Birdlife

Summer marches on; although not as warmly or consistently as in previous years. Rather than the usual long days of hot sun, we have had one or two humid and sultry days to intersperse the rain and storms that seem set to continue until at least the end of the month.

It's good for the wildlife and nature. The grass grows as you watch it and the insects proliferate everywhere. The birds have plenty to eat! The redstarts have been back this year. Unable to get inside the house for the first time they have built nests under the terrace, on top of the pool filter, and in the garage on Ian's shelves. They seem to do quite well and the second batch are just learning to fly. One bird was a lot smaller than the rest and I saw it several times resting in the grass, or staring at me from the window ledge. It seemed quite fearless and I was sure it would be eaten by one of the cats or other hunters. But no.. it has persisted and is still around.

We have a pair of hoopoes that are feeding the garden. I'm not sure where the nest is, but they are amazing looking exotic things. Hoopoes appear each summer and return to warmer climates after they have nested.  When the dog is not in his outside house they take advantage of the structure to perch and rest. They also like to shelter from the rain.

Redstart and Hoopoe sheltering from rain



The 'hirondelles', which  are either swallows or swifts, also return this time of year. (In fact the French call the English second home owner 'les hirondelles' as they also  follow this migratory pattern!) They converge on the swimming pool first thing in the morning and in the evening to grab a drink and an insect or two. The other thing that happens this time of year is that the fields are cut for hay. This brings all the birds of prey out to 'shop', looking for some fast food. This one is a regular over our field this time of year. I think it is a kite.



Shopping





Holidays

Phew..just catching up after a week away. We spent a lovely week in Limoux, in the heart of the Cathar country. Here are a few pictures.

The citie- Carcasonne

Vineyards of the Languedoc-Roussillon

Ax-les-thermes

Snow on the Pyrenees (in May)

 

Rennes le chateau

 

Orchid

This year we've had a cold and slow start to spring together with a lot of rain. The orchids are later this year and for some reason are a darker purple colour, rather than the usual lighter pink.

Pyramid Orchid

Still rather magnificent even in purple.

Old school: Sepia Saturday 176

This is my grandmother's old school photograph. She was born at the turn of the century and I would guess this photo was taken between 1902-1904.

The board that the boy in the front row is holding say "Medburn St Infants- group 4" The school was in the London Borough of Camden, Somerstown area and was built between 1873 and 1877 and from 1877-1904 took children up until the age of 11.

I'm pretty sure that this is my grandmother as I remember that expression! It lasted a lifetime!

Dorothy Turner

Some of the others don't look that happy either!

 

This little girl looks quite frail

And this boy looks so serious





I guess he didn't want his photo taken!



 

A picture tells a thousand tales.. for other stories pop over to Sepia Saturday.

A smoking break: Sepia Saturday 175

We were brought up in a non-smoking household and warned against the dangers of smoking. My father smoked as a young man, as did everyone when he was younger. In fact it used to be part of the treatment for Tuberculosis as it made you cough! He stopped as soon as it became clear that smoking was bad for you.

My grandfather smoked a pipe (and the occasional cigar, and maybe even  smoked cigarettes in his youth.) My mother never smoked and as far as I knew neither did my grandmother; until I saw this photo!

It's not a brilliant photo but clearly shows my grandfather drinking a cup of tea and my grandmother lighting up a fag. They were on their way to the South Coast from London and taking a break. It was taken around 1952, and my mother was most likely the photographer. The car was their Ford Popular, which I remember. My grandfather treated it like a treasure; taking it out weekly to polish it, and never driving it more than 28 mph. It must have taken them a long time to get to Sussex!

The other thing I noticed is how smartly dressed they are. Nowadays it would be comfortable casual clothes for a journey!

A jolly hiking holiday-Sepia Saturday 172

These photographs were knocking around in my mother's wardrobe for years. They bear the scars as both are rather damaged. When I was a child I used to sneak into my parent's room and go through all the photographs in the wardrobe. They contained pictures of my parents before they met each other and before I was born, and were full of fascination.

This group of walkers looked relaxed and happy. The man on the left is my father but the woman next to him is not my mother! She never knew who she was .."just someone he knew before he met me!" (Apparently in his younger days there were plenty of women that were interested in him!)

Thus is the same group, looking very fit and healthy. They could almost be in an advertisement for a health cure!

I'm not sure where they are but my guess would be either the Isle of Wight or Jersey.

Any Ideas?

There are some really pretty flowers in the meadow. I know they are pretty but I really haven't got a clue as to what they are. Does anyone know?

 

 

This little patch was on the bank of the stream. I caught a glimpse of the purple flash through the undergrowth and came back later with my camera. There were only one or two patches of it.

 

There were quite a few of these in the meadow. They are very delicate, and in the daylight look a little more pink than mauve. They have a long stem and a frond type of leaf.

 

Edit: Thanks to my friend Naomi for the following:

 

The top one is a toothwort but not sure what kind and the bottom one is cuckoo flower, sometimes called ladies smock.

Arundel Castle 1955 -Sepia Saturday 171

1955... Looking at the photos in my mother's old album I think it was the year she met my father as he appears for the first time. However, there were also pictures of family outings and holidays. These photos of Arundel Castle and High Street were taken as part of a trip to West Sussex, with my mother and her parents. She would have been 25 at the time and I assume she was the photographer.

Arundel Castle 1955



Arundel High Street 1955







Views from Arundel Castle




When I used to go on mountain bike rides we went all over the South Downs and ended up in or near Arundel on several occasions. From what I remember it hasn't really changed much in 50 years.

Two more signs of spring

Daisy- 31 March 2013



Primrose

Walking the dog

Spring is still slow but there are early signs! We have had a few warmer days but interspersed with days of rain and cooler spells. However, signs of life are emerging; the grass is growing and wild flowers are springing up in the meadows.

As usual I didn't have my decent camera with me when I took the dog for a walk. I only had my mobile phone, and because the sun was shining on the screen I couldn't really see what I was doing. Bearing those things in mind, I was quite pleased with the results.

First flowers

Walking the dog

Spring is slow to arrive this year

It is the beginning of our third year here and the coldