty-five minutes and no hold ups which made a pleasant change. It was just after 10.30am as we arrived in the car park, after parking up we headed for the coffee shop for a takeaway coffee before heading across the courtyard and ticket office. The sun was shining in a cloudless blue sky and with only a light breeze we had a very pleasant walk up to the main house. I usually try to have a walk around the walled garden but today the gardeners were carrying out routine maintenance work, so it was closed to visitors.
We continued our walk along the gravelled drive in front of the Southern aspect of the house. Looking to our right the ‘Atlas Fountain’ had been drained due to the below freezing temperatures and on the ‘Southern Lake’ the water was well frozen with a thick covering of frost lying on the surface of the ice. Heading up the slope the sun was bright, the young shoots of daffodils and crocus were just beginning to poke through the grassy banks leading up to ‘Ray Woods’. We stopped once or twice to admire the views looking back at the house and over to the lake. It was hard to imagine we were in the middle of winter, it was more like a Spring morning. On reaching the top of the slope we continued through the wooden five bar gate into the woods. Clusters of Snowdrops
were beginning to flower along the edges of the path, their delicate white florets flittering gently in the morning breeze. We followed one of the smaller tracks, the ground being extremely frozen, logs piled up neatly at the sides of the track were covered in a heavy frost, we followed a meandering track, through the rhododendrons till we reached the edge of the woods adjacent to the ruins of the Venus statue. We paused for a moment to look at the remnants of the ruins and admire the views across the open fields before making our way up the grassy slope to the ‘Temple of Four Winds’. The views from here are always beautiful, no matter how grim the weather, but today it was a cold and crisp morning, the sun was shining and there was hardly a cloud in the sky. After a few moments we left the Temple, I took some photographs of Meg and Gracie before we headed down to the edge of the frozen ‘South Lake’. I always like this corner of the lake as there are some lovely views of the house, usually reflecting on the flat calm surface of the lake, alas not today, just a thick covering of ice. We continued our walk along the far side of the lake, passing through the trees and coming out near to the ‘Atlas Fountain’. We headed back towards the house, the sun still shining bright and reflecting nicely off the front of the house, the gold covered dome above the ‘great hall’ glistened in the sunlight. it is a good gentle five-minute walk from the house to the Courtyard where we enjoyed a very pleasant brunch in the busy Courtyard restaurant, after which we made our way to the car park and the journey home, no sooner had Meg and Gracie jumped into the car could I hear them both snoring contently in the back of the car. Happy days.
Thursday 19th January 2023
It is just a twenty-minute drive from home, road works permitting that is. I decided to leave my big camera and lens at home, from what I remember after my visit twelve months ago, the reserve was looking a little untidy and overgrown. I had a pair of bino’s around my neck in case I saw something interesting. The Visitors centre shop doesn’t open now till 10 o’clock, but as it happens, I was quite late, not arriving till 10.30am. After spending five minutes trying to work out how the car parking ticket machine worked (RSPB members are free) I gave up in the end and made my way to the visitor’s centre for a coffee. I have always liked this little shop which is full of all things nature, quite often I come away with a notepad or set of pencils! After I’d finished browsing and chatting to the staff, I headed outside into the cold fresh morning air, I had forgotten how cold that westerly wind can be at Fairburn, I was pleased I was well wrapped up against the cold blast. I made my way along the ‘Discovery trail’ to the ‘Pickup Hide’. The ground was deeply frozen, and the shallow pools and ponds frozen solid, in places the water level had dropped and large slabs of ice about thirty millimetres thick were left in pieces. I was pleasantly surprised when I arrived at the hide, on looking through the hide windows considerable work had been carried out since my last visit, removing flood debris, cutting back the reed beds and clearing out the pond. The pond had been redefined too, giving a far greater surface area for the wading birds and the like. Looking through the side window towards the bird feeding station, that area had also been ‘tidied up’ in that much of the bramble bushes and runners had been carefully cut back and nettles removed too. The fence also looked to have been repaired.
Wednesday 18th January 2023.
breakfast I packed the car and headed north up the A1 for our first visit of the year to the gardens at RHS Harlow Carr on the outskirts of Harrogate.
Tuesday 11th January 2023
1923 and 1925 after it was removed during the First World War to protect it during Zeppelin raids. From here I headed into ‘the Chapter House’, this is a lovely part of the Minster and missed by a lot of visitors. It contains some of the finest carvings and in 1297 was used as the location for the Parliament of King Edward I. The octagonal space dates from the 1280s and its magnificent, vaulted ceiling is supported by timbers in the roof, instead of a central column, which is the earliest example of its kind to use this revolutionary engineering technique.
Monday 2nd January 2023
After a hectic week it was nice to get out and about this morning as well as a change of scenery from our own four walls.
I had been out earlier in the morning with Meg and Gracie and had a pleasant walk around the Barff, an overnight frost had .jpg)
firmed up the wet ground a little which was quite crisp under foot.
After breakfast we headed over to Castle Howard for a walk around the estate, it had slipped my mind that today was another Bank Holiday, I usually try to avoid the traffic on the A64 on Bank holidays! The journey from home was fine till we exited the ‘Hopgrove roundabout’ when traffic on the A64 came to a standstill, this was mainly due to the sheer volume of traffic and other car drivers’ inability to understand that when a dual carriageway ends you have to move over into the left-hand lane!
We arrived at Castle Howard 30 minutes late due to the hold up earlier. Meg & Gracie were keen to get out of the car for another morning walk, so once we had put our winter jackets on, we headed over to the courtyard café for a little refreshment and cake (it is really nice coffee). The queue at the ticket office stretched halfway across the courtyard, this was due to most of the visitors wanting to visit the house before it closed after the Christmas period, and today was the last day.
After showing our passes and exchanging pleasantries with the staff we headed under the archway and along the gravelled track towards the house, the wall garden was closed for winter maintenance.
It was a beautiful morning, cold but the winter sunshine provided some warmth, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, the house looked beautiful bathed in sun and set against a blue, cloudless sky. On passing the house on the left, we followed the path and headed up the slope to ‘Ray Wood’, stopping several times to admire the view looking back towards the house and over the South Lake. After passing through the gate and into the woodland, it was nice to see clumps of snowdrops just poking through from under the leaf litter. It will be a few more weeks though before they start to flower. Considering the wet weather, we have had lately the trail through the woods was reasonably firm. Lots of autumn leaves had blown into large piles alongside the wire fencing which Meg enjoyed running through and rolling amongst, Gracie shows no interest at all and lets Meg get on with it. After passing through another wooden gate, we emerge near to the ‘Temple of Four winds’, the view from here looking across the fields is breathtaking, especially on a day like today, you could see for miles. Several other visitors were heading over towards ‘the New Bridge’ and onto the ‘Family Mausoleum’ in the distant. After admiring the view from the Temple for several minutes we headed back towards the house along the ‘Southern Terrace’, stopping every now and then for photographs and watching the melee on the ‘South Lake’ as several groups of geese were ganging up on a small group of Tufted Ducks. By the time we reached the house we were tempted to pop into the marquee which had been serving as a gift shop and overflow restaurant during the Christmas period, but as we had the dogs with us decided to walk on to the Courtyard café were we enjoyed a very pleasant brunch sat outside on the decking, Meg and Gracie laid contently under the table catching up on their sleep, before heading back to the car and the journey home.
Saturday 31st December 2022.
A summary of our walks around Brayton Barff during December,
exceptionally wet and muddy, this was followed by a week and half of heavy overnight frosts were the temperature dropped to -5C and the daytime temperatures remained in single figures. During the Christmas week we lost the frosts to milder weather, the paths and tracks around the woodland thawed out and became wet and muddy again and we saw temperatures rising to 12C in the late afternoon sunshine, although the occasional overnight frost kept the early morning temperature down. We have only seen a couple of minutes very light snow, which was quite insignificant really. As the month draws to a close, we have had more heavy rain most days, though it has been much milder, my morning dog walks have been quite dull, drizzly and overcast, although the temperature has been between 6C – 8C. Compared to other areas in North Yorkshire who have experienced snow, heavy rain and flooding, we seem to have escaped the worst of the weather, so far.
silver reflective light looking quite surreal as it reflected of the bright light from my headlamp.
Friday 9th December 2022.
It has been a cold, dull and miserable day today. After a hard overnight frost, the air temperature remained around freezing all day. The weather and temperature has gradually got colder as we near the weekend.
I had booked tickets several weeks ago for this evening’s visit to RHS Harlow Carr, for the annual ‘Glow’ event, which runs from Thursday 17th November through till Friday 30th December. This is a special event as it shows off the garden in a completely different light.
It is usually a steady fifty-minute journey from home to the gardens, but today it took just over ninety minutes, due to road works on the outskirts of Harrogate opposite the hospital and the sheer volume of traffic. It was 4.30pm as we arrived in the car park. I popped into Bettys for a takeaway coffee and stopped to admire the Christmas window display before we checked into the gardens next door.
After showing our tickets and walking through the reception area we headed outside. It was a dark, clear, cloudless evening, there was no wind, and the air temperature was hovering around the freezing mark.
Flood lighting of all colours lit up the trees in front of us, green, blue, white and red beams of light transformed the trees into sculptured works of art. We followed our usual route, heading past the learning centre on the left, the views to the right looking across the QM lake were quite magical, hooped lighting along the edge of the lake led to the new footbridge which, although still under construction, looked very pretty bathed in a palette of colour. We continued our stroll to the sunken garden, admiring the white and purple lighting around the pond and gazebo, the frozen lake matched the lighting. We continued our walk around the QM lake, the large oak tree on the edge of the lake was bathed in white light and in its setting looked amazing. Our route took us on to the ‘Streamside walk’, passing the children’s play area on the left, red, green, white and purple lights lit the trees and bushes which set against a dark background looked beautiful. The three sculptured deer on the left were illuminated and looked very majestic, especially with the dark backdrop of trees behind them bathed in a magical blue light.
We continued our walk along the ‘Streamside path’, the lighting on both sides of the stream was very dramatic and extremely colourful. On reaching ‘The old Bath House’ we popped inside to have a look at all the hand-crafted artifacts, cards and paintings before making our way up the slope to the ‘Kitchen Gardens’. ‘The Alpine House’ in the foreground was well illuminated, the blue and red lights forming a hue in the dark, cold night air. From the Alpine house it is just a short walk to the Garden Centre and after doing some Christmas shopping, we headed back to the car for the journey home. Another lovely evening at the Gardens. The Glow event runs till Friday 30th December 2022 and tickets must be booked in advance prior to visiting.
One of the things I look forward to during December and the run up to the Christmas period, is a visit to Castle Howard to see the house decorated for Christmas. Following on from the success of last year’s Christmas story, this year it was Stephen Sondheim’s 1987 musical ‘Into the Woods’ that inspired Charlotte Lloyd Webber the artistic director as she transformed the
house into a series of fairy tales with music and dramatic sound effects to match the theme.
It felt a little strange visiting Castle Howard today without the dogs, but at least we were able to have a pleasant relaxing walk around the house for a change. We arrived in good time for our 10.30am visit, managing a takeaway coffee from the courtyard café before the short walk to the house. I spotted at least five Peacocks amongst the trees on the left, busily grazing amongst the undergrowth.
After showing our tickets at the house entrance we headed up the Grand Staircase, its balustrades heavily decorated in silver twigs and frosty ferns. The Fairy Godmother was waiting for us at the top of the China Landing, standing adjacent to a beautifully decorated Christmas tree. From the landing it was just a short walk into Lady Georgina’s room, where Sleeping Beauty was asleep on the four-poster bed surrounded by several of the woodland animals. Next door in Lady G’s dressing room, Little Red Riding hood was getting ready to visit her grandmother with her red cloak laid out. Since our last visit a roll top bath has been installed in the room. Next door, the ‘Castle Howard Dressing Room’ has been transformed into an Alpine Forest, for Hansel and Gretel. Beautiful floral arrangements adorn the fire surround and snow-covered Christmas trees decorate the room.
On the China landing stands the evil Queen Grimhilde in front of a huge magic mirror, a good stopping point for a photograph. Leaving the evil queen to contemplate her future, we made our way along the ‘Antique Passage’ which had been adorned with small Christmas trees placed between the statues and cleverly lit with green atmospheric lighting. Rounding the corner we entered the Great Hall, adorned with a huge twenty-six-foot Christmas tree, heavily laden with gifts and decorations, but mainly the home of the wicked witch inside the gingerbread house. A nice roaring fire in the grate provided a warm cosy feeling in the huge great hall. Dramatic woodland sound effects created a sense of anticipation of Hansel & Gretel arriving.
After leaving the Great Hall we headed left and into the ‘New Library’, heavily adorned with decorated Christmas trees, another roaring fire provided the room with a warm and cosy Christmas feeling. We headed into the Garden Room with a giant Beanstalk reaching up into the roof, evidence that Jack had made his escape from the mighty giant. Walking through into the Cabinet Room is a huge antique dolls house and home to the three bears and Goldilocks.
The Music Room is one of my favourite rooms in the house and today was home to the elves busily making shoes for the guests of the Prince for his forthcoming Ball. Next door, the Crimson Dining Room is laid out for the Christmas feast with a Golden Goose as its centre piece, guests including Goldilocks, the Little Mermaid, and Snow White, each with their own dietary needs. The room is certainly sumptuously decorated, we spent several minutes looking at the table decorations and spotting the different foods. Reluctantly leaving the dining room we made our way next door to the Turquoise Drawing Room, a beautiful floral arrangement above and around the fireplace draws your attention but over on the left stands the Nutcrackers Sugar Plum Fairy, preparing herself for the Ball.
Passing through the Museum Room we reach the Long Gallery where the Fairy Godmother invited everybody to attend Prince Charming’s Ball. The room is partially dominated by the golden pumpkin coach and the beautiful lavish gowns worn by Lady Tremaine and her daughters Florinda and Lucinda. As we left the ball, we stopped for several minutes in the Octagon to watch and admire the lightshow projected on the ceiling.
After reluctantly leaving the Long Gallery, we made our way down the spiral stairs and popped into the Chapel for a few moments. I always enjoy the peace and tranquillity of the chapel and sat in one of the pews for a few moments to admire the nativity scene laid out in front of the altar.
‘Into the Woods – A Fairy-tale Christmas’ runs from the 12th November through to 2nd January 2023.
unsettled weather across the county. It seems that we had rain almost every day, and if not during the day, then we certainly had a lot of rain during the night, in fact the records show that the country had double the monthly average rainfall for November. I hope much of this water has gone some way to replenish our depleted reservoirs. Hopefully in the next week or so Yorkshire Water will ease the hosepipe ban.
Wednesday 2nd November 2022
missed all the bright, vibrant colours of the summer flowers, let’s hope next year I can plan my diary a little better. 
Monday 31st October 2022
three occasions for the morning walk, so I shouldn’t really complain.
I have been quite fortunate to have had some very early walks with Meg and Gracie this month, they too seem to prefer the early mornings (so they can spend the rest of the day sleeping!) Although it is dark at 6.00am, I have been able to listen to the Tawny Owls calling to each other, I don’t know if it is my headlamp or the dogs illuminated collars which disturbs them, or that they are just noisy, but I have certainly heard four birds calling to each other with their twit twoo’s, one pair very close to the old swing tree/pump house area, the other pair over near to where the old farm shop used to be or the service entrance to the woodland. Obviously, they seem to be thriving at the moment living on the small mammals that live in the woodlands. Like the Owls, I have heard the Buzzard calling on many of my morning walks amongst the woodland, its distinctive call is quite noticeable and distinctive. The call of the buzzard is a very plaintive, long 'peeee-uu' note, which is made at any time of year. I often see it soaring high in the sky above the woodland but can occasionally be seen perched in trees or on posts where it has a good vantage point to swoop down to feed on the Braff’s small mammals, rabbits, and birds, as well as carrion. During the coming winter months, it may even be seen on the ground hunting for worms.
Saturday 22nd October 2022
My youngest son was currently home for two weeks leave, so we arranged to meet him and his family at the Thorpe Perrow arboretum, situated on the outskirts of Bedale.
It is just about a one hour’s drive from home to the arboretum and a little shorter for my son so fitted in quite well as a nice place to meet up for a catch up and see our grandchildren for the day.
We don’t usually venture out a great deal over the weekend, preferring mid-week now we are retired as it tends to be less busy, so this made a very pleasant change.
There was a ‘Halloween trail’ set up in the woodlands and having visited for several years now know that it always makes for a good day out and today was no exception.
It was 11.00am when we arrived in the car park, it was quite busy as was to be expected on a nice sunny day and the overflow car park was working nice and smoothly. We popped into the café/visitor’s centre as soon as we arrived and within a few minutes we all together as a family unit. It was a very pleasant morning, we had had some heavy overnight rain which made the ground a little wet, but the sun was shining and with very little wind made for a very pleasant walk. We followed our usual route and headed for the stream, managing to bypass the play area for the time being. The streamside walk was absolutely beautiful, the sun was shining, clusters of purple and white coloured Cyclamen were in full flower on the woodland floor and the trees were in their full autumn
glory, the Maples and Acers looked especially colourful as the sunlight picked out the golden/brown/yellow colours of the leaves as they glistened in the dewy morning sunlight.
We continued our walk alongside the stream, stopping at Henry’s Island to walk over the bridge and admire the sculpture. Passing the pet cemetery on our left we followed the trail alongside the lake to Kates Island, this is a lovely stretch of the walk, the views over the lake to the house are breath-taking as is the sculpture carved into the tree at the side of the footbridge. We stopped for a few moments to watch the crocodile under the bridge, then the skeletons in the boat, surrounded by sharks. I always like the view over the footbridge looking left leading into the ‘Milbank Pinetum’. Today the stream was covered in lilies but the shrubbery on either side of the stream was a lovely colour of reds, yellow and gold and looked especially colourful in the morning sunlight. From here we followed the ‘Halloween trail’ into the woodland. I have to say we saw some amazing and colourful characters and skeletons as we made our way to the ‘Mammal Centre’.
We had a pleasant walk around the ‘Bird of Prey Centre’ before heading over to one of the ‘pop up cafes’ for brunch, after which we continued our walk along the ‘Halloween Trail’ back to the children’s play area. From here it is just a short walk back to the café and visitors centre were, although the café was operating a takeaway service, we enjoyed a very nice cup of tea and cake, sat outside under one of the huge canvas shelters. We enjoyed a lovely day with the family and grandchildren, very special times.
The Halloween Trail at Thorpe Perrow runs from the 8th October to 1st November 2022.
the corner caught my attention as we passed by the farm shop and reminded me that Halloween was just a couple of weeks away.
Temple were amazing. A Buzzard was busily circling high above a copse of trees near to the mausoleum, the Angus cattle were contently grazing in the fields adjacent to the woods. Several walkers could be seen walking over towards ‘the New Bridge’. Looking back towards the house the tree lined terrace was a picture, many of the trees were changing into their Autumnal colours, especially the Maples and Acers, Fly Agaric fungi were sprouting up under many of the trees, providing splashes of colour amongst the fallen autumn leaves. We sat for several minutes to admire the view looking over the ‘South Lake’, A pair of swans glided gracefully over the water, a flock of over twenty geese squabbled amongst themselves as they flitted from one area of the lake to another area. At least two pair of Tufted ducks were feeding on the quieter part of the lake, bobbing and diving under the water in search of food. We continued our walk heading back towards the house, continually stopping to admire the view and take photographs.
These botanic gardens lie on the banks of the river Ouse and cover some 10 acres in the centre of York. They are always a nice place to visit when in the city, no matter what time of the year, along with the ‘The Yorkshire Museum’ and the ruins of St Mary’s Abbey which also lie within the museum grounds.
Friday 31st September 2022
a bumper crop of Brambles this year has ended with much of the fruit being shrivelled up due to the lack of rain during July & August. The Oak trees seem to have coped well with the ‘extreme’ weather by producing a bumper crop of Acorns, the sloping ground around the old Oak swing tree opposite the pump house has, as the month progressed, become quite treacherous to walk across, due to the fallen acorns acting like marbles on the uneven ground, care has to be taken whilst walking past this beautiful tree. The Holly bushes are also carrying lots of fruit as are the Rowan trees. On the other hand, Elderberry bushes seem to have struggled with much of their fruit shrivelling up similar to the Brambles before ripening.
midnight, they sat at opposite ends of the garden amongst the tall trees and called to each other, wonderful to hear, though not when you are tucked up in bed trying to get to sleep! .Monday 5th September 2022
It was March when we last took Meg & Gracie for a walk around the Arboretum at Thorpe Perrow, on the outskirts of Bedale, so todays visit was long overdue.
It is approximately an hours (52 miles) journey from home in the car, along the A1 motorway north to the Leeming Bar junction 
then a short distance to Bedale.
It was a pleasant and dry morning, although we had had a tremendous thunderstorm and very heavy overnight rain which made the ground a little wet and slippery in places, but by mid-morning the sun was shining and it turned into a lovely, pleasant day. The wet weather we have been having over the past few days had certainly greened everything up, the grass was looking quite green, rather than yellow and the trees were looking very lush.
After passing through the booking office, we followed the small stream, passing the children’s play area on the left, and headed for ‘Henry’s Island’, before which we turned left onto ‘Annabel’s walk’. We stopped for a few moments to look at all the small headstones in the ‘pet cemetery’ after which we continued on to the ‘Lime Avenue’ where we headed over the wooden bridge into the ‘Milbank Pinetum’, I stopped on the wooden bridge over the stream to admire the view up the stream looking towards ‘the Catherine Parr Oak’ in the distance and was surprised to see the stream covered in waterlilies. This is always a lovely view, no matter at what time of year, with the different coloured shrubs lining the sides of the stream. We stooped for a breather when we reached ‘the Catherine Parr Oak’. This tree has plenty of history behind it, records show that it was planted in 1534, the same year that Catherine Parr married Baron Latimer of Snape. They lived in Snape Castle, which is literally across the road from the Arboretum, in fact you can see it from the arboretum entrance. Lord Baron died in 1543 and Catherine Parr went on to marry King Henry V111 later that year, Catherine was his final wife who survived him.
By now the sun was at its highest and the temperature just over 20C which made for a very pleasant walk, not to hot or sweaty. After a rest we headed over to the stone Acorn structure and butterfly garden. It is just a short distance from here to ‘Kate’s Island’ and a little further to ‘Fern Avenue’. There is a really nice view from here looking across the lake to the main house. The sun was shining, a blue sky, the lake was flat calm, and the house looked splendid in the distance. From the side of the lake we continued our walk, keeping the water on our left hand side and headed back to the visitors centre where we enjoyed a very pleasant brunch, sat outside on the picnic area, Meg & Gracie laid contently asleep amongst the flower beds. I certainly hope to visit again in the near future, Halloween is always a good time to visit.
more so than others, with many bushes just dying back and shedding all their leaves, others seem to have been stunted, they should be amass of lush purple berries at the moment but on many of the bushes the berries have been shrivelled up due to the lack of rainfall. The Brambles in the woodland seem to be suffering a similar fate as the Elderberry, in that the lack of water has stunted the size of the fruit. That said it is not stopping the bramble briars from growing at an alarming rate. On a positive note, the established Oak trees are laden with Acorns and certainly making up for the poor show last year, the Rowan Tree/Mountain Ash trees are also heavily laden with bunches of bright red berries. The apple trees along both sides of the Bypass trail are also heavily ladened with fruit this year. Unfortunately, as a result of the lack of rain, it looks as though a lot of our wildflowers seem to have struggled with the dry conditions and have started to die back much earlier than they would have under normal damp ground conditions. 
Temperatures during the month at around 6.30am in the morning as I arrive on the Barff, have ranged from 10C to 18C, which was quite pleasant, but some mornings became extremely humid, I’d even started to carry a couple of doggie water bottles for Meg & Gracie. By mid-afternoon the temperatures during the month had risen to the mid 30’s especially during the second week in the August with several days of ‘severe weather’ warnings being issued from the ‘Met office’ due to hot sunny weather. Several evenings during August have been uncomfortably warm too, I noted that on the 10th the temperature at 10.30pm was still 20C! making it quite uncomfortable to sleep.
Greater Spotted Woodpecker can be seen and heard most days, their youngsters leaving the comfort and security of their nest very early on in the month, though by the time the chicks have fledged they are similar size to their parents, so it must have become quite congested and smelly in some of their nest holes.
On entering the woods, we followed the trail towards ‘’the Temple of Four Winds’, the Rhododendron’s had all flowered several weeks ago so everything today was quite green, that said there was still lots of different trees and shrubs to look at.
It was a pleasant, warm sunny evening when I arrived at the main entrance to the house. I was joining some thirty or so visitors who, like me, had booked onto this tour. At 6.00pm we were introduced to the ‘Curators team’ led by Dr Chris Ridgway and Eleanor Brooke Peat. With introductions out of the way, we made our way up the Main staircase to the ‘China Landing’. Here we listened to a very interesting and informative presentation by Eleanor about Castle Howard’s collection of ‘China and porcelain’ and how the styles and patterns had changed over the centuries. From the ‘China landing’ we made our way along the beautiful ‘Antique passage’ into the ‘Great Hall’ where Dr Chris gave an interesting and informative talk about the ‘new domed roof’, the original being destroyed in a large fire (not war related) in November 1940. It was not only the domed roof that collapsed into the main hall but also basement, principal and upper levels were also badly damaged. He explained that almost a third of the building had been affected by the fire. It was thanks to George Howard and his wife Lady Cecilia who in 1960-1962 oversaw the restoration of the dome.
week in July got steadily warmer on Monday 11th for example, the temperature at 6.30am as I arrived on the Barff was 18C. By mid to late afternoon (4.00pm) the temperature had risen to 31C! The afternoon temperatures for the 11th – 17th July the rest of the week was in the high 20C.
hand side of the perimeter footpath looks to have died back, whether this is as a result of the warm weather or Dutch Elm disease, time will tell.
I had planned this short break several weeks ago, well before the current heatwave which we encountered earlier in the week.
villages of North Stainley, West Tanfield and Masham.
flies through the air.
courtyard, popping into the takeaway shop for a coffee and cake, before making our way across the pebbled stone courtyard to the ticket office. Although it was fine and dry with the sun breaking through, the sky looked quite threatening with some dark and heavy looking clouds, fortunately I had a lightweight waterproof waistcoat so had some protection if it rained, fortunately, as it happened it stayed fine and dry all morning till mid afternoon when we had heavy rain.After showing our entrance tickets in the booking hall, and exchanging pleasantries with the staff behind the counter, we headed over to the ‘walled garden’, It had been just over a month since our last visit, then the gardens were awash with tulips. Today the tulips have long gone and replaced with a multitude of shrubs and lots of colour. Originally the gardens were laid out as an 18th century kitchen garden, today the Sundial Gardens is still given over to producing ornamental vegetables and cut flowers. Much of the produce grown in the garden can be purchased in season in the farm shop.
The Rose gardens were a picture today, full of roses as you would expect at this time of year and surrounded by low hornbeam hedges. Every now and then you would catch the sweet scent from the roses as it drifted across the air. Apparently, there are over 2,000 modern roses of various types within the walled garden, making it one of the country’s most comprehensive collections.
After leaving the walled garden we stopped to admire the ‘Atlas Fountain’ which was in full flow, looking very majestic in the morning’s sunlight. We continued our walk along the South Terrace, up the grassy embankment to ‘Ray Woods’, I always like this part of the walk as the views looking back towards the house are beautiful, especially on a day like today with a light breeze and intermittent sunshine. Much of the grassed areas and embankments have been left to grow this year and it is interesting to see the different kinds of wildflowers that have come to the surface including wild orchids and cow slips. On reaching the top of the bank we stopped for a few moments to enjoy the views across the ‘South Lake’, It looked as though some of the geese had recently had chicks, we watched as the little ones all swam in a line behind there parents as they navigated the peaceful waters of the South Lake.
We opened the wooden gate and entered the woods, much of the Azaleas and Rhododendrons that were in flower on our last visit had now finished flowering. We continued our walk along the edge of the wood until we reached ‘the Temple of Four Winds’. I always enjoy the views from here looking across the rolling countryside, the fields all different shades of green and brown depending on what crops were being grown and closer to hand the green grassy pastures with the Angus cattle contently grazing. Moving on we turned around and headed back towards the house.
Passing the main house on the righthand side we continued to the Courthouse and popped in the courtyard café for a very pleasant late brunch before our journey home.
surprised to see that our last visit was just under three months ago. So, after breakfast I packed the car and headed up north, the traffic was not too bad for the time of day, although it is always busy on the A1/A64 junction and Harrogate centre was relatively clear of hold ups. We arrived at the gardens around 10.30am. On leaving the car, I popped into the café to purchase a takeaway coffee and cake before we entered the gardens. It was a lovely sunny morning, quite humid, the car thermometer had been showing 18C, I was aware that rain was forecast for 1.00pm time. 
have been left to grow and are awash with Common Spotted orchids. The QM Lake is looking in need of some care and attention, the grassy banks and surround have been left to grow wild, but I should think work in this area is still under development with the new footbridge being installed over the coming months.
arms from their sharp briars, they seem to be shooting up at an alarming rate. On a positive Bramble note, looking at the blossom on them this year it looks as though it could be a bumper year for the fruit. 
On a quiet still morning on the top of Tap hill, the scent from the Honeysuckle fills the morning air. 
breakfast I had a free morning and decided to drive up to York to have a look around the Clifford’s Tower, one of several key landmarks around this beautiful city. Clifford’s Tower had been on my list of places to visit since it reopened in April 2022 after a major investment and restoration by English Heritage.
The interior rooms of the castle were beautiful, full of paintings and sculptures including works of art as well as furniture and textiles from Europe, India and East Asia. The ceilings were heavily plastered with ornate designs, sadly photography was not allowed inside so no pictures. On the other hand, the castles gardens were an absolute picture. They are multi-layered and date back some 300 years, with dramatic terraces, some amazing topiary and some lovely flower beds. There were lots of old and worn stone steps to negotiate but the views more than compensated for the uneven ground. We spent most of the day here before heading back to the hotel later in the afternoon.
Wales. It stands in a very prominent outcrop above the meeting point of the Rivers Dee and Ceiriog. The castle has some lavishly decorated rooms with furniture to match. The interior rooms include a 17th-century Long Gallery, three 18th-century State Rooms with some fine furniture, paintings, and tapestries. The servants' hall off the courtyard was well worth the visit as was the Chapel Music room which had been furnished to display the Castle’s connections to high society in the 1920s and 1930s. On leaving the castle the temperature outside had risen to 25C and extremely pleasant, so we decided to head further north to have a look around the small town of Ruthin, Jenny has some distant family history relations who used to live here, so we headed over to have a look around the 13th Century Collegiate church of St Peter, before we headed back to Bala and onto our hotel Vyrnwy at Llanwddyn. We enjoyed a very pleasant beer sat on the hotel balcony overlooking the lake below. 
Queens Platinum Jubilee festivities starting later this week, I thought it would be nice to have a look at the display and put me in the mood for the forthcoming festivities.Wednesday 25th May 2022
It was a dull, cloudy and overcast day as we set off for a walk with Meg & Gracie around the grounds and gardens of Castle Howard.
It was just after 10.00am as we parked the car and made our way into the courtyard. We popped into the takeaway coffee shop
for a coffee and cake before walking across a relatively quiet courtyard to the booking office. After the formalities of the booking office, we headed over to have a look around the walled garden. Our last visit was towards the end of April, and I remember swathes of Coral coloured Tulips in full flower in the main garden. Today, those Tulips had died back but the main borders were awash with colour, Peonies and Alliums in particular, were in full flower and looked beautiful, several gardeners were busy planting and keeping on top of the seasonal jobs required around the gardens. After leaving the gardens by the East gate we headed for the house and main south terrace, stopping for a few moments to look over at the Atlas Fountain which was in full flow. We continued our walk passing the house on our left and stopped to chat to one of the gardeners busily carrying out work replacing the worn and parched grass borders in front of the main house. We continued past the Time Capsule and up the gentle gradient to the entrance of ‘Ray Wood’. We always stop at the top of the slope to catch our breath and admire the views over the ‘South Lake’ and the main house.
After passing through the gate, we headed into the woodland. The sun had finally broken through the heavy, grey ladened sky and highlighted the beautiful colours of the flowering Rhododendrons, various shades of vibrant pink and purple lined the left-hand side of our walk. The colours were beautiful and really took your breath away as we walked past them. Unfortunately, the sunshine only lasted for a few minutes and by the time we reached the Temple of Four winds the sun was well hidden behind the dark clouds, so we decided to head back to the main house before the rain, which was forecast for later in the day arrived. We continued towards the house stopping every now and then to take photographs of Meg and Gracie, passing the house we headed for the courtyard café for a very pleasant late brunch after which we headed back to the car and our journey home.
Saturday 7th May 2022
I had been looking forward to today since the last event of this kind back in 2019 at the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington. The Covid pandemic put paid to similar events for 2020 and 2021, so it was nice to be back again to the ‘We’ll Meet Again 40’s Day’.
It was just after 10.00am as I arrived in the car park on a dull, grey and overcast morning, but at least it was dry and wasn’t raining. There was already a steady trickle of cars and visitors filing into the car park as I made my way to the entrance. I was actually in good time as most of the main activities didn’t get started till a little later in the morning, so I was able to have a good browse around the restoration hanger and then, my favourite, the T2 Hanger were my old friends the Buccaneers and Harrier are displayed along with the massive Hadley Page Halifax Mk111. It always makes me feel quite nostalgic being close to these aircraft, I suppose it is because much of my early life was spent working on the Buccaneer and Harrier. Today, the Halifax had been repositioned on the apron outside of the hanger.
Across the site were displays of vintage army vehicles, demonstrations, one in particular on how to defuse a massive, unexploded bomb was extremely interesting, a very good dance band were playing in front of the museum café and a dance group, all in 1940’ dress was dancing on the adjacent tarmac to music of the 1930’s and 1940’s. The airfield and surrounding buildings were full of reenactors standing around in groups, chatting and posing for photographers, if you let your imagination wander for a few moments you would think you were transformed back on the base during the war years when RAF Elvington was home to the Bomber command in 1945 and No 77 squadron and French squadron 346 were actually stationed there at that time.
Some of the reenactors, positioned alongside the Halifax bomber gave a fascinating presentation on the dress and equipment the seven airmen/crew of the bomber would have worn on the many flying missions from the base during the war.
It was a really good exhibition, and nice to see the museum buzzing with lots of visitors enjoying the day.
Saturday 30th April 2022
Brayton Barff round up
everything became more settled and for a couple of days over the Easter weekend, the temperature rose to between 18 – 20C, unfortunately this wasn’t to last and by the end of the month it became much cooler. 
The Easter weekend between the 15th to 18th April saw some of the warmest weather of the month, I was down in Kent at that time and on Easter Saturday the temperature reached 23C down there, whereas up north it reached a very pleasant 20C. It was nice to enjoy the warmer weather over the Easter period.Friday 29th April 2022
After quite a busy week with one thing and another and a hectic day filming on Wednesday, we, along with Meg and Gracie headed over to Castle Howard for a walk around the estate.
It was quite a dull start to the morning but by the time we arrived and parked the car around 10.15am the sun was beginning to shine, and a blue sky was emerging from the grey gloom. We picked up a coffee from the coffee shop on entering the courtyard and sat for a few moments watching a Peacock preen itself whilst it was sat on the windowsill of the farm shop, completely oblivious of all the young children standing on the bench in front of it wanting to stroke it!
I noticed several of the raised flower beds had flowering tulips in so headed off to get some photographs, after which we continued along the south terrace passing the time capsule and up the slope towards Ray wood. The daffodils here too had died back but were being replaced with wild vibrant yellow cowslips and several varieties of orchid and wildflowers. On reaching the edge of the wood we stopped for a rest and admire the view back towards the house and over to the South Lake. On reaching the gate into the wood the sunlight was shining through the trees onto the colourful flowering Azaleas and Rhododendrons, the colour mix looked quite amazing. We continued walking through the woods, Meg and Gracie were in their element with lots of different smells, we branched off the main path every now and then onto the smaller tracks when another colourful shrub came into view. We eventually came out of the woods adjacent to the Temple of Four Winds. There were beautiful clear views looking across the farmland and over towards the New Bridge and Mausoleum. We followed the lower terrace back towards the house, stopping every now and then to admire the flowering Rhododendrons. Just before we reached the house, we headed over to the Atlas Fountain which today was in full flow, spouting water from all four Tritons, it does look quite a spectacle especially with the house as a backdrop. From the fountain it is just a few minutes’ walk to the house, and as the weather was quite warm and sunny we stopped and had brunch on the lawn with sandwiches and tea from the Fitzroy restaurant, a very pleasant end to a lovely morning. I had been looking forward to today since my first visit to Swinton Park hotel in November 2021.
It is a pleasant one hour’s drive from home to the Swinton Park hotel on the outskirts of Masham, nr Ripon a little further up the County but still in North Yorkshire.
The weather was quite dull and overcast, which made photographing Birds of Prey, especially in flight, relatively straight forward,
by not having to constantly adjust your aperture settings due to the changes in sunlight, and shadows etc.
I arrived in good time just after 10.15am for a 10.30 start, meeting Jed Wee from ‘Essence of Light’ our pro photographer and two other guests who were on the same course as myself, one of them being Michelle Howell a lovely lady and winner of the 2020 BBC Countryfile calendar competition, so it was a nice, small and compact group. On leaving the car park we headed over to the Falconry centre to meet Mandy our falconer for the day.
For the morning session we were based close to the centre and hotel gardens, after lunch we headed onto the moors.
Our first bird of the morning was the Asian Brown Wood Owl a lovely bird with distinctive dark markings making it extremely difficult to see in the woodland setting, after taking some flying images we concentrated on the static poses in a variety of settings around the gardens.
The Great Grey Owl was our second bird of the day, a beautiful big bird, standing at over two feet in height, with a wingspan of over five feet. I managed to get some pleasing flight shots as it flew between its perches in the hotel grounds, as well as several static images from around the gardens. It’s large grey speckled round head, heart shaped face and yellow eyes, made for some lovely images. It was quite a poser.
Our third bird was the Abyssinian Eagle owl, but as it had been fed earlier in the morning our falconer only kept it out for a few minutes before returning it back to the comfort of its aviary.
Something a little different next was a Snowy owl, as its name implies this is a plain white owl with dark spots, standing at over two feet in height and a wingspan around four feet this is quite a formidable bird which, unlike most owls is quite used to feeding during daylight hours. Being nearly totally white caused us to quickly adjust our camera ‘white balance setting’ to ensure we didn’t end up with an over exposed image. After several fly pasts Snowy was returned to the security of its aviary.
Our last bird of prey before lunch was a Barn Owl called ‘Wesley’ a lovely bird, much smaller than the Snowy and Great Grey owl. One of the interesting facts our falconer explained to us was that the Barn owls do not chew their food, such is nature of their digestive system they are able to swallow their prey whole. They have quite distinctive markings and again due to their light colour my ‘white balance’ was all over the place. After a few flight images we were able to get some lovely static shots amongst the shrubs and bushes of the hotel gardens.
After a very pleasant lunch and cup of tea we headed onto the Swinton Estate, which covers over 20,000 acres of moorland. A Tawny Owl called ‘Button’ was our first bird to photograph amongst a moorland setting. Be it sat on a moss-covered stone wall or on the windowsill of an old barn ‘Button’ was quite calm and relaxed in such a natural setting.
A Little owl called ‘Antony’ was our next bird and as it name implies is quite small, it blended nicely with the local scenery, though its size was deceptive, it was actually quite a feisty bird having taken a small chunk out of our falconer’s hand earlier in the day. We were able to get lots of images amongst the natural setting of the old barn and amongst the moss-covered stone walls.
Our final bird of the afternoon was a juvenile Kestrel named ‘Kevin’. Having moved away from the barn setting we chose the open countryside and managed a series of images on fence posts, wire fences and undergrowth, all to great effect. Having been engrossed in taking photographs it came as quite a surprise that the time had moved to late afternoon and time to be thinking about home, so we made our way off the moor and back to the cars for a de brief with Jed and Mandy our falconer, before making our way back to the hotel. All told a very successful day, great company, over 1200 images to sort through and lots of nettle stings to soothe when I get home.
After breakfast we set off for the 45-minute drive up the A1 motorway to the showground. The traffic was quite light and car parking was well signposted and directed us off the main road and around the back of the ‘Rudding Park hotel’ across several fields to the showground car park. We arrived about 10.15am and after a short but well organised queue entered the show a few minutes later.
at HMS Hermes by incoming attacking Argentinian aircraft. 
So far, this winter though it has been quite mild and drier than average. The beginning of the month started quite wet with early morning temperatures averaging at 3-4C, and the odd early morning frost occasionally catching us out. Towards the middle of the month the weather turned for the better and from the 21st – 27th we were able to enjoy daily afternoon temperatures of 18C. (Many parts of Southern Spain were experiencing torrential rain and flooding at this time) The pleasant warm afternoons and cold evenings always meant some misty mornings the following day. The warm weather came to an abrupt halt though on Monday 28th when the daytime temperature dropped significantly and brought with it some cold and wet rain showers for the next three days, culminating on the early hours of Thursday 31st with our first snow of the winter, fortunately we just received a light dusting of snow on the Barff.
It is nice that the spring mornings are getting quite light now and no need for the head torch on my morning rambles, even after the clocks went forward on the 27th it was still quite light at 7.00am, though quite cool at times, I’m still having to wear my winter fleece and occasionally swap it for the waterproof jacket.
Everything is growing at a pace now in the woodland, our wildflowers are shooting up around the Barff and especially alongside the perimeter footpath, Wild Garlic, Wood Sorrell and Wood Sage to name just a few. As the month comes to a close, I’m noticing one or two Bluebells just beginning to come into flower, though it will be Easter time, mid-April before we see a significant change. The trees and bushes are beginning to awake after their winter break, with tiny shoots and buds appearing, Oak trees are well in bud as are the Beach and Silver Birch trees, Mountain Ash/Rowan tree buds are opening and tiny leaves beginning to appear. Elderberry bushes and Bramble are growing apace too.
March is an exciting time for the bird life on the Barff, our resident birds like the Greater Spotted Woodpecker are busy preparing their nest sites for the breeding season, they can be heard frequently drumming on the tree trunks. Nuthatches have been quite vocal too, I have heard and watched at three at different locations on the woodland, Bluetits and Great Tits can be seen most days as can the Long-tailed tits, especially around the feeding stations. By the middle of the month the Chiffchaffs had returned for their summer vacation on the Barff, though with the ‘milder winters’ of late, I think many are now over wintering in this country. I always enjoy watching and listening to the Buzzard as it flies overhead, its distinctive squawk is quite noticeable through the trees. It’s nice to see the female Sparrowhawk in its usual haunt, getting ready for the breeding season.
I have heard lots of Dunnock of late on the Barff, along with the wrens and Robins. I don’t usually associate Reed Buntings with the Barff, though it is probably due to the fact I have not seen many of them, but recently I have been picking them out quite often, their little moustaches giving their appearance away.
I managed several afternoon walks during the warmer weather and was surprised to see a fair selection of Butterflies feeding on the blossom including Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock and Orange Tips, lets hope once the warmer weather comes along we will be seeing a lot more of them.
Howard estate, the purpose being two-fold really, the first that I wanted to take some more images of the daffodils along the southern terrace, the second reason for my visit being that I really fancied one of their burgers for my brunch. Now I do not eat burgers nor am I an advocate of fast food, but I had one of Castle Howards cheese & beefburgers just over a year ago and it was delicious, so felt it wouldn’t be too indulgent if I had another one hopefully later after our walk.
It is a reasonably pleasant fifty-minute drive up the A1, then passing through the lovely market town of Bedale, we arrived at the arboretum car park some five minutes later at 10.45am. The sun was shining, a lovely blue sky and the temperature was a barmy 15C.
After passing through the ticket office and café, we followed our usual anti clockwise route, down to the stream and along the ‘water steps path’ passing the ‘pet cemetery’ on the left, stopping for a few moments at ‘Henry’s Island’. The next part of our route is one of my favourites, the stream opens up into a lake with lovely views of the big house on the opposite side of the lake. It is always nice to have a sit down and soak in the view. After a few minutes we passed ‘Kates’ Island’ on our right and headed over the footbridge towards the ‘Milbank Pinetum’. This is another great place to stop for a few moments to admire the view, the lake here turns back into a stream with lovely views looking along the stream to ‘the Catherine Parr Oak’ in the distance.
We continued over the bridge and in the ‘Pinetum’ heading towards the ‘Bird of Prey & Mammal Centre’. As we had Meg & Gracie with us we avoided the Birds and Mammal centre and followed the trail through the dell onto ‘Birch Avenue’ to the ‘Jubilee Oak’, from here we turned right onto’ the ‘Millennium Walk’ and followed the path to the ‘Catherine Parr Oak’. This is a lovely tree (A Veteran tree) with lots of history attached to it, records have shown that the tree was actually planted in the year 1534, the same year that Catherine Parr married Baron Latimer of Snape, they lived in Snape Castle which you can still see in the distance from the car park. Following the Barons death, less than ten years later, Catherine went on to marry King Henry V111, she was his final wife as he died in 1547. Catherine went on to marry Thomas Seymour, so there is a lot of history attached to this tree.
After leaving this huge tree, we continued our walk following the perimeter path till we reached the Bothy where we followed ‘Cherry Avenue’ till we reached the monument, the daffodils had only just started to flower but it still proved a lovely stopping point for a few moments. There are in excess of 110 different varieties of Daffodil at Thorpe Perrow with thousands planted amongst the woodland and avenues. As I mentioned earlier, many daffodils were out today but I think within the next week or so, dependant on the weather of course, the vast majority will be at their best just in time for the Easter holidays.
From the monument we continued following the perimeter trail, crossing the stream and arriving at the café and visitors centre, where we enjoyed a very pleasant pot of tea and bacon sandwich before the journey home with two tired dogs.
booking office. It is always good fun trying to juggle a coffee and cake in one hand and two dogs in the other, both of whom are quite keen to have some of the cake too, anyway, having done it several times now I feel quite confident that I have everything under control. 
After breakfast I had to drive up to Harrogate for an 11oclock meeting, after which we headed over to RHS Harlow Carr for brunch and a walk around the gardens.Monday 28th February 2022
succession of depressions bringing rain across much of the country, and a particularly stormy spell between the 16th and the 21st which included three named storms. It remained mostly mild, however, especially in southern areas, with few frosts.Thursday 10th February 2022
Well, the weather has been quite kind to us this week, dry, sunshine and quite pleasant for the time of year. This morning was no different, we woke to a light overnight frost. I was out early with Meg and Gracie and as it was such a pleasant morning, after breakfast we headed over for another walk around the grounds of Castle Howard.
The drive along the A64 was quite uneventful today, with just light traffic, after a 50-minute journey we arrived at 10.45am. After popping into the takeaway coffee shop for a drink and biscuit we headed across the courtyard to the ticket office, after exchanging pleasantries with the staff we made our way to the main house. The house is still closed at the moment for its annual spring clean in preparation for its opening in April. It is a lovely walk following the high brick wall of the walled garden. Huge swathes of snowdrops were in full flower, its hard to imagine that in about a months’ time the same grassed areas will be awash with flowering daffodils. I always like to stop just before the Southwest corner of the house to admire the view, the clear blue sky with the sunlight shining on the house, the brick work and form of the house looked absolutely beautiful.
We continued our walk along the south parterre and terrace passing the house on our left, I stopped once or twice to take several photographs of Meg & Gracie sat on the lawn in front of the house. We continued our walk, passing around the time capsule and following the terrace up the slope to ‘Ray wood’, stopping occasionally for a rest and to admire the view looking over the South Lake. We passed through the wooden five bar gate into the woods, huge clusters of Snowdrops covered the woodland floor, their delicate white flowers gently swaying in the cool, light morning breeze. Several of the magnolias and Azealia’s were beginning to flower, their pink florets glistening in the shaded sunlight adding a tough of colour to the otherwise bare trees. After a few more minutes we arrived at the ‘Temple of four winds’. As well as the beauty of the ‘Temple’ I always enjoy looking across the vast landscape of fields, today we watched the Buzzard who has a nest in one of the copse of trees over towards the family mausoleum. After the obligatory photographs we continued our walk back towards the house along the southern terrace. Hundreds upon hundreds of daffodils were poking through the grassy slopes and embankments so I kept the dogs on a shortened lead.
Looking over to the ‘South Lake’ on our left we watched the geese, ducks and swans gently gliding along the smooth waters of the lake, every now and then all hell would break out on the water as a pair of the Tufted ducks would start to squabble between themselves, this was the sign for the rest of the birds to take flight, fly once around the lake and land back in the water. We continued with our walk, past the house and headed for the courtyard.
After a very pleasant brunch in the courtyard café which had just opened, we headed back to the car and our journey home.
I am hoping that on our next visit the daffodils will be in full flower, and we should be in Spring.
dogs love going so it isn’t a problem visiting.Monday 31st January 2022
In fact the first ten days were quite unsettled, but by the middle of the month we were sat under a high pressure resulting in a relatively dry month. As the month came to a close the wind picked up and on the 29th ‘Storm Malik’ hit the country and we had winds reaching speeds of up to 50mph in certain parts of the county. No sooner had ‘Storm Malik’ passed over us then ‘Storm Corrie landed on our doorstep which brought with it heavy rain and strong winds which brought several significant trees down on the Barff.
Thursday 27th January 2022
I was up and out quite early this morning with Meg & Gracie and had a good long walk on the Barff for an hour or so, there was no sunrise this morning, but we had a good long walk. It was nice to watch and hear the Buzzard circling above my head, even the Woodpeckers are becoming more active at the moment, hammering on trees and branches in search of food and potential nest sites for the coming months. After breakfast we packed the car and headed up North again, but this time to the arboretum at Thorpe Perrow just outside of Bedale. It is approximately a fifty-minute drive from home.
We arrived at about 10.45am and were greeted with a lovely blue cloudless sky and sunshine, the temperature was 10C which made for a very pleasant day. After exchanging pleasantries with the staff at the entrance kiosk, we followed our usual route alongside the stream, clumps of snowdrops were just beginning to flower and should look lovely in a few weeks’ time for the half term holiday.
It sempt really quiet walking around today, not many people about considering the weather and time of day. I always like to take the dogs over the footbridge onto both ‘Henry’s Island’ and a little further on ‘Kate’s Island’. The tree sculpture adjacent to the footbridge here always amazes me, it creates a little fairy tale with little cottages linked by a staircase all carefully carved into the tree stump, I am sure there must be a story behind it.
The view across the lake looking towards the estate house is always beautiful no matter what time of year and no more so this morning with the sun shining and a lovely blue sky. We continued our walk, stopping on the wooden bridge crossing the lake to look across towards the ‘Catherine Parr Oak’. I like to stop here to take a photograph, the colour of the trees and shrubs reflecting in the water is always a very pleasant sight and with the old tree someway off in the distance makes for a nice picture. We headed towards the ‘Birds of Prey and Mammal Centre’ but as we had the dogs with us we continued our walk along ‘Birch Avenue’ to the ‘Jubilee Oak’. We followed the trail around the small pond and the ‘Catherine Parr Oak’ and made our way over to ‘Bothy’, from here we continued our walk to the ‘Monument’ stopping for a while to admire the view along the ‘Main Avenue’, in another few weeks’ time the daffodils will be in full flower, and this area will be awash with colour.
From ‘the Monument’ it is just a few minutes’ walk to the café where we sat outside and enjoyed a very pleasant bacon butty and pot of tea. I am already looking forward to my next visit.
Wednesday 12th January 2022
After a cold overnight frost, there was a beautiful sunrise this morning and a cloudless blue sky, so after breakfast we headed up north for our first visit of the year to RHS Harlow Carr on the outskirts of Harrogate. Traffic along the A1 wasn’t too bad this morning and we arrived at the gardens by 10.45am.
My first port of call on arrival is always Betty’s café for a takeaway coffee and biscuit, the coffee is delicious, and when combined with a piece of caramel slice makes for a nice treat.
There was a steady trickle of visitors this morning. After passing through the visitor’s centre, we headed down the steps and turned left making our way towards the ‘Early learning centre’. The recent landscaping adjacent to the restaurant looked complete and all planted up, it will be nice to see how it looks in the spring and summer. We continued our walk down to the QM lake, stopping to admire the colour of the redwoods and all the clumps of Snowdrops which were flowering nicely amongst the borders, much earlier than ours at home. The area around the sunken Victorian garden was all cordoned off today as maintenance work was being carried out along with the start of additional work around the QM lake including the installation of a footbridge across the corner of the lake. It should look very nice. We headed down to the lake and joined the streamside path towards the old bath house. The views along the stream always change with the seasons and although today were quite bare the views over to the main borders are always colourful. The hellebores are in full flower along with patches of Golden willow as well as the bronze-coloured Japanese cedars.
On reaching the Bath house we continued up the slope, stopping to admire the new children’s play area on the left before continuing our walk through the arboretum. This is a lovely circular walk amongst the trees, it wasn’t long before we arrived back at the old bath house where we stopped at the outdoor Betty’s for a coffee and sandwich. After our brunch we continued our walk up the gentle slope to the vegetable gardens and glass house. A lot of work looks to have taken place with the addition of several new paths running through the borders. We continued our walk back towards the visitor’s entrance and headed into the garden centre for a perusal and then into the book shop. I love this part of the centre, it is not very often that I leave without purchasing a book of some sort. After several minutes browsing we headed for the exit and set off on our journey home.
forty-five minutes traveling time before we reached the stately home.
amazing sunrises. Although it has been exceptionally muddy underfoot, the weather has been quite pleasant for this time of year. We have had one or two overnight frosts and a lot of overnight rain but that said the last two days of the month were possibly the warmest on record when the morning (8.00am) temperature hit 13C on the 30th and 31st respectively.
which would usually have died back by the end of October. I have also found several moss-covered tree stumps covered in Candlesnuff fungi, their tiny white feelers/antlers look like a snuffed-out candle wick, they are quite tiny and only grow to a height of 2 inches but look quite unusual as they poke through the green moss. The Puff ball fungi looks to have died back or exploded though I have noticed several clusters even late on in the month. 
sit inside and enjoy the warmth of the restaurant before heading for the house. It is just a steady five-minute walk from the courtyard to the house, the illuminated Christmas trees that lined the service road looked lovely as the lights gently glistened in the morning breeze as we walked past them.
We arrived in good time late afternoon and made our way into Betty’s for a takeaway coffee and biscuit to sustain us till our late evening meal. It was quite dark by 4.00pm as we made our way through the booking office and into the gardens. The view during daylight hours as you look across the valley from the entrance hall is always colourful with the natural colours of the trees and shrubs. This evening as we looked across the same valley the view was just as colourful as the lights lit up the trees and shrubs in such a wide variety of colours, you could even see a couple of illuminated deer in the far distance as they grazed amongst the woodland.
Tuesday 30th November 2021
The Autumnal colours on the Barff this November have been quite spectacular. The Oak, Beech and Silver Birch trees in particular have truly glowed in the Autumn sunshine, beautiful colours ranging from Gold and yellow to ruby red and light green.
As well as the autumnal colours, we have been blessed with some lovely sunrises. The sunrise at this time of year starts around
7.15 am – 7.45am in fact it is still quite dark at 7.00am. Unfortunately, most of them have been quite short and compact, due to the amount of low cloud very early on. The early morning sun is currently rising to the right of Drax power station, and I and fellow dog walkers have been fortunate to capture some of the glowing images as we make our way around the woodland.
The farmers look to have got all their winter crops planted in the fields adjoining the Barff, much of the winter wheat is showing nicely at the moment. The Maze crop cannot be far away from harvesting, I have noticed the remnants of many Cobs left on the perimeter footpath having been digested by the Grey Squirrels who, due to the lack for Acorns have resorted to the cobs as a substitute food source.
Fungi is still thriving and growing amongst the woodland with different spices being spotted virtually every day, though the colder snap and frosts to the end of the month seem to be stunting their growth. Lots of Beech Polypore are appearing on a daily basis, as are clusters of Sulphur Tuft. Puffballs seem to have been on the woodland floor for the past couple of months and as the bracken and ferns die back more appear from under their canopies.
All of our summer visiting birds appear to have left us again for the long flight back to sunnier and warmer climes. Robin, Great Tits, Blue Tits, Chaffinch and Bullfinch are our resident all year-round birds and can be seen or heard most days. Greater Spotted woodpeckers have started drumming this past week which is a little unusual for this time of year. Bertie Buzzard is still around although not as frequent as in previous months, I have heard him mostly as I walk past the old pumping station and again sometimes along the bypass trail and suspect that he may have a nest amongst the trees on the Selby golf club.
As the month comes to a close the weather during most of November in North Yorkshire has been on the mild side, we had our first overnight frosts, which made for some chilly morning walks. The weekend of the 27th brought strong winds and more unsettled weather as Storm Arwen ravaged the country, although we had some branches down, the worst of the storm hit Northumberland and parts of Scotland. As well as strong winds several areas around the country had significant snowfall too, which as you would expect caused significant disruption.
Friday 19th November 2021
I always look forward to our yearly Christmas visit to Castle Howard and this year was no different. Unfortunately, Christmas 2020 at the house was cancelled due to the Covid Pandemic so it was nice to back again this year.
The house opened for Christmas on Saturday 13th November, but due to other commitments today was our first opportunity we had to have a look around the house in all its Christmas finery. This year’s theme was ‘Narnia’, based on the book by CS Lewis. Each of the rooms have been decorated in such a way that it transports you into that magical world. The artistic director Charlotte Lloyd Webber and her team have done an excellent job in setting up the rooms and the house in such an imaginary fashion. The house has been transformed into the Country Manor of Professor Kirk and the four Pevensie children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy (child evacuees from the war)
The tour starts as you make your way up the Grand staircase, huge garlands decorate the stair banister. Lady Georgina’s is the first room along the corridor and has become ‘Susan’s Room’, the cluttered dressing table typical of a young woman and the future Queen of Narnia. The adjoining room Lady Georgina’s Dressing Room has been transformed into ‘Lucy’s Room’ where Lucy is serving Christmas tea to all her bears and woodland friends. Many of the toys in this room were played with by generations of the Howard family children. The Castle Howard Dressing room, the next room along the corridor has become ‘Edmunds Room’ and is quite a contrast to the previous room. Set up as his war room where he plots his campaigns against his brothers and sisters. The Castle Howard Bedroom has become ‘Peter’s room’ Peter was the eldest of the children, some of the robes in this room have been worn at Royal Coronations. Having just left the ‘Spare Oom’ we walked through the Wardrobe and into Narnia. Leaving the decorated Christmas tree on the China Landing, we walk along the Antique Passage which has been transformed into the Frozen Kingdom of Narnia, It is here were Lucy meets Mr
Tumnus. Sound effects and superb lighting add a special effect and enhances the frozen kingdom created by the White Witch. On leaving the Antique Passage we entered the Great Hall also frozen in time, the huge 28 ft Christmas tree is frozen and laden with snow, again sound effects and lighting create a wonderful atmosphere of howling winds and avalanching snow. Reluctantly leaving the hall we meet the White witch on her sleigh in the Garden Hall.
The Music Room was a treat and entitled ‘Tea with Mr Tumnus’ and sure enough a picnic is laid out on the floor in front of the sumptuously decorated fire surround, with a roaring fire in the grate, a contrast to the previous rooms. On leaving we pass the Crimson Dining Room, entitled ‘Christmas Dinner with Mr Fox’. A lavishly decorated dining table and surround fills the room, there is so much to see and look at here, on a closer look at the dining table are a host of woodland animals, it certainly is a beautiful room. The Turquoise Drawing Room like the dining room, has been lavishly decorated and is where the Mermaids sing their sirens song to celebrate the crowning of the children as the Kings and Queens of Narnia. On leaving the drawing room we go into the Museum room and through the wardrobe door into the Long Gallery where it is Christmas in Narnia, the wicked witch has been defeated and all the magic of Narnia comes to light. The lights and decorations are beautiful, the floating colours depicting the Aurora Borealis. One of the many highlights of todays visit was the music and light show projected onto the ceiling of the Octagon, we spent several minutes just transfixed on the images projected into the roof. Moving on into the Long Gallery North is a huge model of the lion proudly sitting surrounded by all its friends. The Long North Gallery is where the tour comes to an end, but I always like to pop into the Chapel for five minutes, which is off the spiral staircase on the left, a Christmas tree stands on the left which has been decorated by the children of the local school in conjunction with the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. The Nativity scene is set out on the steps that lead up to the altar. On leaving the chapel we continued down the spiral staircase into the gift shop where we stayed for a browse before popping into the tented restaurant for a very nice late brunch. I say this every year that two years ago when we visited at Christmas it was very good, but this year it was even better and well worth the visit. To visit, tickets must be booked online, Christmas continues at Castle Howard till Monday 3rd January 2022.
It was my birthday today so as a treat Jen & I decided to have a couple of hours over at RHS Harlow Carr and have a walk around the gardens. The late Autumnal colours of the trees at home have been quite spectacular and they were no different here. It was a just as wet in Harrogate as it was at home this morning, so it was winter jackets on for our walk. It just about 11.00am when we arrived at the entrance to the gardens. We popped into Bettys for a takeaway coffee before we headed through the booking hall and into the gardens. We followed our usual route around the gardens, that is down the slope and turned left heading for the Learning Centre. Although dull, raining and very overcast, the colours of the trees and plants often made you stop in your tracks just to admire the views. The newly installed rockery and pond adjacent to the restaurant is filling up nicely with plants and ferns and looking quite established. We headed down to the QM lake, the recent strong winds and heavy rain had brought many of the leaves down, with huge swathes of them floating on the water’s surface. From the lake we headed back up the slope to the Edwardian sunken garden, the pergola looked good amid all the Autumn colours. Alice was still there, looking quite damp and wet on this autumn morning. A huge crow was sat on one of the benches as we passed by, quite unaffected by our presence. Passing through the lakeside gardens we headed back down and around the QM lake onto the ‘Streamside walk, the red stems of the ‘Dog wood shrubs were looking quite vibrant at the moment and add lots of colour to the borders. The other thing that attracts your attention are the different colours of the trees as the leaves die back in preparation for the colder weather, golden yellows, various shades of reds and yellows all catch your eye. After a few minutes we reached the ‘Old Bath House’ and had a browse around the arts and crafts exhibition which was being held there today. 
Birds of Prey, I have quite a passion for these birds so after checking his website, I enrolled myself onto the day’s session. Often when looking at pro photography days, a lot of milage can be involved, let alone a very early start to get to the said venue, so as this hotel is approximately one hours drive away it is virtually on my doorstep so to speak.
Pidgeon, it, like the Eagle Owl has two ear tufts on the side of its head and has bright orange eyes. This bird didn’t fly this morning but posed nicely for the cameras. We were fortunate to film the bird in a variety of settings during the morning, including amongst the ivy growing on the side of the hotel walls, a tree next to the hotel and a finally amongst the shrubs in the garden borders, it certainly was a striking bird and pleased that I managed to get some nice images.Wednesday 13th October 2021
It was another early start for me this morning as I had booked another day (Morning) with Steve Race at The Bird of Prey Centre in Helmsley.
I had a good drive from home, a steady drive up the A1, then joining the A168 to Thirsk and at the roundabout in Thirsk the A170
to Helmsley passing through the lovely village of Sutton under Whitestonecliffe. It is always an interesting journey, even more so as you approach the steep climb up Sutton Bank, fortunately today there was no broken-down lorries, few tractors nor any incidents on Sutton Bank itself.
I arrived at the Bird of Prey Centre at around 9.45am. It was a pleasant morning, reasonable light, the sun was trying to shine, 12C. Heavy overnight rain made the grass very wet but other than that it was fine and dry with just a light wind.
After brief introductions with Steve and Ben the falconer who would be handling and flying the birds today, we made our way over to the flying ground. There were eleven other photographers on this three-hour session all with mixed photographic knowledge, and a variety of cameras too. The nice thing about these sessions is that Steve imparts his photographic knowledge when applicable to the individual to help put the photographer at ease, especially if he or she is uncertain about any of their camera settings and functions and explains how to get the best out of the camera in an easy calm manner.
Our first bird of the session was the Red Legged Seriema, a long-legged bird just recently designated as a bird of prey. A tall 
bird, long legs, and long neck. It is one of the few birds that actually have eye lashes, more to the point though it can reach speeds of up to 15mph whilst running along the ground. It is also quite violent when it kills its prey of lizards or snakes, as it picks them up in its bill and shakes them violently before throwing them to the ground. Although our bird showed no sign of its violent behaviour, it was prone our boot laces and was not shy or timid in coming forward.
Our next bird was a beautiful Lanner Falcon, this bird looks every bit a bird of prey, a curved hooked beak, big stout legs and massive talons, I certainly wouldn’t like to be on the end of those massive claws. It is a very powerful medium sized Bird of Prey. The European birds have slate grey or brown-grey upperparts with a streaked breast and a reddish back to the head. They have long pointed wings and short tails and have a top speed of around 144km/h. Today, our bird made short work of its breakfast.
After the Lanner Falcon, Ben brought out a Harris Hawk, a popular bird here at the centre, Harris hawks are a medium sized bird of prey that are found in the Americas. They have dark brown plumage with chestnut shoulders, wing linings, and thighs, white on the base and tip of the tail, long, yellow legs and a yellow cere. These beautiful alert birds tend to hunt in packs, while other raptors often hunt alone. Harris hawks' social nature has been attributed to their intelligence, which makes them easy to train and have made them a popular bird for use in falconry. I spent considerable time watching and filming them as they approached
their prey, swinging their huge talons into a forward position ready to grasp onto their prey as they come into land, a formidable sight.
After the stress of trying and hoping I got some good images we headed over to the café for a break, and to get warmed up with a cup of tea. It was good to have a sit down and chat for a few minutes.
After our break we made our way to the smaller flying ground behind the ‘owl house’ to film the Great Grey Owl. This owl is one of the tallest species of owl in the world, and the largest owl species living in the northern hemisphere. Their name is derived from the mottled grey colour of the body. They have a very large grey coloured circular facial disk, a disk of feathers used to direct sound into the ears and have a white moustache shaped chin strap with white patches near the eyes. The legs and feet are feathered, with long sharp talons on each toe. The great grey owl is a large owl, although only weighs a small amount. Most of its body has a thick layer of feathers coating it, to insulate from the harsh conditions of its habitat. Its wings are finely serrated so that they can fly silently. This is to allow the owl to approach its prey silently without it hearing it first.
Its bright yellow eyes are adapted to be like a pair of binoculars. They are fixed in place, allowing for detailed long-distance vision for hunting, Contrary to popular belief the owl cannot turn its head through 360 degrees, it actually only rotates around 270 degrees horizontally, and around 90 degrees vertically. To be able to do this the owl has extra bones in their neck. Most 
vertebrates, including us, only have 7 vertebrae in their neck, whereas an owl has 14. Unfortunately, our owl got spooked by about a pack of 30 crows which were roosting in trees nearby, so to avoid any further stress to the Owl our falconer put it back into the security of its spacious aviary.
Our last bird of the morning was a beautiful Barn Owl, handled by Amy. This bird is the most widely distributed species of owl in the world and one of the most widespread of all species of bird. To film it we moved over to the main flying ground to get away from the squawking crows above us, but as the crows were still in close proximity it was decided not to fly her but just take some static shots.
Barn owls are instantly recognisable from their heart shaped faces and distinctive feathers, they feed on small mammals including mice, voles and moles. Their big eyes are great at seeing in low light and like the earlier Great Grey Owl they have specialist hearing which helps them to accurately pinpoint their prey. They fly silently and slowly and can appear to hover over the small rodents they hunt. Once they see something, they will give a brief beat of their wings and then drop feet first, thrusting their talons into the vegetation. We tend to associate them for flying at night and can often be seen out and about at dusk, you might catch one flying in the daytime, particularly when they have young to feed. After getting our pictures we headed over to Steve for a debrief about the session before leaving the centre and departing for our journey home.
Thursday 30th September 2021
Well, here we are the end of another month, Autumn is on its way and the leaves on the trees are beginning to put on their Autumn colours.
The fields around the Barff all look to be harvested, wheat crops have finally been cut and the potato crops lifted, winter wheat sown and beginning to show through in places, there is just the maize crop to harvest when it is ready. This will probably be a life safer crop for the Barff’s Grey Squirrel population this year, due to there being a very poor crop of Acorns on the Barff. We had a similar situation several years ago when the Acorns didn’t materialise, I often watched the Squirrels busily going about their business with a huge cob in their mouth. The only constellation being that last year was an exceptionally good year so they may have stashed some away for this winter, we shall have to wait and see.
I often watched some of the last of our summer migrant Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers and Blackcaps making the most of the Elderberries and Blackberries in the woodland early on in the month, stocking up on supplies before they head off to sunnier climes around the Africa regions.
The weather for this time of year has been relatively settled and quiet. Though as expected we have had some outbreaks of rain, I can count on one hand the number of times I have had to wear my waterproofs on my dog walks, I have had one or two close calls though, just managing to return home before the heavens opened.
Our morning dog walking air temperatures have generally been around the 10C – 15C though the temperatures by mid
afternoon during the first week of the month rose to around 29C. I seem to recall on the evening (11.00pm) of the 10th the temperature was a 18C which made for an extremely uncomfortable night’s sleep. Alas, by the end of the month the morning temperatures had dropped to single figures, at least we haven’t seen any morning frosts just yet.
As the days begin to get shorter, I have been fortunate to see some lovely sunrises with the sun rising around 6.45am for this time of year, though by the end of the month I was having to wear my head torch at 6.30am.
There has been an awful lot of fungi about on the woodland floor for September, Puffballs seem to be all over the place at the moment, clusters of Sulphur Tuft appear to pop up overnight, as does the Birch Polypore.
Now here is a mystery, I and one or two other walkers have witnessed an early morning jogger, on the Barff, which isn’t unusual I might add as we get quite a lot of athletes on the Barff, what makes this one quite exceptional though is that he wears some fancy head attire. One morning he passed me with a huge Tiger sat on his head, later in the month the same guy had a Giraffe wrapped around his neck, all very lifelike, he must have quite a collection. I must find out a little more about him.
Bertie the Buzzard is still quite vocal I don’t hear him every day but often hear and see him over the Bypass trail as well as the old pumping station which is now a residential property. I am still seeing lots of Nuthatch, Robins, Tree Creepers and Blue and Great Tits every morning, along with Chaffinch, Dunnocks and Wrens.
As the mornings get cooler, I think I will be putting my shorts and waistcoat back in the draw till next year and resort to my long trousers and winter fleece. Oh well, roll on Autumn.
Wednesday 29th September 2021
Today was a busy exciting day for me, I was up early this morning and out with the dogs at around 6.30am, it was a pleasant morning, still, no wind and dry underfoot. During the dog walk I received an unexpected telephone call from one of my sons, who lives just outside of Northallerton to ask if I had checked my mobile phone this morning, at this point I had to say that I hadn’t, he went on to say that my first granddaughter had been born earlier this morning and that he had posted some pictures of her for
me to see. Baby was some four weeks early, so this caught us all by surprise, anyway mother and baby are both doing fine. Wow, what a start to the morning.
I rushed home to tell Jenny who by this time was up and about and had already checked her phone whilst I was out, so knew the good news before I did.
After breakfast we had an appointment in Harrogate mid-morning and afterwards headed over to the gardens at RHS Harlow Carr for a walk and brunch.
It was about 11.30am by the time we reached the gardens, the sun was out, the temperature was a coolish 12C which was quite cool for that time of the day and rain was forecast. As usual it was surprising busy for mid-week, but we popped into Bettys on our arrival for a biscuit and take away coffee before we passed through garden entrance, turning left and headed towards the learning centre and lakeside gardens. One of the reasons for visiting today was to try and find the huge ‘four Season sculptures,’ we found two of them on our last visit, so today, no matter what, I was going to find the other two.
We popped in to have a look at the Edwardian Garden for a few moments, A beautiful bronze statue of Alice in Wonderland (by Robert James) stands at the head of the pond, looking up to the stars, hands outstretched, it is and looked very lifelike. The colourful summer planting around the raised beds of the pond is dying back slightly but the Autumnal colours are looking equally as nice. From here we continued our walk passing ‘Diarmuid Gavin’s Garden’ on the right. The moon gate frames a peaceful garden and planting includes a specimen Catalpa tree, tree ferns and cottage-garden plants. The interior planting has matured 
well and the Pseudopanax ferox is now throwing its slender spires over the top of the gate, it was looking extremely pretty today with the sunlight glistening on the trees.
Some of the grasses along the borders were looking beautiful, gently swaying in the light autumnal breeze. We continued our walk around the QM lake but this time, instead of taking our usual route along the ‘streamside walk’ we followed the route a little higher up the slope, passing the Children’s play area on the left. This path runs parallel to the Streamside walk and ends up at the old ‘Bath House’, after a couple of minutes we found one of the four statues, on the left-hand side amongst the trees. Standing at four and a half metres tall the fibreglass heads are three-dimensional interpretations of Renaissance paintings created by Italian artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo in the late 16th-century. They are an extraordinary collection of busts inspired by the seasons and created by contemporary American artist and filmmaker Philip Haas. The exquisitely detailed pieces imagine spring, summer, autumn and winter in human form, rendered in exuberant and thought-provoking arrangements of seasonal fruit, vegetables, flowers and crops, I have yet to work out which sculpture represents which season! A little further along the footpath we found our fourth sculpture, they are quite remarkable, and you do have to stop and stare a while to work out all the bits and pieces. We continued along the path to the ‘old Bath House’ were there was an arts and crafts exhibition taking place. Passing ‘Betty’s Tea House’ we continued up the slope towards the Kitchen Gardens and Alpine House. The Alpine House was quite busy with visitors today, so I headed off along the main borders down to the stream. Work looks to be getting underway to reshape and design these borders and pathways during the Autumn so it will be interesting to see and watch the changes taking place over the next few months. The Colours of the trees and borders in the autumnal sunlight looked quite amazing today, what a lovely way to spend a couple of hours.
Friday 18th September 2021
Earlier this year I booked tickets online for the Harrogate Autumn Flower Show which runs from the 17th – 19th September. This year, for the first time the Autumnal flower show was moving away from the Yorkshire showground in Harrogate to Newby Hall, a stately home on the outskirts of Ripon, just 50 minutes away from home.
It was a fine dry morning as we left home and it stayed like that for the remainder of the day, ideal weather for walking round the show. Traffic on the A1 was busy as usual though we came off the motorway at junction 48, onto the A168 which runs alongside the A1. We followed the road north as per sat nav until reaching the roundabout to turn left for Newby Hall, alas the yellow road signs sent us in the opposite direction and through the small village of Kirby on the Moor. From that roundabout off the A168 in took us a further 20 minutes to reach the designated car park, I lost track as to how many fields we drove through, the only consolation was that the traffic was moving, albeit at snail’s pace across the fields. After we finally parked the car, it was just a 5-minute walk across the field to the main entry gate, after having our tickets scanned, we continued walking along the main avenue. By this time it was 10.30am and the place was buzzing with people, chatter and background music, every now and then the smell of freshly ground coffee drifted through the air.
Small nursery stalls lined the main avenue, selling everything you could imagine for the gardens, furniture, statues, hot tubs and of course plants. Behind the trade stands was the main floral pavilion which stretched almost the full length of the Main Avenue. I always enjoy a walk through the main pavilion, the work and length that the nursery staff have gone to to produce their floral displays was amazing. Along with the specialised growers and nursery stalls were some beautiful floral arrangements, Dahlias, Fuchsias, Bonsai to name but a few of the outstanding displays. After a long browse through the pavilion, we were in need of some refreshment and a sit down, so we made our way around the corner to the ‘west food court’ here we were spoilt for choice,
fish & chips, burgers, Mexican, meatballs, we settled for a lovely pulled pork sandwich which was extremely nice and tasty along with a cup of Yorkshire tea. After finishing our brunch, we headed over to the main house and a look around the gardens, a young lady was playing the flute, accompanied by a gentleman on the keyboard, on the terrace, which sounded beautiful and much appreciated by the watching audience of several hundred visitors. We continued our walk down the balustrade steps and past the ornate pond and headed down to the river. The deep borders at Newby Hall are renown and although late in the year were still looking colourful and vibrant. From the river we made our way back through the gardens to the flower show and a look through the Home and gifts marquee, which was bustling with visitors looking at all the goods on display, ranging from paintings, photographs, woollen good, crafts and perfumes to name just a few of the stalls. On leaving this marquee we continued along the West Avenue and into the Fruit and vegetable marquee, alas so was everyone else, so after a quick peep we headed back outside onto the Main Avenue, stopping for an ice cream before continuing to look at all the plant stalls and nurseries. We stopped to listed to a musician for five minutes or so in the bandstand before continuing along the avenue. We stopped again to have a look at a stall selling Alpine plants, only to discover that the stall holder lived around the corner from our house! We left with a bag of three small pots of Alpines and made our way over to another of the Nursery stalls specialising in grasses, again leaving with a bag full of three different types of grasses. As time was marching on and it was getting quite late in the afternoon we decided to head back to the car for the journey home. A very enjoyable day in the grounds of a lovely stately home.
The Spring Flower Show in 2022 will be held at the Yorkshire Showground on the 21st – 24th April 2022. I must remember to book tickets.
Wednesday 8th September 2021
Well, here we are, having just returned home from another excellent session with Steve Race from ‘Yorkshire Coast Nature’ practising my photographic skills at the Bird of Prey Centre in Helmsley.
It wasn’t actually planned this way, somebody bought me a gift voucher for last Christmas, to film Kingfishers at a hide in the village of Aberford, on the outskirts of Leeds, just a 20-minute drive from home, sadly, for whatever reason the Kingfishers never returned to their nest site this year, so we transferred the booking to two sessions with the Birds of Prey, todays and one in October.
It took me just over an hour to get to Helmsley today, The A1 motorway was clear although quite busy as it always is, the A168 to Thirsk was ok too. At Thirsk I pick up the A170 and follow that road through to Helmsley, unfortunately with a combination of farm traffic and significant traffic signals controlling road works in the beautiful village of Sutton under Whitestonecliffe, extended my journey time by just over 15 minutes.
I still managed to arrive at the centre for 10.00am and had a good meet and greet with Steve and the other photographers on the same course.
We made our way through the visitor’s centre and shop, following the footpath over to the flying area to be met by falconer Ben, who today was flying a beautiful Harris Hawk. Today I wanted to try and focus on getting some images as the birds came in to land on their perch, wings widespread, talon’s out, as opposed to them flying and soaring through the air, though I got quite a few of those images too. I soon realised that being quite close to them as I was, it must be a terrifying sight for the poor victim when it finds itself in the eyeline of a Bird of Prey.
Our second bird was amazing, only recently categorised as a Bird of Prey, the Red Legged Crested Seriema. This is an unusual bird, found in South America. They are thought to be a relative of the crane. It is a distinctive and large bird, weighing up to 1.5kg, and reaching nearly a metre tall. Their colouration provides camouflage in the tall grasses they inhabit, and they will often choose to lie down in the grass when threatened instead of running. Our bird today was fascinated by footwear and jacket pockets. Ben was explaining how they predate snakes by picking them up in their beak and forcefully throwing it onto the ground in order to stun the snake, alas today it was more interested with nibbling at our boots and jacket pockets rather than predating a plastic snake.
We headed back to the café with the Seriema walking amongst us until it reached its aviary, we continued to the café for a drink and debrief on our morning’s images. After our refreshment we headed back to the flying ground and watched the public flying display for a few minutes. Charlie Heap the head falconer and owner of the site was flying a Saka Falcon, he is a master of his craft, entertaining the watching members of the public with his knowledge, humour and wit of handling these birds, he certainly kept us all entertained.
Our next bird was the Yellow Billed Kite, one of the most common birds of prey on the African continent, they are very similar in appearance to the black kites. the easiest way to tell them apart is by looking at the beak. The yellow-billed kite has an all-yellow beak, whereas the black kite has a black tip to its beak. The Yellow Billed Kite is a medium-sized bird of prey, reaching an average length of 22 in and a wingspan between 5ft 3 in – 5ft 11 in. It is an all-brown bird with a lighter grey-brown head. It has a forked tail, as is often synonymous with kites, although not always the rule. The all-yellow beak is the bird’s most tell-tale feature and makes it easy to identify in the field. It certainly is a top bird.
Our penultimate bird of the session was the Long-Eared Owl, to photograph this bird we headed back over to the Owl house as per my last visit in July. After initially flying around the smaller woodland flying ground, stopping on several of the many tree trunks, our Long-Eared Owl settled on a old tree trunk where he contently sat for 15mins to 20mins, every now and then hopping onto the grass for a walk around before returning to the save sanctuary of its tree trunk. Similar in size to a wood pigeon they breed thinly across the UK with fewer birds in the south-west and Wales. Northern birds migrate southwards, including birds from Europe coming to spend the winter in the UK, while southern birds are residents and only move short distances to find food. Our little bird is nearly nine months old and thriving in its environment at the centre.
It was back to the main flying ground for our last bird in the session, The Martial Eagle is a beautiful large bird with a short fan tale and a huge six-foot wingspan. Originating from the sub-Saharan Africa. It soars effortlessly through the sky, especially on a day like today with the temperature around 20C and lots of thermals circulating above. Its hunting technique is unique as it is one of few eagle species known to hunt primarily from a high soar and stooping on its quarry killing it with its rear talon. It flew effortlessly from tree to tree and post to post, its talons wide open as it came in for its food.
Ben our falconer and guide was explaining during the demonstration that Martial eagles have extremely good eyesight at least three times better than ours and they can spot potential prey from a great distance and have been known to spot prey from as far as 3 miles away, quite remarkable. After the Martial Eagle had finished, we had a debrief from Steve and a question-and-answer session with Ben before we headed back to our cars and the journey home. Another great session.
Wednesday 21st July 2021
I am very aware that since the Covid Pandemic started and latterly eased off some eighteen months later, I have only had a very few outings with the camera, many of my local reserves had closed whilst others were open only due to the fact that a public right of way ran through that particular reserve. I also wanted to have both my Covid jabs before I ventured out.
Anyway, here we are just over halfway through July and several weeks ago I booked onto a photo shoot at the ‘Bird of Prey Centre’ in Hemsley, with my friend Steve Race from ‘Yorkshire Coast Nature’.
Looking through my diary, my last visit here was back in March 2019, so I was well overdue another visit. It is just about a one hours drive from home to the Centre which lies adjacent to Helmsley Castle, that is dependant of course on the traffic.
After a good journey I arrived at about 9.50am, it was a beautiful morning, 15C, dry, a light breeze and a grey and cloudy sky, I quite like skies like that so I don’t get too many shadows in my images.
I met Steve and the rest of the photographers on the same session, about eleven of them, at the reception area, where we were given our wrist tags before entering onto the site. After a briefing about the session and answering questions about lighting, speeds and general settings and composure, Steve led us into the flying arena where we were able to off load our equipment and get set up and meet our falconers for the session.
Our first bird was a large and powerful Peregrine Falcon, this beautiful bird of prey has long quite broad pointed wings with a relatively shortish tail. It has a finely barred chest, greyish head and is extremely fast and agile in flight chasing its prey. Sadly, these falcons are still being killed and one of the main areas of persecution is here in North Yorkshire.
After the falcon had finished its work out, our next bird was the Harris Hawk. Its trainer and handler letting the bird loose before reaching the training ground, swooping over our heads as it came on to land on one of the tree trunks adjacent to where we were standing. This bird has such sharp features, slightly smaller than the falcon. It has bright yellow legs and nose with a black bill. It has a dark brown plumage with chestnut-coloured shoulders and its tail is fringed in white. They average in length between 18” - 23” and has a wing span between 41” – 47”. The trainer flew it expertly around the training area, after flying in amongst the trees it headed back to the falconer keeping low to the ground. As it reached its prey it swung its feet forward, its huge talons wide spread as it flew onto its prey clasping it talons around its prey before ripping it apart with its strong and powerful beak.
After an hour or so we retreated to the café for a drink whilst the public and visitors watched one of the thirty-minute public displays, spending the time whilst enjoying our coffee, reviewing our images from the morning session. Talking amongst ourselves we all commented on how we struggled getting used to holding and adjust the settings whilst taking a picture, something which pre Covid came quite naturally. After our break we headed back out to the training ground with our falconer, who brought with him a Grey Buzzard Eagle, closely followed by a huge Martial Eagle.
The Martial eagle is the largest eagle of Africa and an absolute beauty of a bird. The adult's plumage consists of dark brown coloration on the upperparts, head and upper chest, with an occasional slightly lighter edging to these feathers. The body underparts are feathered white with sparse but conspicuous blackish-brown spotting. Its body length ranges between 31”- 38”
and has a huge wingspan varying between 6ft – 7ft. Like the falcon it heads down onto its prey with its talons wide open. A beautiful big bird to photograph and quite tricky at times, especially with it having such a wide wingspan.
Our last bird of the day and the quietest was a juvenile Long Eared Owl, just six months old and bred here at the Bird of Prey Centre. To film this bird, we left the main flying arena and headed over to the aptly named ‘Owl house’ where the youngster had free range of the smaller flying area. The long-eared owl is a medium-sized owl, smaller in size than a woodpigeon. It often looks long and thin, with head feathers (known as ear tufts, even though they are not ears) which it raises when alarmed. It is buff-brown with darker brown streaks and deep orange eyes. The long-eared owl enjoys a diet made up of small mammals, particularly voles and mice. During the winter when food is scarce, it has been known to eat small birds. When hunting, it sweeps through open country, flying to and fro in a zig-zag pattern while scanning the ground for food. Once its prey has been spotted, the owl swoops down and bites the back of the prey's head, immobilising it instantly. Our bird was exceptionally cooperative today and sat contently on a huge tree trunk posing for all the photographers, occasionally it would jump off the log and walk through the grass for a few moments before returning to its log. As the session drew to a close Steve gave us all a de brief before we headed to our cars and the journey home. Great to be out in the fresh air with a camera in the hand again.
Friday 16th July 2021
I had booked tickets a couple of weeks ago to visit the gardens again at Harrogate, not realising at the time that our visit would coincide with the last day of Yorkshire Show also in Harrogate. In the end it didn’t make a great deal of difference. I have to drive past the Harrogate showground to get to the gardens at Harlow Carr, consequently the volume of traffic in that area was considerably higher than usual which in turn results in delays etc. As it turned out the traffic flow system into the Yorkshire show 
ground was well organised and controlled and after a slight delay, we actually had a trouble-free journey arriving at the gardens on the other side of Harrogate just 10 minutes later than planned.
It was a warm and humid morning 15C, the sun broke through the low mist around 10.45am just after we arrived which made for a very pleasant walk, not too warm, but good short sleeve shirt weather, no jacket.
I popped into Betty’s café for a takeaway coffee before heading through the booking office and into the gardens. We did our usual clockwise walk today, from the visitor’s centre headed down the slope and turned left admiring the colourful borders in front of the restaurant. A little further on, heading towards the Bramall Learning Centre, we passed our first sculpture. The sculptures are part of an exhibition entitled ‘The Four Seasons’ by the American artist/designer Philip Haas and this was one of four located around the gardens, you cannot really miss them standing some four and a half metres in height. Each of the statues is reminiscent of the seasons, depicting the flowers, ivy, moss, fungi, fungi, fruit, vegetables abundant for that particular season. They reflect the constantly changing cycle of nature here at Harlow Carr. Cathy Killick one of our local BBC ‘Look North’ news reporter was there with a cameraman doing several pieces to camera which were aired later that evening on the television. We continued our walk, passing the Learning centre and library on the left and the ‘Teaching Gardens’ and ‘Lakeside Gardens’ before we reached the sunken ‘Edwardian Garden’. I’ve read that this section of the garden
was originally created for the BBC television series ‘Gardens through Time’ and this Edwardian Garden represents the garden philosophy at the turn of the 20th century. The paving area and dry-stone walls still looks fresh, clean and new having been refreshed and refurbished a couple of years ago.
We continued our walk passing through the ‘John Brookes Garden’ which reflects the garden philosophy of the 1960’s, this area looks to be in the process of re development including the installation of a bridge across the corner of the QM lake, which will be nice to look forward too. Passing Diarmuid Gavin Garden on the right, it was back in 2004 when this garden was designed with a contemporary theme using modern materials to create a low maintenance space. It still looks good although not my type of garden style.
Continuing down and around the QM pond we stopped to watch some tiny Coot chicks swimming amongst the weed at the water’s edge and dragonflies flitting from one Iris to another, the stream flows from the QM pond and runs east to west throughout the garden, it cleverly knits together the formal gardens and borders to the woodland slopes on the other side of the stream. The paths within Streamside echo the meandering route of the stream, this area is home to a wide range of wildlife, including dippers, tree creepers, weasels, and voles.
Much of the planting along both sides of the stream was laid out by Geoffrey Smith an early custodian of the garden and regular television gardening expert, sadly now passed away. No matter what time of year you visit the gardens the streamside is awash with colour and a vast array of plants which thrive in those conditions. Moisture-loving planting includes hostas, Rodgersia, Gunnera, Astilbe, Filipendula and Iris sibirica, as well as ferns from the National Plant Collection of Dryopteris all thrive in these surroundings especially the Hosta ‘Empress Wu’, one of the world’s largest hostas with leaves up to 56cm (22in) across, they are massive.
As I have previously mentioned on earlier visits, several of the stone bridges across the stream have been either rebuilt or refurbished over the past couple of years and the banks planted with beautiful, bright and vibrant Primulas, they certainly look colourful and a constant source of pollen for the Bees.
Considerable work was done in 2020 during the Covid lockdown period when the garden were closed to the public, the sandstone garden was re designed and established with huge boulders and fine planting, all designed to protect the stream from floodwater erosion.
We reached the old Bath house at the end of the streamside walk a few minutes later, where we had a browse around the arts and craft exhibition that was currently being held there. The old Bath house dates back to the 19th century and was built to enable guests at that time to enjoy the ‘spa water’s. The stone building originally contained 12 cubicles in which people would bathe in heated sulphur water. The wellheads which provided the water have since been capped, but on a calm day you can occasionally get a whiff of sulphur.
After a sit down and coffee at Bettys outdoor café, we continued our walk up the gentle slope to the kitchen gardens, the raised beds were full of varieties of vegetables which thrive on the heavy clay soil. We stopped to admire the 2nd of the huge sculptures adjacent to the Garden centre before heading back along the formal gardens, the borders are awash with colour and plants of all shape, colour and form. I always like to head back down to the stream and walk along the otherside of the stream for a few moments before heading up through the newly restored Sandstone Garden, this is a lovely area with the ponds, new path and refreshing planting a lovely place to sit and contemplate for a few moments. From here it is just a short walk back to the visitor’s centre and Bettys main café, alas the wait for a table was over on hour so we popped into the shop for a couple of sandwiches and buns to take home with us. As always, a lovely walk in very pleasant surroundings. Now where were those other two sculptures?
Thursday 1st July - Sunday 4th July 2021
With the easing of the Covid restrictions and with no inclination or intentions of wanting to go abroad this year (2021) we decided to take a short break and visit a part of North Yorkshire that neither of us knew all that well and somewhere not too far from home, (no more than a 2-hour drive) the other proviso was that wherever we stayed it must be dog friendly.
After browsing one or two journals we came across Gisborough Hall Hotel, situated on the outskirts of Guisborough, it looked an extremely nice hotel, so after a quick phone call we booked a three-night stay with Meg & Gracie for the beginning of July. As it turned out the hotel suited us down to the ground. We had a lovely ground floor room, which is always handy when you have two dogs, the staff were extremely polite, obliging, and helpful, and the food was first class. The other thing that is important for me, especially when I have the dogs stopping with me, is having somewhere to walk the dogs close by and in relative safety, as it was, the hotel was set in its own private grounds and there were plenty of areas within the hotel grounds to exercise the dogs, though I did keep them off the front lawn tennis and croquet court!
The hotel was an ideal base for us to explore the surrounding area, we were just a 10-minute drive to the coast.
Before we left for our mini holiday, I drafted out a list of places to visit during our short stay including visits to Saltburn, Staithes and Sandsend as well as a visit to Guisborough Forest walkway.
After arriving at the hotel early afternoon, we enjoyed a very pleasant afternoon tea sat in the sunshine on the sun terrace, admiring the views on the North Yorkshire moors ahead of us. After a hearty meal and to work up an appetite for our evening meal I took the dogs for a good walk exploring the grounds around the hotel. I don’t know what Meg & Gracie thought of the Llamas that were in the field adjacent to the hotel.
After breakfast the following morning, we had a short drive to the coast and stopped at the lovely village of Sandsend for a coffee, after which we had a good walk on the beach with Meg and Gracie enjoying a good paddle in the water. After a spot of brunch, we headed off to the Guisborough Forest visitors centre where we followed a waymarked 2 mile walk through the woods of Guisborough. I was quite surprised how busy and popular the place was with other like-minded people. After our walk we headed back to the hotel for our evening meal.
The following day we drove over to Saltburn, mainly for me to photo the water powered tram way which takes visitors from the cliff top down to the seashore some 100ft plus below, unfortunately due to the Covid regulations the lift was closed. We had a very pleasant walk along the sea front watching the paddle boarders hone their skills under tuition from the nearby paddle board school. After a coffee we had a walk along the pier before returning to the car. It is a short drive down the coast road to the small fishing village of Stathes. It is a steady steep walk down hill to the sea front. We walked through the narrow alleyways till we reached the ‘Cod and Lobster’ perched on the side of the harbour wall. We enjoyed a very pleasant coffee sat on the sea front admiring the view before the walk back up the steep hill to the car.
The following morning after we booked out of the hotel, I was planning on visiting the ruins of Guisborough Priory which was just round the corner from the hotel, unfortunately it was absolutely pelting down with rain, so instead of walking I drove round, the intention being to park up close by, take some photographs, return to the car and head for home. Parking places were extremely limited close to the Priory this particular morning and as there was no let up with the rain, I decided to give it a miss and head for home. Hopefully it won’t be too long before another visit.
Wednesday 23rd June 2021
It was a lovely morning, I must have spent about 15 minutes looking for some Bee Orchids whilst out with Meg & Gracie earlier today, alas to no avail. I have seen several pictures of them on social media, I know they are well spaced out and know the vicinity of them from previous years, anyway, there is always tomorrow.
I had 10.00am pre booked tickets for a visit to RHS Harlow Carr this morning, so straight after breakfast it was a quick shower and change of clothes etc. It was a straightforward 45-minute drive up the A1 motorway from home, the traffic was quite heavy between the Leeds & York junctions but other than that there were no hold ups or delays. It was just after 10.00am as I drove into the carpark at the gardens and made our way to the reception entrance. I was quite surprised that although still quite early, there were quite a lot of cars already in the car park.
This morning we took a different route than usual and instead of walking around in a clockwise direction we went in the opposite direction, there was method in my choice of route, namely my thirst for a coffee, I know we could have got one in Bettys café/restaurant adjacent to the entrance but there was quite a queue there and because of the length of that said queue we decided to follow this new route which took us past the outdoor café next to the old ‘Bath house’. I hadn’t realised until we arrived at the gardens that from Tomorrow through till Sunday was the annual Garden Festival, so all the stall holders and nurseries staff were busily setting out their pitches ready for the show.
Considerable work has been carried out landscaping what was the small stream adjacent to Bettys which ran down to the Gazebo, the stream has been taken out and turned into a rockpool and the pathways reshaped accordingly, it will look lovely once the planting gets established again.
Anyway, from the entrance we followed the path to the right along to the Alpine house, this footpath path looks to have had some work done to it since our last visit and the border adjacent to the garden centre shop has been reshaped too. Following the
footpath to the left, we headed down through the kitchen garden to Bettys Tea house where we stopped for our first coffee of the morning. After our refreshment we continued our walk down to the stream and followed the streamside walk all the way to the QM lake. The footbridge over the stream near to Geoffrey Smiths monument has been rebuilt during the lockdown and looks wonderful, all locally sourced stone and some excellent handiwork. The planting along this part of the stream is extremely colourful and a haven for bees and butterflies.
Some very nice pieces of stainless-steel garden ornaments have been placed next to the lake which oscillate with the wind and look very effective as they twist and turn with the light breeze. Work looks to have started preparing the area for a foot bridge over the corner of the lake, it looks as they will be hoping to complete it by the end of the year. We continued our walk around the lake and up to the lakeside gardens and the Edwardian Garden, this part of the garden has just nicely been refurbished and a lot of the drystone walling replaced, it is always a colourful part of the garden with lots of soft grasses and evergreens. From here we continued along the path, admiring the view over the QM lake on our left, passing the Lodge and learning centre before making our way out around the back of the centre, this is a temporary exit during these Covid times. We made our way down the slope, passing Betty’s restaurant and shop on the left, to the bookshop and garden centre. I always enjoy a walk through the bookshop and garden centre, it is very rare that we don’t come away with something, be it a book or two or a plant from the garden centre that took our fancy. After our perusal we made our way back to Bettys, the plan was to have lunch there but as all the other visitors had the same idea as us and with a wait of up to an hour, so we decided to buy some sandwiches and cakes from the takeaway part of the shop to take home with us. It was an uneventful drive home where we sat in the garden and had a very pleasant lunch.
Wednesday 16th June – Friday 18th June 2021
Having stayed clear of any oversea holidays during the lockdown and with the easing of travel restrictions recently, we, along with our good friends Peter & Geri enjoyed a three-day break based at Otterburn in Northumberland.
Traveling from home on Wednesday afternoon, we head north, up the A1, passing the ‘Angel of the North’ on the outskirts of
Newcastle where we veered left and arrived at the small market town of Hexham for a coffee and break from driving. We had a very pleasant walk around the town, pausing for a few moments to admire the ancient Abbey and through the Abbey gardens, after some refreshment we continued our journey north arriving at the Otterburn Estate and our hotel ‘The Coach House’ for the next two nights some forty minutes later.
After a hearty breakfast we had pre booked tickets to look round Alnwick Castle in the morning and the gardens in the afternoon. From the hotel it was just a 45-minute drive arriving at 11.00am. It was a lovely morning, the sun was shining and a nice bright blue sky, not too warm at 15c. I always enjoy a good castle to look around and this one was no exception. I remember visiting it for the first time many years ago as a child with my parents. Today the castle is popular with visitors and film buffs alike as it has been used for the filming Downtown Abbey as well as the Hogwarts school of witchcraft in the Harry Potter films. The state rooms were beautiful with some incredible items of furniture and artefacts. Of special note and housed outside in the Abbots tower was the Fusilier Museum, if you can manage the spiral staircase than this is well worth a visit, Abbot’s tower is one of the towers in the ‘outer bailey’ part of the castle where they do the ‘Broomstick training’. After a good look round the castle, we headed into the courtyard for a coffee and brunch before heading over to the Alnwick Castle Gardens. It is worth remembering that entrance fee to the gardens is separate to that of the castle and you need to book separate tickets to look around the gardens. It is just a short 5-minute walk from the castle, leaving under the ‘Lion Arch’ into the Alnwick Gardens.
After passing through the visitor’s centre and garden centre shop, the gardens open out in front of you, the first thing your eyes are drawn to is the huge cascade water feature which lies in front of you. The gardens were designed by the Duchess of Northumberland in 2000, and the huge cascade water feature was opened in 2001, along with the Rose Garden and Ornamental Gardens. We took a walk up to the top of the cascade to the formal gardens, sitting for a few moments to catch our 
breath and admire the view. After a few moments we headed around the other side of the water feature, down the steps and across to the ‘Poison Garden’ which was opened in 2005, stopping on route to watch the water feature transform itself with huge jets of water cascading across the ponds and the footpath walkways between them. The bottom ponds were sending huge jets of water high into the air too, it certainly was quite a feature and fun watching some of the small visitors trying to run under the water without getting wet. After safely passing through the ‘Poison Garden’ I was quite surprised at the number of familiar ‘poisonous plants’ on display that we actually have planted in our garden at home! we headed back to the visitors centre and café for a cup of tea and biscuit before leaving. As we still had some time to spare before heading back to the hotel, we had a walk into the town for a look around ‘Barters Bookshop’. Housed in the old Victorian railway station the shop is one of the largest in the UK selling used books, the shop is full of character and contains thousands and thousands of books covering every subject imaginable. Running around the inside of the main hall, on top of the bookshelves is a large miniature train set. The shop still retains lots of its past, with open fires, comfy chairs and railway memorabilia on all the walls. After a perusal around the bookshop, we continued our walk round the town and back to the car for the drive back to the hotel for the evening.
The following morning, after breakfast, we packed and left the hotel for home. As it was such a lovely morning I detoured slightly and we had a very scenic drive over the Cheviots and Northumberland fells to Eggleston Hall Nursery and Garden Centre. The views coming across the fells were quite stunning, I always had bad memories of the Cheviots from many years ago, often being called out to look for lost and missing people in these fells, so it was nice to see the area and fell tops in glorious sunshine and the comfort of my car.
Eggleston Hall Nursery is situated in the heart of Teeside, just 6 miles from Barnard Castle and was well worth the visit. The gardens cover some 4 acres which include traditional borders, winding paths and lots and lots of plants. We enjoyed a very pleasant walk around followed by a cup of tea and biscuit in the garden café. Once refreshed we headed for the car and the steady drive home. The end of a lovely couple of days.
Tuesday 15th June 2021
I was up and out at 5.30am this morning with Meg & Gracie for an early morning walk around Brayton Barff. It was a lovely morning, dry, 14C and the sun was shining brightly, the lone Marsh Orchid on the Top of Tap Hill was in full flower and looked 
good in the early morning sunlight. We had a shorter walk this morning because after breakfast I had pre booked a ticket for a 9.30am walk around the grounds at Castle Howard with Meg & Gracie, I cannot believe it was four weeks ago since our last visit. It was a steady drive along the A64 which took 45 minutes today, on arriving in the car park I took M & G for a quick walk around the cricket pavilion before heading over to the stable courtyard and booking office. It was 9.35am as we headed over to the walled garden, the sun was shining, a lovely blue sky and the temperature was hovering around 16C. I have never been here as early as this before and I felt as though I had the place to myself. After passing through the garden, we headed over towards the house, along the South Terrace, over to the right it was nice to see the Atlas fountain up and running again after its spring clean. Passing the time capsule, we continued up the hill towards ‘Ray Wood’ stopping several times to look behind and admire the view of the house and the South Lake. After reaching the top of the hill we passed through the gate, turned left past the small cottage/workshop to the open reservoir. I don’t often visit the reservoir but occasionally pop and have a look especially at the central pedestal, to see if I can see the carvings of aquatic creatures and plants, carved into the pedestal, some were visible today but unfortunately the majority of them were below the waterline. After our walk around the reservoir we continued our walk through the woodland, there are nearly 800 species of rhododendrons in the wood, many towering high above my head, all different shapes and sizes, some having already flowered, others in full bloom and along with varieties of Pieris, hydrangeas and viburnums, the wood was a picture of colourful shrubs, as well as the different colours the scent from
these flowers filled the air with a lovely sweet scent that drifted through the woodland. After about an hour or so we made our way out of the woods and headed for the ‘Temple of Four Winds’ The sun was still shining with a lovely blue sky, we sat on the grassy bank next to the temple to admire the views across the Howardian hills, the Roman Empresses standing on the steps of the temple certainly have some magnificent views in front of them. From the Temple we made our way down the grassy bank to the ‘frog pond’ to admire the view of the ‘New River Bridge’ and Mausoleum in the distant. A pair of swans gracefully glided through the water with one of their signets following close behind, the Canada Geese were far more inquisitive and about fifteen of them came paddling across the lake to check out Meg and Gracie who were standing closely at my side. We made our way along the waters edge, stopping to admire all the Marsh Orchids in the undergrowth, and the statue of the piper boy, before we climbed up the embankment to the ‘Southern Lake’. The water was flat calm with lovely reflections of the house shimmering gently on the waters surface. We sat on one of the wooden benches for 5 minutes for a break and to give the dogs a drink of water, I was amazed by all the tiny Tufted ducks on the lake this morning, all being quite vocal with their distinctive call. We continued along the southern edges of the lake, through the trees and headed for the Atlas fountain, it looked absolutely splendid in the morning sunshine. From the fountain we made our way back to the courtyard, I was hoping for a little brunch in the Courtyard café, but alas it was closed today, so we headed back to the car and the journey home. Another lovely morning with the dogs walking around the grounds at Castle Howard.
Tuesday 18th May 2021
After a busy few days rebuilding the kitchen after we had a new boiler fitted, I was in need of a little escape, so over the weekend I prebooked a ticket for a walk round the Castle Howard grounds. Tuesday morning was dry and sunny after a little overnight rain, I packed the car with some extra dog drying towels, just in case. From home it is a steady 45-minute drive to Castle Howard, the only hold up tends to be where the A64 meets the York ring road at the Hopgrove roundabout, fortunately
today there wasn’t the volume of traffic to make it a problem.
I, along with Meg & Gracie arrived at the grounds for around 10.15am, the car park was reasonably quiet, so after parking the car I took M & G for a short walk into the woods at the rear of the cricket pavilion, the daffodils had died back but the warm and sunny weather had brought out all the wild flowers along the fringes of the woodland, huge swathes of Forget me not lined the edge of the woods, their tiny, pretty blue florets dancing around in the gentle breeze.
From the stable yard we passed through the booking office and headed over to the walled garden. After passing through the lovey wrought iron gate we followed the path trough the gardens, it was a hive of activity this morning with many volunteers/ gardeners busily tidying up the borders and planting bedding in other areas of the gardens. The beds of cream and purple Tulips looked absolutely beautiful.
After leaving the gardens we headed towards the house and walked along the south terrace towards the time capsule, stopping occasionally to look back at the house, some restoration work is currently being carried out on the eastern aspect of the house with the area affected covered under a huge white tarpaulin to protect the workers and fabric of the property beneath. From the time capsule we made our way up the gentle slope to the top of the hill and the gate leading into Ray wood. I wasn’t really prepared for the feast of colour that was about to hit me, the rhododendrons and Azaleas were in full flower and the woods were a mass of colour, reds, lilacs, white, cream and pink. I don’t recall having seen the woodland as colourful as this in all the years of visiting the grounds. Needless to say I must have spent over an hour just walking through the woods admiring the different colours, the scent was quite over powering in places too as it drifted through the air. On a warm, hot, sunny day Ray Woods is a great place to visit, especially if you have a dog with you as there is plenty of shade and protection from the sun. small trails lead to the small pyramid and to the reservoir, we came out of the woods adjacent to the Temple of Four Winds, the views looking over the Wolds to the North and the New bridge and Mausoleum to the Southeast were beautiful. We headed back towards the house, following the trail alongside the South Lake admiring the Azaleas and Rhododendrons. Clumps of Cowslips were in full flower and provided additional colour as we made our way towards the house. I headed over to have a look at the Atlas fountain which had been drained in order for it to be inspected, serviced and cleaned prior to the start of the new season.
From the Fountain it is just a steady five-minute walk back to the Stable Courtyard and a welcome cup of tea at the outdoor Courtyard café. Another very pleasant morning with Meg & Gracie.
Monday 31st May 2021
It has been a busy but relatively quiet month for me photographic wise, spending time down in Kent with Jenny’s family, and on returning home working in the garden for the following few days.
My daily routine of good morning dog walks with Meg & Gracie has given me time for some peace and solitude, I find it very therapeutic walking amongst the woodland, here is a brief summary of my observations during May whilst walking on the Barff.
May on the Barff this year has been dominated by the Bluebells, and yes, the rain.
Our morning dog walks during the first week of May were cold, with temperatures at 6.30am hovering around the 0C -3C mark and we were waking up to overnight frosts, which I don’t mind at all, sadly the frosts didn’t last for long and although we had some sunshine, we had even more rain, fortunately most of it fell during the night and early hours of the morning. The Met’ office records state that May was the fourth wettest May since the year 1862. Most of May was very unsettled, cold and windy, though we had a warm spell around the 8th & 9th. It was only towards the end of the month that things settled down with less rain and more in the way of warmth and sunshine. There were very few days that I didn’t wear my wellies, the Barff footpaths and trails sodden with water, soon became waterlogged, the dogs too were wet and muddy and had to be dried off on a daily basis most days, though they didn’t mind, they seem to be attracted to wet, mud and puddles.
Wildlife on the Barff continues apace, with sightings of the Tawny owls most days, I am certain that we have at least two breeding pairs in the woodland, which is great, there is an ample supply of food for them. I have not heard the Buzzard as often
as I have in past months and can only hope that it is sitting on its young. I have been hearing the Warblers most morning, they have a lovely creamy sounding call, Blackcaps, Goldcrest and Tree Creepers continue to thrive, as do the Nuthatch, Chiffchaff and Wrens.
It wasn’t until the 11th May before I spotted my first White Bluebell on the Barff, after that I could pick them out quite regularly in several places around the woodland. I notice on social media that they were being spotted much earlier than I spotted them, some in late April even, note to myself, be more observant next year!
The warmer weather from the middle of the month certainly greened up the Barff with trees and bushes beginning to flower nicely, the wildflowers were flourishing too, the Foxgloves were starting to grow, having been quite dormant throughout the earlier part of Spring with many now standing at 2ft in height and starting to come into bud. Wild Garlic is shooting up everywhere as is Wood Sorrel, Campion and Stichwort, Dandelions have provided a splash of colour around the perimeter footpath as have daisies and buttercups. White Dead Nettles have been in flower for most of this month and will continue right through to the end of the year, they flourish alongside the perimeter footpath, and unlike the stinging nettles, the white dead nettles do not sting. Spear Thistles are growing fast at the moment, their sharp pointed leaves producing a sharp scratch on the hand and calf as you walk past them, it will be another month or so before they grow high enough and produce the purple florets, we are accustomed to seeing.
The Sun rises at around 5.00am at the moment and although I am not quite on the Barff for that time in the morning it has produced some spectacular colourful sunrises, which last for about 12 – 15 minutes before being engulfed in low cloud.
As the month comes to a close, the footpaths are drying out, the Bluebells are beginning to die back, being replaced with Nettles, Foxglove, Ferns and Brambles. The sweet scent of the flowering Honeysuckle filling the air is something I am looking forward to as are looking out for the Bee and Marsh Orchids, I always enjoy watching Bees taking nectar out of the flowering Foxgloves on the Barff, as well as watching the different varieties of moths and Butterflies feeding on the plant life, bring on June.
Friday 7th May 2021
After a cold overnight frost, I was out with the dogs at about 6.00am, it was a pleasant morning, the sun was trying to break through the low cloud and it looked like being a pleasant day. I had a pleasant, quiet walk with Meg and Gracie, both of them being on good form and well behaved.
After breakfast, we had arranged to have a day out to Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal with the dogs, I had prebooked tickets, and prior to setting off we debated about what to wear for our visit, although the sun was shining early on, the weather forecast was quite unpredictable to say the least. After much debate we decided to take two jackets each one being a waterproof jacket, we also packed the dogs waterproof jacket as well as a bag of old towels just in case they got wet.
It is just short of an hour’s drive from home and although quite busy on the motorway it was an uneventful journey. The sun was shining nicely as we arrived and booked into the visitors’ centre for 10.30am. We had driven through some rain showers on route so decided to put our waterproof jackets on when we arrived and carried the dog jackets in a light rucksack.
After a pleasant chat with the lady on the reception desk we left the visitor’s centre and headed for the ruins in bright sunshine. It is a good ten-minute walk to reach the Abbey and on arrival headed straight to the cloisters. I spent two or three minutes photographing the ancient brick work before heading out again to follow the path which runs alongside the stream towards Studley Royal. Within seconds of reaching the path the heavens opened, we quickly put the jackets on the dogs and zipped up our jackets and continued with our walk. The rain turned to hail, we continued our walk along the footpath, sadly the trees offered no protection from the hail stones which by now were the size of peas, we passed many people coming towards us with no jackets or waterproofs and were absolutely soaked through. By this time, I was getting considerable grief from my other half, so on reaching the water gardens decided to follow the path over the stream and head back to the ruins and latterly the car park. After another ten minutes the hail stopped and within a minute the sun was shining. By the time we reached the ruins of the Abbey our jackets were steaming! We continued our walk through the ruins and headed back up the steep path to the visitors’ centre.
As the sun was still shining and it was quite pleasant and warm, we decided to stop and have an early brunch at the café, although we were unable to sit inside due to the current Covid restrictions, we headed outside and sat on one of the many benches on the patio area and enjoyed a very pleasant pot of tea and hot sausage roll, Meg and Gracie enjoyed their sausage roll treat too. By the time we had finished eating our jackets and dogs were just about dry and we were sat in just our shirt sleeves, enjoying the afternoon sunshine and vistas. It was hard to believe an hour earlier we were walking in a torrential downpour, oh well, typical British weather and to be expected at this time of year.
From the café it is a short walk back to the car, and the journey home.
Thursday 22nd April 2021
After a light overnight frost, I was up and out with Meg and Gracie for 6.30am. The air temperature this morning was -2C, I had a lovely, dry and sunny walk with Meg & Gracie. The Bluebells on the Barff are in full flower at this moment and depending on the weather should stay out for another two weeks at least.
I had pre booked a couple of tickets to take Meg & Gracie for another walk around the Thorpe Perrow Arboretum near Bedale today, so straight after breakfast I loaded up the car and set off for the 55-minute journey to the Arboretum. It was a straightforward journey, though there was some heavy traffic on the A1 between the Leeds & York junctions, but once we had passed the Harrogate turn off the traffic eased up nicely.
It was 10.45am as I drove into the car park and visitor’s centre. The sun was shining, a lovely blue sky and 15C, a pleasant Spring morning. The staff look to have been busy since our last visit, refurbishing and defining the car park. After checking in and showing our passes, we followed the footpath over the stream and continued along the path adjacent to the stream, large swathes of daffodils were in flower around the Arboretum and formed huge yellow blankets over the woodland floor. The trees were leafing up and the different colours looked quite stunning in the morning sunlight. A striking blossom tree was in full flower next to the stream, it’s pink blossom cascading into the water. We continued along the path, passing ‘Henry’s Island’ on the right and a little further on ‘Kate’s Island’ I always stop here to look at the lovely carving which has been cut into the streamside tree. depicting several tiny huts linked by a spiralling staircase, a clever piece of craftsmanship and art. After a short rest we continued along the main trail, stopping to admire the main house on the opposite side of the stream, the manicured lawn, hedging and plants always look immaculate and today was no different.
Crossing the wooden bridge, I like to look at the view to the left, the planting of shrubs alongside the stream provides a palette of colour which changes with the seasons. Our path leads up to the Bird of Prey Centre and on reaching the centre we turned left and headed deeper into the woodland arriving at the gigantic ‘Jubilee Oak’, several trails branch out in every direction here, we continued along the ‘Millennium Walk’ passing several young families enjoying a picnic by the water’s edge. Clusters of Yellow Primula and Cowslips provided a haven for a family of Mallard ducks who kept pestering the picnicking families for scraps of food. Walking around the huge ‘Catherine Parr’ Oak, which has had quite a trim since our visit last year. We continued along our trail following the path alongside the edge of the arboretum, admiring the swathes of Daffodils, until we reached the ‘Monument’ I was hoping to take some pictures here and I got several, but was limited somewhat by a family enjoying a picnic there, so will try again on my next visit. From the monument it is just a five-minute walk back to the café, due to the current covid restrictions we could not eat inside the café, but they offered a particularly good takeaway service and with plenty of benches set up in the vicinity we enjoyed a very pleasant cup of tea and bacon roll, much to the delight of Meg & Gracie.
A very pleasant and enjoyable mornings walk.
Tuesday 20th April 2021
I had an early start today; I was on the Barff with Meg & Gracie for around 6.00am. It was a lovely morning, bright and sunny with an air temperature of just 2C, we have been waking up to a fair few frost of late but not this morning.
It has been a dry month so far, the ground is becoming well baked and arid dry, even small cracks are appearing as the soil continues to dry out with all this dry weather.
I had pre booked a ticket for this morning to visit Castle Howard, so after breakfast, I packed the car with Meg and Gracie and
set off for a walk around the grounds. It is just a steady 50-minute drive from home and we arrived in the car park at around 10.15am. I took the dogs for a quick stroll through the woods around the back of the cricket circle before we made our way to the main courtyard and booking office.
The booking office is always an adventure with Meg & Gracie as they are both inquisitive dogs, fortunately I must have timed my entrance well as the booking office was quiet with no distractions, much to the disappointment of Meg & Gracie. On leaving the booking office we headed over to the walled garden to have a look around and admire all the planting. Today was a hive of activity with gardeners and volunteers, all busily tidying up and planting up the borders, for some summer colour in a few months’ time.
On leaving the walled garden we walked part way through the ‘Lime walk’ towards the house. The house has been closed since last year but re opens on the 17th May in line with the current governmental guidelines. Following the gravelled path, we continued along the ‘Southern Terrace’ towards the ‘Time Capsule’ pausing for a few moments to admire the view of the house bathed in bright morning sunshine.
After a couple of photographs, we continued our walk up the gentle slope to the gate and entrance to Ray Wood’. Clumps of wild yellow primroses provided lots of colour on the woodland floor whilst some late flowering Azaleas and Magnolia bushes provided plenty of colour at eye level. There are numerous small footpaths within the woodland which are easy to follow without getting lost, we passed the small ‘Aztec Pyramid’ bathed in sunshine. This monument was completely restored with local stone back in 2016. From the pyramid we followed the trail which took us through the wood and brought us out near to ‘The Temple of Four Winds’ I always take a breather here to look at the Temple and the views across the fields to the Howardian Hills in the distance. Looking over in a South Easterly direction the Mausoleum and ‘New River Bridge’ come into view and make an equally impressive view. We made our way down to the waters edge and watched several Canada Geese as they swam gracefully in the small lake adjacent to the ‘South Lake’, passing the statue of the ‘Shepherd Boy’ on the right, we made our way up the embankment to the eastern edge of the South lake. The views from here looking towards the house are lovely, reflections of the house were shimmering on the surface of the water, Tufted Ducks and Mallards were swimming gracefully across the lake, occasionally diving to graize on the weed below the surface of the water. Lots of visitors were sat on the three wooden benches enjoying a picnic and views.
We continued our walk along the southern edges of the lake, admiring the late flowering daffodils along the waters edge. After a few minutes we passed the empty ‘Atlas Fountain’ which was currently undergoing some winter maintenance work and spring clean. We followed the path to the statue of ‘Apollo’ and then turned right and walked between the terrace of Lime trees back to the house. From the house we walked alongside the walled garden back to the Stable Courtyard and enjoyed a very pleasant coffee from the takeaway coffee shop before heading back to the car and the journey home.
Saturday 10th April 2021.
After the partial easing of the Covid lockdown last week we headed over to Harrogate and our first visit this year to RHS Harlow Carr, to meet up with my son and his family.
It has been a lovely, dry, sunny week, with cold overnight frosts accompanied by sunny, dry days, we have had very little, if any rain so far this month, though it is still early days.
As usual at this time, we had to book entrance tickets online in advance of our visit, in order for the RHS to control the number of visitors entering the site at any one time, which isn’t a problem now adays.
We arrived at the visitor’s centre for 11.00am and on meeting up with our family made our way through the booking office and into the gardens. The sun was shining nicely, with a lovely blue sky and white fluffy clouds, although there was still a bitterly cold easterly wind which kept the temperature down somewhat.
The first thing that hit you after coming out of the booking office was the border full of mixed heathers which at this time of year were in full flower, every shade of purple, lilac and pink could be found in that border. A lot of work was being carried out re landscaping the area adjacent to the tea rooms, it will be nice to see what it looks like on our next visit.
From the centre we followed the footpath towards the learning centre and the sunken garden, the vista from this part of the gardens, looking down towards the stream looked beautiful, even more so under the bright sunshine, the early flowering shrubs in the borders brought a lot of early spring colour into the garden, we continued our walk around the QM lake, stopping for a few moments to watch the Mallard ducks harass some visitors enjoying a picnic by the sides of the lake. The sunshine and clear blue sky transformed the landscape into a vibrant and colourful picture. We continued our walk following the streamside trail to the old Bath House, passing swathes of daffodils, gently swaying in the breeze. The embankment and rockery on the left as you reach the Bath house was covered in several varieties of Primula, the ‘Denticulata’ in particular looked beautiful, the light blue flower heads the size of golf balls looked amazing and extremely colourful.
We had brunch sat outside the Bath House, with a sandwich and cup of tea from the outdoor tearoom which was extremely pleasant before following the other side of the streamside footbath and bearing left up the slope to the recently restored sandstone rockery and garden pools. From here it is just walk to the garden centre for a browse before the journey home.
Wednesday 31st March 2021
With the easing of the Covid restrictions last Monday, for our first outing after the lockdown, I pre booked tickets for a walk around the Castle Howard estate today.
Although the morning started off dull and overcast, it was quite a mild start to the day, 12C at 6.30am when I was out with Meg and Gracie earlier this morning. I had to be at Castle Howard between 11.00am – 11.30am so I had plenty of time after our early
morning walk to have breakfast, get a shower etc prior to the 50-minute car journey.
I put the dogs in the car and we set off from home at just after 10.00am, by this time the sun was shining nicely and a lovely blue sky above. It was a straightforward drive, the roads were reasonably busy, but traffic was flowing smoothly through the Hopgrove roundabout on the A64, if there was going to be a hold up it is usually at this roundabout, alas today we had a good drive without any delays. The long straight road onto the estate looked beautiful this morning, the sun was shining, and the daffodils were in full bloom lining both sides of the road adjacent to the gate house. We arrived in the car park around 10.50am. I took Meg & Gracie out for a walk around the back of the cricket pavilion and into the woods before we headed to the booking office.
After showing our tickets we made our way under the archway towards the house, the lawn on the western approaches is a mass of Daffodils at the moment and looks extremely colourful against the barren bare trees, the central tower of the Great hall is just visible through the trees and draws your attention. We continued our walk to the West side of the house and along the southern 
aspects, the house was looking pristine in the morning sunshine, several families were enjoying picnics on the lawns adjacent to the Southern Lake. After passing the house we continued along the Eastern Terrace leading to the Temple of Four Winds, daffodils adorn the sides and slopes of the terrace, every now and then we just had to stop and admire the view, the house and neatly cut hedges looked stunning. After a few minutes we arrived at the Temple and made our way down the slope towards the eastern corner of the South lake. We watched about a dozen Tufted duck, Mallard and Greylag Geese contently drift across the relative smooth water, basking in the afternoon sunshine. We sat and admired the views from the eastern edge of the lake for a few moments before making our way around the southern edge of the lake, on reaching the formal lawned area we continued along the path, passing the Atlas Fountain on the right, before reaching the terrace of giant trees alongside the walled garden, we made our way back up the gravelled drive to the house and turned left and retraced our steps back to the gate house and stable courtyard. The temperature at this point was over 20C at this point, it was unseasonably warm but very pleasant, we were fortunate to be able to sit on a bench between the gift and farm shop and welcomed the shade from the side of the building. The sandwich and cake selection in the takeaway coffee shop was too tempting to miss so we had a very pleasant picnic in the courtyard, much to the delight of Meg, Gracie and myself.
It was great to be back again and look forward to many more visits throughout the remainder of the year.
Wednesday 31st March 2021.
No sooner has March arrived then it has gone in what seems like a blink of an eye.
Sadly, the Covid pandemic rumbles on, though it is good to see that at the end of March over 30 million of us have received the first Covid vaccination and 4.5 million the second dose.
The first easing of the lockdown has been welcomed by many on the 29th. The evidence shows that it is safer for people to meet outdoors rather than indoors so outdoor gatherings (including in private gardens) of either 6 people or 2 households are now allowed, making it easier for friends and families to meet outside.
Following on from the easing of the lockdown, we took Meg & Gracie out to Castle Howard on Wednesday 31st, this was our first outing since the lockdown started and our first visit since last August. It was a gorgeous day, with sunshine and blue skies, the temperature during the early afternoon peaking at a 21C, the warmest day of the year so far. The Daffodils were in full bloom too which made for a lovely picture.
Due to the Covid travel restrictions my outings this month as have previous months during the lockdown been local, to be more specific our dog walks around Brayton Barff.
Our early morning walks on the Barff continued throughout the month, March started cold and dry with several overnight frosts. It has been nice not having to wear my wellington boots.
I am usually on the Barff between 6.30am - 7.00am at this time of year, unfortunately for most of the month it has been quite dull and gloomy at that time of day, with the sun not appearing till well after 10.00am some days, but on the handful of days that the sun rose early the sunlight transforms the Barff with a lovely golden hue.
The woodland is certainly greening up and as I write this note (towards the end of March) the Bluebells are just starting to come into flower. New leaf is showing on the Elderberry bushes, the Honeysuckle bushes and old Oaks are well in leaf too.
The Dawn Chorus continues apace, with Robin, Song Thrush, Wren, Blackbird, Great Tit, Blue Tit and Dunnock all contributing to the sound as we make our way around the Barff. I was intrigued part way through March with a bird call I hadn’t heard for a while, after a little investigation it turned out to be a singing Nuthatch, with quite a repeating trill sound.
Chiffchaff arrived back into the woodland around the 10th March and since then their numbers have increased on a daily basis, their distinctive chiff chaff call quite distinctive above that of the Great Tits at the moment. The Greater Spotted Woodpeckers continue to make their presence known with their persistent drumming on the rotten tree trunks and branches in their search for food, most of them will be sat on eggs at the moment.
The Grey Squirrels never seem to tire, chasing each other up, down and around the tree trunks, often at breakneck speed, they never hibernate and are active all year round.
The warmer Spring temperatures are bringing out many of our woodland plants too, with Wood Anemone, Violet, Wood Sorrell, Cow Parsley emerging from under the leaf mulch on the woodland floor and by the end of the month tiny florets are showing under the sunlight.
Over the weekends I often walk both sides of the Bypass trail and off late have noticed several Grey Partridge feeding amongst the field adjacent to the golf course, several years ago the corner of this field was planted with Sunflower and since then has been left fallow and the Partridge along with Goldfinch are still feeding on spent sunflower seeds. The field on the Barff side of 
the Bypass has just been deep ploughed for I presume a potato crop. I like to see a nicely ploughed field, and this one certainly ticks my box, I think my passion for nicely ploughed fields must come from my grandfather on my mothers’ side who was a farmer over in Holderness, in East Yorkshire during the early part of the 1900’s.
I have enjoyed watching and listening to both Sparrow Hawk and Buzzard this month, I have only heard the Buzzard calling recently over by the golf course, but the Sparrow Hawks I have watched over the top of Tap Hill, alas the Crows tend to give them a hard time as they circle on the thermals.
I have also noticed a significant number of rabbits on the Barff this month, always scampering away from me, their little white bob tails heading off into the deep undergrowth and relative safety of the bramble bushes, which too have started to grow at an alarming rate of late, often I have returned home with scratches on the back of my hands.
This last week several Blackcaps have just returned to the Barff, their numbers increasing throughout the week, and hopefully more will arrive over the next few weeks, though looking at the weather forecast for the beginning of April their passage from Southern Europe may be somewhat delayed by the Artic blast being predicted soon.
As the month comes to a close, it is nice to see the Wood Sorel, Wild Garlic and Lesser Celandine beginning to flower. I am looking forward to April, the longer days, more sunshine and most of all watching the Bluebells come into flower.
With the Covid restrictions being lifted slightly from the 29th March, I hope to be able to get out and about a little more over the coming weeks.
Stay Safe.
Sunday 28th February 2021
What a month, Rain, snow more rain, finishing up hard overnight frosts, the only constellation is that it is starting to get a little lighter in the morning.
The Corona virus lockdown continues so my photography has been limited very much to my dog walks on Brayton Barff and the garden.
The second half of February certainly has had more than its fair share of rain, I have been wearing my wellies since before Christmas on my early morning Barff dog walk. I have just been reading that on the 24th February, earlier this week, 125 mm rain fell in the 24 hour period at Honister Pass in the Lake District, so I think we have got away with it quite lightly over here. The report goes on to say that 38 cm of snow fell in Aberdeenshire on the 10th of the month so compared to our 15mm of snow, we were quite fortunate.
The Coronavirus ‘lockdown’ continues which means we can only take our exercise within our local area and as such I have seen a significant increase of footfall on the Barff and especially over the weekend periods.
Corona deaths continue to dominate the news still, but still averaging at about 500 a day, fortunately as more people receive their vaccinations that number should start to reduce considerably and free up space in the hospitals. Lets hope that with the children returning to school next week we do not see another spike in cases.
On the Barff, although the tracks are still exceptionally muddy at the moment, the main perimeter footpath remains relatively clean and dry. It is nice to see signs of spring around the woodland, Bluebells are breaking through the ground mulch, the gorse bushes are full of tiny yellow florets, and random clumps of daffodils are beginning to flower which brightens up the dullest of morning walks.
The Grey squirrels are extremely active, scurrying up and down tree trunks with ease and scavenging for food amongst the undergrowth, Nuthatches are still extremely vocal and can be heard at various places amongst the woodland. Greater Spotted Woodpeckers can be heard most mornings, busily hammering away on the Silver birch and Oak tree trunks.
The birds are beginning to awaken now Spring is nearing, Song Thrushes can be heard around the Barff, Chaffinch are always there in the background, along with Robin and Blue and Great Tits. There are not many days when I haven’t either seen or heard the Buzzard calling as it circles above the tree line, nearly always being hounded by a pair of crows. Dunnocks and Wrens can also be heard and seen skitting around the hedgerows adjacent to the perimeter path.
I noticed a pair of mute swans on the standing water in the field between the Barff and Brayton village last Monday, such was the amount of rain we have had recently.
The wildflowers and fungi are beginning to show at the moment, there is a nice cluster of ‘Scarlet Elf Cup’ on the fallen, rotten trees quite close to the car park.
Foxgloves have been present on the Barff throughout the winter and are just starting to come out of their winter dormant period, their large green leaves are forming small crowns, though it will be several more weeks though before the stems start to rise.
I have just recently spotted the Lesser Celandine and Wood Sorrel breaking through in various places around the Barff, and tiny little leaves are beginning to appear on the Honeysuckle and Elderberry bushes. It is nice to see clumps of crocus and daffodils coming into flower and provide some colour to the countryside. The Bluebells, especially along the eastern side of the Barff are growing nicely and beginning to form a huge green blanket over the woodland floor.
The last few days of February have been dry and cold with quite hard overnight frosts, and with the colder weather we have had some beautiful sunrises. At least the mornings are getting much lighter now.
Back home I have been busy decorating one of our bedrooms, it has taken me nearly a fortnight, stripping paper, hanging lining paper and painting, I’m busy shampooing the carpet later today, so hopefully by tomorrow I should be able to get all the furniture moved back, then a rest for a few days, mind you, I am expecting a tap on the shoulder to ask if I can re decorate another bedroom shortly, watch this space.
Sunday 14th February 2021
Well, here we are, halfway through February already and our sixth week of the Coronavirus Lockdown since Christmas. It has been a very quiet time for me recently except for a dental check and opticians appointment life has continued much the same 
since the lockdown started. It was great to hear that the NHS have now vaccinated 15 million people in the UK against the virus, let’s hope the supply of vaccines continues apace and more people including our key workers can receive theirs very shortly too. Hopefully in the next week or two I will be invited for mine.
I feel extremely fortunate having Meg & Gracie especially during the lockdown, in that they give me a purpose me to get out of the house and take them for their daily walks and living very close to Brayton Barff is an added bonus. No two days are the same and every walk on the Barff is very different, be it the weather, the people we meet or the things that we see.
February started with a bitterly cold overnight frost, the overnight temperature on the morning of the 1st dropped to -3C at 7.00am. I much prefer these dry colder mornings than wet and soggy ones and we had a few of those last month, which in turn made all the small tracks on the Barff extremely muddy and difficult to walk on, let alone making the dogs filthy and wet. The following day was much the same, though during the early hours of Tuesday 2nd February we had a heavy downfall of snow. Snow on the Barff completely transforms that landscape, covering the whole area in a huge white blanket. Unfortunately, the snow didn’t last for too long and within a couple of days had all but disappeared, making all the footpaths on the Barff wet and very muddy again. Sunday 7th February was a dry and bitterly cold day, with some light snow flurries on and off throughout the day. The following morning the light snow flurries continued, the air temperature was 0C at 7.00am, but the strengthening SW wind made it feel like -4C. the snow showers fizzled out during the afternoon. 
It was during the early hours of Tuesday 7th February that we had some more heavy snow and by 7.00am was about 1.5 inches deep, the air temperature was -1C, which made it a bitterly cold morning. I put the winter dog jackets on Meg & Grace, mainly to keep them warm and dry as I had them with me whilst I was busy photographing and didn’t want them to get cold whilst I was composing pictures. I had a great productive morning, all be it a little tiring, I had good light, the sun was shining and the snow was quite dry, I managed to capture about half a dozen good pictures of our most frequent bird visitors in the snow as well as some nice landscape images around the woodland, Meg and Grace were extremely patient, though we had a good play and run around in the snow after I finished filming, they spent most of that afternoon and evening totally exhausted, asleep on the settees in the lounge! Snow flurries continued for the next two days and with cold days and overnight temperatures dropping as low as -4C, the snow stayed on the ground till the rain came late this Sunday evening. It never ceases to amaze me how resilient the wildlife can be on the Barff during these freezing conditions. I’ve watched the Greater Spotted Woodpeckers hard at work, drumming on trees in search of food as well as finding and making nest holes, seemingly oblivious to the freezing cold, the Nuthatches have been really vocal too, their distinctive short call can be heard nearly all the way around the woodland at the moment, Great Tits and Robins have been plentiful too. That said, I haven’t seen as many Grey Squirrels this past week, they may be staying in their Dreys till a little later in the morning in the hope that the air temperature warms up a little. Chaffinch and Goldfinch as well as a few Long-Tailed Tits have been showing well and looked good in the morning sunshine. Looking at the weather forecast for the next seven days it looks to be the last of the snow for the time being and by next weekend the temperatures have been predicted to rise to between 10C – 12C, signs that Spring is just around the corner?
Sunday 31st January 2021
Well, here we are at the end of January, it only seems 5 minutes ago since Christmas.
The Covid 19 lockdown continues apace, with only essential travel allowed, the shops, pubs and hotels are still closed. Fortunately, I have been able to continue my daily exercise with a walk on and around the Barff with Meg and Gracie. My photography this month, as it has for the majority of the past ten months, been confined to the Barff and the garden 
unfortunately. I cannot see the situation improve until Spring at the earliest. On a positive note it is good to see that some 8 million people in the UK have now been vaccinated against Coronavirus to date.
It has been a cold and wet month which is to be expected at this time of year, during mid-January ‘Storm Christoph’ brought more wet and windy weather to the region with over 100mm of rain, which in turn brought flooding to many parts of the country. As well as the rain we have endured some significant overnight frosts and on several mornings during the latter part of January the morning air temperature at 6.45am has been around -3C. The average mean temperature this month was just above 2C, which is 1.5C below the 1981-2010 long term average, making January the coldest since 2010.
The clear and frosty mornings were welcome by many, including myself, especially as the frost dried up the muddy paths and tracks around the Barff, and with the clearer air we were treated to some spectacular sunrises.
Several highlights for me on the Barff this month have been watching and listening to the Buzzard several times at close quarters, unfortunately not close enough to capture with the camera. Also, we look to have a resident Kestrel on the Barff which has been showing nicely of late, I’ve heard that it has been terrorising many of the smaller birds around the feeding station.
It has been nice listening to and watching the Nuthatches calling for their mates, they have been quite vocal of late and I am certain several of the bird boxes will have broods of Nuthatches in them in a couple of months’ time. The Grey Squirrels have been very active and playful too, most mornings I watch and listen to them squabbling with other family members as they scurry 
up and down the tree trunks, quite often they will run across the path in front of Meg & Gracie, trying to goad them into a chase, fortunately the dogs ignore the taunts.
Several days of late, I have heard the Greater Spotted Woodpecker drumming away on some of the old rotting Silver Birch trees, they have a knack of hiding around the other side of a tree as we walk past it, they are a lovely bird to look at and the patches of red on their forehead and rump brightens up even the dullest of days, I hope they have a good breeding season.
It has been nice to hear small flocks of Long Tailed Tits on the Barff, I used to regularly hear and see them when I was able to film at RSPB Fairburn Ings before the first lock down, they would visit the feeding station two to three times during my morning visit, but before they came to feed they would congregate in the bushes behind me and when the path was clear they would suddenly drop in on the fat ball feeders, between six to eight of them, they would gorge their stomachs as fast as they could and in next to no time, like 15 seconds later, were off back into the relative safety of the bushes. Very rarely would I see a lone Long Tailed Tit, they always fed in small groups.
Chaffinch, Great and Blue Tits are regular sights on my morning walk, the Barff provides and ideal habit for them, as it does for the Robin who quite regularly follow me around the Barff, often landing on the floor just inches away from Meg & Gracie.
The small shoots of Bluebell continue to sprout up around the woodland, despite the frosty mornings as do several small patches of Snowdrops which are currently in flower around the Barff. Honeysuckle leaves are beginning to open and Foxgloves are starting to flourish too. The Gorse is flowering nicely, its bright yellow florets providing a welcome bit of colour around the woodland.
Another sign that Spring is just around the corner is that the nights are beginning to get a little shorter, this past week it has been relatively light at 7.30am with the sunrise between 8.15am – 8.30am.
No snow yet this year, I wonder if we will see some next month?
Tuesday 12th January 2021
Well, here we are the start of a New Year, and stuck in a Covid Lockdown again.
Unfortunately, due to the rising Covid levels across the country prior to and after Christmas, the government has re-introduced a 
lockdown across the entire country.
Late last year North Yorkshire was in the tier 2, whilst most of the country was in tier 3.
As I write this note, sadly in the UK over 81,000. people have now lost their lives due to Covid since the start of the pandemic. This New Year our hospitals are recording over 900 people a day losing their lives, with 30,000 patients currently being treated in hospital for Covid. This obviously is putting a tremendous strain on our hospitals and my heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones and to all the staff working in the hospitals in such stressful circumstances. A ray of hope during the Christmas period was the announcement of effective vaccine to treat the virus. Within a few days a second vaccine was approved and as I write this note a third vaccine is ready for release. Over 2.4million people have been vaccinated to date with the aim of having 15 million people vaccinated by mid-February.
The lockdown has affected us in many ways, fortunately for me I am retired with two very active dogs which enables me to spend some time outdoors, alas my photography during this time has been focused on my dog walks and what I see whilst on the daily walks. My local patch (Brayton Barff) is just over a mile from home so well within the criteria of ‘local area’.
Since Christmas we have had our first light covering of snow on the Barff, followed by some extremely cold and frosty mornings, a little rain, more ice and some beautiful sunrises.
Although still quite early in the New Year we have had some lovely morning walks, the hard frosts have frozen up the muddy puddles. On the morning of the 3rd January we woke up to a significant overnight frost, the main footpath around the woodland was almost unwalkable due to a thick layer of ice covering a large area of the perimeter footpath. Unfortunately, the colder 
temperatures during the first week of January meant that the ice stayed around a little longer than was welcome. Here we are during the second week of January, the ice has now disappeared, and the smaller off route trails are extremely muddy again.
Over the weekends when the road traffic is much lighter, I often extend our walk by following the bypass trail down the slope towards Mill lane, crossing the A63 bypass and following the track on the other side of the road, heading back up the slope towards the Barff.
This weekend I have been fortunate to watch a Buzzard hunting in the field adjacent to the golf course. It was still quite dusk as I approached the bird, around 7.45am, a good 45 minutes before sunrise, it was sat, motionless in a young Silver Birch tree, its eyes scanning the field for prey. Initially, from a distance I could just see its black outline in the tree, it looked like a large overweight wood pigeon, but as I got closer it was quite apparent it was a Buzzard. I stood and watched for a few minutes as it took to the wing, its underwing markings clearly identified it as a Buzzard, it flew off towards the centre of the field and after a couple of powerful wing flaps the bird was high in the air. It circled above the field for a minute or so before returning to the same tree it had been perched on before I disturbed it. We continued our morning walk along the bypass trail, crossing over the road bridge before heading back into the Barff.
The colder weather hasn’t deterred the Grey Squirrels at all, we see and watch them daily, scurrying up, down and among the tree branches, they are so agile and flexible. On the woodland floor Blackbirds can be seen and heard busily upturning all the frozen leaves in search of food, quite oblivious to myself and the dogs as we pass them by.
I’ve heard and seen several Nuthatches of late calling to each other, they have obviously over wintered here, I remember hearing them calling back in December, I’ve also been fortunate to catch sight of several Tree Creepers too, scurrying up and down tree trunks prizing out grubs from between the bark of the oak and silver birch trees. I have heard several Goldcrest too, this delicate, tiny bird with a little gold crest on its forehead tends to prefer the big holly bushes which is where I generally hear them.
I startled a Hen Pheasant on our walk earlier this week, Pheasants have really good hearing and on two occasions just recently they have flown out from the undergrowth no more than a metre away from me, as they took flight, I could feel the draft from their wings as they flew over my head into the relative safety of the field the other side of the footpath, making a noisy, high pitch croaky rattle as they fly away.
One of the main highlights as I walk around the Barff at the beginning of January have been the beautiful sunrises, accompanied by a clear dark blue sky. It starts to get light at around 7.30am with the sun rising around 8.30am. Depending on the weather conditions each sunrise is completely different, some last for seconds whist others can last up to 15 minutes.
Although still in the depths of Winter, signs of Spring are beginning to show, tiny shoots of Bluebell leaves are just breaking the soil surface, fortunately they are well covered from the elements by a thick covering of leaf mulch. The Autumnal fallen Acorns are beginning to sprout too with a tiny root breaking through the outer shell and sinking into the ground beneath. The gorse bushes around the Barff add a welcome bit of colour to the landscape at this time of year, the vibrant yellow florets brighten up the day nicely.
Looking at the weather forecast for the days ahead it looks as though a band of snow is heading our way and snow on the Barff completely transforms the landscape. Stay safe.
Thursday 31st December 2020
What a month.
Alas, December has brought shorter days, darker mornings and much colder and wetter weather, I have had to resort to wearing my wellies for our dog walks on the Barff, as most of the tracks away from the main perimeter footpath are extremely muddy and have been for the whole of December.
The Covid pandemic continues apace across the country, fortunately here in our part of North Yorkshire we are still in Tier 2, though West Yorkshire and the East Riding have just moved into Tier 3 since Christmas.
Life on the Barff continues as usual, though the bird life seems to have quietened down considerably with most of our summer visitors now left the area for warmer climes before returning again in the Spring.
There are plenty of Grey Squirrels about, they don’t really hibernate through the winter and can be seen on most visits to the Barff, they will have stockpiled a significant amount of food, including an abundance of Acorns, to get them through the cold, wet winter months. As much as I would sooner see the Red Squirrels the Greys are quite characters and I often have to stop and watch as they busily scurry up and down the tree trunks at breakneck speed chasing their brothers and sisters, they are extremely light footed and agile, the noise they make sounds like that of snowflakes landing on a window during a cold winters blizzard.
The Buzzards are still around the Barff area, I have heard a pair calling several times a week on my morning walks around the woodland mainly on the other side of the bypass adjacent to the golf course.
I often seem to disturb hen and cock pheasants on my early morning walks, they are lovely, big and colourful birds but a bit skittish, quite occasionally jumping out in front of me with a lot of wing flapping and squawking, if they just kept their heads down, I would have walked past them completely oblivious of them ever being there.
December has been an exceptionally wet month in this part of Yorkshire, just before Christmas the volume of water in the Aire & Calder caused it to breach its banks causing considerable flooding around East Cowick, fortunately most of the water drained into agricultural land on the South side of the M62.
‘Storm Bella’ hit the country on Boxing day evening, fortunately this part of the county escaped the worst of the wind and rain although we had in excess of 15mm of rain fall overnight. The River Ure in the Yorkshire dales over topped again around Hawes which caused significant flooding albeit on agricultural land but also caused problems shutting the A684 at Wensley.
The dull and cloudy mornings in December were occasionally replaced with several frosty mornings which, although cold, made quite a pleasant change, as did some of the sunrises, the sun was rising at about 8.00am at the beginning of the month and 8.30am towards the end of December, which made for some spectacular skies looking over towards the East and the villages of Brayton and further afield Drax, unfortunately within a 15-minute window the sun had disappeared behind thick dense cloud.
Although relatively quiet on the bird front on the Barff at the moment, we still have our residents, Blue and Great Tits, Nuthatch, Robin, Goldcrest, Chaffinch, Dunnocks and Wrens which can be heard around and amongst the woodland.
It was several years ago that the Barff was designated an Ancient Oak woodland, and following an recent investigation by one of
our ‘friends of Brayton Barff, Derek Cooper armed with a long tape measure has measured a number of our significant Oak trees on the Barff. It was interesting to note that one of one of the oldest trees is the ‘Oak swing tree’ which most youngsters and their parents will know on the eastern side of the Barff, this tree measures around 6 metres around its circumference which puts it date at approximately 433 years old. To put this into some form of prospective, at the time this Oak tree was planted during the 1580’s, Queen Elizabeth 1 was on the throne, Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded, William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway and Francis Drake was knighted. It will be fascinating to see if Derek finds any trees older than this one on the Barff.
During the last week of December, we saw our first snow of the winter, it had been snowing quite heavily earlier in the day on Monday 28th in parts of West Yorkshire and the Dales but it wasn’t until the early hours of Tuesday 29th that it reached the Barff area. By 7.30am it had all but stopped and we were left with a covering of wet slushy snow. The weather still stayed cold though, and we have just experienced three bitterly cold days were the temperature didn’t get much above 4C during the day, dropping to -4C during the night. The hard penetrating frost of the 30th finally froze the mud on the woodland trails making them firmer to walk on, that said the main perimeter footpath became quite treacherous in places due to the ice, fortunately by late morning the sun and slightly warmer temperature made the paths much less slippy.
Unfortunately, as the month comes to an end, cases of Covid continue to rise again across much of the country with many counties now being placed into a tier 4, fortunately North Yorkshire has been placed in tier 3, so at least we are still able to come to the Barff to walk and exercise.
Finally, to end on a more pleasant note, the days are now starting to get a little longer, it is beginning to get light at around 7.30am and am pleased to report that tiny Bluebell shoots are just starting to poke through the ground, role on Spring.
Thursday 17th December 2020
It was quite an emotional day for me today, firstly I drove over to Elloughton in East Yorkshire with Meg & Gracie, to lay a Christmas wreath on my parent’s grave in the Cemetery adjacent to the beautiful St Mary’s Church, I always have a chat with 
them both as I gave their headstone a spruce up, many of their friends are buried there too so I know they are in good company.
After leaving the Cemetery, I drove down to Brough Haven to take Meg & Gracie for a nostalgic walk along the riverbank.
My association with Brough Haven dates back to my childhood. Having been born and brought up in the village till just after I married in 1981.
One of my earliest memories is that of my father taking myself and brother for a walk along the riverbank during the winter of 1963, when the River Humber froze, I can remember the huge blocks of ice left strewn on the shoreline, it was quite regular at that time for the temperature to fall to minus 20C and this particular year was no different. The river froze solid preventing any river traffic for some time. The big freeze that year lasted from Boxing Day through to March.
As a young lad I can vividly remember fishing for eels with one of my elderly neighbours, we used to walk down to the end of one of the wooden slipways and fish from the end, patiently waiting for the fish to take the bait,.
More recently in the late 70’s I bought my first dog and used to walk her along the riverbank first thing in the morning before I went to work and again later in the evening after work. As she was to become a working dog I used to do a lot of her obedience training in the small carpark area, needless to say at that time it wasn’t tarmacked like it is today.
The history of Brough can be traced back to the roman times and during that time the haven was used as a naval base. Records show that there was a ferry from Brough across the river which formed part of what was known as Ermine Street, eventually the ‘port’ silted up with mud, but in its heyday was heavily used to transport coal and latterly grain, spirits and building materials. Alas, with the advent of Rail travel from the 1840’s the use of the haven as a commercial port eventually ceased.
During 1883 the Humber Yawl Club was founded, nestling on the water’s edge, it is still functioning today, making it one of the oldest clubs in the country. The Humber Conservancy Board had their offices adjacent to the Yacht club and back in the 70’s were responsible for servicing and maintaining the three main lightships on the river, namely, Lower, Middle and Upper Witton. The British Transport Docks Board took over in 1968, but today the work is carried out from offices in Hull.
Within the last ten years significant flood prevention work has been carried out along the haven foreshore, running from the haven carpark to past Welton creek, the most noticeable being the long flood wall and gate which will prevent flood water overlapping and entering the BAE site and surrounding residential properties. The footpath lies on the riverside of the wall, we followed the path past the factory to the sluice gate half way down the runway, considerable change has taken place here since I used to walk it with Sheba, most notable of course was that Cappers Chimney has disappeared, several wind farms have appeared, and considerable housing and new developments have shot up, it now looks as though Brough merges with Welton, alas with all the recent rain the path today was extremely muddy and in places it was a challenge to keep upright, much to the delight of the dogs! On a positive note though, it was nice to re trace my steps from years ago, I have always liked living next to water and I think this must have come from my early dog walking days along the riverbank.
Today the area along for haven foreshore comes under the ownership of the Humber Nature Partnership and the haven estuary is now a special area of conservation as well as a special Protection Area.
Sunday 29th November 2020
Well, here we are in November and our second lockdown due to the second wave of Corona virus. Cases of Corona virus are rising across North Yorkshire and the East Riding at this moment with the Scarborough area having the highest rate per hundred thousand population. Let’s hope this lockdown slows the spread and the tier system being re-introduced next month brings the pandemic under some form of control.
As a consequence of people being advised to work from home due to the Covid pandemic, I have seen a significant increase in the footfall on the Barff this month, with people using the Barff for their daily exercise. Many mornings this month the car park has been overflowing with vehicles, at one time, mid-morning, I counted twenty three cars, and another six were parked on the roadside, unfortunately one had blocked the gated entrance to the service road!
The first two weeks in November saw the Barff at its best with its Autumn coat on, when the sun shines there is no better place to be to lift the soul during these difficult times.
We had a few very foggy and misty morning walks on the Barff earlier in the month, the silhouettes of the barren trees making some ghostly shapes through the morning mist. There are still lots of birds about though, Buzzard can still be heard and seen circling above the top of Tap Hill, Goldcrest can be seen and heard, their high pitch call more frequent around many of the holly bushes. Blackbirds, Robin and Dunnocks can be seen quite regularly amongst the trees, as can Blue Tits, Chaffinch, Goldfinch and Bullfinch.
The middle of the month saw several wet and windy days on the Barff, each morning brought a fresh layer of fallen leaves on the woodland floor. Grey Squirrels can be seen and heard every day, running up and down the tree trunks and across the branches, there is still quite an abundance of fallen acorns which will see the squirrels through the colder winter months.
During the later part of the month we saw and felt our first frost of the winter and with this colder weather have seen some spectacular sunrises, alas the wetter weather has also seen some significant muddy patches along the woodland trails much to the delight of Meg & Gracie, though Meg always comes home the dirtiest of the two!
The nights are getting longer this time of year too, it is quite dark at 7.00am with the sun rising around 7.45am. Time to get out the head light and illuminated dog collars as we start to prepare for the darker winter months ahead of us.
Friday 20th November 2020
Today was a typical late Autumn morning, dull and miserable and after the early morning dog walk I spent the remainder of the day sat behind my computer, busily editing photographs, listening to the persistent sound of rain falling on the office windows.
Several weeks ago, before the second lockdown was announced, around the beginning of November, I purchased a pair of tickets to have a look round RHS Harlow Carr ‘Glow’ event near Harrogate for this evening. Looking out across the garden, earlier this afternoon, cup of coffee in hand, I felt no more like venturing outside, with the camera to get cold and wet, also, with the current regulations about travelling due to the current travel restrictions due to the Corona virus, I was in two minds whether to go or not. Alas, several hours later I needed to have a break from the computer, so Jenny and I jumped into the car and headed over to Harrogate, it was just a forty minute drive from home to reach the gardens and considering the time of day, arrived just before our allocated time at 5.30pm, After parking the car in the car park, the rain from earlier this afternoon had eased slightly to a heavy drizzle, so, it was winter jackets on before we headed over to Bettys café for a takeaway coffee and biscuit. Face masks on and observing the Covid Spacing signs we made our way through the visitors’ centre to follow the well laid out trail, heading left towards the learning and development centre. The special lighting around the whole site was absolutely beautiful and quite enchanting, the two willow hares standing proud adjacent to the footpath, the blue and red lighting forming a lovely backdrop against the dark evening sky. We continued our walk heading towards the Queen Mothers lake, the waters edge clearly lit with thousands of lights around the entire lake, the trees on the right looking quite surreal against the rain ladened sky. Passing the lake on our right we made our way past the lakeside gardens to the sunken garden, which looked amazing, the shelter adorned with huge wicker stars covered with warm white and purple coloured lights. Continuing our walk around the QM lake we stopped 
for a few moments to look at the lighting effect looking back towards the visitor’s centre, keeping the stream on our right hand side we followed the path to the old Bath House, the streamside part of the walk was absolutely amazing, the colours, the bare trees, the newly restored rock garden, the contrasting colours, the reflections in the water made a quite spectacular sight, everywhere you turned there was something to catch your eye, on reaching the old Bath House we popped into the Betty’s tea house adjacent to the Bath house for a takeaway coffee and biscuit, which made for some entertainment at my expense, trying to have a cup of tea, eat a biscuit and take photographs at the same time, whilst the path has a gentle gradient up towards the Alpine house. At one point I poured hot coffee down the front of my jacket as I couldn’t see the little hole in the cup lid as I tried to have a sip of tea! Needless to say I finished the biscuit in a couple of mouthfuls just to free up a spare hand. The lighting continued to amaze me, the Kitchen garden on the right leading up to the Alpine House looked stunning, although the Alpine house was out of bounds the lighting around it looked wonderful as was the hare riding a bicycle. After leaving the Alpine house we made our way into the garden centre and gift shop, the end of a wonderful evening.
Looking back this was my first outing since the lockdown other than the daily dog walks, I find it quite hard to describe the emotion I felt as we made our way back to the car.
‘Glow’ at RHS Harlow Carr ends on the 30th December 2020 though it will be closed for three days over the Christmas period. Please do not just turn up and hope to visit, tickets for this night-time event must be booked online prior to your visit. Please check their website prior to your visit https://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/harlow-carr/whats-on/glow-winter-illuminations
Saturday 31st October 2020
Well here we are at the end of October; the second wave of Coronavirus is running amok in the country at the moment and parts of West Yorkshire have had to be put into a lockdown along with parts of the west country. Traveling to work and commuting is becoming difficult, the government suggesting that we all work from home if possible. We all have to wear facemasks when 
entering shops or using public transport, people have to be 2mtrs apart and no more than 6 people can form a group. Strict government guidelines are currently in place limiting visiting friends and family, and public houses have had to close at 10pm, difficult times indeed for many people.
The seasons continue apace on the Barff no matter what and October has been no different. Corona virus aside, it has generally been a dull, cloudy, wet and miserable month. Storm Alex brought rain and strong winds to much of the country during the first week of October turning some of the smaller footpaths around the Barff into huge muddy puddles which stayed like that for the remainder of the month. Throughout the month we had far more dull and wet morning walks than dry and sunny ones. I was fortunate enough to catch at least four colourful sunrises throughout the month alas the beautiful sunrises were preceded by dull, cloudy and overcast days.
October has been the month though for seeing the Barff at its best, autumn is here in vengeance and as the trees start shutting down and preparing for winter, the colourful leaves of the old Oaks, Birch and Beech trees have transformed the landscape of the woodland, round every bend of the perimeter path lies a different view, the golden, red, yellow and brown colours of the leaves as they glisten in the afternoon sunlight has to be seen to be believed.
The juvenile grey squirrels continue to thrive and can be seen all around the Barff at the moment, running round the tree trunks 
and along the tree branches at breakneck speed, they should have an abundance of winter food looking at the amount of fallen acorns on the woodland floor.
The dull and damp weather of late has proved the ideal habitat for the Barff fungi, Shaggy Parasol, Stinkhorn, Sulphur tuft and puffball to name just a few, can be seen everywhere at the moment.
Cow Parsley, White Campion, Field Parsley and Storksbill are still in flower though once the frosts start later next month they will soon disappear. The Barff ferns and bracken have now turned a rusty brown colour and will continue to die back over the next couple of months, their new shoots start poking through next April.
I’ve had one or two frights on the Barff recently from the Pheasants, Meg and Gracie seem to have the nose for them and have put up several, especially on our morning walks, they (the pheasants) are quite vocal when disturbed and fly straight up in the air, flapping their wings at an alarming rate and making quite a squawking noise flying off before Meg and Gracie get near them. I’ve seen the Buzzard several times recently, circling above the top of Tap Hill, calling for its mate as it tries to avoid the menacing attacks from the Crows. There are still lots of birds about though mainly our over wintering birds, Song Thrush, Robin, Blackbird, Nuthatch along with Blue and Great Tits, Wren and Dunnock can be heard and seen most days, I’ve even heard the Nuthatch calling for their mates.Thursday 22nd October 2020
It has been a shocking week weather-wise so far this week, dull, damp and drizzly days with little or no sunshine, let alone the continuing Coronavirus Pandemic which unfortunately is back on its second wave in a vengeance, especially in Yorkshire at the moment.
I had a free day today, so we loaded the car with Meg & Gracie and after breakfast had a drive up to the arboretum at Thorpe Perrow to get some fresh air as well as giving the girls another walk.
I usually aim to arrive there at 11.0clock and today was no different other than we had to queue to get into the car park, on all our previous visits to this arboretum throughout the years, albeit in the Spring for the snowdrops or daffodils etc or late October for the Halloween trail we have never had to queue to get in, here we were today, mid-week, not even the school half term holiday, having to queue to get in, I have never seen as many people at the Arboretum as there was today, we had a good ten minute walk from the car to the main entrance. Needless to say that after all the rain we have had earlier this week it was very wet and muddy underfoot. After completing the track & trace app at the main entrance we made our way along the main footpath to the streamside walk, fortunately the sun was shining and there was very little wind, such a contrast to the past few days. The sky was a lovely shade of blue complimented with some white fluffy clouds, from a photographic point of view I like a blue sky as it complements my images nicely.
The arboretum team had set up their popular Halloween trail through the trees which in itself is well worth the visit and is probably the reason why there were so many visitors here today.
The autumn colours of the trees were at their best today, which probably explains why there were so many visitors, the light shining through the trees onto the golden-brown leaves below looked quite beautiful. We continued our walk along the streamside path, admiring the lovely purple and pink cyclamen in full flower which laid in huge patches on the woodland floor 
beneath the trees.
We stopped for a few moments on the wooden bridge at the end of the lake adjacent to the Milbank Pinetum to admire the colours of the trees and shrubs especially on the left-hand side where the lake runs into a stream. We continued over the bridge towards the Bird of Prey centre but before we reached it we branched off left along ‘Angels walk’ towards the ‘Jubilee Oak’ and on towards the ‘Millennium Walk’, several families were making most of the sunshine and having picnics along the waters edge. We continued around the small lake and headed towards the ‘Acorn Structure’ and butterfly garden, huge clumps of pampas grass swayed gently in the light breeze. We followed the path and joined the ‘main avenue’ and headed for the ‘monument’, the maples and acers which line the main avenue looked quite stunning today, the leaves turning to an beautiful autumnal red colour, the view along the ‘main avenue’ looking towards the main house were quite special. This particular view changes considerably throughout the seasons and is always worth the visit. After having a break at the wrought iron monument for a few minutes we continued our walk over the small stream and headed back to the café, which, due to the current covid restrictions was only able to offer a takeaway service. There was a huge canvas open sided tent on the lawned area with picnic benches beneath which provided plenty of places for the visitors to sit and enjoy their picnics. Needless to say we enjoyed a cup of tea and flapjack from the café, which ended off a very pleasant morning nicely.
Sunday 4th October 2020
After heavy overnight rain and an early morning dog walk, after breakfast we headed up the A1 to meet one of my sons and his family at Thorpe Perrow Arboretum for the day. It was a quiet and un uneventful 50-minute drive up the A1 arriving at the visitors centre for about 11. o’clock. The car park was relatively quiet with just a scattering of cars. It was a lovely morning, the sun was
shining, 12C with just a slight breeze. Due to the current Coronavirus Pandemic, we completed the appropriate track and trace paperwork and scanned the appropriate tracking app before entering the grounds. After exchanging pleasantries with a cup of tea and chat we followed the trail, passing the play area on our left, continuing along the ‘water steps path’ keeping the stream on the right, the trees at this time of year were looking absolutely stunning, especially with the sun shining on them and a clear blue sky. This is one of my favourite sections of the trail. After passing the bridge over to Henry’s island we stopped for a few moments to look at the pet cemetery before continuing to the head of the main avenue to admire the stunning vista across the main lake. Continuing along the main path, passing ‘Kates island’ on the right and admiring the tree sculpture, we followed the track to the bridge adjacent to the Milbank Plantation. The colours on the trees and the reflections in the water looked beautiful. From the bridge we continued following the trail towards the Bird of Prey centre, the flying show had just started as we arrived so we stayed and watched as the falconer flew about four birds across the flying ground. The falconer and the birds kept the audience’s attention with lots of ‘ooohs’ and ‘ahhhhs’ as the birds flew low over our heads. After a pleasant 30 minutes watching the owls and eagles flying, we headed through the small shop to have a walk through the mammal centre. The Meerkats were on good form as were the goats, geese and chickens, although we could see the wallabies from a distance, unfortunately we couldn’t walk amongst them as this area had been cordoned off due to the pandemic. On leaving the mammal centre we headed towards the ‘Jubilee Oak’ at the head of ‘Birch Avenue’ and continued round to the ‘Acorn Sculpture’, the pampas grasses looked beautiful as they swayed gently in the breeze. We continued our walk through the trees, crossing the ‘main avenue’ and back to the coffee shop for brunch before our journey home. A beautiful day, lovely weather and great company.
Wednesday 16th September – Friday 18th September 2020
Today we set off for a mid-week break to Chester to meet our friends Peter & Geri. It had been an early start as usual, I walked the dogs first thing and after breakfast took them both to their Kennels and spa for their short mid-week break. It is always quite 
strange coming home to an empty house having just dropped the dogs off, anyway I packed the car and Jen and I set off for Chester, It was a few years ago since my last visit, though it was a straightforward journey from home along virtually the length of the M62 motorway, passing road signs for Huddersfield, Oldham, Warrington, Ellesmere Port, picking up the A41 for the short journey to the hotel just South east of Chester. It took about one and threequarter hours from leaving home to arriving at the hotel for brunch. We stayed at the ‘Rowton Hall hotel & Spa’ which was a lovely hotel, very covid friendly, with hand sanitisers all over the place and a one way system operating through the hotel, it worked really well as did remembering to carry a face mask with me at all times, that aside the hotel was superb. No sooner had we arrived than our friends arrived a few moments later, having driven across country from Peterborough. After exchanging pleasantries, a pot of tea and a bite to eat, we all jumped into a taxi for the ten-minute drive to have a look around Chester. After dropping us off at the story house along Northgate we headed for the cathedral, this huge red sandstone building forms quite a picture and temped us in for a look round, after about an hour of browsing and admiring the architecture we left and continued our journey along Eastgate, stopping to admire the huge Eastgate clock, built above the Eastgate of the ancient walls, the clock wasn’t added though until the Victorian era to celebrate Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee. After admiring this beautiful time piece, we turned right onto Sooters lane, walked through the Roman Gardens and down to the river for a coffee. After a rest and look at all the activity on the water we headed back into the centre of the town and caught a taxi back to the hotel.
Thursday morning was bright and sunny and after breakfast we jumped into the car for the short ten-minute drive to Chester zoo. The weather was quite amazing in that during the day we had to shelter from the sun! such was its intensity. We had pre booked our tickets prior to our visit and enjoyed a very pleasant day looking at the animals and exploring the zoo.
Friday was a shopping trip, we said goodbye to our lovely hotel and headed over to Ellesmere Port and the designer centre ‘Cheshire Oaks’ for the remainder of the morning. After a light brunch and coffee, we said our goodbyes to our friends and headed for home. It was a relatively straightforward journey home via the M56 and M62 which took us just over one and a half hours, the end of a lovely mid-week break. Saturday morning I headed over to the Kennels to pick up Meg & Gracie and here we are back home.
We followed a path down the side of the valley, care had to be taken as due to the steepness of the gradient, and the steps and handrail gave good support and reassurance. We passed several artistic sculptures on our route to the lake that took our attention as well as giving us a breather. By mid-morning the weather had improved, and the sun was trying to break through the grey and cloudy sky. We skirted around the lake admiring what looked like a huge floating magnolia flower head on the lake and a beautiful Chinese themed pagoda on the water’s edge. There were some great photo opportunities around every bend of the footpath, be it the views, the colours of the trees, especially the Acers and shrubs and grasses as well as some of the Sculptures. 30th June 2020
The Corona Pandemic continues unfortunately, some of the initial restrictions are being slowly lifted though social distancing at 2metres remains in place.
The sunny and warm weather at the end of May continued for just a few more days into June, but by the 3rd it was a suddenly and distant memory with heavy rain all day, unfortunately one consequence to this was that Meggie got ‘cold tail’ from being out in all the rain whilst on her dog walk. The wet weather continued on and off for the following week with both Meg & Gracie wearing their waterproof jackets. It took four days before Meggie’s tail resumed its usual shape and she is now back to normal. By the middle of the month it started to get a little warmer and our morning walks were quite humid with the temperature reaching between 14C – 18C. On Thursday 25th the temperature at 6.30am as I arrived on the Barff was a crazy 18C! by mid afternoon it was 25C. The following day was much the same, 16C and very humid at around 6.00am and later that day rose to 28C with a humidity of 60%, needless to say that evening we had some heavy thundery showers, the rain continued on and off for the rest of the month along with some fresh windy days.
One of the many highlights on the Barff this month was that the Marsh Orchid which came into flower, I spotted it around the beginning of the month and it has stayed in flower for a good three weeks. The Honeysuckle was another highlight, with its beautiful, white and yellow florets making quite a picture, the aroma, especially around the top of Tap Hill was strong and filled the surrounding area, especially on the warm humid mornings when there was little or no wind. The Foxgloves have been huge this month, some reaching 6 ft in height, the bees love them, I often watched the bees as they flew into the long purple coloured trumpets and flit from one to the other until heavily laden with pollen. Ox Eye Daisies were in full flower too, their spindly stems blowing gently in the breeze, showing off their bright yellow eyes, surrounded by their delicate white petals. The dainty yellow florets of Birds foot trefoil are in full flower also, its yellow flowers look like little slippers and appear in small clusters, once they die back the seed pods look distinctly like bird's feet or claws, hence the common name. Rosebay Willow Herb are flowering nicely at the moment, the upper sections of the plants being covered in tiny little purple coloured florets. They are able to flourish in this 
environment because of their specially adapted seeds - fitted with tiny, cottony 'parachutes' they are able to disperse across long distances on the slightest breeze. Each plant can produce up to 80,000 seeds. Unfortunately patches of the non-native Himalayan Balsam have started to appear, this plant tends to smother other plants, come October its seed pods will explode and send tiny little seeds over vast areas of the woods, hence it is important to remove this plant before the florets die back.
Most mornings I have looked for the Bee Orchids which should really be flowering about this time of year, but up to now I have not been able to find any, unfortunately earlier this year the forestry workers temporarily stacked a lot of their timber on one of the sites were the Bee Orchids have flowered in previous years, whether this has impacted on them not showing this year I do not know.
The Barff’s canopy is now well established and forms a dense green canopy over virtually the whole woodland with just the summit being exposed to the elements so to speak. The Elderberry bushes have been awash with blossom this year and as the month comes to an end are slowly turning into huge clusters of tiny little red coloured berries. It looks like being a bumper year for Brambles too they are flowering on all areas of the Barff, some of the runners being well over six feet tall, I have suffered many a deep scratch on my arms and legs from their sharp briars. Holy bushes are flourishing too, lots of new growth is visible, much to the delight of the young deer who tend to favour the new soft prickly leaves. Ferns and nettles are enjoying the current wet and humid weather, like the Foxgloves many are standing over 6 feet in height, I have to be careful on my morning walks as I generally tend to walk away from the main circular path around the perimeter of the woodland, and follow some of the smaller tracks through this dense undergrowth, unfortunately after heavy overnight rain I can finish my walk wet through from all the water on the ferns.
The Tawny Owls are still on the Barff, the chicks now loosing their fluffy down feathers and growing nicely. I keep seeing and watching the Buzzards circling around the Barff summit, Chiffchaff and Blackcaps fill the air with their songs as do the Willow Warblers and Dunnocks. Juvenile Robins seem to be all over the woodland at the moment and seem to fly into the path in front of me on most of our morning walks, completely oblivious to Meg & Gracie. All the Woodpecker chicks seem to have fledged, though several of the bird’s favourite nesting site trees have succumbed to the weather having been blown down during the strong winds which accompanied many of the heavy rain showers.
Let’s hope that now we have past the Summer Solstice we can have some warmer and settled weather before the nights start drawing in.
Monday 22nd June 2020.
Now the Corvid restrictions have been lifted a little we followed the guidelines and booked a time for 10.30am to visit Castle Howard, our first visit and day out, since the lockdown started on the 22nd March.
The main house unfortunately is still closed but the main reason for our visit to the gardens was for a breath of fresh air and to give the dogs Meg & Gracie a good run out, away from our home patch. It felt a little different visiting this morning, there was not as many cars or coaches in the main car park as usual. We had to show our e ticket at the reception along with our membership cards before making our way outside. The toilets in the courtyard and the courtyard restaurant are still closed due to the restrictions but additional portacabin toilets have been placed along the north terrace just before you reach the main house. We continued our walk passing the house on our righthand side. It was a lovely morning; the sun was shining with a cloudy sky and light westerly breeze. ‘Skelf Island’ and the ‘Boathouse café’ were still closed to visitors though I would think these would be opening again with in the next few weeks. After passing the house we continued our walk into Ray wood, the grass was quite damp after the overnight rain so decided to turn right and avoid the steepish path up to the reservoir, skirting around the house we continued along the ‘South Terrace’, towards the ‘Temple of Four Winds’ It was hard to imagine that on our last visit on the 16th March, just before the lockdown, the daffodils were in full flower and the sides of the paths and slopes along the edge of the wood were awash with colour. Today the daffodils have long gone and the grass left uncut, we continued our walk up the slope to the top of the hill, stopping on route to admire the view looking back towards the house and over towards the ‘South lake’. It was nice to see several other couples and families well spread out over the parkland, many of them enjoying a picnic in the sunshine.
We followed the path through the wooden gate and into the wood, the trees were now in full leaf, one or two of the late flowering Rhododendrons were still hanging on to their blooms and providing a bit of colour. After a few minutes we came out of the woods adjacent to the ‘Temple of Four Winds’. The views from the Temple are always quite breath-taking, be it looking over the arable fields into the Howardian hills or looking over towards the ‘New bridge’ and Mausoleum. We headed down to the slope to the eastern edge of the ‘South lake’, following the water’s edge for a few moments, stopping to admire all the Marsh Orchids flowering in the wet grass. The path took us around the ‘South Lake’, I always like this part of the walk as you can get some really nice pictures of the house reflected in the lake. Looking over the lake we watched several pairs of Tufted Ducks, along with some Mallard and Greylag Geese, enjoying the afternoon sunshine. We continued our walk along the waters edge and made our way over to the newly cleaned Atlas fountain. From there it is just a short walk back to the house and courtyard, where we enjoyed a very pleasant brunch from the courtyard café before the journey home.
8th June 2020
Since the lockdown was announced by the Government on or around the 20th March in order to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus, much of my spare time has been taken up completing outstanding jobs in and around the house, garden and pond. Fortunately, with having two dogs I was able to get out of the house every morning for some ‘personal exercise’ and fresh air
whilst walking them both. The garden has been a lovely place of solitude and sanctuary, I can quite easily spend three to four hours a day pottering about, tidying up fallen plants, weeding, cutting and tending to the lawn etc. In January, February the garden borders were full of Snowdrops and Crocus, Daffodils and latterly Tulips, coming into April the Daffodils and Tulips had died back and were replaced with the emergence of Bluebells, this year we had several White one’s amongst them which was nice to see. The Hellebores have flowered nicely under the conifers, their drooping bell-shaped flower heads a lovely shade of crimson and lilac. The Primula Denticulata’s were beautiful too with their purple drumstick flower heads bobbing about in the early Spring breeze. The Amelanchier tree has been beautiful this Spring, it has three different stages of beauty, initially after the winter months the tree is bare, the leaves start sprouting in late January and February, during April the tree is covered in little white florets, during the Autumn months the florets are replaced with tiny purple berries which the birds love, unfortunately as a consequence I seem to be constantly washing off purple coloured bird poo from my cars bodywork. Later that month the leaves turn a beautiful red colour and last till the first frosts of the winter.
During April the Magnolia bushes around the garden were in full flower, the huge white flowers lasted between one to two weeks, dependant on the weather, this year they were demolished by storm force winds and rain! Our Acer trees were a picture in April, the tiny finger shaped leaves were a beautiful red colour and look quite stunning in the morning sunlight.
With the onset of May, the days are getting longer and warmer, the grass has started to grow and as of the end of May I seem to be cutting the lawn between once sometimes twice a week, depending on the weather. I was able to scarify the lawn twice earlier this year which has made a difference to the quality of the grass, though having two dogs (bitches) it is a constant battle patching up the dead areas!
The warmer weather and longer days, coupled with a beautiful week of sunshine during the Spring Bank Holiday week has certainly brought the Spring flowering plants on, the Honeysuckle has been beautiful this year, the scent it has given off has filled the air. Clematis and Azaleas have all flowered nicely, as have the Foxglove, Lupins and Peonies. A couple of years ago we purchased and Jenny planted several hundred Alliums around the garden and this year May and June they have been an absolute picture, their tall beautiful purple flower heads some the size of tennis balls swaying gently in the breeze, I have had to stake many of them as we are prone to some strong westerly winds and if you are not careful will flatten the lot. I was pleased to see our two Blue Himalayan Poppies survived the mild winter and flowered nicely during May, needless to say the heavy rain we had during the first few days of June brought their flowering period to an abrupt end. All in all it has been a beautiful Spring in the garden. Let’s hope our Summer will be just as colourful.
May 2020
Well here we are Spring Bank Holiday week and the last week of May 2020. The Barff, like everywhere else has been affected by the effects of the Coronavirus Pandemic which is sweeping the country (and rest of the world) at the moment. The car park to 
the Barff which had been closed since the 25th March, following the Government guidelines was reopened on the 31st May. During the lockdown period there have been significantly less visitors than usual at this time of year on the Barff, one of my noticeable observations has been the number of sightings of Roe deer, on and around the woodland and along the ‘Bypass trail’.
Weather wise, after a few wet and damp mornings at the start of the month, May has been extremely dry, the Met office have stated that May was the sunniest month on record in England with 696 hours of bright sunshine recorded in the Spring, which has exceeded the previous high of 594 hours set in 1948! It has also been the fifth warmest on record and in certain parts of the UK the driest Spring since 1862.
One of the highlights of the month for me as well as seeing the Deer was hearing the Cuckoo for the first time this year. I was on the Barff on Sunday 3rd May at around 6.00am, we had had a lot of overnight rain earlier on during the darkness hours which made the walk quite wet underfoot, I had watched the sunrise as I walked the dogs to the Barff from home, unfortunately by the time I reached the woodland for a photograph the sun had risen and was quite high and bright in the sky above Brayton church. The Birdsong at this time in the morning is quite beautiful, and seems to resonate through the trees, I needed to be up a little earlier in the day though to hear it at its best. It was quite strange really as I had been speaking to my friend Derek on the Barff 
shortly after I arrived and he if I had heard the Cuckoo yet, at that time neither of us had, I continued my walk with Meg & Gracie and had been on the Barff for about one hour when I first picked out its distinctive call, alas I never caught a sighting of it but it was great to hear it again amongst the woodland trees.
The Birdlife on the Barff always seems to amaze me, throughout the winter months we have the resident birds such as Blackbird, Robin, Goldfinch and Wren and Dunnock to name just a few then as Spring arrives we have our visitors, the Warblers, Chiffchaff, Linnet and Whitethroat, all with their distinctive song, it really is nice to hear and see them in this setting.
It has been a pretty good year for the Bluebells, being in flower throughout all of April, they started to pass their best during the first week in May, to be overgrown by the nettles and ferns, as I write this note towards the end of the month some of the nettles are over 6ft tall and the Bluebells have long gone for another year. The Brambles, Elderberry and Hawthorn bushes are in full flower at the moment and it looks like being a bumper year for berries looking at the large amounts of florets on the bushes at the moment. The Honeysuckle around the woodland are in full flower at the moment too, filling the air with a lovely scent as you walk between the trees, the Foxgloves are shooting up too, their long purple and red coloured florets shaped like trumpets provide an excellent food source for the bees. Other plants such as Campion, Herb Robert and Greater Stichwort are also in abundance too.
Greater Spotted Woodpeckers have been busy this year, I have heard at least four nest sites around the woodland with chicks, their parents not so vocal at the moment as they are busily providing food for their babies, they should be fledging soon, 
weather permitting. I have yet to see the Tawny Owl chicks this year, I have heard the parent birds calling to each other quite regularly last month, but since the arrival of their chicks have been relatively quiet, though I have seen several pictures of them on social media, it is just about being in the right place at the right time.
During the middle part of the month the Government eased some of the lockdown measures which as a result, increased the visitors to the Barff, this raised several problems due to the car drivers parking on the side of the narrow road, between the Barff car park entrance and the village of Brayton, at one point I counted a line of fifteen cars parked half on and half off the road, causing a considerable traffic hazard as that part of the road carries a 60mph speed limit. Unfortunately, this increase in traffic and footfall brought with it an increase in rubbish and litter left needlessly by these visitors.
We were hit with a couple of early morning light frosts on the 14th & 15th May, but otherwise we have had some beautiful mornings, I recall only a couple of occasions when I have had to wear my waterproof jacket for the morning walk. What has been quite noticeable towards the latter part of the month has been the amount of leaf litter on the ground, especially from the Oak trees. This is quite a rare phenomenon in this country only occurring during periods of prolonged dry weather. Oak trees tend to shed their foliage to conserve moisture, food or energy in times of drought or just a lack of rain, fortunately they do tend to recover after the dry spell has ended and will produce new leaves later in the year.
As the month comes to an end the days have lengthened significantly, sunrise is currently around 03.45am, too early for me, although I am frequently awoken by the dawn chorus at this time of day. There are lots of Whitethroat, Yellowhammer and Skylark singing over the fields. Willow and Garden Warblers are very vocal, along with Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Wren and Tree Creepers. Song Thrush, Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Great and Blue Tit, Blackbird, Dunnock and Robin all seem to accompany me on my wanders around the woodlands with Meg & Gracie. It has certainly been a good month to be on the Barff.
April 2020
This month is usually all about Bluebells on the Barff and the arrival of our returning birds from Africa.
Unfortunately, the whole of the country is currently on a lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic that is widespread across the country. The UK government has closed all non-essential shops during the last week of March and further to that people 
were advised to stay at home, all the schools are closed less for pupils of key workers and people have been advised to use their car for essential travel only.
‘Yorkshire Water’ has closed off the car park to the Barff during the last week in March in line with the Governments guidelines, as have the National Trust and English Heritage there’s too, and all places of interest have been closed and people being advised to stay at home for the next three weeks, needless to say that due to the spread of the disease and loss of life, the lockdown has been extended further.
With all this going on alas I had other issues to worry about closer to home. Meg had picked up a bad stomach infection somehow, I took her to the vet on the Saturday morning and then again on the Monday, and to cut a long story short had to take her to the Veterinary hospital in Leeds late on Monday evening, where she stayed for the following week, undergoing a major operation and numerous tests and scans to ascertain the cause of her illness, if only dogs could talk. She was diagnosed with a gastric infection which later turned into an e coli infection. The staff at the hospital were amazing and after a significant course of antibiotics she return home the following week on Monday 6th April. In the meantime, I had been taking Gracie for some very pleasant long walks to and around the Barff. It is surprising how quiet the Barff has become since the car park has been closed, I remember it being like this some thirty years ago before all the housing developments were built.
One of the benefits of the lockdown has been the considerable lack of traffic on the roads, less noise pollution, and less visitors, meaning the wildlife can flourish without being disturbed. Tree planting has continued during the month.
Weather wise April started with some wet showers, although most of the rain occurred during the night time hours meaning I had some relatively dry dog walks first thing in the morning, in fact it turned out to be the sunniest April on record for the UK since records began in 1929.
With the lack of traffic noise from the adjoining Selby bypass the bird song and dawn chorus has become more noticeable, I have often heard the delicate sound of the Goldcrest something I don’t often hear due to other noise, Blackcap and Chiffchaff are regular early morning contributors with quite a repertoire, along with Nuthatch, Willow Warblers and Chiffchaff.
The Bluebells have been at their best this month, especially around the middle of the month, other wild flowers like Wood Anemone, Lesser Celandine and Wood Sorrell has been in full flower too, even the aromatic smell of Garlic mustard hovers in the early morning air.
Greater Spotted Woodpeckers have been busy drumming away in the hope of attracting a mate, I have watched a pair of Buzzards gliding on the thermals above the tree line throughout the month, though they are normally accompanied by a pair of Crows trying to harass them as much as possible. It was nice to hear the Willow Warbler return to the woodland early on in the month. I’ve spotted a Kestrel in amongst the trees on a couple of occasions during the middle of the month.
One of the other pleasant things about April is that several of the bushes and trees are coming into flower, including Cherry, Lilac, Apple and bushes such as Hawthorne and Broom too. The ferns are beginning to sprout from early April, and it is they that by the end of the month will overshadow the Bluebells. It is surprising how the colours on the Barff change, especially after a night of rain after a dry spell, it is as though the Barff comes alive with colour, all the greens look so much more vibrant.
I managed a couple of quite early morning walks during April reaching the Barff for around 5.30am to see the sunrise, always quite a spectacle as it rises over the back of St Winifred’s church in Brayton.
Towards the end of the month I could make out the call of the Yellow Wagtail, Long Tailed Tits and Whitethroat (note that during the lockdown period I have been trying to listen to and recognise more bird songs!)
I am not certain as to how long the Coronavirus lockdown will continue for but as I write this note at the end of April 2020 some 26,700 people have lost their lives in the UK to the disease., lets hope that we are over the worse and the death toll starts to decline significantly during May.
Friday 20th March 2020
Well, what a week, Coronavirus has dominated the headlines, our Prime Minister is holding televised daily briefings with the media and the government is closing shops, clubs and pubs in order to prevent the spread of the virus. Schools will be closing 
as of tonight until further notice.
I was out first thing this morning with Meg & Gracie for a good early morning walk, the time was about 6.30am when we reached the Barff, there was a cold westerly breeze blowing across the fields into the woodland, the sun was just starting to rise over in the west which eventually took the edge off the cold wind, at least it was dry, in fact the Barff is beginning to dry out after all the winters endless rain and it looks quite promising for a good display of Bluebells in another month or so.
After breakfast we decided to take the dogs for a ride out to the Arboretum at Thorpe Perrow on the outskirts of Bedale, to have a look at the daffodils. It was mid-January when we last visited on a cold and windy, very windy day, so it made a pleasant change when we arrived today to the sun shining and no wind. I remember that we visited here about twelve months ago and the woodland glades were awash with huge swathes of Daffodils.
There are actually well over one hundred different varieties of daffodil here at Thorpe Perrow, some of the early varieties flowering as early as January but on our visit today the woods were awash with colour which lasts throughout all of March and April at least, some of the hardier types lasting much longer. On leaving the visitors centre we followed the ‘daffodil trail’ through the woods which gave some beautiful views of the little gems, as they swayed gently in the morning breeze, every different shade of yellow, tall ones, unusual ones and short ones, I preferred the miniature varieties personally, but they are all beautiful. At every key junction on our walk was an information board with some interesting and fascinating facts about the types and varieties that are grown here. After a good one hour and thirty-minute walk and with two tiring dogs, we headed back to the visitors centre for a pot of tea and scone before our journey home. Let’s hope it is not to long before we can visit again.
Monday 16th March 2020.
It was a cold and dull start to the day this morning. I was somewhat late up today and didn’t get out with Meg & Gracie till 6.45am. After a miserable weekend of weather, this morning although still dull, was dry underfoot and it wasn’t raining. We had a good dog walk before returning home for breakfast at 8.45am. It was quite a strange news day today as it looks as though the country is going to be hit with the Coronavirus epidemic and all sorts of talk about shops closing and people being laid off to help reduce the spread of the virus.
Straight after breakfast we packed the car for a ride over to Castle Howard to have a look at the daffodils that should be showing nicely at this moment. The daffodils in our garden are just beginning to turn and droop and we have learnt over the years that Castle Howard Daffodils are always about two weeks later than ours for coming into flower, the only thing we can put this down to is the difference in altitude as Castle Howard is situated quite high up in the Howardian hills.
We were last here for a walk about a fortnight ago and the daffodils where just beginning to come into flower then and we said at the time that we will come back in a fortnights time they should be flowering nicely and we weren’t disappointed.
We had Meg and Gracie with us as usual when we come here and on arrival, I took them both out for a quick gallop through the woods at the back of the cricket pavilion to burn of some of their surplus energy.
On entering the main courtyard, we had a quick coffee stop before entering the ticket office and grounds. I was quite surprised as to how few visitors were here though with the impending and escalating situation with the Coronavirus visitors were quite wisely staying away.
After leaving the booking office we followed the path towards the house, in front of us was a huge sea of yellow daffodils, swaying gently in the morning breeze, flowers of several different varieties and shades of golden yellow. We continued our walk alongside the walled garden, stopping for a few moments at the house to take some photographs. Our route followed the South terrace and up the gentle slope into Ray wood, stopping at the top of the slope to admire the view behind us. On passing through the gate we headed through the wood towards the Temple of four winds, large clusters of daffodils lined the trail through the woods. The views on reaching the Temple never fail to impress, the open fields seem to stretch for miles to the left and over to the right the view of the new bridge and mausoleum. We headed back to the house along the Temple Terrace which was lined with daffodils its entire length and always provides a magnificent sight with the house in the background.
On reaching the courtyard we would usually have had brunch in the Courtyard restaurant but today we decided to buy a couple of sandwiches and some cups of tea from the coffee shop and have a picnic in the car instead which rounded off our visit very nicely.
Friday 6th March 2020
It is just over four years since our last visit to Fountains Abbey, situated on the outskirts of Ripon in North Yorkshire. I remember that visit well as it was the first time we took Meg and Gracie with us, both dogs were about 15 weeks old at that time and very much puppies.
Today, just as four years ago, we had Meg and Gracie with us on a return visit, and after parking the car in the main car park headed for the visitor’s centre. It was a cold, dry and crisp morning, the sun was trying to break through heavily laden cloudy sky. After passing through the centre we made our way along the footpath, past the children’s play area on the right and on past Swanley Grange also on our righthand side. The route to the abbey started to descend quite steeply until we reached the Porter’s Lodge at the bottom of the slope. From here the abbey becomes quite visible through the trees and is just a short distance away.
There has always been a long tradition of abbeys here in North Yorkshire and Fountains Abbey is possibly one of the most impressive in the County. The abbey is situated in a lovely setting alongside the valley of the River Skell, two miles west of the market town of Ripon. We stopped for a few minutes, firstly to capture our breath from the steep slope, and secondly to admire the view. Our route took us alongside of the abbey ruins, keeping the river on our righthand side, continuing alongside the river till the path bears to the left, here the river opens out and forms the Half-moon reservoir. On reaching the Rustic Bridge we continued left, the woodlands open up into the gardens of Studley Royal we continued walking along the footpath adjacent to the Lower Canal, at the Drum Falls a clearing in the trees opens to beautiful views of the Temple of Piety, and the Crescent and Moon lakes. We spent a few more moments just admiring the view, the short, lush manicured lawns looked magnificent set against the Temple and woodland behind it. From here it is a relatively short walk to the small cafeteria where we stopped for tea and a scone, the weather being pleasant enough to allow us to sit outside and admire the view of Studley Lake. After our refreshment break, we ventured across the cascade foot bridge to the Temple of Piety and the lakes. Our route continued at ground level, past the Grotto and Half moon reservoir and followed the River Skell back to the ruins of the Abbey. The Abbey, Britain’s largest monastic ruin, was founded in 1132 by thirteen Benedictine monks from St Mary’s Abbey in York seeking a simpler life, who later became Cistercian monks. The abbey was named Fountains Abbey because of the springs of water that existed in the area. After admiring the daffodils around the ruins, we headed back up the hill to the visitor’s centre and back to the car for the journey home. The end of a lovely day out.
Wednesday 4th March 2020
After colossal amounts of rain recently, it was nice to wake up to a hard-overnight frost for a change. The weather forecast looked quite promising for later today so without much persuading we decided to drive over and have a walk around the gardens at RHS Harlow Carr situated on the outskirts of Harrogate.
It was around 10.30am as I parked the car in the car park adjacent to the gardens. The sun was shining nicely, 6C with a light westerly breeze. I was pleasantly surprised as to how many cars were in the car park for this time in the morning. We popped into Betty’s as soon as we arrived for a takeaway coffee before heading into the visitor’s centre. On passing through the centre the first thing that draws your attention is the large border of heathers on the right as you descend the steps onto the garden, at this time of year it is awash with colour. We turned left and headed for the pair of boxing hares, the borders were awash with Spring colour, the reds of the dogwood and willows looked bright and vibrant, and the small trees provided more depth and colour to the borders. Several of the shrubs were beginning to flower with tiny florets glistening with the remnants of the early morning dew. Different varieties of Hellebores were flowering amongst the borders, their bell-shaped florets drooping and swaying in the gentle breeze. Small groups of Cyclamen were coming into flower adding additional colour to the borders as well as hundreds of tiny dwarf iris, with their lovely blue and purple flower heads.
We continued along the path towards the teaching gardens but today this area was all fenced off for some maintenance work. Our walk continued around the QM lake to follow the Streamside footpath. A lot of work had been carried out since last Autumn to reinforce the sides of the stream with lots of huge sandstone blocks strategically placed along the slopes of the stream, it will be interesting to watch how the area develops throughout the year. Work too was continuing with the rebuilding one of the bridges over the stream. Much of the planting on the streamside was just coming out of winters hibernation but along the sides of the main footpath were huge swathes of snowdrops and daffodils which provided plenty of colour along with miniature iris.
On reaching the bath house we turned right and walked up past Bettys Tea house and continued our walk crossing the main borders to the Sandstone rock garden, extensive landscaping was done in this area last year and it is quite exciting to see how it settles down this year. Work is continuing around the gardens and several new footpaths are currently being laid in preparation for the influx of visitors during the year.
On reaching the visitors centre we headed for Bettys for a pleasant brunch before the journey home.
Wednesday 26th February 2020.
I had a restless night last night and was up at 2.00am with one of the dogs, that aside I managed to take them both for a walk at 7.30am on Brayton Barff. It was a lovely morning, a little on the cool side at 3C, but fine and dry with the early morning sun shining nicely.
With it being such a nice morning, after breakfast we decided to go to Castle Howard. Although the house is currently closed, the grounds are open to the public and it is a real pleasant walk through the woods and around the South lake.
We arrived in the car park at around 10.30am, there was very few visitors at that time which made for a very pleasant morning. Meg and Gracie were both on good form, they enjoy the change of scenery with plenty of different smells and sniffs. I had left my camera at home today so all my images from today were taken on my iPhone.
After a very pleasant coffee from the Courtyard kiosk we made our way through the visitors centre and into the grounds, the walk from the courtyard to the house at this time of year is usually a mass of Daffodils, and today was no different other than they weren’t yet in flower, I have noted before on previous visits over the years that the Daffodils here are about two weeks behind ours at home and I put that down to the difference in altitude, with Castle Howard nestling quite high up amongst the Howardian hills.
The house was looking quite breath-taking this morning, the sun was shining, a lovely blue cloudy sky and it was dry underfoot. We continued our walk along the South Terrace, climbing the hill slightly to Ray woods, lots of Daffodils on both sides of the terrace but not yet ready to flower. Passing through the gate into the woods, large swathes of Snowdrops were covering the woodland floor, their delicate white florets swaying gently in the light morning breeze. We continued walking through the woods towards the ‘Temple of Four Winds’ passing several Azalea/Rhododendron bushes in flower, these will look beautiful in several weeks’ time in full flower. On reaching the Temple we sat for a few minutes to admire the view over towards the New River Bridge and Mausoleum beyond. To the left of the Temple the views across the arable fields are just as stunning, made even better as we watched a pair of Buzzards calling to each other as they circled high above the trees in the distance.
Although it was a beautiful morning there was a slight chill wind and after a few moments we decided to head back along the Southern Terrace towards the house. We enjoyed a very pleasant brunch in the Courtyard restaurant before heading back to the car for the journey home with two exhausted dogs for company.
Monday 17th February 2020
I always enjoy a walk around the parkland at Knole Park in Sevenoaks, Kent, no matter what time of year. This was our first visit this year and after quite a wet and miserable weekend it was nice to get some fresh air in the open countryside.
It was just after 10 30am when I arrived with Meg & Gracie, unpacked the car, camera round the neck and a dog leash in each
hand. It was a pleasant morning; the sun was beginning to break through the clouds which was nice to see after a weekend of heavy rain. I tend to head away from the main house and aim back towards the main entrance gate where the cars come in, though before I reach that gate I bear right and through the trees and follow a route in a clockwise direction. Today was quite wet underfoot with several large areas of standing water from all the rain we have been having recently. It wasn’t long before we detoured slightly to watch a young fallow deer amongst the trees, it was well hidden camouflaged amid the autumnal coloured bracken, with its head popping up. Continuing down the slope between the trees I watched a small herd of about twenty fallow deer grazing on the lush green grass, quite oblivious to myself and the dogs as we slowly walked past them. After a couple of hundred yards we stopped again to watch a pair of Fallow deer Stags as they contently fed on the lichen on an old fallen tree, at times standing tall on their back legs to get some food higher up on the tree branches. We must have been sat watching the Stags for a good ten minutes before they gently wandered off to another part of the woodland. Continuing our walk, we headed up the slope towards the edge of the golf course, stopping for a few moments to get my breath and admire the view to the far end of the estate. Once we reached the top of the slope, we headed back towards Knole house, keeping the golf course on the left, the course looked quiet today, with no sign of any golfers on the tees or fairways, that said a lot of the golf courses at home are currently closed due to the amount of rain we have had recently.
There were several small groups of fallow deer busily grazing amongst the trees on the edge of the fairways, we followed the track around the back of the house, occasionally stopping to look through the large wrought iron gates to admire the gardens of the house, set back amongst the trees. After a few more minutes we were back at the car, and after a drink and biscuit for Meg & Gracie we headed home for a late brunch.
Saturday 15th February 2020.
On a wet and cold mid-February morning I drove from Sevenoaks to Greenwich Park to have a walk and breath of fresh air. This was my first visit to this part of London and was guided by Jenny’s daughter and family.
After parking the car, it was a short stroll to the Royal Observatory situated on the top of a hill, with magnificent views overlooking the River Thames and Canary Wharf The Observatory played a major role in the history of astronomy and navigation, and because the prime meridian passes through it, it gave its name to Greenwich Mean Time. The several buildings making up the Observatory were a popular magnet with the overseas visitors. After stopping for several minutes looking at the views over the Thames we made our way down the hill to the National Maritime Museum, we popped inside for only a few moments to shelter from the cold and driving rain!
From the Museum we made our way to Greenwich Peninsula for a look around the Cutty Sark, the world’s last surviving tea clipper. Built in 1869 in Dumbarton for the China tea trade, although it has carried a range of goods, including wool, wine and spirits.
The boat has been carefully conserved over a six-year period of conservation with the original wooden planks and iron structures clearly visible below deck. A fascinating and interesting insight into what life was like on board is given through audio visual presentations on the lower deck. On the main deck the ship looks really impressive, its masts towering up into the sky above, apparently there is the equivalent of eleven miles of rigging, in its day it must have made an impressive sight with its sails up and full speed on the high seas.
The story boards on the lower deck made for some interesting reading, its maiden voyage was on the 15th February 1870 bound for Shanghai, the boat was loaded with General cargo. It reached China on the 31st May, where it was loaded with some 1,305,812 lbs of tea. After some twenty-five days in the port of Shanghai it sailed back to London, arriving on the 13th October 1870. The Cutty Sark completed eight trips to China for tea, collecting her last year cargo in 1877.
With the arrival of steam ships and the opening of the Suez Canal, the Cutty Sark had to find other goods to transport and from 1883 to 1895 the boat carried wool from Australia to London after which the steamships began to dominate the wool trade and it ceased to be profitable for a sailing ship. In 1895 the Cutty Sark was sold to a Portuguese firm. The ship traded various cargoes between Portugal, Rio de Janeiro, New Orleans, Mozambique, Angola, and Britain.
She continued as a cargo ship until purchased in 1922 by retired sea captain Wilfred Dowman, who used her as a training ship operating from Falmouth, Cornwall. After his death, Cutty Sark was transferred to the Thames Nautical Training College, Greenhithe in 1938 where she became an auxiliary cadet training ship alongside HMS Worcester.
In 1953 Cutty Sark was given to the Cutty Sark Preservation Society and in 1954 she was moved to a custom-built dry dock here at Greenwich. She was stripped of upper masts, yards, deckhouses and ballast to lighten her before being towed from the East India Import Dock to the special dry dock at Greenwich. The foundation stone of the dry dock was laid by The Duke of Edinburgh, patron of the Cutty Sark Preservation Society, in June 1953. Today the Cutty Sark has been preserved as a museum ship, and is a popular tourist attraction, even on a wet and windy day.
After our look around the ship we enjoyed a coffee and sandwich in the café under the hull of the boat before heading over to have a walk around Greenwich Market, and that’s another story.
Monday 3rd February 2020
It was a cold start to the day today, 7C at 10.00am as I drove into the car park at the visitors centre at RSPB Fairburn Ings. There was an icy cold wind, according to the weatherman gusting between 50mph – 60mph during the day for this area and I don’t think he was far wrong, there was minimal warmth coming from the sun which was shining nicely, at least the strong wind kept the rain away.
Today was my fist visit to the reserve this year and six months since my last visit here. Fortunately, I had the thermals and winter gear on today, otherwise it would have been a very brief visit.
I worked out how to use the parking ticket machine, picked up my ticket and headed back to the car to collect the camera gear and binoculars. I called into the visitors centre to collect a coffee before making my way along the ‘Discovery Trail’ to the ‘Pick up Hide’ The westerly wind was so strong that at times I had to turn my head to get a breath, after a couple of minutes though I reached the hide. One of my regular photographer friends was already at the hide and we had a good catch up on what’s been happening on the reserve since my last visit. He had come over from the ‘Coal Tip Trail’ earlier this morning, this trail is a lot higher up then where we were at the moment and he happened to comment on how bleak it was up there. After ten minutes he left for a coffee in the visitors centre, whilst I set up the camera gear. Had it not been for some good light around the hide I would have returned to the centre myself. The wind was literally hammering at the front of the hide and channelling its way through the open windows. There was very little protection from the wind unfortunately. I was really pleased I had the winter gear on and made sure I was well wrapped up.
There was some shallow water in the lake in front of the hide and although we have had some significant rainfall of late, thought the level might have been higher. I scanned the water for any signs of life, but other that a lone Coot it was very quiet. The mudflats adjoining the waters edge were quiet too with no sign of any waders, the gusting wind must have forced them back deep into the reed beds.
Over in the trees on the far bank I counted six Magpies along with four Collard Doves, all trying to get some shelter from the strengthening wind.
In the field to the right of the hide some of the RSPB staff were doing some work in that field, I couldn’t quite see what they were doing, I watched them head across the field with a huge digger and tipper truck but soon disappeared out of my sight, I don’t think the herd of Highland Cattle were that impressed by being disturbed by them either.
Closer to the hide and the feeding station to the right of the hide was quite a popular spot for all kinds of species this morning. Regular visitors were Chaffinch, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Dunnock and Robin, along with Goldfinch and Reed Bunting. Willow Tit and Long Tailed Tit made several appearances but did not hang around for long. Other visitors included a pair of female Pheasant and a Grey Squirrel.
Considering the bleak conditions, I had a good couple of hours at the hide, the light was good, and the bonus was that it stayed dry.
Friday 24th January 2020
The weather forecast for today looked very favourable and a nice day to go out for a walk with the dogs. I had them both out earlier this morning for a good long walk on the Barff before we had breakfast, so after a shower and change of clothes etc I loaded up the car and headed off to Castle Howard for the morning.
It was a reasonably quiet journey along the A64 with only light traffic, it was nice and dry too so very little mucky surface spray splattering the windscreen, like there has been of late. It was about 10.15am as I parked the car in the car park adjacent to the ‘cricket square’. On arrival I always take them both for a quick ‘wee and poo walk’ in the woods before venturing into the courtyard, Meg is pretty good and performs virtually on my command, Gracie though is a little monkey at times and not as particular as her sister!
It was back to the car and after putting on my outdoor jacket we headed into the courtyard and ticket office. The house is currently closed after the busy Christmas period, so todays visit was for steady pleasant walk around the grounds. I was surprised how quiet it was with very few visitors though it was still reasonably early in the day.
From the south side of the house we followed the path along the grassed terrace towards the ‘Temple of Four Winds’, by now the sun was out and there was a lovely blue sky, the house as usual looked quite stunning in the morning sunlight and the views across the ‘South Lake’ just as beautiful. It was nice to see the daffodils emerging through the grass, the odd rogue one in flower, but it will be several more weeks before they form a huge yellow blanket along both sides of the south terrace. Snowdrops though were flowering nicely with huge clumps set amongst the trees, their delicate white flower heads trembling gently in the light breeze. We spent a few moments at the Temple just admiring the views across the Howardian hills and over to the family mausoleum.
After several minutes we headed back towards the house but turned slight left, down the grassy bank and walked around the far side of the ‘South Lake’. The lake was flat calm and the reflections of the house in the still water looked remarkable. Continuing our walk, we headed through the trees to the ‘Atlas Fountain’ which had been partially emptied for the winter months. The views from the fountain looking towards the house were beautiful especially with the sun shining and a blue sky. From here it is just a few minutes’ walk back to the house, were we stopped for another rest before heading back to the Courtyard. As it was lunch time and the sun was still out we headed over to the courtyard café for brunch, we sat outside on the enclosed foyer and enjoyed a very pleasant meal, Meg & Gracie quite content to sit and lay quietly, probably exhausted from their mornings walks at the side of my chair. I counted another six other couples doing the same as us with their dogs, all sat as good as gold, enjoying the mild winters morning sunshine.
Monday 20th January 2020.
After a cold but dry weekend, this morning continued much the same with just a light overnight frost covering the grass with a white sheen of tiny ice particles. The forecast for the remainder of the week looks quite good with high pressure lying over the country, hopefully it will start to dry up some of the excessive moisture in the ground that has been around for some time now.
After breakfast and with the dogs settled asleep on the three-piece suite after their morning walk, we jumped into the car and headed up North to Harrogate for a very pleasant morning walking around RHS Harlow Carr. The sun was shining as we arrived, the temperature was about 5C with only a light breeze, and a lovely blue sky, more often than not when we come here it is either raining or dull and overcast so it was nice to walk around with the sunshine for a change.
This morning there was a lot of maintenance work being carried out at various points around the gardens, work was being carried out clearing out and enlarging the QM lake with a huge digger, I’m sure it will look good when finished in the Spring, work too was being carried out on several of the main pathways with a new screed being laid which will make it much easier underfoot and especially for wheelchair users.
From the visitors centre we headed left towards the library and learning centre and had a look at the Lakeside gardens, with work being carried out on the lake that area was cordoned off to visitors so we headed back to the little lodge and headed along the footpath to the ‘streamside walk’. Although January is generally regarded as a reasonably dormant and colourless time in the garden, there was plenty of colour in these borders with lots of red and yellow coloured Dogwoods looking quite vibrant in the morning sunshine, clumps of giant Snowdrops were in full flower as were lots of beautifully coloured cream Hellebores. Maples, Betula Utilis and Golden Willow provided lots of structure and colour to these borders as well. We continued our walk along the streamside path, towards the old bath house, work was being carried out on one of the several bridges over the stream, it looked to have been stripped back and was currently being rebuilt and strengthened.
We called in to have a look at the Japanese Art Exhibition in the Bath house for several minutes or so and admire the prints and artefacts on display, as well as the prints there was some beautiful ceramics, clothing and gifts on show too, the exhibition is on till the 13th February and certainly worth a visit. We continued our walk following the other side of the stream before climbing up to the newly restored Sandstone rock garden, stopping to admire the planting around the ponds. From here it is just a short walk back to the visitor’s entrance and Betty’s, just in time for brunch.
Wednesday 15th January 2020.
After all the Christmas and New Year festivities, today was the first opportunity I had to get out with the camera.
I had been out earlier this morning with Meg & Gracie for a cold and muddy walk on Brayton Barff, after breakfast we decided to pop up to The Arboretum at Thorpe Perrow, Bedale, for a bit of a break from the house and stretch our legs, so to speak.
It was a pleasant fifty-minute drive up the A1 this morning, the traffic was busy around the Leeds and York junctions but once past the Wetherby turn off the traffic eased off considerably. It looked like being a nice day, the sun was trying to break through the menacing dark rain clouds, I think the strengthening westerly wind kept the rain away fortunately.
It was about 11.15am as I drove into the car park, there was only a small handful of cars parked so there was plenty of parking places, though that is never a problem here. We unloaded the dogs out of the car, put our winter clothing on, wellies and hats and made our way over to the kiosk, unfortunately with the weather being quite wild and wet of late there was a note on the kiosk window saying the tearoom would be closed today due to the weather, disaster for me so no cup of tea or lemon drizzle cake! oh well. We continued our walk through the garden, past the front of the cafeteria and across the stream, there was plenty of water flowing this morning, on our last visit here last October the stream was dry. After crossing the foot bridge, we headed towards the children’s play area and joined the ‘Water steps footpath’ which follows the stream, passing Henry’s island on the right of us. We sat for a few moments to admire the low morning sunlight as it flickered through the trees and glistened on the water in front of us. Continuing our walk along the side of the lake we passed Kate’s Island and stopped to look at the beautifully carved structure in the tree on the waters edge. From here we followed the path to the mammals centre and turned left through the Dell, along Birch Avenue to the beautiful Jubilee Oak where we had another rest for five minutes. With the amount of rain we have had the past few days many of the tracks were quite muddy so after our little rest we decided to head back to the lake to pick up the ‘Annabel’s walk’ through the trees, over the raised walk way through the bog garden to the children’s play area and back to the tea room. It was nice to see lots of emerging bulbs coming through on the woodland floor, in a couple of weeks’ time the snowdrops will be in full bloom so we will have to return then to admire them in all there glory, hopefully it will be a little drier underfoot and the tea room will be open. Although a little muddy underfoot at the moment, it is still always very nice to come for a walk and admire the beautiful trees and wildlife.
Friday 22nd November 2019.
It was a cold, dull and miserable morning as we left for a preview of ‘A Night at the Mansion’ at Harewood house. Christmas at
Harewood House started on Friday 22nd November when we attended the preview of the house dressed for the Christmas period, prior to being open to the public on Saturday through to the 5th January 2020.
It is just over a thirty-minute drive from home to this beautiful stately home, we arrived at around 10.45am ready for the 11.00am opening. We were met in the foyer by David Lascelles who welcomed us to the house and explained a little about this year’s exhibition.
This year Yorkshire based creative artists Davey & Kristan McGuire have brought the house to life with some fine and clever artistic displays. Each room is different, many of the rooms are dimly lit with special lighting and music effects. If you look closely many of the pictures on the walls are gossiping to each other, In the kitchen the plates on the dresser are talking to you and amongst the pots and pans the little people are out, even some of the statues are singing too. It is a very pleasant experience as you walk between the rooms with something different or some special effect in each room, which made for a great tour.
Monday 18th November 2019
It was a cold and overcast morning as I set off for the long drive to the Lincolnshire coastline to see the grey seal colony reserve at Donna Nook. It is a couple of years since my last visit and was quite looking forward to visiting today. It is a reasonably 
straightforward journey from home and after driving through several light rain showers I arrived at the reserve’s car park around 10.00am. The smell of the bacon sandwiches and warm tea was very tempting as I made my way past the portable catering kitchen on to the reserve. It is always a bit tricky walking round with a hot cup of tea in your hand a sandwich in the other and some expensive kit hanging around your neck, so I reluctantly decided to get the photographing done first!
I was pleasantly surprised at the numbers of seals and pups visible as I made my way the short distance from the car park through the dunes to the ‘water’s edge’, especially considering the first seals only arrived here to have their pups on the 25th October some three weeks ago. According to the warden’s regular weekly update - today there were some 362 Bulls, 1,254 cows and 872 pups on the reserve. This figure tends to increase through to the end of November and steadily decreases through December. It was pleasing to hear from one of the wardens that ‘Ropeneck’ had returned over the weekend and was due to give birth anytime now. ‘Ropeneck’ is the only named seal on the colony, she was given that name by the wardens when she turned up at Donna Nook in the year 2000 with a length of rope wrapped around her neck. The team carefully removed the rope and treated the affected area, scar tissue can still be seen on her today. Fortunately, since 2000 she has returned almost every year and given birth to around 18 pups.
I was pleased I had wrapped up warm with the winter gear on this morning as the wind coming off the North Sea was bitingly cold and quite unpleasant at times.
The seals, especially the young pups were completely oblivious to the number of visitors walking along the shoreline, the wildlife trust have carefully erected a double fence line to safeguard the pups and prevent members of the public from walking amongst them. Mothers with pups can be very protective and male bulls can be aggressive. Seals are large predators and very powerful, I watched several bulls fighting today and was surprised how fast they can move on land and how vicious they were towards each other, their teeth making a nasty bloody gash on its opponents’ body. There was plenty of seals and pups to see today though and some within touching distance of the fence.
Another distraction whilst filming the seals was on the adjoining firing range, the Ministry of Defence still maintains part of the area as a bombing and target range and today whilst I was there the ‘Atlas A400 C1’ were flying overhead doing circuits of the bombing range and overflying the perimeter of the seal colony. The airbus A400 Atlas is a big four engine turbo prop military transport aircraft and spent a good hour of so doing circuits over land and over the river too.
After a couple of hours watching and photographing the seals and military aircraft I made my way back to the car park for a hot cup of tea and wonderful pork sandwich before the journey home.
Friday 15th November 2019.
I always enjoy a trip out to Castle Howard, be it a walk around the estate or a look round the house and gardens and this morning was no different, but one I always look forward to as it was a special preview of the house festooned in all its Christmas finery.
This year the theme was ‘A Christmas Masquerade’ a tribute to the original designers of Castle Howard, who in turn were inspired by the Italian Baroque period of the late 16th century and 17th centuries and transformed the house ready for a grand
venetian masked ball.
On entry to the house the balustrades on the main staircase have been beautifully decorated, following the route along the corridor are lovely table decorations adorned with glittering venetian eye masks, candles and baubles. The upper bedrooms as always looked warm and inviting, dimly lit, lots of sparkle, beautiful dresses laid out ready for the guests to go to the ball. The bedhead and pillows adorned with more garlands, sparkling butterflies and venetian face masks. We passed another anti room with a upside down Christmas tree, beautifully lit and adorned with glittering baubles, suspended from the ceiling. Other rooms were decorated with illuminated stick trees to great effect. The Grecian corridor looked amazing, tastefully decorated and illuminated in purple coloured spotlights, after walking along the corridor we rounded the corner into the Great Hall. The huge 25ft Christmas tree laden with over 3,000 baubles and lights stands high and mighty opposite the lovely warming roaring fire. The cascading lights over the balcony looked effective and makes for quite a talking point. To the side of the fireplace a ‘Commedia Troupe, of musicians, both men and women entertained the visitors with their style of humour and musical skills. We continued our journey, pausing for several minutes to watch the troupe of musicians play a medley of tunes before climbing the stairs to the ‘High South’ The first room has been transformed into the ‘Consumier’s studio where all the ball gowns and costumes have been prepared ready for the ball. Continuing our 
journey through the house we came to the Castle Howard ‘Pollocks’ paper theatre, which looked effective especially with the view behind looking across the Great Hall to the north lake beyond. We continued through the ‘Mask Room’, admiring the display of half masks, including character and animal masks as well as commedia and symbolic masks. One of my favourite rooms is the new library which I think is only open to the public during this Christmas period. The State Rooms were our next port of call, these rooms always look good throughout the year and not just at Christmas. The music room was adorned with life sized wooden cut outs of characters from the 18th century as they watch the Troupe rehearse prior to being performed at the masquerade. The Crimson Dining room looked absolutely stunning, the table set ready for dinner, Venetian masks hang from the back of the chairs and beautiful dried flower arrangements adorned the table. It was fascinating to note that one of the pictures in this room is of the Grand Canal and Doge’s Palace in Venice, and you can see masked figures in the black gondolas. The adjoining room is the Turquoise Drawing room where one of the popular pastimes was playing games including backgammon, the room is decorated with red Christmas trees and red mannequins. Leaving the Drawing Room we arrived at the Long Gallery, masked revellers danced along the banks of the glittering Venetian canal, the gallery looks quite a picture as the canal meanders its way along the length of the Gallery, several golden bridges cross the canal along the way, a huge sparkling eye mask is suspended from the ceiling glistening as the spotlights pick out the sparkling sequins. A fitting end to a beautiful Christmas display and credit should go to Charlotte Lloyd Webber and Bretta Gereke the set designers and I am sure a whole host of assistants who helped transform the house into a wonderful Christmas Masquerade.
Tuesday 12th November 2019
It was a very damp and wet morning today, cold, dull and overcast, so after a very wet dog walk earlier, we decided to have a 
drive over to RHS Harlow Carr for a walk around the gardens and brunch in Betty’s restaurant.
It was a steady and uneventful drive up the A1 and within fifty minutes I was parking the car in the car park. On arrival at the visitors centre we popped into Betty’s for a takeaway coffee before walking through reception and into the gardens. The weather here was much the same as at home, with a steady and persistent drizzle for our duration. It is always a nice walk around the gardens though, no matter what the weather, there was plenty of water in the stream, we occasionally stopped to watch as it flowed with some force through the narrow gorge between the boulders. The old Bath House was closed today so we doubled back on ourselves and made our way up through the rock garden and back to the entrance, by this time the drizzle had turned to heavy rain so with little persuasion we headed into Betty’s for Brunch and a cup of tea before the journey home.
Friday 23rd August – Friday 30th August 2019.
We have just nicely returned home from a wonderful week’s holiday to Lake Maggiore in the Italian lakes.
We flew from Manchester Airport, Terminal 3 to Milan, a pleasant two-hour flight although we spent an extra thirty minutes on the tarmac in Milan whilst the ground crew found the correct steps for us to disembark from the aircraft!
It was a fifty-minute drive from the airport to the small town of Stressa and Hotel Borromees on the western side of Lake Maggiore which was to be our base for the week.
The hotel was stunning, luxuriously decorated and furnished and period paintings and artefacts on the walls. After checking in and unpacking we headed out of the hotel to stretch our legs and get some fresh air. The weather was cloudy and overcast, storm clouds were amassing over the mountains and it was a warm and humid 28c. We had a very pleasant walk along the promenade stopping for a drink in one of the lakeside cafeterias. After about an hour or so it was back to the hotel to get changed for our evening meal in the hotel.
The following morning, we had breakfast outside on the veranda of the hotel overlooking the lake. It was a pleasant dry morning, with sunny intervals, so we decided to have a walk into Stressa and catch the water taxi to Isola Bella, one of three small islands known as the Isole Borommes. It is a steady five minutes ferry ride to the island; we have lovely views of it from our hotel bedroom window and it felt quite surreal as we walked off the ferry and looked back across the lake to the hotel.
Isola Bella is probably the nicest and most popular of the islands, it was an old fishing village but back in the 1650’s and was transformed by the Borromeo family who built a Baroque Palazzo and terraced Italian Gardens. We had a pleasant couple of hours or so looking round the palace and grounds before catching the water taxi back to Stressa. We had a very pleasant evening meal in the hotel.
The following day we woke up to a beautiful sunrise and an even better breakfast in the hotel, afterwhich we headed off to the water taxi terminal and caught the ferry to Isola Pescatori another of the Borromee islands but smaller than Isola Bella. Once a popular fishing village, today its quaint houses and architecture is what draws in the tourist with its small shops and lakeside cafes. After a pleasant walk around the island we had brunch and headed back to the water taxi to spend the remainder of the afternoon exploring the narrow-cobbled streets of Stressa.
Monday morning, after a restless sleep, I was out on the hotel balcony for 6.30am watching the sunrise from behind the mountains on the opposite side of the lake.
After breakfast we had a pleasant walk along the shore of the lake and caught the water taxi to Verbania to have a look around Villa Taranto and the botanical gardens. It was enjoyable forty-five-minute journey by boat stopping at six villages before arriving at the villa. We had a coffee and cake stop at the cafeteria situated at the entrance to the gardens followed by a very pleasant couple of hours strolling amongst the tropical plants and bamboos of Villa Taranto. It was another very warm sunny and humid day, the ‘weather apps’ on our mobiles had been showing thunderstorms every day since we arrived in Italy, but so far haven’t yet materialised. We caught the 3.05pm boat back to Stressa, arriving at 4.00pm and after a coffee in one of the small lakeside cafeterias made our way back to the hotel.
After a good night’s sleep and breakfast, we caught the 11.00am water taxi to Isola Madre. Isola Madre is the largest of the Borromee islands with an 18th century villa and gardens. We had a very pleasant afternoon strolling around the grounds watching the white peacocks as they casually mingled amongst the fellow tourists. The gardens were well worth the visit with lots of rare and unusual species as well as azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons. Apparently in 2006 the island was hit by a tropical storm which caused significant damage and uprooted many of the ancient trees. Fortunately, thirteen years later you would not have known, the ground staff look to have done a really good job bringing the garden back to life again. One of the highlights of this visit though were the formal ponds to the side of the palace. They were covered in huge lily pads which were in full flower, it was one of my lasting memories I have of this lovely island. After a quick cup of tea we boarded the 1.30pm water taxi for our return journey to Stressa, where we stopped for brunch before returning to the hotel for the remainder of the afternoon.
Wednesday was a wet and miserable day, the rain that had been forecast earlier in the week arrived this morning along with thunder and lightning. It was breakfast inside the hotel this morning because of the rain. It eventually eased a little by 11.30am so we ventured outside and had a walk into Stressa for some retail therapy and brunch.
The rain eventually cleared overnight, and we woke to a bright and pleasant Thursday morning, It was breakfast outside again on the restaurants lovely veranda overlooking the gardens and lake. After breakfast we decided rather than walk into Stressa to head in the opposite direction, following the lake shoreline to the ‘Stressa Alpino Mottarone cable car station’ at Carciano. The cable car climbs to a height of 4.982 feet above sea level and offers exceptional views across the Po valley to the Alps as well as the Boromees Islands below. The views looking over to the Isola Bella were stunning, after a coffee we headed back to the hotel along the shoreline, passing our hotel and continued into Stressa for brunch in the main square. After more retail therapy we had a gentle walk back to the hotel stopping again for a coffee at one of the lakeside cafes. We learnt very early into our stay in Stressa that the coffee in the cafeterias along the lakeside and in Stressa itself was considerably cheaper (as was the alcohol) than the hotel, hence the frequency of our refreshment breaks.
Back at the hotel we did some packing before heading down for our evening meal.
Friday, our last day, I was up for 6.30am to catch the sunrise across the lake and mountains before heading down to breakfast. We had a taxi transfer to Milan airport for noon, so we had plenty of time to finish packing before popping out to have a final coffee in ‘Daniels’ restaurant and cafeteria on the lakeside just a couple of hundred yards from the hotel.
Our taxi was on time for the thirty-minute transfer to Milan airport. ‘Checking in’ was a nightmare due to the sheer volume of passengers and a lack of staff. Once on the aircraft we were delayed for another ninety minutes due to a ‘missing passenger’ so their luggage had to be removed prior to us taking off. Fortunately, we had a good flight home arriving at Manchester around 6pm. The end of a very pleasant and relaxing holiday.
Monday 5th August 2019.
RSPB Blacktoft Sands.
It was an overcast and cloudy morning as I packed the car for a morning on the south bank of the river Humber at the RSPB reserve at Blacktoft Sands. It is a good thirty minute journey from home driving through old Goole and the outlying villages adjacent to the river.
It was just after 9.45am when I arrived in the car park at the reserve. There was just the occasional spot of rain on the windscreen, the car temperature gauge was showing 15C so it wasn’t too bad.
After exchanging pleasantries with the warden in the Reception hide I made my way round to the Marshland Hide, it is just a few 
minutes’ walk along the graveled track. The hide is a wide single storey wooden building with good views of the reed beds. There was a couple of bird watchers already in the hide when I arrived and they stayed there for the duration of my stay. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount and variety of birdlife on the surrounding mudflats in front of the hide, so much different to what I am used to seeing at RSPB Fairburn Ings.
The first birds that struck me were the large numbers of female Shoveler ducks feeding in the shallow water in front of the hide, next were the Lapwings, such lovely looking birds especially when they catch the light, they always make me smile with the large tuft of hair on the top of their head, considering they are on the ‘red list’ due to the decline in their numbers they seem to be thriving here on the mudflats, though this is their ideal habitat I suppose. A little further away from the hide over in the top left hand corner on a small island were three Little Egrets probing their long beaks into the mud in search of food. A pair of Grey Heron stood motionless on the far bank in front of the reed beds. There must have been at least twenty to twenty five pairs of Teal either sleeping and if not sleeping then busily feeding.
There were lots of Spotted Redshank, Ruff and Godwits busily feeding in the shallow water on the edge of the mud flats, all birds that I am not too familiar with and had to get my little book out to identify them! The highlight of the morning though was watching the Spoonbills, a pair of them flew in from the area of the Reception hide and stopped in front of the hide for a good thirty minutes. After about an hour in the hide just as I was about to move on, a pair of Pied Wagtails flew in and landed on the edge of the left hand island so I stayed a little longer and watched them as I unclipped the camera prior to packing it away.
Time was creeping on so at 10.45am I walked back towards the reception but stopped off at the ‘Xerox Hide’ for the remainder of the morning. This hide has a similar outlook to the ‘Marshland Hide’ but a double decker hide. There were six birders already in the hide on the lower level, so rather than disturb them I headed up the stairs and set the camera gear up on the left hand side of the hide. There must have been several hundred Lapwings on the mudflats outside of the hide which made quite a sight, within minutes of my arrival a Buzzard flew over and scattered the lot, needless to say when the threat of danger had passed they all returned back to the mudflats. Along with the Lapwing were similar numbers of Ruff and Greenshank. It made quite a sight. On the lake were several dozen Mallard ducks and their hybrids. As lunch time approached I decided to call it a day and head back to the car. It certainly made a pleasant change from my usual visit to my regular reserve and hopefully not to long before I can make a return visit. In the mean time I must brush up on my ‘wader’ identification, now where did I put that book?
Wednesday 31st July 2018.
I managed to get out bright and early this morning. The weather forecast has been appalling for this area for several days now with rain, more rain and thundery showers predicted, we had some rain and thunder yesterday afternoon but not a lot and after 
some overnight rain which had cleared by this morning it was a reasonable start to the day. We had a wet dog walk earlier mainly due to the vegetation, bracken, ferns and nettles in the woodland being at shoulder length height and walking through the woods along the narrow trails you can soon get wet through. The Yorkshire Dales seem to be suffering at the moment with significant amounts of rainfall over a short period of time which no doubt will lead to flooding over there in the next few days.
I had another hour long meeting in Harrogate mid-morning today so was a good excuse afterwards to pop over to RHS Harlow Carr for brunch and a walk around the lovely gardens.
It was around mid-day as I parked the car in the car park. It was a reasonable morning, a greyish sky with some patches of blue, the sun was managing to break through the clouds for a few moments before disappearing again and the temperature was bordering on 20C and it was dry. I always seem to be fated with either a cloudy white or a dull day on my visit here, but regardless of the weather it is always a nice place to visit, though it would be nice to have wall to wall sunshine at least on some of my visits.
We popped into Betty's for a quick coffee before our walk around the gardens.
After our light refreshment we entered the gardens, down the steps, turned left and followed the path to the early learning centre, the grass and flower beds were looking green and lush with plenty of colour. The QM lake was covered in green weed, much like Selby canal, but the experts all say that it is quite safe to the fish life underneath and the weed is full of nutrients, as a 
koi keeper I would tend to differ with their logic but that is another matter.
We stopped for a few moments to admire the borders and planting around the recently restored sunken garden before heading round the corner and continuing along the Streamside walk, past the QM Lake on our right. I always have to stop for a few moments and admire the small wooden floating island which houses a duck box, quite a palatial building. We continued along the Streamside walk noting the increased flow of water in the stream. It looks as though a lot of work has been carried out earlier this year strengthening the banks of the stream and turning it into more of a feature adding some huge boulders along its length. It never ceases to amaze me that on every visit there is always something else to notice which you never saw on your previous visit and it is same with the planting, there is always lots of colours along the borders no matter what time of year you visit. We continued following the stream towards the old bath house, stopping for a few more moments to admire the views over the stream to the huge main borders, they make quite a picture especially at this time of year. On reaching the old bath house we doubled back on ourselves a little by following the other side of the stream before climbing up the slight incline to the Sandstone Rock Garden, again lots of work has been carried out here with lots of additional huge boulders added to enhance this part of the garden. We continued our walk up the slope towards the main path adjacent to the plant centre where we turned right and headed back to the visitors centre and to Bettys Cafeteria for a very pleasant late brunch.
with that at all, other than the machine is situated in the wrong place and secondly, for an old dodder like me the instructions are not exactly clear, I managed to get a ticket after several attempts but I watched and tried to help other visitors use the machine all to no avail. I think some more work in progress needs doing to simplify the process and also re site the machine either in the centre of the car park or next to the path leading up to the reserve!
high Alps before following the Adriatic coastline and landing at Dubrovnik Airport. We also had some great views of the old town as the aircraft began its approach to land, the marina and cruise ship terminal clearly visible from the air, as was the city walls of the old town and the distinctive bright red roofs of the houses inside the castle walls. It is usually a thirty minute drive from the airport to our hotel but on this occasion it took just one hour and thirty minutes due to the sheer volume of traffic.
there is an entrance fee to pay before the climb up the many steps to the battlements, but the views are well worth the effort and expense. There is a lot of steps to climb though, fortunately they have a one way system for walking around the walls namely anti clockwise, which works really well. Another good point on the walk round was there was at least two first aid stations, each manned with a couple of paramedics, which was somewhat reassuring especially when you note the age of many of the visitors especially those much older that Peter and I. The views from the walls over the old town are quite spectacular, no matter where you are.
which was a shame really. I arrived at Castle Howard at about 10.45am having travelled through some very wet weather whilst driving along the A64. I had my waterproofs with me so as I got out of the car I put the wet weather gear on and made my way to the Courtyard, it felt quite strange being by myself, I usually have Jenny, Meg and Gracie with me but with hindsight it was better they stopped at home today in the dry and warmth.
oblivious of me walking past them at relatively close range, usually I would not be able to get anywhere near them.
more than one Bee Orchid on the Barff so from now on am going to have to pay a little more attention. After a good long walk we headed home for breakfast and after a shower and change we headed over to Harrogate for a walk around the gardens at RHS Harlow Carr for the remainder of the morning. 
and have a look around. Not really knowing what to expect I arrived early and joined the queuing traffic waiting to enter the museum.
parked up. A single-seat, single-engine, fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by French aircraft company Dassault Aviation. It was the first Western European combat aircraft to exceed Mach 2 in horizontal flight.
the visitors today.
part in the only deployment by Buccaneers to the Falklands and later saw action over Beirut. In the 1991 Gulf War it flew 14 operational missions and had the unique distinction of destroying a taxiing Iraqi transport aircraft with a laser guided bomb. It was saved from being scrapped by the Buccaneer Aircrew Association and is painted in the Gulf War colours, including the 'Flying Mermaid' nose art. Like the Tornado and Harrier there was a lengthy queue of visitors waiting to have a look in the cockpit.
engine rallies at Castle Howard up until the early 1980s, so after almost forty years it was nice to see them back again.
Steam powered lorries, fairground organs as well as the miniature versions, some great names including Burrell, Fowler, Foden, Aveling & Porter were on display this long weekend . Many of the older bigger machines dated back to the 1800's and weighed in at over twenty tons each, the power they could generate was remarkable, it is a credit to their owners for looking after them so well that they are still here today to tell their story.
Day with lots of re-enactors taking the place of the ground and air crews from that time. There was a Halifax Mission Briefings 158 Squadron prior to Halifax 'Friday the Thirteenth' mission over Grandcamp Maisy in France, in the 'Elvington room'. If felt quite surreal at times as I watched an aircrew walking across the tarmac heading off to the Halifax Bomber. Behind the aircraft a group of young men sat, mugs of tea in hand, cigarettes drooping from their mouths, anxiously waiting as they listened to the briefing officer give them details of their next flying mission. Close by a group of Wrens were chatting to some of the other flight crews prior to them leaving on another overseas bombing raid. Around the 'Bell tents' were another group of officers getting kitted up with all their flying gear, alas no one piece pressure suits it was layers of clothing and thick leather jackets and fleece lined boots!
It is just over a week since my last visit to the reserve at Fairburn so after breakfast I decided to bite the bullet so to speak and head over there for a couple of hours.
and a pair of noisy Greylag geese that was it on the lake, The feeding station to the right of the hide was quiet too with just a Cock Pheasant, Chaffinch and Great tits showing during my brief stay. 
was the dawn chorus, at times it was deafening but beautiful to listen to, I hadn't realized how much noise these birds could make, I usually get on the Barff from between 5.30am 6.30am and the chorus is loud at that time, but this morning and thirty minutes earlier the cacophony of noise was deafening. We had a good long very early morning walk returning home around 6.30am. After breakfast we headed off to the Harrogate Spring Flower Show for the day. We arrived on the outskirts of Harrogate for just before 10.00am and followed the signposts to the flower show which was held on the Yorkshire Showground. The signposting and car parking management was first class, we joined a long line of moving traffic which took us straight into the showground and parked up within a couple of minutes. After a five minute walk across a grass field we arrived at the entrance gates. I was surprised at the number of visitors queuing up to buy day tickets, there must have been at least several hundred. Fortunately I had purchased the tickets several weeks ago so we were fast tracked into the ground, no hold up at all. We entered the showground at just after 10.00am and even at that time the area was buzzing with people. Our first stop was the main hall for a coffee and bacon sandwich, after an early brunch we stayed in the main hall and had a look at all the flower exhibits, I personally like fuchia's and acer trees and wasn't disappointed. There were some excellent displays of Bonsai trees, Chrysanthemums, Dalia's and even Daffodils. There were lots of stalls selling all sorts of plants, there was a flower arranging display as well as a gardeners question time forum going on in another part of the hall and for those of us who didn't want to carry bags of plants around with us there was even a plant crèche, where we could safely leave our plants as we looked around the showground and collect them later in the day just before our journey home. After a good walk around the main hall we ventured outside to look at all the trade stands. From the main entrance to the Flower show and for as far as the eye could see was a mass of small white canvas pergolas all crammed full of gardening produce, from plants, garden tools, pots and planters, in fact everything imaginable to do with gardening and the outdoors. The bigger suppliers had huge marquees selling everything from hot tubs, barbeques and garden furniture to tree roots and wrought iron garden furniture. Then there was another huge food hall, lots of pop up tea and coffee bars, small restaurants and motor vehicles of all shapes and sizes converted to sell tea, coffee and snack food it was quite an eye opener.
holiday traffic, so we headed over to Chartwell in Westerham the home of Winston Churchill, just a short drive from home. We arrived mid-morning and the car park was absolutely crammed pack full, fortunately the National Trust opened up one of their overflow car parks to enable us to park safely.
and today was no exception, other than a few long standing road works in the centre of the town the journey was reasonably straight forward. After a good meeting I drove over to RHS Harlow Carr for a walk round the gardens followed by lunch in Bettys, something I always enjoy.
the visitor's centre, unfortunately for me the centre does not open till 9.30am so I was unable to get my early morning cup of coffee. I continued my walk the short distance along the 'discovery trail' to the 'Pick up hide'. It was quiet when I arrived at the hide, there were no other visitors so I was by myself. The temperature had risen to a barmy 5C and the sun was shining nicely across the far side of the lake, it will be mid-morning before the sun comes over the 'coal tips trail' and warms up the hide. 
The Bluebells are flowering in earnest at the moment, covering a vast area of the eastern side of the Barff as well as smaller pockets around the rest of the woodland. They should, depending on the weather conditions, stay in flower into the second week of May, by which time the ferns and nettles will have smothered them. 
persuade him to stay in bed for at least another thirty minutes. Meg and Gracie weren't in the least bit bothered about an early start to the day and thought it great fun to have more play and walk time!
open for any predators, just as they would in the wild. From the Mongoose and meerkats enclosure we continued our journey around the park in an anti-clockwise direction, heading for 'Lion Country'. It was the Lions story that first made me aware of Yorkshire Wildlife Park some ten years ago. The pride where rehomed from the Oradea Zoo in Romania where due to lack of funds and expertise were kept in very poor conditions. At the time, Lion Rescue was the largest big cat rescue in Europe. They now live a completely different life, contently roaming amongst their seven acre reserve. Today they looked good as they walked around their reserve, one or two of them busily feeding whilst the others were sleeping contently in the morning sunshine.
The Polar Bear reserve covers some 10 acres and features several lakes, the largest one of the lakes covers an area of 6,500 square metres, containing over 25.5 million gallons of water. The 8 metre deep lake is fantastic for Victor, Pixel, Nissan and Nobby to swim, dive and play in. Today we missed the bears swimming in the lake but watched as one of them fed on a huge piece of meat whilst two others were quite content to cuddle into each other and have a snooze. The reserve has been built to reflect the habitat of the summer Arctic tundra. The polar bear population of South Hudson Bay spend up to 7 months of the year on habitat like this and not snow and ice! The temperatures in summer can reach up to 26 degrees C. so they are quite at home in their 'new' surroundings here. 
reserve had been closed for several days due to flooding. It was just after 9.00am when I parked the car in the visitors centre car park. The visitors centre for some reason or other doesn't now open till 9.30am so I missed out on my cup of coffee and made my way round to the 'Pick up Hide'. It was nice to see the hawthorn bushes in flower with tiny little delicate white rosettes. I was quite shocked though by the amount of debris including some huge tree roots the flood water had left deposited in front of the hide and how it had damaged the fencing, some of the fence posts are over five inches in diameter and left askew as a result of the flood damage. The only consolation was that there was plenty of water in the lake in front of the hide. A pair of Mute Swans contently sat in the middle of the lake, busily preening, they looked to be in really good condition, their beautiful white feathers shimmering nicely in the early morning sunlight. The calm and serenity was short lived though when a noisy pair of Canada Geese flew onto the lake and they too started to preen themselves. Along with the Mute swans and geese it was nice to see two pair of Teal busily feeding around the water's edge. 
although they tend to avoid the feeders, preferring to feed off the woodland floor. Tree Sparrows and Great Tits were regular visitors though along with several Chaffinch and Greenfinch, It was good to catch site of the Reed Bunting, I could only see the male bird this morning, I am sure its mate wouldn't have been far away. Dunnock's visited the area several times, one of them spent a few minutes perched on a tree branch singing its head off, it was lovely to listen too. 
managed to rip of a nail on her right paw, she was feeling quite sorry for herself and out of sorts as well as being restricted to garden walks and a course of antibiotics for a few days. Today was her first day back, so it was a shorter walk than usual untill she starts to feel more confident on her leg and the wound tissue hardens up properly. 
Lichfield so after another hearty breakfast we packed the cases and booked out of the hotel.
was warm, no need for a winter jacket. We continued along St Johns Street and followed the road into Bird Street, there were lots of nice cafés and restaurants on both sides of the road which were quite tempting and somewhere to consider for our evening meal later this evening. For now though we continued along Bird Street, on the left we past the Museum Gardens which looked a picture this morning, the neat flower beds and statues dotted around the park looked quite tempting to head for but we continued along our way stopping again at the Minster Pool on the opposite side of the road and situated just south of the cathedral. Minster Pool is a reservoir located between Bird Street and Dam Street in the heart of the city. It has been historically important to the defence of the Cathedral Close. The pool was originally formed in the 11th century when a boggy stream was dammed at its eastern end to drive a mill on Dam Street. The pool was used as a mill pond and fishery until 1856 when the mill was demolished. Today the area to the south of the dam has been laid to paving stone with seats and benches along its length and provides a popular meeting place. It was nice to be able to sit and admire the beautiful views of the cathedral and its reflection in the water below.
on the lawns outside, not knowing whereabouts to look we started looking at the many gravestones neatly laid in the lawns. Fortunately after a few minutes Pedro found it, quite a poignant and lovely moment. After a few photographs we made our way around the side of the cathedral to the close to find the Chapters and the 'Café in the Close' for a pot of tea and biscuit.
I had wanted for several years now, to visit the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire. To the best of my knowledge the last time I visited Staffordshire was in the 1960's when I was in the Scouts, we used to have our annual Summer Camps at the National Scout Centre there, great times.
The Arboretum covers an area of over one hundred and fifty acres, with some thirty thousand trees planted around the site. There are over three hundred and fifty memorials for military and civilian organisations and associations, together with tributes for individuals. Although planting of the trees was started in 1997 it wasn't until March 2017 when His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge officially opened the Remembrance Centre. 
beginning to come into flower today, it will be early April though before they will be looking their best so at least a couple of weeks to go, weather permitting of course.
It was an uneventful ride along the A64, and just 10.30am as I parked the car in the car park at Castle Howard. The weather forecast for the remainder of the day was pretty good with Sunshine forecast and rain later. The sun was just beginning to break through the morning mist as we made our way through the courtyard and booking office. The road train is not yet running and the house will be opening towards the end of the month. 
long as 38 years in captivity, but in the wild great horned owls live up to 13 years of age, unfortunately one of the main predators of this bird is man. It flew quite effortlessly between the trees and falconer and spent several minutes eyeing up some washing on the line of one of the estate houses which was blowing in the strengthening wind!
Saturday 9th March.
What a day. Jenny's daughter, husband and family arrived late last night to stay with us for the weekend which is lovely.
I had been out earlier in the morning as usual with Meg and Gracie for the morning walk. It was a quiet uneventful dog walk other than having Jenny's youngest grandchild for company, the dogs love him and visa versa, the temperature was around 8C 
with a very light westerly wind and it remained dry.
We returned home just before 8.00am and had breakfast. After which Jenny and family headed over to the town of Bolton in West Yorkshire, as her eldest granddaughter was singing with her school choir in a 'Songs of Praise Choir of the year' competition.
I along with Jenny's daughter's youngest son stayed at home and planned to spend the morning having a walk around the grounds at Castle Howard. No sooner had Jenny and family set off for Bolton than the skies opened and we had a tremendous rain storm, after about twenty minutes or so I was beginning to think of a contingency plan as it would not be much fun walking around in such heavy rain with a young six year old and was beginning to think of other options as to what to do.
As it happened I should not have been worried, the rain eased considerably after about an hour, and by 9.30am had all but stopped. So, it was back to plan one, I packed the car, less the dogs, they stayed at home, and we headed over to Castle Howard for the morning. By the time we arrived at around 10.30am the grey sky was lifting and patches of blue sky were forcing their way through the gloom. We headed into the Courtyard café to have a look at the nice selections of cakes. We agreed that we would walk past the Northern side of the house and down to the lakeside and the children's play area. We stayed in around the park for about forty-five minutes before heading into the Boat house café for a coffee and cake. After the drink and refreshment we headed back outside to have a look at the ducks and swans on the great North Lake, had the weather been a little more warmer we would have sat outside and had our refreshment. We headed back into the children's play area for the remainder of the morning. We had a great time, just the two of us, the hour and half we were there we never saw any other visitors, other than the two members of staff working in the café, I think the weather must had deterred people from coming out.
Lunchtime was approaching so we decided to head back up towards the house and castle courtyard for some brunch, unfortunately the house is still closed to the public at the moment and doesn't open till the 30th March. We followed the path up the hill alongside the east wing of the house, coming out at the 'time capsule', noting that it wasn't to be opened for another 1,963 years' time! Looking left it was nice to see the daffodils bordering the terrace towards the 'Temple of the Four Winds' coming into flower, I think it will be another couple of weeks before they are all fully open.
The sun was shining brightly as we walked along the gravelled pathway in front of the southern aspects of the house, a lovely blue sky had replaced the grey and overcast sky that was there when we first arrived, it was hard to believe we had such bad and wet weather earlier in the morning. We arrived at the Courtyard café, ordered our meal and had a very pleasant brunch and a nice way to end our visit. It was nice to meet some old friends of mine who were also enjoying a brunch in the café too.
frozen. After breakfast I headed over to the RSPB reserve at Fairburn Ings for the morning. It was just after 9.00am as I parked up in the visitors centre car park. The temperature gauge was showing 1C and although there was a light breeze as long as you were well wrapped up it was quite pleasant. 
To the right of the hide were two pair of Mallard ducks busily hoovering up under the feeders, occasionally having a bit of a tussle with the Hen Pheasants after the same food. Of the smaller birds visiting this morning the Great Tit was the most frequent, followed by the Dunnock and Chaffinch. Several Greenfinch popped in for a feed, along with the Goldfinch who this morning preferred to feed off the floor, they certainly looked unsteady as they tried several times to land on the swinging feeders. 
westerly breeze as I arrived in the visitors car park at Fairburn Ings. After the customary coffee in the visitors centre and chat with the wardens, I headed along the Discovery Trail, stopping for a few moments to watch a Great Tit as it took nesting material into box 61 which is situated in the trees on the left hand side of the path, I watched it do three visits to the box, on each trip it had quite a beak full of material, if it continued at this rate for the remainder of the morning it will have built quite a cosy nest by lunch time. I continued along the path to the 'Pick up Hide' and stayed there for the remainder of the morning. I had somehow managed a quite early start today, I don't know how, I had walked the dogs earlier, had breakfast and managed to get to the hide for 9.15am. 
they are gaining celebrity status at the moment, I often when retuning to the centre, watch visitors standing with their hand outstretched, full of meal worms or sunflower seeds etc. tempting and encouraging the birds to come and land on the palm of their hands, needless to say they have a mobile phone in the other, hoping to take a quick picture of it when it lands. 
00journey from home takes just under one hour and is a pleasant drive, the market town of Bedale always looks nice but especially at this time of year with the daffodils bringing a splash of colour. The Arboretum is just a five minute drive from Bedale, we arrived just before eleven o'clock. There was just a handful of cars in the car park when we arrived so parking was and never is an issue. I took Meg and Gracie for a short walk around the fringe of the car park to burn off some of their excess energy before we headed over to the visitors centre and entrance to the Arboretum. 
although we have had some cold nights, during the day the temperature has risen to 16C-17C here in the Selby area and quite a contrast to this time last year when we were in the middle of a bitterly cold snap.
the past few months, the rectangular pond and water course has been completely relined and the paving and new dry stone wall remade using locally sourced sandstone from West Yorkshire. Once the new planting around the pond becomes established it will look very nice. From this garden we continued our walk past Dermot Gavins 'show garden' and around the back of the Queen Mothers lake and joined the 'Streamside walk all the way to the 'Old Bath House'. We passed beds of Snowdrops in full flower, the delicate white florets swaying gently in the light breeze. Huge clumps of Daffodils are beginning to flower, especially the miniature varieties and the beds of Tulips won't be far behind them. On reaching the 'Old Bath House' we had a look around the 'modern mosaic exhibition', over 20 Yorkshire based mosaic artists, all members of the British Association for Modern Mosaic, had some excellent pieces of work on display.
interesting and of course you can see more. I have only heard the Tawny owls once this week which is unusual though as the days start to lengthen they probably stop hunting as the mornings get brighter much earlier. It has been nice to hear the Nuthatches calling though, Spring is certainly on the way.
were round and about all morning as were a pair of Cock Pheasants. Chaffinch and Goldfinch were the most frequent visitors during my stay, no matter where I looked I could see them both, closely followed by Tree Sparrows and Greenfinch.
weeks now and still growing strong, even the crocus and miniature Iris plants are flowering nicely and in certain parts around the garden our miniature Daffodils are coming into flower too. 
Another stalwart of the hide this morning was all the Robins, I counted at least four of them at anyone time this morning, they prefer to take the food off the floor or fence post rather than the feeder, some are that familiar that they will even take the food from the palm of your outstretched arm.
I decided after breakfast to head over to the reserve at Fairburn for the morning, my thought being that with the weather being so bad there wouldn't be as many people there.
of the house hosted by Dr Chris Ridgway the Curator.
you look over the edge of the railing to the Great hall below. The top of the dome is some seventy feet above the floor. Mr Ridgway explained that this part of the house was badly destroyed by a big fire in 1940 when the entire dome and ceiling collapsed during the fire as well as most of the Southern aspect of the house. There are eight huge windows around the dome which allow light to cascade in and light up the gallery space. The views looking out of the windows at this height are quite spectacular unfortunately today the fog had descended and the view was virtually nil! After our tour of the dome we descended the spiral staircase which we had come up earlier to the first floor landing where we met the other half of our group, we then had a tour of two of the guests bedrooms whilst the other half of the group went up into the Dome. Helen one of our chaperones showed us around these two beautifully furnished guests rooms and explained the history about each room, both rooms were quite out of character with the decorations around the rest of the house, but very tastefully decorated with one with a feminine theme and the other more of a masculine theme. 
top layer of ground frost leaving a thin layer of soft mud on the woodland walk around the Barff, consequently when I returned home from the dog walk my trousers from the knee downwards were covered in mud! The Tawny Owls were very vocal earlier today, one was very close to the main path close to the old pumping station and its mate I could hear calling from the other side of Tap Hill a good five hundred yards away. They will be pleased for the respite in the cold weather.
from my headlamp has made the frost glisten and sparkle as the light catches the frost on the tree branches as I walked amongst the trees, it felt quite magical and surreal.
There was no activity on the water during my time at the hide. Closer to the hide though and around the feeders it was quite busy with bird activity. A pair of Cock Pheasants where busily scavenging for food around the area with three Hen Pheasants. Three Grey Squirrels were suspended upside down on separate feeders helping themselves to sunflower seeds. Overhead a noisy cackling pair of Greylag Geese flew over the hide in the direction of the 'Lin dyke hide' on the far side of the reserve. In the field to the right of the hide was a herd of at least twenty four Highland Cattle and one foal, contently grazing on the long grass, they looked really big and broad beasts.
are quite content hang around and eat on the post. Not long after the Willow Tit left the post a Dunnock flew onto it for a snack, contently helping itself to the seed.
darkest areas on the Barff this morning, it was a great morning's dog walk.
the left, stopping for a few moments to take some photographs of the house opposite, a little further along the trail we walked over to 'Kates's island' to admire the bright red Cornus (Dogwood) shrubs surrounding the island. After a few moments rest we continued walking alongside the lake and into the 'Milbank Pinetium' admiring the huge Pine trees which were brought in from North America and planted in the 1840's. We took a slight detour here as the ground staff were carrying out some maintenance work on one of the footpaths, from our detour we arrived at the Bird of Prey Centre. From here we walked through the 'Dell' onto 'Birch Avenue' to the huge Jubilee Oak, planted in 1935 to mark the Silver Jubilee of King George V, a fine looking tree, even in winter. We continued along the 'Millennium walk' to the 'Catherine Parr Oak' another superb looking tree, from here we headed back into the Arboretum passing the ponds on the left hand side till we came to the Acorn Sculpture and Butterfly garden, the Pampas bushes looking resplendent in the morning sunlight. It is just a short walk along 'Annabel's walk' to the 'Fern Avenue' and onto the 'Main Avenue to the Monument, built to commemorate the life of Sir Leonard Ropner. After a couple of photographs we headed back down the 'Main Avenue' to the 'Acer Glade' from where it is just a short walk back to the visitors centre and café, where we enjoyed a very pleasant brunch, the homemade soup was delicious. Care had to be taken on the drive home as several of the smaller roads were still quite icy, fortunately by the time we reached the A1 they were all clear and we had an uneventful and safe drive home.
I was long overdue another visit to RSPB Fairburn Ings, as it was just over a fortnight since my last visit, so after breakfast I popped upstairs and put another layer of clothing on, checked my cameras had a full charge and packed the car with all my gear. By the time I arrived at the Visitors Centre at Fairburn it was 9.30am, the air temperature was still -1C and the sun had yet to rise above the coal tips so it was still quite nippy on the finger ends. 
lovely colourful bird. Another good looking bird that kept popping in was the Reed Bunting, both the male and females were regular visitors to the hide today. Dunnocks were never far away either, scavenging on the floor or occasionally on the fence post, they, like the Robins are quite a feisty bird and don't like to share their food with anyone else. A pair of male Blackbirds where regular visitors, much darker colour than the females and much bigger than the finches. A Juvenile Jackdaw flew into the feeding station, a huge bird, probably three times bigger than the Blackbird, but didn't hang around, no sooner had it found a perch than it was off again.
gardens..jpg)
We have had a few days just recently when the weather has been cold, dull, wet and miserable, typical winter weather I suppose, and I was getting a little frustrated about being stuck in the house, I needed to get out and have a good walk in different surroundings..jpg)
went into neglect and over time reverted back to an unmanaged woodland. It wasn't until the war effort in the early 1940's when the area was clear felled. The main canopy of trees we see today were planted as recently as 1948 and made up of oak, beech and sweet chestnut. It wasn't until 1968 when the late James Russell a plantsman came to Castle Howard and began to replant and establish the woodland exists today.
Tap Hill one of them was high up in the trees to my left calling to its mate which sounded as though it was somewhere near the 'old farm shop', I think the one on the top of the Barff was probably getting stressed by me encroaching into its territory, we gave it a wide berth and continued on our walk. We had a good walk though and by the time we arrived home it was just after 8.00am. 
I unpacked the camera gear and scanned the lake for activity, I counted four Moorhen skirting the mudflats along the water's edge, a pair of Juvenile Black headed gulls landed noisily on the water, each spending a couple of minutes preening before flying off. Six Cormorants flew over the lake heading in a Southerly direction. Closer to the hide were three Grey Squirrels busily gorging themselves with some food the wardens must have left out when they filled the feeders before my arrival. It was busy around the feeding station this morning, regular visitors were Robin, male and female Chaffinch, Blue and Great Tits and Dunnocks, the Dunnocks were busily hoovering up the spoils from the feeders. A pair of Hen Pheasant were also hoovering up around the feeders, it was fascinating watching them, at one stage they ventured off under the fence and onto the 'Sand martin wall', within minutes of them arriving on top of the wall a beautifully coloured male Pheasant came from out of the undergrowth, rounded both of them up and ushered them both back to the feeding station. I noticed some activity on the bottom of the Sand Martin wall today, Blue tits looked to be taking nesting material into the wall, several of them had been feeding on the seed from the Bulrush's at the water's edge and at the same time were peeling off strands of grass and taking it as nesting material into the wall. It will be interesting to see what happens when the Sand Martins return?
I have been busy recently with jobs in the garden and house and frustratingly not been able to get out with the camera as frequently as I have in the past. So after breakfast I packed the camera gear and headed over to the reserve at Fairburn Ings for the morning. 
then had regular visits from Blue Tits, Greenfinches, Goldfinch and Coal Tits. It was a pleasant surprise to see the Willow Tit showing nicely, flitting between the fence post and the security of the tree branches, it would come to the post for food and take it back to the shelter of the trees and eat it before returning for more food, this cycle continued for the remainder of the morning.
we were keen to have a look round again this year. We met our excellent and well informed tour guide at noon in the main hall for the forty five minute tour of the west wing and below stairs.
Princess Mary was quite an accomplished pianist. The floor was covered in a mass of black and white balls interspaced with figurines of men and ladies dressed ready to go to the ball. The next room was the State dining room, the dining table lavishly dressed for the evening banquet with some fine cakes and pastries adorning the huge table. On the dining room walls are family portraits dating from the 18th century. The ceiling is worth a look too. After passing through the dining room we entered the Gallery, a huge room that extends over the whole west end of the house. It is just over 76 feet in length by 24 feet wide and 21 feet high, standing at around four metres in height and surrounded by Christmas trees is a giant willow of 'Pan' which was inspired by Chippendale's child height carvings on the furniture legs throughput the house. Walking out of the gallery we entered another room where Princess Mary's wedding dress has been transformed into a huge Christmas tree surrounded by candelabras around the base of the tree, the wedding dress veil flows along the floor. AS we left this room we followed the winding road through a room full of yellow sunflowers, the blooms reflecting the memories of the yellow brick road and the Wizard of Oz movie from 1926.
and Bretta Crecke. I always enjoy looking around the house but at Christmas time it really becomes a home, with the warming log fires burning it always feels quite special as you walk through the state rooms. The house actually opened for Christmas mid-November and will be open till December 31st excluding Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. 
Norwegian Spruce Christmas tree, decorated with around 4,000 baubles. A huge cascade of white lights and baubles hang from one of the balconies forming a dramatic waterfall effect. As you leave the hall and climb the stone stairs to the 'High South' I always pause to have a look over the balcony and admire the domed ceiling which although was destroyed by fire in the 1940's has been long since restored during the early 1960's. On reaching the top of the stairs you enter the 'High South', this part of the house was badly affected by the 1940's fire and this year has been part transformed into a Victorian kitchen and adjoining room into a dining room. The work involved in setting the dining table for twelve people was remarkable, the cutlery, glasses and floral arrangements on the table left little room for the food itself! Above the table is a beautiful decorated hanging mobile suspended from the ceiling with lots of figurines hanging from the twig formed frame. On leaving the 'High South' you follow the route back down the stairs and into the Library/office, this is one of my favourite rooms of the house, I, although I have a very nice and homely office at home, feel quite at home in this room, the roaring fire, desk, surrounded by shelves of books, wonderful. The adjoining room is the 'Garden Hall' and this year has been filled with three 'twig' trees, the room, cleared of all furniture is in darkness less the lighting from the glass lights suspended from the trees, each glistening and forming magical shadows on the walls and ceiling. In the adjoining 'Cabinet Room' is a stunning scale model of Castle Howard, surrounded by miniature figurines and animals.
The adjoining room is the 'Crimson Dining Room. The beautifully decorated mirrored dining table is adorned with fine china and seven swans a swimming, candelabras and a glass chandelier suspended from the ceiling. From here the next room is the 'Turquoise Drawing Room' with two small white three legged milking stools either side of the heavily decorated fire surround, a farm animal standing in front of the fire and an unusual Christmas tree ladened with all kinds of regalia, topped off with a peacock sitting on the top of the tree.
'spares' After breakfast I put M & G into the car and we drove the ten minutes or so into Keswick for a bit of shopping and coffee. The rain had stopped for the time being so after our coffee we headed back to the car and drove the short distance to the 'lakeside', parking in the car park next to theatre on the lake. The sky was looking quite grey and menacing, we watched the heavy clouds forming at the far end of the lake as we walked along the shoreline down to the 'Friars Crag' viewpoint, within minutes of us setting off on our walk the rain hit us and although we were well wrapped up in our waterproofs it made for quite an unpleasant walk for twenty minutes or so. By the time we reached the seat and viewpoint the weather and visibility was that bad I didn't even attempt to get the camera out of my rucksack. Our last visit to the same viewpoint several years ago was spoilt by the rain and today was no different. We turned around and headed back to the car, on reaching the car I dried the dogs down before we decided to head back to the warm fire and comfort of the hotel for afternoon tea. Needless to say the rain continued for the remainder of the afternoon and well into the night.
Bay' where the stone is situated, unfortunately the split 'Millennium Stone' was two foot under water! I could just make out the top of the stone as the waves broke over the top of it. We explored the area for another thirty minutes or so, making the most of the dry sunny weather before heading back to the car. Keswick for brunch after which we had a look around Keswick St John's Anglican church. The church with its distinctive spire can be seen from various viewpoints around the town. It is just a few minutes' walk from 'Moot Hall'. It was consecrated on St John's Day in 1838. The outer walls of the church have been constructed of pink sandstone from the nearby Eden Valley, the main structure though built of local stone. I always enjoy looking around old churches and this one was no different. The church was decorate to celebrate the centenary of the end of the First World War, with cascading 'woolen' red poppies cascading from the roof which made quite an impact. The local people of Keswick knitted over 12,500 woolen poppies to make the feature. Inside the church were nice displays from local groups too. It was nice to sit and contemplate for a few moments and light a candle remembering our deceased parents. As we came out of the church the rain had returned so we headed back to the hotel for a cup of tea and scone.
trees in particular the Mountain Ash, Elderberry and Holly, all to the benefit of the woodland birds. There has been quite a variety of fungi too which thrives on the rotting trees and tree stumps, with different types often popping up overnight. The Trees have already started to shut down for the winter their green leaves changing to a beautiful golden brown colour, especially the Oak, Birch, Sycamore and Beech. By mid-November all the deciduous trees will be completely bare. It is not only the trees that change colour though, the ferns and bracken which thrive under the tree canopy turn to a lush brown too, forming a golden blanket over the woodland floor. The nettles and bramble bushes which seem to plague me at every turn are also dying back too, though that said, just earlier today I got a couple of nasty scratches on the back of my hands from the bramble briars as I inadvertently brushed past them. 
Arboretum at Thorpe Perrow, just outside of Bedale. It is just a fifty minute drive from home so not too far away.
some 20 30 yards to the right of me, Meg and Gracie had probably scared them with their illuminated collars! It was nice to hear them though; I scanned the trees and bushes in the general direction of the calling hoping to catch a sight of them, I thought the light from my headlamp might be able to pick them out in the undergrowth but to no avail, a short time later I heard a higher pitched call of the Buzzard which I have to say sounded quite scary in the dark gloom of the morning and haunted me for the rest of the walk. By the time I came off the Barff just before 8.00am, the rain had abated thank goodness and it was quite light. I had a business meeting at 9.30am this morning, so it was a quick turnaround once we got home and out for the rest of the morning. After a good productive meeting I returned home around 12.30pm to wall to wall sunshine, no sign of the rain earlier in the day. After being sat down all morning I had to get out the house to stretch the legs and clear the head so I picked up Meg & Gracie and headed off to the Barff for another walk in the afternoon sunshine. The autumnal colours look absolutely amazing at the moment, the Oak leaves especially are a beautiful golden brown colour and with the remnants of the rain glisten in the sunlight. 
have been with Steve before on a few of his workshops including this one so had a good idea as to what to expect. The sun was shining nicely and the temperature was around 15C as I booked into the visitors centre. I always enjoy coming to the bird of prey centre in Helmsley, I have visited several times a year since it opened, Charlie Heap the director and his team have done a great job in prompting bird welfare and conservation, and the daily flying demonstrations are very informative and gives quite an insight into the life of the birds as well as the daily workings at the centre.
Our next bird that Ronnie brought out was the Great White Horned Owl, (pictured left) a stunning bird with distinctive markings and tufted ears and feathered legs, its underneath predominantly white with distinctive black bars across its tail feathers and wing trailing edges, one of the things that struck me with this bird was its piercing stare, I certainly wouldn't have liked to be its prey! It, like the Harris Hawk it flew gracefully from post to post at times no more than a metre above the ground before extending its huge talons to grasp its prey.
the tree line. The Lanners are a strong stocky bird and like the Peregrine is a dark grey/bluish colour on its back with a much lighter underside with streaks of brown. As one of the oldest species of heirofalcans they have been used in falconry for over a thousand years, their speciality being that they can capture birds in flight especially pigeons. Unlike the Peregrine the Lanners use a horizontal hunting style coming onto their prey low, flat and very fast, once they have hit their prey in flight they follow it to the ground to finish off the kill. A stunning bird.
As its name applies, this Eagle has tawny coloured upperparts with black flight feathers and tail and a paler lower back area. It has light coloured stripes on its wings. The Tawny Eagle's piercing eyes are brown and it has a yellow beak with a sharp, black, hooked tip. Their legs are heavily feathered and their feet are equipped with large sharp talons. Tawny Eagles have very good eyesight and their hearing is also an important sense as it helps them locate prey whilst hunting. Their diet relies mainly on fresh carrion of animals that have recently been killed. They also eat insects and kill small animals such as smaller birds, rabbits and small reptiles including lizards and snakes. It will even tackle mammals as large as Hares. The Eagle will make a rapid dive from its perch when the prey is spotted, and seize it in its sharp, powerful talons and they certainly look sharp when you see them extended just seconds before they come in for the kill.
day.
degrees cooler than at home due to its position amongst the Howardian hills.
the fallen chestnut kernels were still quite green and extremely sharp, especially when the dogs stood on them, on towards the Southern lake and followed its Southern most shore line, I always enjoy the views looking over towards Ray Wood and especially at this time of year when the leaves of the birch trees start to change colour prior to the onset of the colder winter months. Equally the view across the lake looking back towards the house takes some beating especially when the lake is flat calm. From the far corner of the lake we paused for a few moments to look over towards the 'new river bridge' and mausoleum before heading up towards the 'Temple of Four winds' and into Ray woods. Looking at some of the beautiful trees it is hard to imagine that the area was clear felled back in 1940. Today it is estimated that there are around 800 varieties of rhododendron along with magnolias and hydrangeas which look beautiful in the spring time and maple and rowan trees with the most beautiful leaf patterns and shapes. After pausing a while at the reservoir we continued in a southerly direction to the top of the terrace offering beautiful views of the eastern side of the house. After a biscuit break for a few minutes admiring the eastern side of the house and the beautiful views across the southern aspects of the grounds, we headed back towards the house, pausing a few moments to look along the terrace of lime trees adjacent to the walled garden. I couldn't resist another walk around the walled garden before heading back to the car. The sun had started to burn through the clouds and it was nice to feel some warmth in the air, so much so that before we headed for home we had a small picnic overlooking the cricket square, much to Meg & Gracie's delight. 
out on business for the rest of the morning returning home just after lunch. By now the sun was shining bright, the temperature was a barmy 15C so I picked up Meg & Gracie and headed back out onto the Barff with the camera to try and capture some of the Autumnal colours. With the onset of winter and the shorter days our morning walks at the moment are starting in the dark between 6.30am and 7.00am depending on what the morning weather is like and returning home anytime after 8.00am. So it was nice to go out again at a more sociable time and in broad daylight.
popped its head over the horizon than the cloud came down and that was that, certainly till later in the day anyway. It has been a bit of a hectic day really today, after the morning walk and breakfast we headed over to Harrogate, I had a business meeting update which fortunately only lasted just over an hour, so from Harrogate it is just a short drive over to the gardens at RHS Harlow Carr where we had a pleasant walk followed by brunch at Betty's. The Autumnal colours were just beginning to show in the gardens which as usual looked amasing. Today there was an Autumnal food and craft fair in the grounds with small tents and shelters of all shapes and sizes. There was quite a variety of small businesses and enterprises wanting to show their exhibits as well as several tempting you in with food and alcohol all very appetising. It was great to see such a wide and diverse range of business and all from Yorkshire. I was extremely impressed with some of the wood carvers both the hand carvers and the chain saw carvers they produced some nice looking items and the willow weavers had a wide selection of baskets and ornaments on show too. After our walk around the gardens and stalls we headed in to Bettys for a late brunch before the journey back home. I must remember to pop in again later next week when I hope the light will be a little better.
both a free ticket to look around the gardens at Kew as a Christmas present from this last Christmas, so thought it is about time we made the visit. I had studied the road map and didn't really fancy the drive across London to the South Bank. The train service into London looked very good so we caught the over ground train to Willesden Junction and changed there for Kew Station, what should have taken about one hour took nearly two hours because of a broken down train but that is another story.
important Victorian structures still in existence. It was built to house palms and other tropical trees that were being sent to Kew from around the world. The house is headed by what looks like a system of steam pipes which circulate the warm air through an iron grated floor. The heat inside the Palm house was quite over powering and Jenny only stayed in for a few minutes before having to go outside for the fresh air. Measuring some 110 metres in length, 30 metres wide by 19 metres tall it is quite a significant greenhouse. A spiral staircase takes you up into the roof of the house and gives a great view of the tropical plants below. The grade one listed building has seen two major restorations, the first in 1955 and the most recent between 1984-1988. I spent a good thirty minutes browsing the plants whilst my cameras acclimatised to the significant change in temperature. It was well worth a look round and interesting to see after seeing it many times on the television.
ideal place to stop for some refreshment. 
minute drive from home up the A1 and left a bit. Our last visit and first for many years was three months ago on the 31st May, then the garden borders were well established but hadn't yet started to flower and I realised that in flower they will look quite spectacular hence our visit today and we were not disappointed. We arrived just as it opened around 11am and followed the gravelled path to the main house. From the front of the house we walked down the steps and headed away from the house towards the river following the path between the double Herbaceous Borders. The views and vistas looking back to the house and in the opposite direction towards the river are absolutely beautiful. The flowers and shrubs in the borders look a picture, the shapes, colours, scent and varieties look quite stunning. From the river we turned right following the path through the rock garden and across to the Curving Pergola which was covered in Laburnum 'Vossii', earlier in the year around Spring time the Pergola must be an absolute picture with the long golden yellow clusters of flowers hanging from the branches. From here we doubled back on ourselves and headed back under the Rose Pergola the scent from the roses hanging like scent in the air. Meeting up with the main pathway we passed Sylvia's garden on the left, full of small beds of flowers and colourful all year round. From here we headed back up to the Lily pond in front of the house before heading over to the café for some brunch. Hopefully we will have to try and get another visit in before the house and gardens close at the end of September.
house and with it being so close to home it would have been a shame not to have a look at these beautiful vintage and classic cars.
wonder how much longer this warm spell will last.
It was nice to see quite a few Knot about, their distinctive grey colouration making them stand out from the Ruff and Greenshank. On the far islands you could see the distinctive longish red legs of the Redshank, where it not for their red legs it would have been difficult to spot them amongst the Greenshank. It was nice to see some Goldfinches on the shoreline busily pulling the thistles apart in the search for food. One of the highlights of the morning for me though was watching the Yellow Wagtails, a pair of them landed on the mudflats and spent a good fifteen minutes busily scouring the muddy shoreline for food. There was no sign of the Spoonbills in this hide this morning, well not during my visit anyway, so at about 10.30am I part dismantled the camera gear and headed back to the Xerox Hide, it is only a couple of minutes' walk. I like this double decker hide, it is a bit quirky and since my last visit the wardens have cut back the long grass from in front of the hide's viewing windows which made the visibility much easier. 
light Easterly breeze. It is just a 35 minute drive from home to the reserve, the new road on the outskirts of Goole near to the new distribution centres looks to have shortened the journey as this road takes you straight into the dockland area of the town and out towards Swinefleet. 
Since our holidays I have been out most mornings with Meg & Gracie at around 5.15am, we have had some wonderful morning walks on the Barff, it has been dry, other than the occasional early morning dew, pleasantly warm for that time of day ranging between 11C 18C and very humid. I have missed the sunrises by about one hour but as the days slowly begin to shorten will catch one within the next week or so. It has been really good coming home with two dry dogs for a change, it only seems five minutes ago that I was having to wear wellies as the mud on the Barff was coming over my walking shoes and the dogs legs and under bellies were absolutely coated in mud and the washing machine was on every day washing dirty dog drying towels, happy days.
Mill Lane, it is not part of the walk I do during the week due to the volume of traffic on the Bypass but come the weekend it is much quieter especially at this time in the morning which makes it easier to cross at the Mill Lane junction. As I crossed the road to follow the path which runs behind the Hawthorn hedge and follows the Bypass trail back up to the Barff we watched a pair of Roe Deer in the field on my left adjacent to the golf course, I made eye contact with one of them as we stared at each other for a couple of moments before it turned and headed off to the reasonable safety of the centre of the field, the field has just been harvested so there aren't that many hiding places. 
for our morning walk was 16C, it was quite humid on the Barff and very warm, I was quite grateful for the shade the trees provided from the early morning sunlight. We had a nice quiet walk though returning to the car for about 7.30am.
out of it. I am pretty certain it is nothing to serious as she has been eating her meals as usual and no problems whilst training and exercise etc, I took her to the vets this afternoon as a safety precaution and hopefully after a course of 'liquid cement' she should start to improve. As I write this note late this evening, she seems quite perky and mischievous so I'll see what sort of a night I have with her.
settled and our dog sitter round to look after Meg & Gracie for the morning, Jen and I headed over to RHS Harlow Carr on the outskirts of Harrogate for the rest of the morning.
Overnight last night there had been a real heavy dew and although we had a good walk the grass around the perimeter fence on the top of Tap Hill is quite dense in places, taller than me, combined with the nettles and thistles, by the time we got round the path I was soaked through, (note to self) must remember not to take this track after a heavy dew!
exactly the same on and around Saddleworth moor at the moment.
people about, birds twittering in the trees and the sun is shining. We clocked up a pleasant four mile walk amongst the trees and shade on the Barff before returning home for breakfast around 7.00am. Chocolate Labradors are not really built for the heat and temperatures we are facing at the moment so are quite content after breakfast to find the shadiest place in the garden and snooze for the rest of the day! Not a bad life really.
The brambles and briars have run wild too and I now have several quite sore cuts and grazes on my legs and forearms from the barbs on the brambles!
I had been up bright and early with Meg & Gracie and although it was a bit of a dull morning, a little breezy it was dry and really quite pleasant, I was feeling quite pleased with myself as I spotted my first Marsh Orchid of the year on the Barff this morning. 
encouraging that this pair has decided to settle and hopefully start a family. There is only about 12 pair of Spoonbills nesting in the UK at the moment so they are extremely rare and we are quite fortunate that they have decided to nest here on the reserve.
shorts especially now that the nettles and ferns are nearly the same height as me!
this morning, I'll rephrase that, there was nobody there when I arrived just after 9.00am, set the camera gear up and had a good look around the usual sights. All the bird feeders were empty and stayed like that for the duration of my time at the hide. Looking out the front of the hide over the lake, the first thing I noticed was the five male mallards asleep on top of the Sand Martin wall and two mute swans also asleep, standing up, in the shallow waters of the lake. A little Egret flew in and landed in front of the two sleeping swans, it disturbed one of them as it landed on the water and after a couple of seconds of wing flapping the swans moved the Little Egret to another part of the lake. I was quite surprised how much bigger the mute swans where compared to the Little Egret, they certainly dwarfed the poor Little Egret.
daughter in law and two young grandchildren. It is a pleasant journey from home along the north bound A1 motorway which takes approximately 45 minutes, dependant on the traffic and road works etc. 
9.30am. and made my way to the visitors centre for a coffee and a chat with the wardens. It was a quiet steady walk to the Pick up Hide the first thing I noticed was how green everything had become, all the trees and shrubs were in leaf and the Hawthorn was blossoming nicely. It was 9.45am before I started to set up the camera gear.
beautiful morning dog walks since our return earlier this week and am pleased to see that the mud has finally dried up on the woodland paths.
visit the Arboretum will know, dogs are not allowed in the Bird of Prey Centre which is quite understandable, so when we visit with Meg & Gracie we always give the centre a miss and enjoy the walk amongst some amazing trees and shrubs instead.
with the wealth of knowledge both falconers imparted with us, it was quite fascinating to learn how these stunning birds survive in the wild and the steps that are being taken by Thorpe Perrow to preserve the longevity of these species.
scorcher today. It was nice to be back on home ground and into our usual morning routine. I picked the dogs up first thing yesterday morning from their kennels so was keen to spend as much time with them as possible and get them use to their familiar surroundings again having been away for the past twelve days. I feel as though I may have brought a cold home with me, there was a group of youngsters sat on the plane behind me, coughing and spluttering and quite occasionally I could feel a blast on the back of my head when they sneezed! Why youngsters these days have no manners or personal hygiene beggers belief!
gardens at Harlow Carr. It was 10.30am when we arrived, it looks as though they were enlarging the car parks by the amount of civil engineering work being carried out. After collecting a coffee from the coffee shop we headed through the visitors reception to the gardens. The view ahead of us looking over the valley was quite a picture, the heathers where in bloom, daffodils out, the sun was shining and there was a lovely blue sky. We headed off to the left and the Lakeside gardens, from there we followed the path around the QM lake and followed the Streamside walk. This is one of my favourite walks with lovely vistas to the left and right, over the lake and looking back over the lawns to the centre, although the trees are not in leaf yet the colours of the tree trunks are beautiful. Some white, some a ruby colour and silky smooth to touch. Many of the shrubs were blossoming alongside the stream their tiny pinkish flowers looking beautiful in the cold morning sunlight. We continued along the streamside path to the bath house, following the path up the slope, past the children's play area and into the Arboretum, we popped into the bird hide for a few minutes and admired the Great Tits and Coal Tits busily feeding on the feeders before continuing our walk through the big trees, we followed the meandering path for another ten minutes or so before it brought us back to the Bath house. From here we followed the Streamside path, this time on the other side of the stream, this is probably one of my favourite parts of the gardens at this time of year, the path leads up to the Sandstone garden and ponds. There are some great views from here and many people were sat having picnics and enjoying the scenery. We continued our walk back to the centre for a very pleasant brunch in the tea rooms.
After breakfast I loaded the camera gear into the car and headed over to the reserve at RSPB Fairburn Ings for the morning, a couple of weeks have past since my last visit so it would be interesting to see what was about. 
Finches and TIts to the area, at one point I counted four Robin feeding together with one of them brazen enough to come and sit on the window shelf next to me. It was nice to see both the male and female Reed Buntings about this morning too. The Willow Tit was a frequent visitor and stayed around a lot longer than usual. Coal Tits were popping in and out during the morning too. The Male Greenfinch looked really nice this morning, especially once the sun had reached the hide, their colours looking really crisp and vibrant.
Yesterday was a strange day, the wind changed to an Easterly the night previous and Saturday was a bitterly cold day with light dustings of snow on and off throughout the morning. The Easterly wind really did take your breath away, so much so that Ihad to get my winter jacket out of the cupboard again.
welcome as it should dry up some of the rain that we have had recently.
a change. We had a great dog walk albeit somewhat muddy underfoot, we returned home just after 8.00am. It was a lovely morning, the sun was trying to break through and looked like a promising day ahead. Jen was away golfing all day, so after a cup of tea and some breakfast, I headed over to the reserve at Fairburn for a couple of hours. I left the dogs hard fast asleep in the kitchen, with the radio on in the background should they wake up. 
finished off the remainder. I gave them several minutes before I went round and replenished the seed again. This time the young finches had returned by the time I got back to my camera, the male Chaffinch are looking really colourful at the moment, in fact all the male birds are looking colourful. I counted at least four Robins flitting around, one in particular kept flying through the hide window and sitting on the window sill next to my camera! 
I have been busy this last twenty four hours in the fish pond, yesterday afternoon I noticed a slight drip from under the UV unit and on further investigation found that the glass tube that the light fits into had fractured, It could have happened as a result of the spell of cold weather we had from last week or it is more lightly that the dogs have crashed into it whilst playing in the garden! Anyway, after doing some adjustments to the pipework I have temporarily bypassed the water flow until I can get a new tube and uv lamp at the weekend.
morning. By the time I had picked up a coffee and had a chat with the visitor centre staff it was 10.00am as I was setting up the camera gear at the 'Pick up Hide'. It was still a cold morning, the temperature had risen to a barmy 3C with some sunny spells and only a very light westerly breeze coming through the hide windows. Looking over the lake in front of the hide I noticed six Widgeon sleeping on one of the small 'islands' along with several Moorhen and Mallard. Closer to the hide and around the empty feeders were several Robins, Hen Pheasants and Dunnocks, I popped out of the hide and scattered some bird seed on the fence post and floor and within seconds the Hen Pheasants, Grey Squirrels and a Rabbit had devoured the lot, although the Rabbit got quite a beating from a Cock Pheasant who was having none of it and promptly nipped the Rabbits ears before disappearing under the wire fence and relative safety away from the big birds.
Over on the lake a Little Egret had just flown in and landed on the far side, it stayed for about thirty minutes, working its way around the water's edge, even venturing up to the front of the hide, which is quite unusual as they tend to stay well away from the hide. It was interesting watching it as prowled along the water's edge, head down scanning the water and disturbing the mud with its huge feet hoping to disturb the fish underneath, suddenly its head and long beak would shoot into the water returning seconds later with its prey in its mouth.
and quite clear the weather started to deteriorate during the afternoon with more light snow flurries which continued during the evening.
From the old farm I headed up the Barff and within a few minutes was standing on the top of Tap Hill, unfortunately such was the weather this morning that the view from the top was pretty poor, you could barely see the car park at the bottom. I was wondering what it was going to be like up here in a few hours' time when the children are here with their sledges, daring to head off down the steep slope. No doubt on my rounds tomorrow morning there will be the usual debris left lying all over the place. We continued our walk off the top of the Barff, following what I call the middle path, of late this part of the walk has been quite muddy, especially the section just past the old Oak tree where the children swing on at every opportunity whilst on the Barff. Today the route was fine, the ground was quite firm underfoot which made quite a change, what was tricky though was the weight of snow on a lot of the young trees and bushes was weighing the branches down a lot more than usual and I was constantly having to duck to avoid getting another face full of snow. As the light improved there was a little more activity amongst our bird population with Chaffinch flitting from tree to tree, the white flashes on their tail feathers being quite distinctive in the gloomy morning light. It was nice to hear the shrill call of the Nuthatch too hoping to attract a mate, I could hear the tiny shrill calls of the Long tailed tits but unfortunately couldn't see them this morning, I love the way these birds all cuddle up with each other whilst roosting on a branch, protecting themselves from the icy easterly winds and snow. Great Tits and Robins seemed to be following me on my walk this morning, the Robins especially, there always seemed to be one in front of me all the time.
morning temperatures hovering about 0C. Yesterday we had some snow flurries during the day but it didn't really amount to much just a light dusting of the white stuff. This morning and the 'Beast from the East' arrived with vengeance, leaving about one inch of snow overnight in its wake. I was out and about with Meg and Gracie for 6.30am and although the temperature was reading 0C the Easterly wind probably reduced it by -5C it was a bitterly cold Easterly wind, I certainly cannot remember one as cold as that for some considerable time, in fact when I returned home from the dog walk my hat was covered in a good layer of snowy frost.
usually is, especially when the sun managed to break through. There was nobody else in the hide when I arrived, and I only saw a handful of visitors during my time there, I think most people had heeded the travel advice and stayed at home.
and came and perched on the window shelf of the hide, boldly hopping between my coffee cup, note book and carton of bird seed. 
somewhat lighter in the mornings and I no longer need the headlamp or fancy illuminated dog collars. Anyway, the Barff looked a picture with the frost on the grasses and shrubs, it wasn't too muddy underfoot either, let's hope we have a few more overnight frosts to dry up all the mud.
Much closer to the hide the Grey Squirrel was having quite a feast on the remnants of the food in some of the bird feeders. It is quite surprising when you see them up close like this as to how much bigger they are compared to our smaller native Red Squirrels. Where the Grey Squirrels are though you will nearly always find the Pheasant's picking up the food scraps on the woodland floor.
there just seems no let-up in the rain, which I find quite depressing, I much prefer a nice sunny day, but as we are still in the winter months I shouldn't complain.
Spotted Woodpeckers drumming away high up on the tree trunks on the dog walk first thing this morning, a good sign that Spring is just around the corner.
Looking across the field towards the far lake the Cormorant's were busily sprucing up their nests in two of their nesting trees, I spotted several carrying sticks and twigs back to the trees to enhance their existing nests. The Grey Heron were doing much the same, some carrying branches nearly the same size as themselves, I wouldn't like to be on the tree when they arrived back home.
Meg & Gracie reasonably early in the morning when most people are still in bed, or at least just rising from a night's slumber and can report that we have had some superb sunrises, starting at about 7.00am and lasting for no more than five minutes, they certainly brighten up the cold mornings albeit for just a few minutes. The cold frosty mornings have been somewhat of a relief for me in that the usual muddy footpaths which I follow on the Barff have become quite firm and certainly not so muddy and the dogs stay much cleaner for longer! I have heard many Greater Spotted Woodpeckers during the morning dog walk this week, all preparing for the onset of Spring. On the summit of the Barff amongst the two sycamore trees I have listened to a lone Dunnock singing its head off, it has a beautiful hymn sheet and appeared quite oblivious to my presence as I stood and watched it for several minutes each morning for the past three days.
walk around the Arboretum at Thorpe Perrow. 
There were only a handful of cars in the car park when I arrived just after 9.30am. It was a lovely morning though and a bright blue sky with what looked like the sun trying to break through the early mist. I popped into the visitors centre for a coffee and a chat with the wardens before heading off to the 'Pick up' hide. I looked to have been the first one there this morning, the lake was looking quite dull and grey as the sun hasn't yet risen above the coal tips mound. On the water were several pairs of Mallard and Coots and a short time later three noisy juvenile Black Headed Gulls. 
already waterlogged ground made our walk that little bit harder and dirtier, not that the dogs mine either. 
snow which by mid-morning had turned into rain and sleet again making it quite a dull and miserable day. Thursday was another cold, wet and dreary day, compounded by the strengthening strong westerly winds. The amount of rain we have had this week has raised the water level considerably, water has begun to overfill into some of the surrounding fields and the dog walk has become a nightmare due to the amount of mud, I seem to be washing doggie towels on a daily basis at the moment. Today was somewhat brighter, I had a 10.30am appointment in Harrogate and as we approached the town was quite surprised as to how much snow and ice was lying about on the road and pavements. After my meeting in the town we drove over to RHS Harlow Carr for a walk and brunch. As a result of the amount of snow there was only one car park open but that was not a problem. It is always a couple of degrees colder here at Harlow Carr than at home and although the gardens are some five hundred feet above sea level they are the most Northern of all the RHS gardens.
machine was out of order, but I soldiered on and after a chat with the staff I headed over to the 'Pick up hide'. There was no one else in the hide when I arrived so settled down, unpacked the camera gear and got all set up. Scanning the lake in front of the hide everything looked quiet, there were three pair of Mallard scattered around the fringes of the lake and on the far bank a Little Egret was busily searching for its breakfast amongst the shallow water. It stayed like that for most of the morning other that three Black headed Gulls flying in and shifting the Little Egret.
and changed, packed the car and left home around 10.15am. It was 11.00am when I parked the car in the car park in the grounds of Castle Howard. As is always it was a couple of degrees colder here than at home and was pleased I had one of my winter jackets in the car. I took the girls M & G for a walk through the woods next to the cricket square to let them have a good run before I clipped them on to their short leads and headed into the Courtyard and ticket office before our walk around the estate. It was pleasantly quiet really, there was a few cars in the car park although walking round there wasn't many people about at all.
dogs out for their morning exercise, the coldest day of the year so far. The weather forecast was good for this morning so after our early morning walk and breakfast I left the dogs at home and headed over to the gardens at RHS Harlow Carr on the outskirts of Harrogate. It is usually a couple of degrees colder over there which I was pleased about as I was hoping the frost would still be on the grass and plants. By the time we arrived it was 10.45am. The sun was just coming over the tree tops and picking out some of the borders as we made our way through the visitors entrance, making quite a picture. The steps down onto the main pathway had been fenced off due to the frost and ice. There was a lovely blue sky for a change, from the centre we headed over to the left past the library and learning centre, the cold temperature was sufficient to freeze the lake albeit with a thin layer of ice. From the Lakeside gardens we continued around the lake and onto the Streamside path, the sunlight shining on the grasses highlighting the golden colours that glistened in the daylight. Out of the sunshine the air was still quite cold and the temperature barely over freezing point, in early January the sun won't reach parts of this trail consequently the frost will stay on the ground all day. We had a pleasant walk following the course of the stream to the Old Bath House where we crossed the stream and headed back towards the centre following the stream again but this time from the other side. The sunlight catching some of the trees was beautiful, the red and white coloured bark standing out from the dark shadows. Heading uphill through the Sandstone rock garden the views looking back towards the Gazebo from the small ponds took your breath away. I had to stop for a few minutes and admire the beauty of the surroundings. The effect of the sunlight, blue sky and a hard frost is quite remarkable forming a lasting memory in my mind.
arrived at 9.30am. I popped in to the visitors centre for a coffee and an update from the wardens before heading off to the 'Pick up hide'.
and drove over to Fairburn Ings for the morning. It was just after 10am as I parked up in the visitor's car park, the roads were still quite icy in places though the sun was shining and it was beginning to get warmer, the temperature gauge was reading 0C. I called in to the Visitors Centre for a coffee and a catch up with the wardens and staff before heading to the 'Pick up hide'. The main lake in front of the hide was quite heavily frozen and with just half a dozen Hen Pheasants walking the shore line on the far side of the lake that was the only activity on or near the lake this morning. 
look around when it was a little quieter and in daylight.
I had been monitoring the weather forecast this past week on a daily basis hoping and praying for a nice day. As it happened it turned out to be a very cold, damp and overcast day. In fact the three to four years I have been coming up to Hawes with Simon, I don't think we have had a day without rain or snow.
squirrels jumping from one branch to another, this is very much a game of chance, waiting, hoping and predicting if the squirrels will actually jump or not. Our patience eventually paid off and I managed to get some nice head first pictures as they came running along the branch straight towards me.
quite vividly remember the 1950's living room and the 1980's kitchen, it is quite surreal really and feel quite emotional when I look into the 50's living room.
so we all (less M & G) headed over to have a look around the state rooms and see 'Christmas at Castle Howard'.
nicely through the trees on the Barff and by the time we returned home the sun was just breaking through on the skyline.
evening visit prior to the house being opened to the public for Christmas the following day. We had a horrible thirty minute drive from home especially up the A1 due to the volume of traffic and the road conditions not helped by the heavy rain. That soon changed though as the main front doors opened at 6.00pm we were greeted with a glass of Prosecco and a mince pie. The wood fires were roaring in the rooms and everything looked really Christmassy. All the rooms on the State floor and Below Stairs had been decorated to reflect a magical Victorian Christmas by the tv set designer Michael Howells. Michael is the set designer for the ITV series 'Victoria' much of which has been filmed in the house.
headlamp for a while as we made our way up the hill, Meg & Gracie have just got some new collar lamps which I switched on as we headed into the trees, the blue light from Megs collar is quite bright and blinding when she is close to me to such an extent I cannot see where I am walking and once or twice I got twanged on the side of my face by a stray tree branch as I brushed through the undergrowth. It was nice to hear a pair of Tawny Owls calling to each other on the top of the Barff, their call reverberating through the trees. Unfortunately I disturbed some Wood Pigeons and Crows which sounded as they were not happy as we walked underneath them, making quite an aggressive noise as they flew off before returning to their roosts once we had passed them. The track that I follow is still really muddy at the moment and doesn't seem to be drying out at all, though with all the rain we have been having of late I am not surprised. It was nice to get home for breakfast and a change of clothes. 
my last visit, but from reading the wardens updates the number of seals appears to double week on week till mid-December.It was a wet and miserable 80 mile drive from home, the journey took about one hour and thirty minutes with one road closed on route so I had to make a slight detour. Fortunately the sat nav took care of that. There were a dozen or so cars in the car park when I arrived at just after 10.00am. The rain had stopped but there was a cool north westerly wind, the mobile coffee shop hadn't yet opened so I waited till I finished filming to get a coffee and bacon and sausage sandwich. I followed the track past the warden's hut onto the shore line, there were lots more seals about today than last week and there was plenty last week. Young pups were everywhere, their lovely white fur coats looking completely out of place, many of them just hours old and having a snooze on the sand dunes adjacent to the protective fence. About a hundred yards away a pair of bulls were having quite a set to with each other with one of the bulls sustaining a nasty looking wound to the back of the head, it is surprising how vicious they can be with each other. There were several young pups close by and they risked the possibility of being smothered to death by the fighting adults, fortunately they managed to manoeuvre themselves to relative safety. It was interesting to note that the number of cow seals that arrived on the beach had nearly doubled within the week and 1,201 pups had been born from 1,390 cows. I noticed lots of Pied Wagtails close by today, feeding on the fresh afterbirth. In the distance there were several flocks of Starling and other sea birds that kept flying around in huge murmurations before coming down to land amongst the long grass and sand dunes.
It was fascinating looking at the older pups, their fur coats now matted by the wet sand and mud, the same with the bulls and cows, the majority contently sleeping or snoozing in the shallow pools of water. The wardens office said that a cow called 'ropeneck' had arrived overnight but looking for it was like looking for a needle in a hay stack not helped though as I had left my binos at home. Within the next week or so many of these young pups will be left to fend for themselves as their mother leaves them after about 18 days. The mother will then mate with one of the bulls and once pregnant head back out to see for another year. The pup she has left on the sand dunes has to survive on its accumulated fat reserves for the next two weeks, during which time its white natal fur is moulted for its first adult coat. Once they gain their adult coat the pups make the long journey to the water's edge and its new life in the sea.
Let's hope I can arrange another return visit in the next few weeks.
hide'. 
collars on the dogs were shining brightly and I had close control of the both, other than me getting clattered in the face by a stray tree branch a couple of times. By 6.45 the light was breaking through and I could actually see where I was walking. 
all the squelchy mud underfoot along the pathways through the woodland. This autumn the colours on the Barff have been quite stunning, it is a shame that the strong winds that we had last week brought a lot of the leaves down quite prematurely. It was a quiet walk this morning and with the exception of a couple of joggers I never spoke to anyone else whilst on the walk. We arrived home just after 8.00am had breakfast, the dogs settled down for their morning sleep and I spent the morning editing pictures that I had taken several weeks ago whilst photographing Red Squirrels up in Hawes. By lunchtime the sun was shining nicely and although still cold outside the colours of the trees in the garden were looking lovely, so without further ado I picked up the camera and dogs and headed back to the Barff for a lunchtime stroll. The car park area was quite busy with like-minded people. It was nice to see the Barff in all its glory, the sun was shining nicely, the colours of the trees, the oak leaves turning a brown golden colour, the mountain ash the same and the holly bushes are quite full of red berries too, I noticed the gorse bushes alongside the bypass trail beginning to flower with little yellow florets. It was nice to see and hear the Nuthatches calling amongst the trees this lunchtime, Grey Squirrels sempt to be all over the place, at one stage along the walk I was watching three of them running round and round a tree trunk, up and down then jumping across from one tree to another with complete ease and what appears so little effort. They should be quite comfortable food wise this winter with what seems to be a bumper crop of Acorns. A little further along the 'middle path' a pair of Green Woodpecker were calling to each other near the pump house, I don't normally hear them as far round the Barff as this, they tend to stay around the farm shop area of the woods. I could hear the tiny screeching call of the Long Tailed Tits hiding somewhere amongst the trees, I love these birds, the pinkish flashes on the sides of their bodies make them look really classy birds. Chaffinch and Robins seem to continuously follow me around the Barff or should I say I follow them, they are always in front of me and the two white flashes either side of the chaffinches tail feathers are quite distinctive as they flit from one tree to another. I stopped for a few minutes near the field with the horses in to listen and watch a Greater Spotted Woodpecker busily chipping into a dead tree stump in its search for food. There is still lots of fungi about with plenty of puffball around the floor amongst the bracken which is dying back now. I joined the main path again near the farm shop and followed it back to the car park, the midday sun shining onto the tree either side of the path provided a beautiful picture of golden browns and yellows and greens. A beautiful colourful walk, I could do with a few more days like this before the frost brings down the remaining leaves of the Autumn. 
drive up to RHS Harlow Carr in Harrogate from home. The A1 was as busy as ever and I was pleased to be off it as we drove through Wetherby on route for Harrogate. By the time we arrived at Harlow Carr it was 10.45am. The weather was fine and dry, the light breeze was cool but pleasant. I was pleased I had put my winter fleece jacket on as it is always a couple of degrees colder up here than it is at home. The autumnal colours were beautiful although speaking to one of the gardeners he was saying the strong winds took an awful lot of leaves of the trees earlier in the week, despite that, there was still plenty of colour about. From the visitor's centre we headed over towards the QM lake and followed the footpath which follows the line of the stream. The bark on some of the trees looked amasing, bright red in colour and silky smooth to the touch. The banks of Cornus or dogwood looked colourful too, the reds, whites and yellow quite striking in the dull morning light. We continued following the path alongside the stream past the Old Bath house and climbed the path towards the Arboretum, stopping at the bird hide for five minutes to watch the Nuthatches, Bullfinches and Coal Tits feeding, I don't think I have seen as many Coal Tits in one place before. From the hide we had a very pleasant walk through the trees before heading back past the wildflower meadow and apiary to the main gardens and terraces. There is plenty of colour still in the borders and some of the grasses look wonderful. I always like to have a look at the Sandstone Rock garden and ponds, both offer great photo opportunities no matter what time of the year you visit. Needless to say that by the time I arrived at the ponds it was getting on for 1.30pm, so it was a gentle walk back to the visitors centre and into to the café for brunch.
today was going to be a nice day. I was heading up north to film Red Squirrels with Simon Phillpotts a professional photographer based in the Yorkshire Dales. I was meeting him in the market town of Hawes. As it turned out I had a terrible drive up the A1 with driving rain and heavy traffic congestion, fortunately by the time I reached the town of Leyburn I was a good ten minutes behind schedule, it was market day so traffic here was a bit heavier than normal. Finally, by the time I reached Hawes I was a good fifteen minutes late, fortunately I was able to phone ahead and apologies for my lateness. I changed cars in Hawes and Simon's wife took us further up into the Dale before the five minute walk down to the hides. The weather here was still wet, drizzly and overcast but the brightening sky looked quite promising. It was quite wet underfoot but once in the hide it was dry and relatively warm. The light was beginning to improve but at 9.00am as I set up the cameras it was still quite gloomy, I had the ISO sett at 12,000 to get a reasonable picture, fortunately the Canon 1DX mk2 is a fantastic camera and handles such settings without any problem. Within just a couple of minutes of setting up the kit I had red squirrels visitors all around the hide. 
summer? It was a mild day although overcast, so it was a light jacket as we made our way to the entrance, the Horse Chestnut trees were in full autumnal colour as we pulled into the driveway and looked quite a picture, Jenny had filled her jacket pocket with conkers by the time we arrived to pay our admission fees! Once through the gates and past the café we walked in a anti clockwise direction around the estate, following the course of the stream. Within five minutes of us leaving the car it started to rain, fortunately the leaf cover on the trees was sufficient to keep us reasonably dry and by the time we reached the Bird of Prey centre the rain had eased up. From the centre we headed off following the course of the stream past 'Henry's Island and onto Kate's island on the main lake. The views from here looking across to the main house look quite stunning and with the rain drops hitting the surface of the lake gave the view a different perspective. Fortunately, by the time we arrived at the Bird of Prey centre the rain had eased off considerably. Unfortunately we couldn't have a look at the big birds as we had Meg and Gracie with us so we continued with our walk and headed for the huge 'Jubilee Oak tree' along Birch Avenue. It was nice to have a sit down under this tree for five minutes, the rain had as good as stopped and the sun started to shine so all was extremely pleasant. With the onset of Halloween there were lots of quirky ghosts and ghouls hanging around amongst the trees which looked very effective and dramatic. We continued with the walk, past the bog garden and pets cemetery arriving back at the café just in time for brunch. A lovely walk in a beautiful part of the country and hope it isn't another eight months before I can return again. 
It was a cold start to the day with the temperature just reaching double figures by eight o'clock earlier today, fortunately it was dry with no rain in the forecast.
Barff. It was about eleven o'clock when we arrived, the sun was shining and it turned out to be a lovely day, till late afternoon then it pelted down with rain but we were back home by then, so it didn't really matter. Autumn is well under way, the leaves are turning into the russet gold colours and covering the lawns with a golden coloured blanket. As we walked through the courtyard and through the arch, we headed for the Walled garden. It is always a pleasant stroll through the gardens, the borders are always a picture and today was no exception. From the Walled garden we headed over to the Atlas Fountain, Meg and Gracie would have been in it given the chance but that is just the labs fascination of water. We continued our walk around the southern end of the south lake, the trees on the opposite terrace were just beginning to change colour and looked quite a picture as the sunlight picked out the yellows and reds against the fading green foliage. From the far end of the lake we headed over to the Temple of Four Winds and a short break to admire the views across the Howardian countryside. After five minutes or so we headed back to the house, I counted well over fifty Canada Geese on the Southern Lake, all making quite a noise as we walked past them. As we reached the house we decided to have brunch outside on the lawn adjacent to the Fitzroy Restaurant, the sun was still shining and the light breeze was quite pleasant after our walk. Meg and Grace settled by my chair and seemed quite content for another rest as I enjoyed a scone and pot of tea, needless to say I had to share it with them both! A very pleasant walk in lovely surroundings. 
over the place and today was no exception, we had a Amber weather warning for strong winds and gales! I arrived at the reserve around 9.30am called into the visitors centre for a catch up with the wardens and a coffee before heading off the 'Pick up hide'.
stopping at Malcesine for a coffee and ice cream. The red and ochre coloured buildings being closely grouped around the castle and harbour. After a short break alongside the harbour we continued our journey north to the town of Riva del Garda at the head of the lake. This elegant town is probably one of the largest and best known holiday resorts in the area. We stayed here for brunch and a look around the harbour and shops before boarding the ferry for the trip south to Limone sul Garda. Riva is the water sport centre of the lake with lots of small yachts and wind boards that seemed to follow the ferry out of its harbour. It certainly made a colourful picture as we sailed south with the mountains in the background. The ferry journey to Limone took just under forty five minutes arriving at 4pm. After a quick coffee and walk along the lakeside we continued our journey south, arriving back in Gardone and our hotel for 6pm, the warmest part of the day at 30C. This was a lovely day, if not somewhat tiring due to all the driving , but the trip on the ferry broke the journey up quite nicely.
to the hotel. After breakfast we caught the 'little train' outside the hotel to the gardens at II Vittoriale. Created by Gabriele D'Annunzio who was a prominent, powerful and eloquent Italian poet (1863 1938). We had an excellent English speaking tour guide who showed us around the villa. The gardens were lovely. D'Annunzio was quite an eccentric by the looks of things and the collections of objects and clutter around the rooms reflected him as such. We spent a good four hours looking around and still did not see it all, another visit required I'm afraid. We had a lovely brunch in a restaurant adjacent to the church of San Nicola before catching the 'little train' again for the short journey back to the hotel. As we arrived back the temperature was a barmy 35C.
We caught the Belvedere Cable car to the summit of Passo Pordoi. The views from the summit were quite remarkable, made of fossilized coral the mountains changed colour as the sunshine drifted over them. After a good look around, then coffee and cake we headed back to the cable car for the journey back down the mountain. We left just after 2pm and headed for the small village of Moena arriving at 3.15pm. The lovely chalet style houses set against the mountains looked beautiful. Moena is very much a winter sports centre, with activities such as Mountain bike racing, Country skiing and Ski jumping all based here. After a short coffee stop we headed back to the coach for the journey back to the hotel, arriving 7.30pm quite exhausted. That said, after a quick wash and spruce up and beer before our evening dinner we spent the rest of the evening watching a dramatic thunder and lightning storm over the lake.
Garda. We can see this small tree lined island from our hotel window and was quite fascinated as to what was hidden amongst all the trees. It is just a fifteen minute boat ride, berthing up at the far side of the island. We were met by a very pleasant English speaking guide who took us on an interesting and informative walk through the Italian and English gardens and finally a trip around several rooms of the house which is still lived in by the Borghese Cavazza family, before finishing with a glass of wine on the terrace. The boat took us back to the mainland at noon and after having brunch along the promenade we spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying the sun by the pool. By early evening the weather turned very humid and later that night we had more thunder and lightning storms. The rain continued into the following day. I was awake quite early that morning at 4.15am it was still raining but with the temperature at 21C still really humid. 
cancelled the night before I was supposed to go. So what with holidays and other commitments I re arranged the day with Steve Race from 'Yorkshire Coast Nature' to have a day filming at the Bird of Prey Centre in Helmsley. Ironically enough I had been the week before with Jenny and the grandchildren, but it is a great place and a wonderful opportunity to watch and photograph birds that you very rarely see on a day to day basis.
extra exercise. Being such a young bird it had no jesses on its legs. All the birds on today's workshop were captive birds so with the exception of the Burrowing Owl had jessie's fitted and some of the bigger birds also had a satellite tracker fitted to. After about fifteen to twenty minutes the tiny Owl was returned to its box and taken back to its cage in the centre for a rest. The next bird was a beautiful Brown Wood Owl with quite distinctive facial disks. Completely different to the previous bird the Wood Owl was much larger. It is a medium sized bird standing between 4557 cm in height. Its upperparts are dark brown, with faint white spotting on the shoulders. The underparts are buff with brown streaking. It was very good at posing for the camera. Our next bird was a Yellow Billed Kite, completely different to the Owls. It is quite distinctive with its bright yellow beak and looks quite a sleek bird compared to the previous Owls with a huge wing span between 160cm 180 cm. It looks stunning as it soars around the flying ground.
After lunch and debrief about our mornings work we headed back onto the flying ground with Kate and Ronney our two falconers. The first bird of our afternoon session was a beautiful looking Eagle Owl. This is some powerful bird, smaller than the Golden Eagle but larger than the Snowy Owl. It is sometimes titled the world's largest owl, The Eagle Owl has a wingspan of up to 138200 cm and measures 5873 cm long. Females weigh 1.75-4.2 kg and males weigh 1.5-3.2 kg . In comparison, the common Barn Owl weighs about 500 grams. They tend to feed on small mammals, but can kill prey up to the size of foxes and young deer. They look quite intimidating as they swoop low over the grassland sometimes flying no more than a metre above the ground. Funnily enough last week we popped over to RHS Harlow Carr and they had a falconer giving demonstrations during the day and we watched them fly an Eagle Owl, but first he (the falconer) asked for thirty young children to lay on the floor in a line, he then flew the Eagle Owl over them, so low that the children said they could feel the wind brush past them as the Owl flew over the top of them. It certainly looks quite menacing as it turns and heads for you.
to finish, with wall to wall sunshine. There was a Bird of Prey demonstration taking place shortly after we arrived so we headed over to watch that for thirty minutes or so, it was quite entertaining really, the falconer had a good dialogue with the young children and audience and the birds looked in really good condition. After the demonstration had finished we made our way back to the visitors centre and started to follow the trail set up for the youngsters, as it happened it followed the route that we normally take when we come on our regular visits, but it was good fun.
Bramble bushes, the red fruit slowly turning darker to almost black, plenty of nutrition for the birds. I keep pulling up Himalayan Balsam plants which is in full bloom at the moment, though it is good to see that Dereck Cooper and many 'friends' of the Brayton Barff group are organising Himalayan Balsam sessions to rid the woodland of this invasive plant.
the reserve just after 10.00am, I felt as though I was trying to catch up the hour I had lost with being late up. I had been to a business meeting the night previous and I think it must have been that that had disrupted my sleeping pattern. Anyway it was a quick chat with the wardens and a coffee before I headed over to the 'Pick up Hide', the little froglets were still all over the place as they hop across the footpath on the way to the hide, barely one centimetre long, they look like little blue bottle flies as you catch sight of them through the corner of your eye, you have to be careful where you place your feet. 
so they are steeped in history. We headed for the walled garden after a walk alongside the lake. The first thing that struck me was how full and colourful the borders where. I have quite an interest in gardens though am by no means a plants man The guide says that there are some 800 yards of herbaceous borders, rose beds and herbs. The displays are stunning and Leeds City Council who own the house and gardens have done a superb job of maintaining them.
realised that the strengthening North Easterly wind had a bit of rain in it so I was pleased I had put my winter jacket in the car. The heavy overnight rain had left puddles all over the place. After a quick chat with the wardens and a coffee I made my way along the 'Discovery Trail' to the 'Pick up hide' having to watch were I put my feet, lots of tiny baby froglets no more that 1cm in length were busily hopping across the trail, not much bigger than bluebottles, every now and then I stopped to watch as they avoided some of the bigger stones on the pathway. I settled down at the hide for 9.30am, as I put my camera bag on the floor I had a quick glance out onto the lake, literally in front of the hide on the water's edge was a Common Sandpiper busily feeding, its long beak sinking deep into the mud searching for small crustaceans. I hurriedly set up the camera, securing it to the shelf and fired off several shots of this new arrival, before it saw me. Fortunately it stayed around the hide for most of the morning, completely oblivious to my presence.
walking along the shoreline near the hide constantly searching for food.
spent most of the morning preening. There were several families of coots with chicks ranging from youngsters to juveniles on the water's edge, along with Moorhens although their chick looked much younger than the Coot chicks.
reserve at Fairburn recently, but that aside, after a successful visit a couple of weeks ago photographing their Kingfishers and Little Egrets we arranged to visit the Tophill Low reserve today to see if we could find the Spoonbill. It took us just about a one hours drive this morning to get to the reserve, that is until I very nearly drove over a Grass snake as I turned off the main Driffield road into the reserve, it was a lovely warm sunny morning and the snake had been enjoying the early morning heat coming off the tarmacked road surface, checking my rear view mirror I watched as it slid off the road and back into the relative safety of the undergrowth at the side of the road.
what seemed like a minute of mouthing this small fish, tapping its head on the perch and generally manoeuvring the fish in its beak he swallowed the fish head first. This same bird stayed on the same perch and a few moments later dived and returned with another fish and promptly swallowed that too. We had a good hour in the hide watching both male and female Kingfishers fishing along the small stream in front of the hide.
and parked up as although there is a good car park it is a little on the narrow side, anyway, there were only three other cars parked in front of me so there was plenty of space, although when we left at about 1.30pm there was an attendant on the gate as the car park was as good as full. 
We continued our walk around the garden, stopping to look at the Doves nesting in the white Dovecote, they seem to be completely oblivious of all us tourists invading their space and especially to those eager people wanting to take selfies with them. We continued our stroll alongside the lake and stopped at the first bridge to take some photographs, another family of Moorhens were swimming and chasing each other amongst the lilies. Looking across the water there is a huge rockery which is undergoing a bit of a face lift at the moment, but still looked very impressive. Continuing our walk around the lake we came to the 'Stumpary', a large garden circled by a huge collection of tree stumps, many with some wonderful carvings engraved into the exposed roots. At this point we were about half way round the gardens, there were some incredible works of art in the form of wild animals and birds in various places amongst the tree stumps and up the trees, all made from wire netting, very, very effective.Friday 14th July 2017
We had a lot of overnight rain last night which continued into the early hours which made for a very wet dog walk this morning. It was a cloudy and overcast morning with the occasional sunny period, 16C and quite a strong North Westerly wind.
I had a free morning today so without hesitation packed the camera gear and bino's and drove over to the reserve at Fairburn Ings for a couple of hours. It was 9.15am as I drove into the car park and parked up for the morning. I was pleased I had put my winter waterproof fleece in the car this morning as the wind was quite chilling at times. I popped into the visitors centre for a coffee and quick look at the sightings book before I headed over to the 'Pick up hide' for the rest of the morning.
A Little Egret was busily feeding on the far side of the lake, its legs gently stirring up the mud sediment around its feet hoping to disturb some small crustacean or small fish, after about twenty minutes it started to head towards the hide before a flock of six Jackdaws started to harass it and it flew off over towards the coal tips. A pair of Mute Swans flew in and landed in the middle of the lake and spent a good hour preening, occasionally stopping for a good stretch and wing flap before resuming with the preening. Moorhens with their chicks in tow were busily exploring the shallow waters, the chicks still very much dependant on their parents for providing them with food.
It was interesting to watch 3 adult Moorhens gesturing with each other, chest to chest, with their bum's in the air, this continued for about a minute before they all went off in their own different ways.
The Purple Loostrife is in full flower at the moment and the bluish/purple flower heads swayed gently in the breeze.
Over on the feeders, the Willow Tits were showing nicely and regular visitors to the feeders during the morning, quite often I just catch a fleeting glance of one and that's it but today there where several popping in and out.
Great Tits and Blue Tits were regular visitors along with their juveniles, still with their fluffy feathers, many looking a bit bedraggled.
A juvenile male Pheasant had quite an interesting standoff under the feeder with a large juvenile Moorhen, it was fascinating to watch both birds at close quarters, the young Moorhen would stand bold upright, stretching out its neck to look much taller than it actually was, then they would face up to each other, wing flap, have a peck at each other, and because the Moorhen ran off into the undergrowth I presume the Pheasant won this little battle.
There were lots of juvenile Robins around today, some with a light brown speckled chest, others, slightly older with the red just
showing through their breast feathers, interesting to see these youngsters tackling the feeders, the adult birds tend to stay on the ground and hoover up all the spoils spilt from the feeders.
Dunnocks were plentiful today, I could listen to their call and song all day, they stand so proud on a branch as they sing their little song.
I had a couple of glimpse of the Willow Warbler today as it came in for some food, not as frequent as last weeks when I was here, but still nice to see, they look very familiar to the female Chaffinch, without the yellow markings though.
As the morning progressed the wind got stronger and stronger, coming from the North West it blew straight in your face, by 11.00am I had quite a headache as a result. I persevered till 11.30am when I called it a day and packed the camera gear away and headed back to the centre. Needless to say having ventured a hundred yards from the hide it was like a warm summer's day, by the time I had another coffee in the centre and a chat with the wardens, the headache had gone and I headed for home. Another great day at the Ings.
some time on my hands until the first cars started to arrive I had a walk through the walled garden. The gardens at Castle Howard always look good, no matter what time of year you visit and today was no exception. What stood out for me today though were the roses and the lilies, their colour and scent was quite striking. There are some lovely vistas too with paths neatly cut and hedges finely trimmed, there is always something to catch your eye when you turn the corner. 
must have been at least thirty to forty. Personally I liked the look of the Vintage models, post 1919, they have so much character and look to be lovingly looked after by their owners, though they do look hard work to drive and steer, I am not sure how effective their heating systems are and being opened toped vehicles you have very little protection from the elements.. The 'Derby' models post 1933 look to be more stylish with a more streamlined body, beautiful upholstered seats and walnut dashboards. The more modern 'Early Crewe' models were built from 1946 1998 and still look like a modern day vehicle. That said the 'Modern' vehicles 1999 onwards look stunning, the 'Continental' GT v8 models have a 4 ltr twin turbo v8 engine they have a top speed of 188mph and accelerate from 0 60mph in 4.6 seconds. The high end model like the 'Flying Spur' w12, is a 6 ltr twin turbo w12, with a top speed of 200mph and o 60mph in 4.3 sec. some beautiful vehicles.
planting along the borders, the streamside walk planting or the formal gardens. Today there was a display of walking boots of all shapes, colours, conditions and sizes, which had been planted up with primarily bedding plants, they looked quite a picture all lined up on the walls as you walk into the gardens. After descending the steps we turned left and headed over towards the learning centre, on past Dermot's garden and headed down towards the lake, there were lots of marsh orchids amongst the long grass. Following the streamside path is always a picture this time of year. Today there were several school groups having an outdoor lessons which was great to see, especially as it was nice and warm summers morning. We continued our walk alongside the stream, the views looking over to the right towards the entrance and garden centre looked stunning, when we reached the pump house we stopped and had a look at some of the paintings and crafts that were on display inside this quant building. From here we walked up through the Alpine garden and up towards the kitchen garden, back along the top path and returning to the visitor's centre. We had a lovely brunch in Betty's restaurant before heading back to have a look around the book shop. I think they sell an excellent assortment of books and it is not very often that I come out of there without buying something to read, today was no exception. Before leaving we popped into the Garden Centre and like the book shop came out with two boxes of Alpine plants, looks like I am going to be busy planting this afternoon! 
reserve and had a family, that chick has just recently flown but staying with its parents for the time being. I was a little apprehensive this morning with more visitors being on the site than usual especially with this extra publicity, fortunately the Spoonbill traffic went along the Coal Tip footpath, quite a distance from where the Pick up hide is situated, although I did see a few more visitors than normal asking for directions from the hide.
it was good to see a Willow Warbler there today also. Young Dunnocks were busily singing in the bushes and Long Tailed Tits too, their distinctive high pitched shrill quite audible from behind the hide, they seem to congregate there first before hitting the feeders, so to speak. Several pairs of Chaffinch were busily feeding their chicks, though some of the chicks looked much bigger than their parent so obviously they were doing a good job.
picked up my photography friend Graham Breeze from Selby and we drove over to the Yorkshire Water Reserve Tophill Low, near the village of Watton, on the outskirts of the small market town of Driffield arriving an hour later at just after 9.00am..
and after quite a ritual getting the fish the right way round in its mouth presented it to the younger bird. For the next two hours we were spoilt with these beautiful birds visiting us on a regular basis to various perches along the stream. As well as the Kingfishers the Moorhens were quite active too, it is the first time I have seen a moorhen climbing up a Bulrush to peel back the fibrous head of the plant, its beak covered in the yellow fibrous strands of the plant, they have huge feet which made it quite a clumsy climber but quite able when needed.Tuesday 20th June 2017
a light westerly breeze. Yesterday was the warmest day of the year so far with temperatures reaching 31C in the Selby area. After popping into the Visitors Centre for a coffee I made my way down to the Pick up hide. Sunday 18th June 2017
curse, stationary traffic just past the Hull road turn off, which had washed back from the Hopgrove roundabout junction, the traffic was either stationary or crawling for the next hour till we reached the dual carriageway prior to taking the turn off for Castle Howard. The planners, road designers responsible for this stretch of road should hang their heads in shame. What is normally a 45 minute journey took one and three quarter hours!
pleasant though when the sun came out.
We started out walk around the site by visiting the 'new' Learning Centre. Although it has been built for several years now this was my first look around, so to speak. Today was an exhibition by the Bonsai Society, there were some remarkable trees/shrubs on display and made quite an impression. From the Learning Centre we continued our walk left past the new show gardens that looked really quite good, lots of colour and great planting ideas, further on to the gazebo and sunken pond, past Dermot's Show Garden and headed down towards the stream, the fringes bordering the footpath have been left to grow and on closer examination are full of 'Common Spotted Orchids', well maybe not quite full but they are there if you know where to look. The lake always looks a picture, never mind what time of year and today was no exception. We continued our walk following the stream to the exhibition house, the colours of the plantings were amazing. I could quite easily have walked around again and again as your eye seems to catch something that you missed first time round. Today I compensated for not walking round twice by walking round exceptionally slowly, which suited Jenny quite nicely. It is a wonderful time of year to visit, the colours of the borders especially along side of the stream were wonderful. Heading back to the centre the vistas are quite amazing. It was noon as we made our way into the café for brunch. I am already looking forward to my next visit.
Wednesday 7th June 2017
Sometimes it is nice to get away from home for a while. We have been busy for the last three months decorating and refurbishing the house, so this holiday was great just to have a rest, relax and have a good catch up with our close friends and we are grateful for Peter & Geri for inviting us to share their villa with them.
Friday was another lovely day, warm and sunny and a good day was spent in the town around the Marina, admiring some of the huge super yachts. Saturday we drove over to Al Portet, a lovely bay about a mile or so east of Moraira, Peter and I walked from the Marina to Al Portet back in 2015 a stunning waterfront walk with beautiful views across the bay. We had a drink along the seafront as Jenny ventured into the water for a paddle! Later that evening it was all change and glad rags on for a great night over at 'Benidorm Palace' a great show, good food and photographs, home for 2.00am! Sunday was a day spent recovering!, although Peter and I had a ride out to Ifach Golf Club, one of Moraria's local 9 hole courses. It is a lovely clubhouse with stunning views looking over the first, second and third fairways. The beer was nice too. Our evening meal was spent dining at a nice small restaurant in the town by the sea.
Friday 19th May 2017.
yesterday. I arrived at the visitors centre just after 9.00am. It was raining heavily, with a grey cloudy sky and very overcast, 9C, with a light North Westerly wind. I was reluctant to leave the warmth of the centre but needs must, so with coffee in hand I made my way to the 'Pickup hide'. The Green Woodpecker was very vocal when I arrived, it was hiding somewhere in the undergrowth behind the hide, and no matter how hard I looked for it I never found it. On the water in front of the hide were several Common Terns, (posh seagulls) they looked quite elegant and have a lovely body line, they were diving into the water after hovering from a height of about 30ft, a few minutes later they would take a rest on one of the many fence posts along the water's edge. In the field with the Highland Cattle must have been a flock of well over a hundred Canada Geese, contently grazing and resting amongst the wild grasses. Newly arrived chicks were few and far between today, I only saw the same Coot I saw yesterday with its youngster in tow, I presume the other youngsters had anchored down in the safety of their nests until the weather improves and it stops raining. A small flock of Black headed gulls flew in and made a lot of noise at the far end of the lake. Over on the feeding station there were lots of little finches, Dunnocks were busily hoovering up the food spoils which the Grey Squirrel had spilt out of the feeders and onto the woodland floor, I love these little brown jobs, they have a wonderful vocal range when singing. Juvenile Blue Tits were out in numbers today, many still with their baby tufts and looking wet and bedraggled from the mornings rain. There were lots of Great Tits and Robins too. Both male and female Chaffinch were about, along with several Tree Sparrows hiding amongst the undergrowth. Everything soon disappeared though when a Jackdaw flew in and landed on one of the tree branches next to the feeders, they have a really menacing call and up close are a significant threat to the much smaller birds on the feeders. It stayed around for about a minute before flying off around the back of the hide, several moments later normal service resumed and it was a hive of activity again on the feeders. A male Reed Bunting even popped by for a meal on the fatball feeder although it soon got short changed when a Greater Spotted Woodpecker decided that he was going to tackle the fatballs before they all disappeared.
Thursday 18th May 2017.
which is quite late for me when I pulled into the car park and unloaded the camera gear. It was a lovely morning 11C with a light westerly wind and the sun was shining nicely.Wednesday 10th May 2017.
I was up bright and early this morning just after 5.00am with Meg and Gracie for our morning walk around the Barff, a misty sun breaking out behind the power station casting some long low shadows across the farmland to the woodland of the Barff.
The dawn chorus at this time of year is quite amasing and I have probably said this before, 'if you could bottle it up and put it on a 
prescription it would give people a real boost to the day'. I love listening to the sound of the Tree Warblers, they have such a creamy tuneful song. We had a very pleasant walk, the Bluebells on the North East side of the Barff are still looking good but in places the ferns are taking over, another couple of weeks and the ferns and nettles will have suffocated them for another year. After an hour or so we headed for home and breakfast.
It is some time since I last visited the reserve at Fairburn and as I was on top of the jobs at home, for the time being anyway, I decided to visit again. I packed the camera gear into the back of the car and headed off to Fairburn. I arrived and parked up at about 9.15am, there were several cars already parked, their owners like me taking advantage of the nice weather. I took a walk along the wooden broadwalk to the Swan feeding platform, there were lots of Mute swans milling about but I was surprised at the low number of Mallards down there, normally there are quite a few, they could have been on their nest in the reed beds I suppose. It was nice to see a lone Avocet on the mudflats to the left of the lake, just paddling around in the mud its long bill penetrating the surface in a sweeping movement searching for food.
I retraced my steps to the visitors centre for a coffee and a catch up with the wardens before heading over to the 'Pick up hide'. By now the sun was shining and there was a very light breeze blowing across the water, the air temperature was 14C which was quite pleasant for that time of day. I only had a winter fleece with me this morning, I had left my heavy winter jacket at home. Looking through the hide window it was nice to see the mallards hard fast asleep on the water's edge,
several Moorhen and Coots were swimming close to the reedbeds. A lone Grey Heron was over on the far side of the lake and a Little Egret was stationary in the reeds on the right hand side of the lake. It was good to see the Common Terns resting on the fence posts and logs on the water's edge, a small flock of about a dozen Terns were on the water, suddenly they would take it in turns to fly up out of the water, hover at about two meters above the surface then dive head first back into the water, this ritual repeated itself for about thirty minutes till they all flew off over towards the 'coal pit trail'.
A lone Cormorant flew over, circled above the hide before landing on the water, this is the first time I have actually seen them in this lake, usually they stay in the trees over the fields to the right of the hide. Shortly after the Cormorant landed I could hear the honking of a pair of Canada Geese flying behind me, over the hide and they to landed on the water, what a noisy pair, continually calling to each other and making as much noise as they possibly could, fortunately after a few minutes they took to the air and flew off in the direction of the 'Lin Dyke Hide'. A wood pigeon came in and landed in front of the hide on the water and had a good preening session in the water, it stayed for about ten minutes having a good clean.
Behind the hide and to the left in the Silver Birch Trees a Green Woodpecker was being very vocal, alas no sign of it when I went to investigate.
Over on the feeders it was relatively quiet, several Tree Sparrows kept popping in for a quick snack, along with the Blue Tits which preferred the fat ball feeders. The Dunnocks were plentiful this morning singing their heads off before dropping to the floor for some food then returning to the tree branches for a rest and more singing. A pair of Robins flew in, one landing on a fence post the other on the floor, they had a quick feed before flying deeper into the bushes, appearing every now and then for a quick snack before returning into the undergrowth. A Jackdaw flew into one of the branches for a few minutes to scavenge some of the dropped seed from the feeders.
At about 11.00am everything went quiet, all the birds disappeared from the feeders, something must have spooked them, then over on the right, behind the Sandmartin wall, sitting on a fence post was a lone Buzzard, a huge bird with quite distinctive brown and white markings, sadly although I managed to get some pictures it was too far away to get a decent one without a very heavy crop. A Crow came and landed on the fence post next to the Buzzard then a Magpie on the post at the other side. The Buzzard could have taken either bird out had it wanted so I presume it had just fed and had landed on the fence post for a rest. It stayed there for a good thirty minutes before flying off towards the Visitors Centre.
I had a lovely morning down at the hide today, I met some of the usual photographers I see on my visit so it was nice to have a good catch up too, but lunch time was calling so I headed back to the centre for another coffee before setting off for home.
Wednesday 3rd May 2017
It was a cold start to the day today but the early morning mist soon burnt out once the sun got a little higher in the sky. I had a free day today so put the dogs in the car and headed off for a walk around the South Lake and Ray Woods at Castle Howard. It was 
about 11.00am as we parked in the car park. By now the sun was shining brightly but there was still a cool North Easterly wind, I was pleased to have packed my windproof fleece, needless to say there were several people walking around in just their shirt sleeves, they must have been cold or made of hardier stuff then me.
We set off through the courtyard, stopping for a quick coffee before heading off through the ticket office and had a pleasant walk to the house. The last time we visited was only several weeks ago and all the daffodils and Snowdrops had long gone but being replaced by clusters of yellow Cowslips, they looked lovely gently blowing in the easterly wind.
It was good to be able to get some nice photographs of the house set against a lovely blue sky, quite often when I visit there is a dull grey sky. Today the house looked resplendent set against a blue back drop.. From the house we headed south to the Atlas Fountain and onto the South Lake, it was nice to be able to walk around the lake today, it had been cordoned off on my last two visits. The light this morning was amazing; the colours in the trees around the lake and the lake itself looked extremely colourful and vibrant. We continued walking along the lake, occasionally stopping to take photographs before heading on to the Temple of Four Winds and into Ray Woods. The trees in the woods always amaze me, such a variety, different shaped leaves, different coloured trunks, and different textured bark. The star of the show today had to be the Azaleas which were flowering nicely, lovely rich pink colours, some white and some purple, lots a colour around every corner; it was a delightful walk and felt like quite a tonic. We had a sit on the bench at the top of the woods for ten minutes, just admiring the view, before heading back to the house and courtyard for a late brunch.
Sunday 23rd April 2017
I have just returned home from a wonderful walk around the Barff this morning. It was good to see the early morning sun rising in the east which brought a touch of warmth to the cold overnight air.
I have been fortunate that during April I have been able to get onto the Barff with Meg and Gracie between 5.30am 6.00am most 
mornings, a lovely time of day, on some days with no wind, the scent from the Bluebells hangs in the air and every now and then drifts across in the light breeze, you can virtually taste the pollen being blown through the air. The Bluebells on the Barff have been excellent this year, they started flowering around the beginning of April, although the green leaves started breaking through the woodland floor late February. By early to mid-May though the ferns and nettles will have forced through them and start to smother these hardy blue flowers for another year. This April has been quite exceptional weather-wise, in that we have only had a fraction of our monthly rain fall coupled with only a handful of very light frosts. We have also seen temperature swings of between 10degrees to 15degrees throughout the day.
One of the main threats to the native Bluebell is that of an invasion from the Spanish Bluebells, looking at the signs it looks as though the Barff's are still native, but I am no botanist and I think I/we would have heard by now if they were aliens.
Bluebells are actually protected by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which prohibits anyone from digging up the bulbs in the countryside and landowners from removing bluebells from their land for sale. The species was also listed on Schedule 8 of the Act in 1998 which makes trade in wild bluebell bulbs or seeds an offence.
Bluebells are protected because they face many threats and are an important species to preserve. Threats in the UK include the loss of ancient woodland habitat, the illegal collection of bulbs and cross-breeding (hybridisation) with non-native bluebells.
Not many people will be aware but Bluebells are quite poisonous. All parts of the bluebell plant contain toxic glycosides that are poisonous to humans and animals including dogs, horses and cattle.
It looks as though it is going to be a good year for berries and fruit to, the hawthorn bushes are covered in blossom at the moment as are the Rowan trees, I have even noticed many of the Holly bushes flowering too.
The birdsong is quite amasing at this time of day, quite a cacophony of noise coming from the trees and bushes in the woodland, we sat on an old decaying log for about 5 minutes today just listening to the lovely song of the tree warbler, I heard several warblers today around the old pumping house and again along the 'Bypass trail', the song only broken by the call of a Green Woodpecker. A lovely morning and two tired dogs, so hopefully a bit of peace when I return home.
Friday 24th March 2017
I remember as a young child along with my brother, sat in the back of our parent's car as they took us on the weekly car journey from home, through the streets of Hull to visit our Grandparents who lived in the small coastal village of Aldbrough, on the east coast, situated between the seaside villages of Hornsea to the North and Withernsea to the South.
On route we would drive through the village of Sproatley and see this massive house on the left called Burton Constable Hall. Some sixty years later and I have just made my first visit to look around the grounds and surrounding parkland.
We parked the car in the car park at about 11.30am and with the dogs called in to the reception area to pay and have a look round. It was mid-March and the house was still closed, but the coffee shop was open. It was a beautiful sunny day although you still needed a light jacket on to give some protection from the cool wind.
The house is set in over 300 acres of parkland so with the pocket map in hand we found our bearings and had a very pleasant hour or so walking around the grounds before making our way back to the courtyard café for a lovely late brunch, where we sat outside watching the Archers practising their sport in front of the main hall. What was really nice was that attached to the café was the doggy café were if the weather had been inclement we could have sat with our dogs eating our food undercover and in pleasant and warm surroundings.
Records show that the medieval system of farming called 'ridge and furrow' was used during the Middle Ages at Burton Constable, which was typical of the open field system. By 1517 a deer park was created.
The landscape architect Lancelot Capability Brown was commissioned to transform the parkland between 1772 - 1782 which included landscaping the fishponds into two lakes separated by a bridge. He also planted many of the tree clumps on the parkland as well as ha-ha's.
Much restoration work has been carried out since 1999 which has involved planting thousands of trees to re-create the tree clumps originally started by Capability Brown as well as replenishing the avenues to both the southern and western aspects of the hall. Many of the surviving 'ha-ha's have been restored along with work to the beautiful Capability Brown bridge.
We will definitely be coming back in a few weeks' time to have a look around the hall and another walk around the grounds.
Tuesday 21st March 2017
We have the decorators in at the moment so life is a bit hectic and with the two pups at times quite chaotic, with furniture from one room in another room, carpets up, no curtains, the smell of wet plaster and paint, hopefully we should be back to normal in a weeks' time or so.
The weather forecast looked pretty good for today so I put the two dogs in the car and headed off back to Castle Howard to hopefully photo the daffodils and Azaleas. It was just after 11am as I parked the car in the car park. I took the dogs for a walk around the cricket pitch first and on into the woods heading towards the gatehouse to get rid of some of their enthusiasm bearing in mind they had been out with me for an hour or so before breakfast!
I changed my jacket when I got back to the car, picked up the camera gear and booked in to the ticket office, for such a nice day it was relatively quiet, not many tourist coaches in today. From the ticket office it is a pleasant five minute walk to the house passing the walled garden on the right, to the left the grass meadow is awash with daffodils which look to form a huge yellow blanket on the floor. On walking past the house the sun was shining and the house looked absolutely magnificent basket in sunshine. We made our way down to the South lake and walked along the water's edge stopping every now and then to take a picture. Meg and Gracie are getting the hang of things when I have the camera in hand as I drop the leads and tell them to sit and wait whilst I take the picture, then reward them with a little treat after I have them back in hand so to speak, they think it is great fun, mind you it is costing me a fortune on little doggie treats, but worth it. From the lake we made our way up to the Temple of Four winds, the views back across the lake and over the Howardian Hills in the opposite direction are beautiful, we stayed for about five minutes just taking in the views and having a bit of a breather too. From the Temple we walked into Ray Wood, some of the Azalia were in full flower and looked lovely, walking past the reservoir I caught a glimpse of some of the carvings on the bottom of the central monolith. The walk through these woods is quite pleasant with some unusual trees and shrubs many just waking up after the winter. The sunlight was shining on the remnants of the small pyramid, covered in moss which hides some unusual carvings on the stone. From there we made our way back to the top of the hill and sat on the bench to admire the views of the house and the terrace of daffodils which line the pathway back to the house.
By now it was mid-afternoon so we headed back to the car, I loaded the dogs back into the car and headed back to the coffee shop for a pot of tea and sandwich which I brought back to the car where we had a pleasant picnic sat outside under a tree, Meg and Gracie thought it was great fun! Another lovely walk, time for home.
Tuesday 21st February 2017
Although I have been visiting Castle Howard many times throughout the year, I have rarely ventured or explored Ray Wood, the woodland situated to the East of the main house.
After breakfast and with the weather forecast looking pretty good for the morning, I packed the camera gear along with Meg and Gracie and drove over to Castle Howard for the morning and my main purpose being to walk around the South Lake and to explore Ray Wood. We had a great morning, I had taken M & G for a walk before breakfast so fortunately they had lost some of their energy earlier in the day, but they were well behaved as we walked from the house up towards the Temple of Four Winds.
It was nice to see the daffodils poking through the grass though it will be a few weeks yet before they come into full flower, we continued our walk up the hill and through the gate into the woods, snowdrops covered the woodland floor, gently swaying in the light breeze.
The woods are covered in a maze of tracks and woodland trails.
These ancient woods cover an area of approximately 25 acres and contain quite a collection of plants, the original woodland date back to the 16th century though it wasn't until the early 1700's that work began to build boundary walls, benches and summerhouses. Work also started on the fountains and pedestals. The woods became a popular visitor attraction, but by the mid-18th century most of the features had disappeared. The reservoir which feeds the fountains was enlarged and rebuilt during the 1850's.
During the early 1940' the woods were clear felled for the war effort, and not replanted till 1946 with a selection of mixed hardwoods. It wasn't until the late 1960's that George Howard and James Russel a plantsman worked to reinstate the original walkways. They also introduced approximately 800 species and varieties of rhododendron. They added glades of pieris, wild roses, rare magnolias, hydrangeas, viburnums, maples and rowans, many of these shrubs came from China, Chile, Argentina and Japan. Sadly the woods became overgrown and neglected but in 2010 work by the staff and volunteers began to restore the gardens back to their former glory. Today there are clear paths and trails to follow, the trees and shrubs are clearly well maintained by staff from the Arboretum Trust. At the moment the woods are full with swathes of Snowdrops in full flower, clumps of early flowering daffodils also add colour. The woods will be awash with colour though in May from all the rhododendron species, so I will be looking forward to another visit in a few weeks' time.
Monday 20th February 2017.
All grandchildren gone and the house just about back to normal, Meg and Gracie both exhausted, we decided to pack the car and with the dogs head into the Dales to see the Snowdrops at Thorpe Perrow Arboretum in Bedale.
We had a safe and uneventful fifty minute journey in the car, arriving just before 11.00am on a cold and overcast morning.
As RHS members we had free admission today which was extremely nice. The lady on the desk gave us a brief outline of the
Arboretum, what to look out for and where to visit and a map of the site, at this point I noticed the lemon drizzle cake in the café window behind where the guide was standing. Something nice to look forward to after our walk.
Thorpe Perrow Arboretum has been on my radar for several years now, probably since I joined the Howden camera club as many of the members go there quite frequently to capture the trees and colours throughout the season, so I was looking forward to having a walk around and see them for myself.
The Arboretum has one of the finest private collections of trees and shrubs in the country. It has been built on a plot approximately 100 acres and was the creation of one man, Colonel Sir Leonard Ropner (1895 - 1977). Today it is now owned and managed by his son Sir John Ropner.
It is home to some of the largest and rarest trees and shrubs in England.
We followed the 'Snowdrop Trail' a route from the visitors centre, past the 'pet cemetery' and Henry's Island to the lake, following the lake to the bridge and onto the Milbank Pinetum planted by Lady Augusta Millbank in the mid nineteenth century and on to the Falcon Centre, (a place to visit without M & G) from there we headed to the Jubilee oak a fine specimen and a lovely spot to have a sit down to soak up the views. There are 24 varieties of Snowdrop in the Arboretum and they all made for a lovely picture.
The gardens are all marked out in sections with all the pathways identified with names such as 'Cherry Avenue' Carolyn's Walk', 'Acer Glade' and 'Lime Avenue' just to name a few. Each Section inter-connects with its neighbour via paths, grass walks, glades, bays, or avenues. Many of the trees and shrubs have come from various parts of the continents from around the world, having origins in China, Japan, North America, Chile, and Europe.
During the early summer of 2004, 67 trees within the arboretum were recorded and designated as "Champion Trees" by The Tree Register of the British Isles.
On one of our little breaks I was reading that Snowdrops are used a lot in herbal medicines, an extract called Galantamine is used to treat the nervous system as well as people suffering from Alzeimer's Disease, amazing.
After a pleasant walk of about one and a half hours we decided to head back to the Visitors Centre for a pot of tea and a slice of that lemon drizzle cake I saw earlier, absolutely wonderful, what a great walk and certainly a place to visit again in several weeks when all the daffodils are in flower.
Tuesday 14th February 2017.
It has been a hectic weekend; Jenny's daughter, her husband and three grandchildren arrived for the half term week late last week, so it has been none stop so to speak since they arrived. Today, after breakfast we headed over to Doncaster and a walk around the Wildlife Park, it is just a forty minute drive in the car. The grand children are no strangers to wildlife having lived in London for many years with London Zoo just a 5 minute walk from their home and were regular visitors, so it would be interesting to see what they 
thought.
We arrived just after 10.30am and the car park was quite full even at that time in the morning. The weather was bright and sunny with a cold wind so everybody was well wrapped up for the walk. I had packed the big camera with me and a 400mm tele lens so hopefully I should be able to get some nice pics of the animals. Our first stop was to look at the Meerkats and Yellow Mongoose just inside the entrance to the park, they are such characters, especially when they sit up on their hind legs on lookout duty, they look so bright and alert. After a short walk we entered 'Lion Country', it was great to see and hear the lions up and about, one of the males was extremely vocal as he strutted about, the females weren't far behind, some trying to sleep after their big breakfast, others content to have an amble about and watch all the visitors. I always enjoy reading about these lions how they were 'rescued' and brought over to this country and settled in at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park, it was a great feat of organisation, fundraising and some significant generosity by some major companies that enabled the Lions to start a new and better life in this Country. They certainly looked fit and healthy and very content in their surroundings. After watching the Lions, we headed over to 'Leopard Heights' but they were well out of sight for our visit, the Giraffe's though on the opposite side were out and about and being very photogenic, One of the girls was heavily pregnant so was being closely monitored by the staff. After a pleasant lunch in the 'Masai Coffee House' we made our way further around the park to the 'Land of the Tiger'. This is another great story how the park is taking part in a programme to save the Siberian Amur Tigers from extinction, at least two of the tigers were very active today, they looked in excellent condition and their colours looked superb as they strutted about, one stopping to have a break on its raised platform, the other walking about in front of the waterfall. From there we followed the path round to the Polar Bears, They were contently sleeping over on the far side of their lake adjacent to their outdoor shelter, every now and then one of them would lift his head, have a good stretch before settling down again to sleep off its breakfast. The other pair in a separate park of the park were also contently sleeping off their food. One of the things that struck me seeing these bears was how big they were and their paws looked huge, I was well pleased I was well out of their way. We continued our stroll around the park into 'South American Viva' and passing the Squirrel monkeys and Marmoset monkeys, the Mara look strange looking animals, like a cross between a deer and a hare, but lovely to photograph and on this part of the park we could walk amongst them which was great, though I don't know what they must have thought having all these visitors walking through their living space. Further on we watched the Giant Otters as they swam and chased each other round the park, diving into their big lake and out again running round and into their living accommodation, they certainly are Giants. From here we headed back to the visitors centre and a look at the Baboons, wow, several little babies clinging to their parent's chests as they chased each other around their huge compound, several of them being quite vocal too. Next to them the Painted Dogs, late last year one of the females had a litter of puppies, and although the staff had created a specially den for the birth the female reverted back to her native instincts and dug out a den in the woodland part of the park which is where she had her puppies, today the puppies looked gorgeous as they played games with each other whilst the parent dog watched on.
A great day out with the family, grandchildren had a fantastic day, all content in the car as we drove home.
Monday 1st February 2017
I have just had the most ridiculous couple of weeks ever which has prevented me from getting out with the camera. It started with a dripping tap in the upstairs bathroom which, whilst looking for the cold water stop cock led to a leaking washing machine in the 
kitchen downstairs, whilst in the process of fixing the bathroom tap I found another couple of union joints which were loose and had to be tightened, both under the said bathroom sink. Needless to say that after several days of cutting down spanners, skinning my knuckles due to extremely limited access, we are now all secure and leak free. I then had a request to replace a bulb in the bathroom, not having any spares in the house, popped out to the electricians store in Selby, only to be told that they stopped making that type four years ago! We actually have six of these sunken ceiling lights, the outcome being that I had to purchase six new units and bulbs, remove the old ones and re wire the new ones. Anyway, all sorted, I wonder what else can go wrong?
This morning was a good one, I had a lovely walk with Meg and Gracie earlier in the day and after breakfast decided to have a couple of hours away from the house and headed off to the reserve at Fairburn. It was 11am before I got settled in at the 'Pick up hide' and remarkably quiet for this time of day, the foggy, dull damp drizzly weather keeping all but the hardened visitors away. The water level in the lake in front of the hide was quite high from all the rain we have had this last couple of weeks. Several pair of Mallards were swimming about along with the Moorhen too. Nice to see the first signs of Spring were in the air as at least two pair of Mallards were busy mating. A little Egret flew in to the reed beds to the right of the lake and spent the next thirty minutes preening. The area around the feeders was busy today, Reed Buntings were plentiful, along with Greenfinch, Chaffinch and a big male Bullfinch which seemed to dominate the area like a big lion in the Masai watching over its Pride, albeit no other Bullfinches around today, the Dunnocks were regularly seen hoovering up under the feeders along with a pair of Blackbirds and Tree Sparrows. Lots of Hen Pheasant around the hide today, since the reed beds have been cut back there is far more visibility to the front of the hide and you can get good sightings of these great birds as they head for a drink at the water's edge. Several Goldfinch kept popping in to the feeders for a snack, their colours looking really vibrant. What was a little upsetting to see was that several of the Chaffinch had a fungal type of growth on their legs and feet, 'Fringilla papillomavirus' tends to affect Chaffinches I have seen it here on the reserve several years ago. These growths may vary in size from small nodules to larger warts that appear to cover the whole leg. It is such a shame because other than that these birds look in really good condition. It was good to see the Willow Tit this morning, it paid several visits to the hide during my stay along with the three Robins. As lunch time approached I headed back to the Visitors Centre and home, another lovely morning albeit a short visit but great to be out in the fresh air.
Monday 23rd January 2017
I woke early today about 6.00am, looking outside it was a bitterly cold morning, well below freezing and thick fog. I had pencilled in this morning for my first visit to the RSPB reserve at Fairburn Ings of 2017, according to the weather forecast on radio 4 they were predicting it to be a dry day with no rain or sleet with the sun eventually breaking through the mist and fog. But first I had to
take the pups out for their morning walk. It was extremely dark when we arrived on the Barff, I was thankful that I had my small torch with me as there was very little moonlight as we set off for our walk amongst the woodland. The frost had been quite severe and had penetrated the ground making it quite firm to walk on which made a pleasant change from the thick wet mud of late. By 7.30am the early morning light was just breaking through although sunrise wasn't till around 8.00am. We had a good walk though and by the time we arrived home we were ready for our breakfast. I sorted the dogs out and settled them both down before leaving for Fairburn, packed the camera gear into the car and headed off to the reserve. It was still quite foggy when I left home, the temperature gauge in the car read -2C, but as I drove through our next village the sun was just beginning to break through giving some spectacular wintery views across the bare arable fields adjacent to the main road. Unfortunately within a couple of miles the sun had disappeared and the area was shrouded in a thick freezing fog.
It was 9.30am as I drove through the gates to the reserve, the temperature had warmed up slightly to -!C, at least there was no wind otherwise it would have been quite bitter. I popped in to the Visitors Centre to exchange pleasantries to the reserve staff and 
volunteers and had a cup of coffee whilst I scanned the sightings book, reports of a Bittern and Bearded Tits being on the reserve made for some good reading. I headed back out into the cold morning air, the frost making some amazing patterns on the plants and bushes alongside the 'Discovery Trail'. I continued my walk to the Pickup Hide, lots of young Robins seemed everywhere, several were savaging for morsels of food on the floor whilst others were busily flitting from one tree to another in search of a quick snack. On arrival at the hide, all looked quiet, the area infront was quite calm, just a couple of pairs of Mallard and the odd Water hen and Coot, no waders as such, I finished my coffee and headed further along the trail to the Kingfisher Screen. As I arrived I must have disturbed a Grey Heron which flew off downstream towards the 'Cut Hide', but after several minutes it returned and settled down just behind the sluice gate. Looking at the water as it flowed under the bridge where I was standing the stream was teeming with young fish, shoals of them, their silvery bodies flashing as they swam towards the sluice and the waiting Heron. Shortly after the Heron arrived a Little Egret arrived and after an initial confrontation between the two the Egret settled down on the left hand bank a safe distance away from the Heron which was in the water. A family of Mallards swam up stream closely followed by another Little Egret which flew up to the sluice gate, narrowly missing the Heron, although it did try to dive bomb it as it came in to land on the right hand side of the stream. The Heron was having none of it and quickly scattered the family of five Mallards back down stream before setting about the newly arrived Little Egret on the right. The Grey Heron continued to fish and guard the sluice for another thirty minutes or so, within that time the first Little Egret was quietly content preening itself on the left hand bank, either that or petrified that if it moved closer to the water it would be set upon by the bigger Grey Heron! After an hour at the screen the cold was beginning to work its way up from my feet, so I packed up the camera gear and headed back to the 'Pick up Hide'. A pair of female Pheasants where busily hoovering up under the feeders to the right of the hide, I could hear lots of Long Tailed Tits chirping away behind me in the bushes and within a few seconds they came on mass to the feeders, six of them flitting in and out, they get a beak full of food and fly back to the safety of the bushes to eat it whereas the Tree Sparrow, Chaffinch and Tits all seem quite content to sit at the feeders and eat on the job so to speak. Dunnock, Willow Tit and Robin all took their turn at the feeders all scattering though when the Grey Squirrels, two of them this morning decide to have a feed from the same feeders.
As lunch time approached so did more and more visitors so I packed the camera gear away and headed back to the warmth of the visitors centre and another coffee before I headed off for home.
A great morning at the reserve, hopefully I can arrange another visit for later in the week.
Wednesday 4th January 2017
Our first visit of the New Year, although I always enjoy a walk around these gardens no matter what time of year. It was a fresh and cold morning, we had had a slight ground frost at home but by mid-morning when we arrived at Harlow the sun had come out which gave some respite for the cool westerly wind that kept blasting across from time to time. 
early morning dog walks on the Barff this month and the air temperature has been recorded at -3C coupled with a light breeze the wind chill can be anything down to -5C. I do not mind early morning starts, in fact I quite enjoy them, not that I am anti-social, but it is nice sometimes to have a quiet walk around the Barff by yourself with the dogs by your side, I like listening for the bird song or watching the young deer feeding on the holly bushes dotted around the place, or watching the Grey Squirrels chasing each other around and amongst the trees. One of the other reasons why I enjoy the frosty mornings of course is that it firms up and hardens up the ground, most of my dog walking on the Barff is done away from the main footpath around the bottom, consequently with all the damp weather of late can get quite muddy and boggy at times, so it is nice to complete the walk with two dry and clean dogs.
that this afternoon the hall was open too. We had a good browse through the well-stocked farm shop and purchased one or two stocking fillers and met our friends for an excellent lunch. The restaurant and adjoining café is located in the Farm Shop in what probably would have been part of the courtyard/stable block/Farm office in the grounds of the hall before being converted and tastefully decorated. Anyway, we all had an excellent meal, a good natter and catch up, after a coffee we headed over to have a look around the house. Last year when we came the house was closed, today was quite a treat to be able to have a look around the inside. After checking in at the Gate House, as you walk outside the view of the Hall as you leave the house is quite amasing. The hall was built in 1595 by Robert Smythson and since has never been sold. The house is still very much a family home and has been passed down through the female line to the current family Claire and James Birch who took over the property in 2006 from her father Anthony George Jarvis.
Friday 9th December 2016
morning as I drove into the car park, the car temperature gauge read 12C. I called into the visitors centre for a coffee and chat for a few minutes before I headed over to the 'Pickup hide'. It was nice to be back, so to speak, a lot of the high weeds had been cut back prior to reaching the hide, the biggest transformation though was when I looked through the hide windows to the lake opposite, it looked for all the world like a bomb site, but there was a reason for it looking like it did. All the undergrowth, reeds and weeds bordering the lake have been scraped away, in order to improve the habitat for the nesting birds this spring and later in the year, I have to say it did look a bit drastic though. After a few sips of coffee I had a good look through the binos but didn't really expect to see any waders as the water's edge hadn't yet been clearly defined, I am sure once the water level has risen by several feet the whole area will look significantly better. Over on the feeders all the usual characters were there, a Grey Squirrel was being pestered by a pair of Robins who was dominating one of the feeders, male and female Pheasants were busily scavenging on the floor for the remnants which the squirrel had discarded from the feeders. Great Tit and
Blue Tits waited their turn amongst the bushes along with the Tree Sparrows. Several Dunnocks were busily going about their business on the woodland floor, trying to avoid the big footed pheasants. As soon as I finished my coffee I headed over to the Kingfisher screen as I had hear several reports that the birds were showing well around the sluice gate, and I wasn't disappointed, after several minutes a female bird landed on one of the branches over hanging the stream, had two unsuccessful dives into the water and came up and landed on the sluice itself, fortunately it stayed long enough to enable me to get a couple of photographs.Monday 28th November 2016
The weather forecast for today looked pretty good, so as I hadn't been over to the gardens at RHS Harlow Carr in Harrogate for several months I decided to pack the car and head over there for a visit. I always 
enjoy a visit to these gardens no matter what time of year or whatever the weather decides to do on the day that I visit. As soon as you walk through the reception area and walk outside and stand on the patio area before descending the steps, the view in front of you always takes your breath away, the vista seems to change on every visit, the colours, the light, the shade, the weather all make the gardens a special place to visit, and late Autumn is no different. Gone are the bright and colourful shrubs that adorn the borders, most of them have been well cut back before the winter weather sets in. Out come the bold rustic colours of the leaves as they start to die back, forming a golden blanket on the ground below, the trees come in to their own during these winter months as they start to shut down and shed their leaves, the colours of the tree trunks vary from a deep crimson red to a bright and shiny silver colour. The same with many of the hardy shrubs, they have lovely red and golden branches with a silky smooth texture when you touch them, their colours stand out on a typical grey autumnal morning. The riverside walk is quite a picture this time of year and this time it was that good that I went round it twice before a visit to Betty's and brunch!
Wednesday 23rd November 2016.
After a pleasant early morning dog walk, we decided to have a ride over to Castle Howard for a walk and to look at the house now that it is all decorated for Christmas. I always enjoy going to Castle Howard no matter 
what time of year, but Christmas at the house is always quite magical and this year is no different. The rooms are all very tastefully decorated some traditional, some modern and some very modern. The lighting is very subdued due to the main curtains being closed and this although causes a few issues for the photographer it creates quite a special ambiance in the house. The colours look beautiful the lights from the flickering candles, the light from the roaring log fires in the rooms all adds to the special experience. One of the centre pieces in one of the state rooms this year is a typical family house scene (pictured left) with floral garden and Christmas lights, looking through the house windows into one of the miniature rooms you can see a miniature Christmas tree. In another of the state rooms is a 'gingerbread' model of the Castle Howard estate, which has been mounted on a snowy scene with a model train circling the estate, all very effective, it must have taken hours to make. There are some beautiful floral arrangements around the house too. Finally, the chapel, the last area to visit before you reach the gift shop, the lighting in here was improved several years ago and is well worth popping in to admire the décor, the fluted pillars, the ceiling decoration and paintings, it all look amasing. I love coming in here to admire the workmanship, the colours and paintings. It is nice also to be able to sit for a few minutes and reflect on what you have just seen as well as just having some time to yourself to reflect on the things that are personal to you.
Friday 4th November 2016
Just returned home from a hectic day filming Red Squirrels in Hawes to the North of the County.
I was due to go up North several weeks ago but due to flash flooding in the dales at that time the visit had to be canceled at the last minute. I picked my friend and fellow photographer Graham up from Selby at 6.45am. We 
arrived in Hawes just after 8.30am, slightly late due to a road traffic accident near Castle Bolton just outside of Leyburn, fortunate nobody was seriously injured but one of the cars looked to be a write off. Anyway, we met Simon Phillpotts (Wilddales photographer) in the car park in Hawes and he took us further up the dale to his hide in the woodland. The weather was fine and dry although there had been quite a lot of overnight rain, there was a light breeze which just kept the temperature down, the sun was trying to break through the trees but for the time being everything was quite grey. After a short walk from Simons car we arrived in the hide and opened up the hatches. Within several minutes we had squirrels visible around us, that is on three sides of the hide, they were busy running through the grass scavenging for food, then, would hurriedly try to cache the food before the other squirrels found it, their front paws scurrying on the grass to make a safe place for their precious winter food.
By mid morning the sun was breaking through the trees but unfortunately it was straight in front of us which made photographing the squirrels quite challenging at times, I was shooting with an ISO varying between 1000 - 4000 at times due to the poor light and shadows through the trees then stepping down the aperture to compensate for the sun light giving me a shutter speed in the region of 1/200 sec at 5.6. As lunchtime approached so did the rain, how pleased I was that we were under cover, it didn't seem to bother the squirrels though, they went about their business continually searching for food as usual.
We had lots of other visitors too during our stay in the hide, with Coal Tits, Chaffinch, Male & Female Pheasant, Blue Tits etc all regular visitors scavenging from the remnants of the squirrels left overs. As early afternoon approached the cold started to bite a bit, I was wearing my thick winter gear with several layers but the cold was slowly coming up from the floor, through my boots, once it starts cutting into you it is very hard to keep warm and becomes quite unpleasant. It was amazing watching the squirrels though, they are extremely fast as they go about their business, many of them are starting to grow little ear tufts as their winter coats start to come through. After my final cup of flask tea we decided to call it a day. Simon came and collected us from the hide just after 2.00pm it was good to be able to stretch the legs again as we made our way up the inclined track back to his vehicle. As we gained height above the tree line the sunlight on the moors looked quite stunning, the autumn colours of the bracken and ferns looked like the dale was covered in a blanket of gold. After a few minutes drive we arrived back in Hawes, exchanged pleasantries with Simon packed all the camera gear back into my car and headed home. I think I will be busy now for a few days editing pictures of Red Squirrels, always great fun!
Friday 21st October 2016
After a hearty breakfast we packed and said cheerio to the hotel, our home for the last three days and headed off to Hardwick Hall for the morning.
Sited on a hilltop between Chesterfield and Mansfield, overlooking the Derbyshire countryside, Hardwick Hall was designed by Robert Smythson in the late 16th century. Ordered by Bess of Hardwick, Countess of Shrewsbury and ancestress of the Dukes of Devonshire, it remained in the ownership of her descendants until the mid-twentieth century. The house is now under the control of the National Trust
Bess of Hardwick was the richest woman in England after Queen Elizabeth I, and her house was conceived to be a conspicuous statement of her wealth and power. The windows are exceptionally large and numerous at a time when glass was a luxury, leading to the saying, "Hardwick Hall, more glass than wall." The Hall's chimneys are built into the internal walls of the structure, in order to give more scope for huge windows without weakening the exterior walls.
The house's design also demonstrated new concepts not only in domestic architecture, but also a more modern way in which life was led within a great house. Hardwick was one of the first English houses where the great hall was built on an axis through the centre of the house rather than at right angles to the entrance.
Each of the three main storeys has a higher ceiling than the one below, the ceiling height being indicative of 
the importance of the rooms' occupants: least noble at the bottom and grandest at the top.
A wide, winding, stone staircase leads up to the state rooms on the second floor; these rooms include one of the largest long galleries in any English house and also a little-altered, tapestry-hung great chamber with a spectacular plaster frieze illustrating hunting scenes.
Hardwick was one of Bess's many houses. Each of her four marriages had brought her greater wealth; she had been born in the now old Hall at Hardwick, which today is a ruin beside the 'new' hall.
After Bess's death in 1608, the house passed to her son William Cavendish, 1st Earl of Devonshire. His great-grandson, William, was created 1st Duke of Devonshire in 1694. The Devonshire's made another of Bess's great houses, Chatsworth, their principal seat. Hardwick thus became relegated to the role of an occasional retreat for hunting and sometime dower house.
As a secondary home, it escaped the attention of modernisers and received few alterations after its completion.
From the early 19th century, the antique atmosphere of Hardwick Hall was consciously preserved. A low, 19th-century service wing is fairly inconspicuous at the rear.
In 1950, the unexpected death of the 10th Duke of Devonshire and the subsequent death duties (rated at 80%) caused the sale of many of the Devonshire assets and estates. At this time, Hardwick was occupied by Evelyn, Duchess of Devonshire, the widow of the 9th Duke. The decision was taken to hand the house over to HM Treasury in lieu of Estate Duty in 1956. The Treasury transferred the house to the National Trust in 1959. The Duchess remained in occupation of the house until her death in 1960. Today, Hardwick Hall contains a large collection of embroideries, mostly dating from the late 16th century, many of which are listed in the 1601 inventory. Some of the needlework on display in the house incorporates Bess's monogram "ES", and may have been worked on by Bess herself. There is a large amount of fine tapestry and furniture from the 16th and 17th centuries. A remarkable feature of the house is that much of the present furniture and other contents are listed in an inventory dating from 1601. The Sea Dog Table is an especially important piece from around 1600, and the Eglantine Table has an inlaid top of interest to musical historians.
After a fascinating morning looking around this huge spacious house and marveling at all the tapestries and furnishings we headed off to the cafeteria for brunch and a welcome sit down. By now it was early afternoon and we had to get home to collect the pups from their stay at the Health Farm, so we said our goodbyes to our dear friends and headed for home.
Thursday 20th October 2016.
After a hearty breakfast in the hotel we headed over to Buxton for the morning and a tour of Poole's Cavern which lies on the outskirt's of this small town.
The show cave boasts to be one of the finest in the Country so I was quite looking forward to our journey 
underground. Officially opened as a show cave in 1853 by the 6th Duke of Devonshire, The Cavern has been attracting visitors since the early 16th Century although the main entrance to the cave has been moved since then to make accessibility more easier. Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots is said to have visited in 1582 and the writer Charles Cotton in 1681 listed the cave as one of his 'Seven wonders of the Peak' that in itself brought new found fame to the cave.
The great carboniferous limestone cavern has many strange and wondrous formations, sculpted over millions of years. Archaeological explorations in 1981 and 1983 have suggested that the cave was occupied from the Bronze Age. Some of the finds have been interpreted as suggesting that one of the chambers was used for religious purposes by Romano-Britons; an alternative explanation is that the cave was a metal-workers' workshop.
The name Poole's Cavern derives from an outlaw, Poole, who reputedly used the cave as a lair and a base to rob travellers in the fifteenth century.
The Cavern is around 310 metres (1,020 ft) in length, and includes chambers named the Roman Chamber, Great Dome, Poached Egg Chamber and Sculpture Chamber. Some items of interest include large stalactites/stalagmites called the Flitch of Bacon and Mary Queen of Scots' Pillar, as well as stalagmites with a porous texture and "poached egg" colour, which has been attributed to minerals leached from lime-burning on Grin Low above.
We had a very knowledgeable and informative guide who's expertise made the tour even more fascinating. The lighting in and along the main chambers and features was very well placed, towards the furthest point of access the lights were turned off to give us an impression on what the cave was like in complete darkness. What it must have been like for the early explorer's doesn't bear thinking about. The cave system is known to extend further but todate it has not been explored. Back in 1998 a video camera was lowered down a borehole which revealed the existence of a further chamber, named "Seventh Heaven" This was a great tour and well worth the entrance fee.
Wednesday 19th October 2016.
Just returned home from a wonderful three day break in the Peak District, a place I haven't really visited since my S & R days so it was nice to visit old haunts like Buxton & Bakewell.
We met our good friends Pedro and Mavis at Chatsworth House last Wednesday and on arrival jumped on the tractor bus for a tour around the estate, a little bumpy on the back side but the journey gave us a good overview of the grounds and estate around the stately home. I am pretty certain that I haven't visited Chatsworth before and had been really looking forward to having a look around the house, the home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. The original house was built by Sir William Cavendish and his third wife Bess of Hardwick in the mid-16th Century. The house has since been passed down through 16 generations of the Cavendish family.
As soon as you step foot in this great house the first thing that hits you is quality, the furnishings, the art work is quite remarkable and has evolved through the centuries to reflect tastes and passions and the interests of succeeding generations. The ceiling artwork is quite staggering. Today Chatsworth contains works of art that span 4000 years, from ancient Roman and Egyptian sculpture, and masterpieces by Rembrandt, Reynolds and Veronese, to work by outstanding modern artists, including Lucian Freud, Edmund de Waal and David Nash. I could have spent a good hour in the Painted Hall alone, the artwork, the quality of the plaster work, the colours, just take your breath away. There are over 30 rooms to explore, from the magnificent Painted Hall, regal State Rooms, restored Sketch Galleries and the Sculpture Gallery. I could have gone round twice and certainly look forward to my next visit. The other highlight of the day was our afternoon tea in one of the restaurants in the Stable block, phew.
Wednesday 28th September 2016
It has been a bit of a hectic week really, I am still catching up with jobs around the house and garden since our few days away in the Lake District. Anyway, this morning I headed off to the reserve at Fairburn Ings. My last visit here was about a month ago, I was late arriving and after a chat with the reserve wardens and a coffee it 
was 10.45am before I headed over to the Pick up hide and got the camera set up and all clamped up. The sun was shining as I looked across the water in front of the hide, good light conditions, 17C, with a strong North Westerly wind. The staff in the visitors centre had told me about sightings reported to them of a passing Osprey which had been seen here at the reserve and also over at St Aidens earlier in the week, alas no sign of it as I scanned the sky and treeline around the lake this morning. I did see several waders though with several Bar Tailed Godwits, Sandpipers and Snipe all busily probing the mudflats in search of a tasty meal. A lone Mute swan flew in and landed on the water, I always think they look quite clumsy when they come in to land with their big feet flapping about as it makes contact with the water, needless to say it landed quite safely and spent the next thirty minutes preening itself. Around the hide were several Magpie flying about, I am certain their nest site is well behind the trees on the right hand side. Over on the Sand Martin wall I watched a busy Grey Squirrel cashing some peanuts which it had taken from underneath the bird feeders, unfortunately what the squirrel didn't realise was that as soon as he buried his treasure the Magpie flew in and stole it for himself!
On the feeders were lots of Tree Sparrows and juvenile Chaffinch, under them were several young Hen Pheasant and a young Cock Pheasant all busily hoovering up all the spills from the feeders above them. It was nice to see some Greenfinch too, I hadn't seen them here for several months, although maybe they weren't coming to the feeders whilst I was there. Although still quite sunny, as the morning progressed the wind speed did to and after a couple of hours at the hide I decided to retire to the warmth of the visitors centre for another coffee and to get the circulation going again in my finger ends. A lovely morning again at the reserve.
Wednesday 14th September 2016
Today, I along with another photographic friend Graham Breeze, from Selby, had arranged to drive up to Hawes in the North of the County and spend the day with Simon Phillpotts another professional wildlife photographer, 
photographing Red squirrels in one of his woodland hides. I try to get up there at least once a year, sometimes twice to photograph these lovely small mammals, unfortunately, freak heavy rain showers last night caused significant flash flooding, resulting in us having to postpone the visit at short notice. Not wanting to waste the day we headed over to Yorkshire Water's Tophill Low Nature reserve nr Driffield, in East Yorkshire, this was my second visit with Graham, our aim to photograph Kingfishers. The drive over there took just over an hour. After parking the car in the car park adjacent to the wardens hut I quickly glanced at my watch as I put on my waistcoat, 9.00am, so we had a full day ahead of us. The weather was fine and dry with reasonably good light as we headed over to one of the dozen or so hides situated around the two main lakes known as 'D' and 'O'. We were going to one of the Northern hides renown for good sightings of Kingfishers (pictured left), needless to say the one and three quarter hours we spent in there we had no sightings, that was until I had dismantled my camera in preparation to move to another hide, when one of the little blighters flew in and landed on one of the branches just outside the hide window, fortunately Graham managed to capture some nice shots as it sat and posed on the branch. It is a pleasant five minute walk past the new visitors centre currently being built, to get to another hide adjacent to 'O' reservoir. We set up the camera gear and waited to see what 
turned up. On the far side of the lake we counted four Little Egrets (Pictured below right) contently paddling amongst the mudflats along the waters edge. The first time I visited the hide a week or so ago we were sat looking out the side window when we noticed a huge 'V' shaped water ripple, as though there was something under the water heading towards us, I had my bino's trained on it as the ripples got bigger and bigger the closer they got to the bank, after about thirty seconds our curiosity was answered when an Otter swam out of the water and promptly into the undergrowth in front of the hide. There we were with some pretty sophisticated camera gear between us and neither of us got a shot at it! The adrenalin rush was remarkable, needless to say we never saw it again whilst we were in the hide. We did see lots of Kingfishers though, they were coming in to feed, landing on a depth marker post before hovering in the air, spotting their prey, diving into the water before returning to the same post with their catch. They would sit with the little mino between its beak, flicking the fish in the air trying to maneuver it into the correct position before promptly swallowing it head first. Checking the watch the birds were flying in approximately every twenty to thirty minutes. During our stay a fellow birder called in to the hide to ask if we had seen the Pectoral Sandpiper reportedly on the water in front of the hide, these are a relatively rare bird for this part of the county, but after scanning the water's edge with his scope he pointed it out quite clearly. Unfortunately it was too far away to get a decent photograph coupled with the fact that the sunlight was shining straight into the camera lens. I really struggle to identify one type of Sandpiper from another and know that there are at least twenty different species of them, but this was a definite sighting. I reckon within a day or so the reserve will be busy with birders from all over the country looking for the same Pectoral Sandpiper. One of the four Little Egrets we spotted earlier in the day had flown across to our side of the lake and was feeding nicely in the shallow water in front of the hide. I enjoy watching these birds they look so elegant with their white pristine feathers as they stroll through the water vibrating their long legs to disturb the small crustaceans in the mud below. Time marched on and by mid afternoon we decided to call it a day. A great day out and certainly looking forward to another visit in the near future.
Sunday 11th September 2016
I have Just returned home from a few days in the Lake District. I always look forward to going over there and could quite easily settle down there and retire! I like being in and amongst the mountains and close to water which I enjoy the most, as well as the stunning scenery. Our base as usual was in the lovely
Borrowdale valley and the Borrowdale Hotel. I had planned the trip several weeks ago after reading a 'Photographers guide to the Lake District' and noted several places I would like to visit during our short stay. They were nothing strenuous and all within easy reach of the car, so I thought I would get no earache from her indoors!
We arrived at the hotel on a Sunny and warm Wednesday afternoon, the weather was so warm that we actually had afternoon tea with Meg & Gracie in the gardens of the hotel, it was wonderful just to be able to relax surrounded by lovely fresh air and mountains, bliss. The following morning we woke up to rain, a persistent drizzle. The dogs had slept reasonably well in our hotel room but were up and ready to go out for a walk at 6.00am, so it was winter waterproofs on and out we went. It was quite dark for this time in the morning and probably a little darker due to the rain, but there was no wind so it wasn't too bad really. We had a good walk for nearly two hours along the broadwalk along the southern shoreline of Derwentwater, returning to the hotel just before 8.00am. Fortunately although the dogs were wet through they were clean and not muddy, so after a good dry down with several towels we were all ready for breakfast. The weather unfortunately didn't improve at all during the day, so after everyone had been 
fed we had a drive into Keswick. The dogs settled contently in the back of the car and were hard fast asleep when I pulled up in the car park in the town centre. After a look around several of the shops it was a morning coffee in 'George Fishers' before returning to the car and heading off to the car park near the lake to let the dogs stretch their legs for a few minutes. The rain was coming down in bucket fulls as we walked passed along the line of rowing boats berthed up on the shore line. Meg & Gracie thought it was great fun getting their feet wet in the lake again but didn't know what to make of the ducks and geese. We headed down to the view point at 'Friar's Crag' a nice short walk with a stunning view looking down Borrowdale. Unfortunately today all we could see was a heavy grey sky with lots of rain, we watched for a few minutes as the rain clouds made their way up the valley in our direction so we promptly turned around and made a swift walk back to the car. Heading back towards the hotel I took a single track road up to Watendlath, a small farmstead with a large tarn that on a sunny day is extremely picturesque, on our way up the narrow road I stopped off at Ashness Bridge to take the classic Biscuit tin photo with Skiddaw in the background, only today the mist and drizzle was that low you could only see a few hundred yards. Further up the road I stopped off at 'Surprise View' which normally offers excellent views across Derwentwater towards Catbells on the other side of the lake and deep into the jaws of Borrowdale 
overlooking Lodore Falls Hotel to the left, alas today you could just make out the hotel below and that was it. Back in the car and further up the road to the tarn, it had stopped raining so with the dogs I headed off around the tarn for a nice picture looking across the water back towards the farmstead, lovely. Back to the car and within minutes of driving back down the single track road I clipped my drivers side rear tyre on a boulder, within seconds the alarm was going off in the car so I pulled over into the 'Surprise view' layby of sorts. The tyre was split badly and needed replacing, unfortunately when I checked the toolkit to remove the tyre there was no implement to remove the locking nut covers on the wheel, so I was snookered really, fortunately 'Volvo Assistance' and 'Keswick Motor Services' came to the rescue and within 30 minutes of the call I was back on the road and we made our way back to the warmth of the hotel. The following morning, Friday, was a very similar start as Thursday, wet and overcast although with the rain fall from the previous day as well as overnight rain our morning walk along the shore was somewhat curtailed due to the amount of floodwater. I was somewhat restricted to where I could go today with having a 'pram wheel' spare tyre fitted, (Keswick motor company were excellent, they ordered a new tyre which arrived the following morning and fitted it for me late Friday afternoon, brilliant service, which meant for the journey home on Saturday morning I wasn't limited to 50mph) so after breakfast we drove back into Keswick to have a look around the shops and then back down to Rosthwaite and 'Yew Tree Farm' for brunch (The tea and Lemon Drizzle cake is to die for!). The views looking over towards Castle Cragg looked lovely, even in the drizzle and rain. The rain was persistent so we headed back to the hotel. Early afternoon I drove back into Keswick to have the new tyre fitted ready for the journey home in the morning. Lets hope on our next visit to the Lakes the weather improves and I must try to avoid puncturing my tyres, it is getting expensive!
Friday 26th August 2016
It has been a busy week for me this week, what with being away all last week I have spent this week catching up on jobs around the garden namely tidying up the borders and grass cutting as well as 
freshening up the pond. I have just got around to editing pictures from last week. Anyway, earlier today I spent a few hours at Fairburn Ings. It was a lovely morning, 15C, a blustery NW wind, sunny and a lovely blue sky when I drove into the car park at the reserve, just before 9.00am. I had a quick catch up with the wardens in the visitors centre before I made my way along the trail to the Pick up Hide, it looks as though I was the first visitor there this morning so I promptly set up the camera gear and had a good look across the lake. I noted in the sightings book that one of the wardens had spotted an Osprey over the reserve earlier in the week so that was something to keep my eyes open for. I counted twenty female Teal on the lake along with a pair of Lapwing and a couple of Moorhens. A flog of over thirty Canada Geese flew over the hide in formation and made plenty of noise as they went. A lone Green Woodpecker was calling in front of the hide its distinctive call scaring the smaller Finches on the feeders, I'll get a photo of it one of these days but this morning it kept well out of my sight. A juvenile Robin kept popping in to have a feed on one of the feeders as did the young Greater Spotted Woodpecker though the Woodpecker preferred the suet pellets to the bird seed. The young Pheasants are looking good at the moment and look to have grown quite a bit since my last visit. A juvenile female Blackbird (pictured top left) sempt quite comfortable scavenging on the floor under the feeders with the Tree Sparrows and Chaffinch. I must check with the wardens to see if they have been ringing recently as I counted three Tree Sparrows with id tags on. The Magpies normally fly over the feeders at the Pick up hide but this morning a pair landed under the feeders, needless to say they cleared the area and it was a few minutes before the young Finches were brave enough to return. As the morning progressed the North Westerly wind got stronger and colder and blasted through the hide windows. By eleven oclock I was getting quite cold so decided to call it a day and head back to the centre for a coffee.
Sunday 21st August 2016
I have just literally returned home from a superb weeks holiday at Kilcamb Lodge (www.kilcamblodge.co.uk) in the small village of Strontian on the Ardnamurchan Peninsula, on the west coast of Scotland. This was my second visit, the last being back in 2011 and it was nice to be back again.
As you do, I had been keeping my eye on the weather map for several weeks prior to going, and to be quite honest, it was not good, the North West corner of the country had been shrouded in blue, which meant rain, rain virtually every day for the last fortnight!. Fortunately, by some stroke of luck when we arrived the rain disappeared and we had a glorious week of sunshine.
This is a wonderful part of the country and the journey from home isn't too bad either, once you get on the A82 North of Glasgow the scenery is quite breathtaking, especially alongside Loch Lommond and further North as you approach and drive through Glencoe, the bleakness and solitude takes your breath away. With having both the dogs in the car I had to stop several times on route for their comfort break so it was 6pm before we arrived at the Corran ferry for the short boat journey across Loch Linnhe to Ardgour, from there it is just a short twenty minute drive to our wonderful hotel in Strontian.
After settling in I took the dogs for a good walk around the grounds and alongside Loch Sunnart, it was good to watch the Oystercatchers along the shoreline and a lone Grey Heron standing in the shallows looking for an evening snack, a pair of Cormorants were sat on a buoy in the middle of the loch wings outstretched in the early evening sunlight, the loch was flat calm and a slight mist was beginning to form on the mountain tops on the other side of the Loch, there were some magnificent reflections across the water.
The following morning we took the dogs for a good long walk into the Ariundle Nature Reserve just north out of the village. The weather was a bit missly to start with before the sun broke through and turned into a warm and sunny afternoon. The reserve is a fine example of an ancient coastal woodland and recognised for its old oaks, many being several hundred years old. The reserve has a rich abundance and variety of fern, mosses, liverworts and lichens too. Our walk followed the banks of the river Strontian, which formed the main route to the 'lead mines' which were further up the valley and above the tree line. After a mile or so the path crossed the river, it was good to pause a while on the footbridge and watch the Dippers as they flew from boulder to boulder before diving into the water in search of food and emerging with a tiny grub. We continued along a raised broadwalk down the valley and made our way back to the car, a lovely walk no matter what the weather or time of year. Coffee and cake beckoned at the nearby by visitors centre.
The following morning we headed northward to the tiny village of Dorlin and a walk around the inlet to the ruined castle Tioram which sits on the island EIlean Tioram in Loch Moidart, This 14C castle is sited in a superb position on a rock tidal island near to the mouth of the River Shiel near Acharacle and would have controlled all the sea traffic to Loch Shiel. The sandy beaches were deserted and a superb place for the dogs to run of some surplus puppy energy for thirty minutes or so. On our way back we called at the newly opened Salem Jetty shop for afternoon tea, very pleasant and sociable. Before we arrived back at the hotel we stopped off at the wildlife hide at Garbh Eilean, beautiful views across loch sunnart to the seals basking on the rock outcrops on the small islands opposite. There were several Grey Herons basking in the afternoon sunlight, along with Cormarants and Oystercatchers. I had a good luck for the Otters but unfortunately today or this afternoon anyway they were playing hard to get. Arriving back at the hotel with two exhausted dogs we had a very pleasant evening in the hotel.
Tuesday morning and beautiful sunny morning, I took Meg & Gracie for a good walk along the Loch Sunart, they being typical Labradors headed straight for the water and had a good swim in the Loch. After breakfast we drove back to Ardgour and continued northwards along the A861 heading north along the western shores of Loch Linnhe. The scenery was stunning, the sunlight coming through the trees, reflections in the Loch and the Nevis range of mountains behind Fort William looked huge and majestic as their reflections glistened in the water. We stopped for a coffee at the Glenfinnan monument but the visitors centre and car park was packed with overseas tourists all hoping to see Harry Potter, so we didn't stay for long and headed along the 'road to the Isle' and the small town of Mallaig. On arrival, this lovely town was packed with visitors too, I should have realised really that the 'Hogwart Special' runs from Fort William stopping at Glenfinnan before terminating at Mallaig, That aside the same train journey is quite spectacular with stunning scenery. After a brief walk around Mallaig we headed south and followed the coast road before stopping at 'Silver Sands' to stretch our legs and give the dogs a good run. The beach was amasing (pictured right) vast, clean and virtually desserted. After the walk we continued our journey south along the coast road to Acharacle andarriving back at our hotel late afternoon.
After out busy day yesterday we stayed closer to home on Wednesday and explored the Ancient woodlands of Ariundle again, what a lovely walk along the river Sunart, the moss and litchen on the trees looked amasing, the density and lushness of some of the ferns too, mind you with the amount of rainfall this area attracts I am not surprised everything looks so green and lush. Afternoon tea was taken at the hotel and like all the other meals here was superb.
Thursday we were in the car again and a journey south to have a look arounf Oban, a busy little town on the coast, stopping on the way back in one of the Forestry Commision sites for a good dog walk.
Friday, our penultimate day, so we had a drive out to the Ardumurchan Lighthouse situated at the most westerly point on the British Isles. A lovely journey through some spectacular scenery, though it is a single track road from the hotel to the lighthouse a journey of approximately thirty miles.the views from the lighthouse towards the Isle of Slye, Muck, Eigg and Rhum makes it all worthwhile. The 36 metre granite tower stands 55 meteres above the rocks and was built in 1849 using granite shipped over from the Isle of Mull. It was designed by Alan Stevenson, the uncle of Robert Luis Stevenson. Although still fully operational the lighthouse has been automated but still provides a vital role for the shipping navigating the waters off Scotlands west coast. The keepers cottages have been converted into a small visitors centre whilst the others have been converted into holiday lets. After a walk around the Peninsula we headed back to the car and our journey back to the hotel before stopping at the excellent National History centre for coffee and most wonderful carrot cake at Glen Borrowdale.
Saturday, we left the hotel at 10.30am, stopping at Loch Lommond and Southwaite services stations for coffee before arriving home at 7.00pm, the end of a lovely holiday.
Monday 8th August 2016
It was a much cooler morning today 14C as I pulled into the reserve at Fairburn Ings, a strong North Westerly wind cut into your face as I unloaded the gear out of the car and made my way to the visitors 
centre. The sun was shining though with a lovely blue sky. Fortunately I had packed a fleece jacket in the camera bag and within minutes of arriving at the hide I had to put it on, the wind certainly was blowing this morning. It was very quiet around the feeders, a lone Cock Pheasant was strutting under the empty feeders hoping for some scraps of food that may somehow drop from them. Plenty of Chaffinch though flitting between feeders searching for any signs of food along with the Tree Sparrows. Looking out through the front windows a pair of Green Sandpipers were busily probing the shallow water for food. The resident pair of Black Headed Gulls were both resting on the main island. A Grey Heron flew in for a couple of minutes, had a paddle and preen before flying off towards the Lyn Dyke hide. Back to the feeder area and a Collared Dove, Robin and Blackbird were all scavenging around under the feeders. In the field to the right of the hide I counted nineteen Highland cattle busily grazing amongst the rough pasture, they look big beast even from a distance. The Blue Tits youngsters were looking as though they had had a rough night on the town, with their adult plumage coming through, another week and they will be fine I'm sure. It was unseasonably quiet at the hide this morning, I haven't known it as quiet as this for a long time, whether or not it was the strong cool wind or the lack of food in the feeders I don't know, but after an hour or so I called it a day and headed back to the centre for a coffee and a chat with some friends.
Friday 22nd July 2016
I had a free day today, so after the early morning dog walk and breakfast I packed the car with the camera gear and headed of to the reserve at Fairburn for the morning. I arrived just after 9.00am, it was a lovely morning with a light North Westerly wind, 20C with 60% humidity and cloudy. I popped into the visitors 
centre for a coffee and read of the sightings book before I made my way to the Pick up Hide. Looking through the hide windows across the water everything looked lush and green, the water level was quite low with plenty of mudflats for the waders to explore. The Purple Loosestrife was in full flower which looked beautiful as it swayed gently in the morning breeze. The Green Woodpecker was extremely vocal behind me, needless to say that I couldn't see it. On the water a pair of Black Headed Gulls and Moorhen were on the far side, two Canada Geese flew onto the lake from over my head, both being quite vocal as they landed on the water. On one of the small islands I counted seven Jackdaws. Closer to the hide a juvenile Greater Spotted Woodpecker was feeding busily on the remnants of the fatball feeder. It was quite amusing as the morning progressed, a pair of Grey Squirrels were controlling the feeders, and under them were three Hen Pheasants and a Cock Pheasant collecting the remnants on the woodland floor. The Cock Pheasant looked to be getting quite agitated about the Squirrels and sure enough as one of the squirrels landed onto the floor quite a fight developed between the two of them, the Pheasant seeing off the squirrel with several powerful pecks to its head and body. That was the last I saw of the Squirrel. The male Chaffinch were regular visitors this morning and looked really colourful with their orangy red breast and grey head glistening in the morning sunlight. Lots of foliage around today which made it difficult to see the birds. It was nice to see the baby Robins about today, their brown speckled breast giving their game away. Three young Hen Pheasant chicks kept popping in to scavenge under the feeders. A Jay with a pair of Magpie's kept threatening the area but could only get as far as the Sand Martin Wall. Dunnock, Tree Sparrows and a baby Wren were also busy feeding under the feeders. Blue Tits, Great Tits and Greenfinch were regular visitors during the morning too. A lovely quiet morning, time for another coffee.
Monday 18th July 2016
Up bright and early again this morning with the girls, I will be quite pleased when it starts getting a little darker in the morning when hopefully they will sleep a little longer! We had a good quiet walk around the Barff which is one of the benefits of getting up early so I shouldn't wish for darker mornings really. The 
weather forecast looked pretty good for the day so we packed the camera gear into the car along with Meg and Gracie and a little doggie picnic and set of for Castle Howard. I needed some more pictures of the walled garden in its summer finery. Walking through the courtyard is always special, we normally have a seat on one of the benches and discuss a strategy on what we are about to do etc, namely walk through the walled garden and then walk around the South Lake before dinner. It always amazes me as we sat with the dogs at the number of people, complete strangers really, who come up to you and want to chat about the dogs. Had we not had them with us I'm sure they wouldn't have been as chatty. It is great, many of the visitors are on holiday, away from home and in many cases away from their pets too so by coming over to see Meg & Gracie reminds them of their own. They are becoming quite popular with all the overseas visitors too with many of them taking pictures of them both with their phones, cameras and i pads, hey ho. On leaving the Courtyard we made our way into the Walled Garden, the border adjacent to the wall was amass of colour with some beautiful Alliums standing upright with gorgeous massive blue flower heads, the roses too proving to be equally as colourful. As we turned the corner into the central part of the garden the Delphiniums took your breath away. Even the Vegetable plot looked amasing. I could have spent hours in here just marveling at the planting, colour and scents. From here we headed out through the East Gate passing the Atlas Fountain and walked down to the lake. Mallards were loitering on the banks keeping close watch over their sibling chicks, a pair of Mute Swans came in to land, the Coots were making a lot of noise as we walked passed them. We rounded the corner and headed back along the north side of the lake, the grass had been kept a little longer here and was full of wild flowers and with them lots of Dragonflies and Damselflies. The view from the lake looked magnificent, the house standing proud in all its grandeur. By now the sun was at its highest and very warm, the dogs were beginning to tire so we headed back to the car via the courtyard cafe were we picked up a coffee and sandwich. We had a pleasant lunch under the shade of one of the Oak trees bordering the cricket square, needless to say that Meg and Gracie enjoyed their picnic too.
Friday 15th July 2016
Another early 5.30am start with M & G this morning. The weather forecast looked pretty good too so after a good walk and breakfast we loaded the dogs into the car and headed off to Frasethorpe, a small village between Skipsea and Bridlington on the East Coast. We used to take Poppy and Bridget here several times a year so they could have a good run on the sand and swim in the sea, they thoroughly enjoyed it. This was
our second visit since we have had Meg & Gracie this year.
I was amazed at the large numbers of wind turbines that have been erected around this area, what a complete and utter blot on the landscape. Whilst I agree we need to look at alternative power sources I am pretty certain that with the technology we have available in the 21st Century we could source our energy without such a impact on the landscape.
I drove into the car park adjacent to the sea front at approximately 10.15 am. and parked up. The tide was far out and the sands were virtually free from people, just the occasional dog walkers in the distance. The sun was shining 20C and with only a very light wind, it looked extremely pleasant. On our first visit earlier this year the dogs were very hesitant about entering the sea, so today I had put a pair of shorts on in an attempt to get the dogs into the water. It was a good three to four minute walk from the car to the waters edge and as nobody else was in close proximity I let them of the lead, they ran the last two hundred yards straight to the waters edge, had a quick paddle and promptly ran back to find me. I spent the next forty five minutes with them paddling in the water, no more than knee deep, we headed northwards towards Bridlington which we could see in the distance. It was quite a while since I had had a paddle in the sea, the dogs were splashing about nicely as they chased each other around me and occasionally jumping up and soaking me through. They gained in confidence the longer they stayed in the water which I was pleased to see, though I think one of the reasons Meg was jumping up at me was that she wanted to be carried! The morning sun had nicely warmed the water which made it a little more bearable and enabled us to have a good walk and play in the shallow water. Just after 11.00am we headed back to the car, still walking through the water, occasionally the dogs would set of along the sand for a good gallop before returning to me in the water. It was nice to get back to the car though and get dried down. Within minutes the dogs were asleep as we loaded them into their crates in the back of the car. After a cup of tea from the mobile tea van which was parked up in the car park we set of for home, with not a murmur from either dog. A lovely morning for them both at the seaside..
Wednesday 13th July 2016
I had a free day today so after the early morning routine and breakfast I loaded the camera gear into the car and headed of to the reserve at Fairburn for a couple of hours. It was a bright start with a fresh westerly 
wind and 15C when I arrived at the hide at about 9.30am. I was pleased I had packed a fleece jacket in my rucksack as the wind was strengthening from the west and at times howled through the hide window and straight into your face. The water level in the lake had dropped since my last visit with quite an expanse of mud around the edges of the water and the island in the middle was harboring a pair of Black headed Gulls, six Rooks and a host of Mallard, Coot and Water Hen. Through the bino's I spotted a Little Ringed Plover patrolling the waters edge searching for some small aquatic invertebrates or insects. At the far side of the lake were three Lapwing busily going about their business. I was looking through my record book and this time last year there was a pair of Avocet on this lake with two young chicks and the Sand Martin wall nest holes were virtually full, this year I haven't seen any nesting Avocets and only a fleeting glimpse of the Sand Martins. On an amusing note though I watched a big red Pheasant as it set about a Grey Squirrel under the feeders to the right of the hide, lots of wing flapping and pecking by the Pheasant soon sent the Squirrel scurrying off up the nearest tree. It was good to see a pair of juvenile Hen Pheasants with their mother feeding under the feeders. Young Jackdaw were busily flying in for the fat balls along with the Greater Spotted Woodpecker. Looking back over the lake you could see heavy rain showers coming towards the hide, fortunately although the hide is quite open, the roof kept the rain off me.It was good to see the big Highland Cattle as they roamed the field to the right of the hide, they are a hardy breed and a little shower of rain like this certainly wouldn't disrupt their business. The Purple Loostrife amongst the reed beds was flowering nicely and added a splash of colour. During the morning a pair of Green Sandpipers flew in and landed on the shoreline, they spent a good thirty minutes feeding at the waters edge. By now it was nearing lunch time so time to head back to the visitors centre for a coffee and some brunch.
Tuesday 5th July 2016
A very early start this morning. I had heard M & G paddling around downstairs for some time, the sun was just rising in the east so I and hurriedly got dressed, it wasn't until I had made my way downstairs and glanced over my shoulder at the kitchen clock which said 4.30am, what on earth am I doing getting up at 
this time in the morning? I took the dogs out onto the garden to stretch their legs, picked up my waistcoat and their leashes and set of for a walk. It was a lovely morning, a bit grey, the overnight dew had made the grass very wet underfoot and within 5 minutes my boots were wet through along with the dogs bellies. It was 5.00am by the time we reached the Barff and looking over the fields a low mist or temperature inversion hung in the air, with just the hedge tops showing through, quite a magical sight really, I used to see it a lot in the lake district when the valleys were shrouded in a vast sea of mist but higher up the peaks the sun would be shining through. Fortunately, by the time we had walked up to the top of Tap Hill on the Barff the whole of Selby and outlying areas was shrouded in mist. What a shame that 90% of the people would never see it. After about an hour's walk around the Barff we headed for home. I had a free day today all be it with the pups so after breakfast the three of us headed off to Castle Howard, but this time instead of looking around the house and gardens we turned left at the entrance roundabout and drove into the Yorkshire Arboretum. It must be a couple of years since my last visit so I was looking forward to it. Bridget and Poppy used to enjoy coming here so I am sure Meg and Gracie will too. We had a wonderful morning walking amongst the trees, such a variety, many of the fir trees had some remarkable looking cones on them. The grass terraces were 
very wet still and the ground staff were busy hard at work grass cutting. The grass was much longer than I remember it on my last visit several years ago, much of it though made really good meadow land with a host of wild flowers swaying gently in the morning breeze. This was good to see as most of our meadowland disappeared during the late 1930's. This loss of meadowland had a major impact on our native pollinators three-quarters of butterfly species are currently in decline and there have been significant losses of wild bumblebees. By creating these meadow pastures it goes some way to reverse the loss by creating and managing large expanses of wildflower meadows, thereby providing more food for insects such as bumblebees, hoverflies, butterflies and moths. Another benefit is that in early spring they provide a mass of colour which on a sunny day attracts a wide variety of butterfly. After following the Bastion wall we stopped at the area around the Santa ponds to photograph the Orchids, from there we headed over to the Dew Pond and onto the Arboretum Lake and back to the visitors centre and cafe for cake and coffee. The whole walk took us about two hours, and in that time we hardly saw a sole. We mustn't leave it another year before another visit.
Tuesday 14th June 2016
Up bright and early this morning with Meg & Gracie and was out walking them both on the Barff at 5.30am. It is hard to believe they are both just over seven months old and full of mischief.
I've just spent the last three days scraping moss and weeds out of our block paving, a nightmare of a job and extremely tedious, but at least it is out of the way for another year.
It was slightly cloudy and overcast first thing this morning and very humid. I had a free day today so loaded the camera bag into the car and headed of to Fairburn for the morning. After a pleasant chat and coffee with the wardens, I headed off along the discovery trail to the Pick up hide. I was the first one there this morning which makes a change for me and quiet, lovely really. The Little Egret was still on the lake in front of the hide, along with several Tufted ducks and a Shoveler. Over on the feeders juvenile Jackdaws kept flying in to feed on the fat ball feeders along with the Greater Spotted Woodpeckers. Reed Buntings were patiently waiting their turn once the bigger birds had flown. It was good to see several juvenile Robins, their speckled chest markings showing nicely in the faint sun that was trying to break through the early morning gloom. Occasionally the quiet was broken by the raucous call of a pair of Jays that appeared to be loitering with intent, namely to chance their arm at predating some of the young chicks that were patiently waiting for their parents to feed them. The Great Tit chicks were probably their own worst enemy making a lot of noise waiting to be fed, although looking at the size of them they all looked big enough to feed themselves.
The Grey Squirrels soon cleared the birds away, a pair of them arrived, one after the other, stealthily making their way along the tree branches before clambering onto the feeders, a fight followed as they both headed for the same feeder the loser making a slight retreat until its mate had finished feeding.
The Long Tailed Tits, four of them had been biding their time behind me and when the feeders were clear quickly nipped in onto the fat balls, had one of the quickest feeds and were off, not to be seen again that morning. Lots of Blue Tits about this morning, some looking quite disheveled whilst others looked in pretty good condition, their breast feathers glistening in the morning sunlight. Several Dunnocks were busily hoovering up all the loose seed on the floor under the feeders, I've not yet seen one actually on the feeder but I'm sure they must. Coffee time was fast approaching so I dismantled the camera gear and headed back to the centre for lunch. A great morning.
Wednesday 8th June 2016
Today was the first opportunity to get out with the camera since returning from our tour of Southern Italy. I packed the car and headed over to the reserve at Fairburn Ings. It wasn't until I opened my log book that I realised it was 5 weeks since my last visit. What a difference and how the reserve had changed within those
weeks. The most notable being how much the hedgerows have grown and the associated flora and fauna. Everything was looking lush green so I new they had had their fair share of rain too. I headed to the visitors centre for a coffee and an update from the wardens, to be told that there had been good sightings of Spoonbill, Cuckoo and several visitors had heard the Bittern. I headed over to the Pick up hide and set up the camera gear. It was just after 9.00am, the sun was breaking through the low cloud, very little wind at all, and extremely humid, the temperature was 16C Looking over the lake was quite a picture, lots of activity on the water, the flag irises were in flower, and the trees and bushes had leafed up and the reed beds had grown to about four feet in height. A Little Egret (pictured right) was on the far side of the lake, it actually stayed on the water all morning, just occasionally it would take off and do a circuit of the lake before landing in a different part of the water Its beautiful white plumage looking good in the morning light. A pair of Mute swans looked to have taken up residence on one of the small muddy islands, though were probably just resting. A pair of Lapwing were busily feeding on the waters edge. To the left of the hide a Shoveler duck was busy feeding swinging its head from side to side under the water in its search for food. A pair of Shell Ducks were on the far side of the lake along with several Tufted Ducks and Coots. I haven't seen as much activity as this on the lake for quite a while.
It was busy on the feeders too. Within minutes of me setting up a juvenile Jackdaw flew in to feed under the hide before venturing out in view of the camera. Lots of Tree Sparrows flitting in and out along with Great Tits and Blue Tits. Under the fence a pair of Mallards were quite content basking in the early sunshine only moving after a Grey Squirrel had partly emptied one of the feeders on the floor when they would venture out from their sheltered spot to hoover up under the feeder. Suddenly all the small finches disappeared, and a big Jay flew straight onto the peanut feeder and fed on the nuts for about a minute before flying off in front of the hide and out of sight. A Red Pheasant came out of the long grass behind the Sand Martin wall it strutted and paraded and made a noise before being spooked by a Rabbit and flew off back into the undergrowth!
I don't know what has happened to the Sand Martins, this time last year the wall was full with them, all feeding their young chicks. I never saw any this morning, neither did I see any Avocets, again, this time last year there was a pair on this lake with young, no sign of any Avocets at all this year which was disappointing, I wonder why? It was nice to see a Red Legged Partridge pay me a visit, I like these colourful birds as they scavenged for food on the floor. Goldfinch arrived mid morning for a feed with a pair of Greenfinch. Several Dunnock were minding their business as they searched for food on the floor. Behind me I could hear several Canada Geese flying about before coming into view in front of the hide, four of them banked right and flew in formation like the Red Arrows, heading for the Lin Dyke area of the reserve. Coffee and cake beckened so left the hide and headed back to the centre and the car, before I left I had a walk to the main lake via the Swan feeding platform, no sign of Avocets on this lake too. This time last year I photographed atleast two families with their chicks here. It was nice to see a Mute Swan with her six young Signets as she gracefully guided them around the shallow water. A lovely morning at the Ings.
Wednesday 1st June 2016
Just returned home from a very pleasant holiday to Southern Italy, 'discovering' the heel of Italy with some close friends. From Gatwick airport we flew to Bari Airport a journey of approximately two hours thirty .jpg)
minutes on arrival we drove South to Lecce and our hotel for the next two nights. The following day we headed off further South to Otranto the most Easterly City in Italy and a look around the 12th Century Romanesque Cathedral with a remarkable mosaic floor dating back to the year 1166.
The following day we drove over to Ostuni a beautiful little city known as the 'White Town', beautiful white painted houses perched on a hill with a cathedral dating back to the 15th Century. Following a lovely afternoon we headed over to Selva di Fasano and our base for the next three nights.
Thursday morning, after a comfortable night we drove to the town of Matera the Subterranean City, which has been designated a world Heritage Site since 1993. The cave dwellings were quite remarkable, and one of the oldest inhabited human settlements in the world. The dwellings had none of todays utilities which we take for granted, no running water, electric or sanitation, their farm animals used to live in the same space as the inhabitants! upto eleven families were known to have lived in some of the 'sassi's', what was even more remarkable was that the last remaining habitants weren't finally re-housed until the 1950's.
Friday, probably one of the highlights of the tour was a drive to Alberobello a small, picture postcard town in the Itria valley, to have a look at the 'trulli', (pictured above) which are circular, conical roofed white washed dwellings. Since 1996 the 'capital of the Trulli' has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, perched on a slope these tiny houses are quite unique due to their dry stone building construction. Many of the buildings are still occupied and serve as private homes, many of the occupants, for a small fee, will willingly show you around their home.
Saturday we headed over to the Castellana caves to have a guided tour through the limestone caves, only discovered as recently as 1938. The guided tour through the cave system lasted about an hour with some marvelous rock formations. After a coffee we headed over to Ruvo di Puglia and a look around the 13th Century Ruvo Cathedral. A short walk took us to the Jetta museum where there was a remarkable collection of Terracotta figures and pots decorated in mythical scenes which gave a good insight into the early life of the Magna Graecia. A short drive took us to Trani, a small harbour town just north of Bari and our hotel for the next two night.
The following morning we headed over to Castel Del Monte a large octagonal castle/hunting lodge built by Frederick 11 during the mid thirteenth Century. We returned to Trani for brunch at one of the many small bistro restaurants situated alongside the harbour (pictured right), a pleasant afternoon and evening before we headed back to Bari in the morning and our flight home.
Wednesday 18th May 2016
I had had a disturbed night with the pups last night, Meg has just nicely found that she can bark and when 
she barks I go running to her! she thinks it is great fun. Unfortunately when I put them to bed at around 10.30pm she settles with her sister for a few minutes whilst I lock up and turn out the lights, leaving them both downstairs and settled on their respective dog beds etc. No sooner had I got into bed that she started to bark, I popped downstairs to see what the fuss was all about and as I opened the kitchen door she went hyper, jumping up, licking me, running around as though I had been away for several weeks let alone a couple of minutes. I took them both outside into the garden for a run round and to see if they needed the loo again, after a few minutes I brought them back in, fortunately this time they settled and slept. I heard Meg barking and running around the kitchen floor the following morning at 2.30am! so I went back down stairs and into the garden with them both etc etc. back to bed till 5.00am. This time I stayed up and took them both out for an early morning walk around the Barff. It was a lovely morning despite my lack of sleep, short sleeves and summer waistcoat which made a change from a thick fleece and waterproof jacket.
The Bluebells are at their best at the moment and look amazing, covering a large area of the Barff more so on the eastern side. Another week and the ferns and nettles will have smothered them so this morning it was nice to see them in all their finery. We had a lovely walk, no sign or sound of squeeky trees at the moment, the birds must still be sitting on their eggs. We are going on holiday next week so hopefully when I return the young chicks will have hatched and the Barff will be full of the sound of the youngsters begging for food from their parents. A good walk and hopefully two tired out dogs, lets hope they give me some respite today.
Wednesday 11th May 2016.
Up bright and early this morning, the pups had me up at 5.00am, the sun was shining outside so we had a good quiet early morning walk on Brayton Barff. The Bluebells are looking at their prime at the moment and at 5.20am the aroma drifting across the woodland smells beautiful. I've been watching several woodpecker
trees for a couple of weeks now and I am quite hopeful that we should have several broods of Greater Spotted Woodpecker chicks in a couple of weeks time, something to keep an eye on when I come back of holiday. But for now we, Meg, Gracie and I enjoyed a pleasant walk.
After breakfast I had arranged to go photographing at the 'National Centre for Bird of Prey' in Helmsley, so I had made arrangements to put M & G into our local kennels for a 'Doggy Care day', this served two purposes really, firstly, I couldn't take them with me on this photo assignment and secondly I will be flying out to Southern Italy in a couple of weeks time and wanted them both to have a taste of life in the kennels with other dogs etc, before we leave them for our holiday. As it turned out they had a great day in doggy care apparently and seemed none the worse for it when I collected them late that afternoon.
I packed the car with all the camera gear and two dogs and headed off towards their kennels, I dropped them both off no problem at all, this was their first time away from home since we have had them so I was a little apprehensive, they never looked back as the kennel staff walked them off to their accommodation for the day, nothing more for me to do than leave and head off up to Helmsley. It was a pleasant 40 minute drive arriving at the centre around 10.30am, leaving me enough time to sort the camera out and pop into the cafe for a quick coffee before the 11.30am flying display started.
I have always liked visiting here, and try to visit several times each year. The centre opened a couple of years ago on the Duncombe Park estate and within that time has continued to develop into a superb centre for the birds. Charlie Heap the director and his small team established the centre from scratch and should be justly proud, he certainly isn't hesitant about getting his hands dirty and played a significant part in building the aviaries. He continues to do a stirling job with the birds and his staff and flies the birds three times a day.
The first flying display started at 11.30am, a 16 year old Harris Hawk called 'Vienna' came soaring above the watching visitors head as it flew over the flying ground before settling on one of the many tree trunks which act as huge perches for the birds, after 'Vienna' then came 'Laura' a 5 year old Lanner Falcon, a stunning bird as it circled the flying ground. The next bird in the display was a huge Great Horned Owl (pictured left) , wow, what a magnificent looking bird and lastly in this mornings display was 'Zonda' a 2year old Grey Buzzard Eagle, what a big, stunning bird as it sat on the tree trunk before setting off to do some circuits of the flying ground. The flying display lasted for about thirty minutes after which I made my way over to the cafeteria for a sit down, cup of tea and sandwich, all extremely nice. The next flying display didn't start till 2pm so I had plenty of time to follow the 'Hawk Walk' around the aviaries. The huge Sea Eagles were out of their aviaries, and sat calmly on perches in the paddock area, occasionally hopping off them to enjoy a wash in their huge bathing pools. Time was marching on so I headed back to the flying ground for the 2 o'clock display. The first raptor was 'Atlantis' a White Tailed Sea Eagle' a huge bird which looked stunning in the afternoon sunlight flying gracefully over the ancient oak trees and soaring effortlessly on the gentle breeze. Following the Sea Eagle came 'Bernot' a 5 year old Common Buzzard, its colouration quite distinctive of the Buzzard. Then the star of the show weighing in at just 130 grams was 'Scoma' a Burrowing Owl, this young bird was full of mischief, unfortunately though it was reluctant to burrow as earlier in the week it had been spooked by a family of rabbits who had taken up residence in one of his burrows! It more than made up for it though as it flew amongst the watching audience by sitting on the empty benches and fence posts. The final bird of this display was 'Urana' a five year old Lanner Falcon it looked amazing as it flew over us and circled high above. A most enjoyable afternoon, time marched on so it was time to head for home and collect the pups from their day care.
Thursday 5th May 2016
Another early start to the day, the pups had me up at 2.30am this morning! no sooner had I got them settled after a walk around the garden, and back to sleep then they woke me again, this time it sounded as they 
were running a marathon around the kitchen floor, chasing each other and running into the doors for maximum noise effect, anyway it worked. I looked at the bedside clock and it showed 5.15am, oh well! I was up and out on the Barff with them both for 5.45am. There was a was a thick fog when we set off although by the time we got to the Barff the weak sun was trying to burn through the mist. It was quite atmospheric really with beams of sunlight casting long shadows through the trees. The Bluebells are still looking beautiful at the moment, as you walk along the track you can occasionally smell their delicate scent wafting in the air. It will be another week before the grass and nettles start to smother them and another chapter in the nature book will be written when the ferns and nettles take over from the Bluebells.
The Nuthatches were extremely vocal this morning, it seemed as though they were present at every corner of the Barff. We spent a quiet five minutes sitting on the floor watching the Goldfinches in the young Mountain Ash trees, I love looking at these birds, their red facial markings and white faces make them look quite distinguished, its a shame they are so bad at housekeeping. As I was sat watching the Goldfinches playing in the trees I watched a Great Tit taking nesting material into the bough of a big old beach tree.
By the time we arrived home the sun had broken through the morning fog and mist and it was a barmy 12C. 
I had just made a cup of tea and as I looked over towards the pond I saw a flash of light brown which caught my attention, a Mistle Thrush had just landed in the bird bath and was having a good splash about. We don't often see these in the garden so this was quite a treat, fortunately I still had my waistcoat on, I always try to keep a small ixus camera in one of the pockets so, rather than go outside to get a picture I wedged my arms on the window sill, pulled in the zoom and took a couple of pics through the kitchen window. the wire fencing that I have around the pond at the moment to keep the mad pups out, somewhat spoils the picture but this was too good an opportunity to miss.
Anyway, after breakfast I had an important meeting to attend in Harrogate, so packed the camera gear in the car and if time allowed pop over to RHS Harlow Carr afterwards. Fortunately, my business was all done by late morning so headed over to Harlow Carr for brunch and a walk around the gardens. By now the temperature had risen to 22C, possibly the warmest spring day of the year so far. We had a lovely walk around the gardens which always look immaculate but what really caught my eye this visit were the masses of Tulips, their colours covering virtually all the colours of the spectrum and made quite a picture. It was nice to see lots of visitors enjoying the gardens today, many bringing picnics and sitting out on the manacured lawns enjoying the sunshine. What a lovely afternoon, but I couldn't stay for long as I had to head home and see what the pups had been upto.
Wednesday 4th May 2016
Well, that's April out of the way and here we are in the first week of May, it only seems 5 minutes ago since I was putting up Christmas decorations! I've had some early starts this week, Meg our 5 month old lab has just learnt to bark, Gracie has some way to go yet thank goodness. The downside to the barking melarky is
that as soon as its light in the morning, (around 5.00am) she's up and about and wanting to fight with her sister and causing general mayhem and mischief in the kitchen. In order to safe guard the well being and respectability of the house, and before it is chewed to pieces, I try to pre-empt her by getting up at 5.00am to reduce the damage and to her sister. The good part about all of this is that we (me, Meg & Gracie) have had some lovely early morning walks on Brayton Barff. It is nice and quiet at that time in the morning, by quiet I mean not many people about. The Cuckoo has been quite audible several times this week around the top of Tap Hill, which is great to hear. Chiffchaff seem to be all over the place at the moment, along with Nuthatches, it seems just a couple of years ago I spotted my first Nuthatch nesting in one of the trees in the car park, today as I walked around I could hear them in at least five to six different locations and two of those being in nest boxes. Robins too, where do they come from? especially around the farm shop area of the Barff. Quite often on our walk I pick up the main footpath near to where the farm shop was and leash walk the dogs along the main footpath towards the car park, I counted eight different Robins this morning as they flew down onto the path, sometimes just a few feet in front of us completely oblivious to my presence let alone my two mad Chocolate Labrador companions. Its also been nice being able to have a walk without the winter gear on. After breakfast with the weather and forecast being so nice I packed the car and headed of to Castle Howard and another walk around the South lake. The weather was amazing, a lovely blue sky, sunshine and 18C. The house was looking stunning in the morning sunshine as was the Atlas Fountain which was in full flow after its winter servicing and looked beautiful with the house as a backdrop.
Monday 25th April 2016
Up early this morning and managed to get out with the dog first thing, I was back home for 7.00am having been out for an hours walk on the Barff, well although I was out for the hour much of that time I spent on my 
hands and knees photographing the Bluebells which are looking stunning at the moment, and it gets the dogs used to my camera etc etc. The rest of my morning was free for a change so after a quick coffee and breakfast I headed over to the reserve at Fairburn Ings. It was just over two weeks since my last visit and at this time of year a lot can change within that time. The road from Fairburn to the reserve is still closed so it was a detour through Ledsham again. It was a lovely morning, a cold north westerly wind and 8C but the temperature rose slightly once the sun broke through the early morning mist and gloom.
I arrived at the reserve for 9.00am, had a coffee from the visitors centre and chat to the wardens before heading off to the Pick up hide.The daffodils are still in full flower and look good along the Discovery Trail, the blossom on the hawthorn hedging is flowering nicely too and forms quite a picture against a bright blue and cloudy sky.
There was nobody else at the hide when I arrived so all was quiet, less the sound of bird song in the trees behind and around where I was sat. Within a couple of minutes I had the camera set up and ready for a mornings photographing. The first thing I noticed was the large numbers of Dunnock (pictured above) in the bushes, singing their heads off. A pair of Red Pheasants were scavenging underneath the empty feeders, their golden colours looked quite stunning in the morning sunlight. As well as the Dunnocks I counted at least three to four Robins, all singing away looking for food, they all looked in good condition too.
Several weeks ago there were reported sightings of a pair of stoats (accompanied by photographs) in front
of the hide, well at 9.40am. I saw one, I glimpsed it out of the corner of my eye as it ran along the waters edge and through the rushes towards the Sand Martin wall. I swung the lens round and watched as it ran full tilt up the bank and into the bushes to the right of the wall, although I had it in focus in the lens I couldn't get a clear picture, which was a bit frustrating, but it certainly gave me a buzz for the rest of the morning. What was more frustrating was that I couldn't get a sight of its bushy tail to see if it was actually a stoat or a Weasel, the weasel has a black band around the tip of its tail and is the only way I can tell them apart. Needless to say it didn't show again whislt I was there.
Behind me was the continuous bird song from Chiffchaff. Looking over towards the Lin Dyke hide the two 'Cormorant trees' were full of Cormorant sitting on their nests, quite a sight really especially as one or two had just returned from a feeding trip and were stood on the tree branches with their wings outstretched drying their feathers in the bright sunshine.
All looked relatively quiet on the lake in front of the hide, a pair of Mute swans spent the morning preening. Several Mallard were scattered around the waters edge, including one pair with at least six chicks which only looked a couple of days old. Over on the far side of the lake were three pair of Canada Geese feeding on the rushes. To the left of the hide and circling a couple of hundred feet in the air were a pair of Buzzards, their huge broad wing span enabling them to circle with complete ease, just tilting their feathers to change direction, after a couple of minutes they headed off towards the river Aire.
Back at the hide it was good to see several Sand Martin visiting the sand martin wall. it always amazes me how they appear to fly straight into their nest hole in the wall at full speed, though they have it of to a fine art. All the finches were visiting the feeders including the Reed Bunting, Great Tit, Blue Tit and Chaffinch, the male Chaffinch looking extremely colourful at the moment. As lunch time neared I headed back to the visitors centre, stopping for a few minutes to watch a pair of Male Bullfinches in the hawthorn, with their jet black plumage and beautiful orange breast, a great way to end a lovely morning at the Ings.
Wednesday 20th April 2016
Parcevall Hall Gardens, Wharfedale
Woke up to a bright and pleasant morning. I was out with Meg & Gracie by 6.30am, the Barff is looking quite a picture at the moment with the Bluebells in full flower on the South eastern side and the trees 
beginning to colour up. After a good energetic walk we headed home for breakfast. After which I packed the car and we headed off into Wharfedale. I hadn't been into this part of North Yorkshire for many years. It is a journey of about one and a half hours from home. I had read somewhere about the gardens at Parcevall Hall at Skyreholme, just outside of the village of Appletreewick. The weather forecast for the day looked encouraging so fingers crossed things don't deteriorate as the day develops. As we headed up the dale towards the latter part of the journey the roads narrowed into single file with passing places which made the journey quite interesting but no problem. We arrived at our destination at just after eleven oclock. Sun still shining, lovely blue sky and a temperature of 16C, shirt sleeve weather. We left the car park and followed the track alongside Tarn Ghyll Beck which led to a small tarn. We sat on one of the benches to admire the view along the valley and the huge swathes of daffodils swaying gently in the light breeze. There were some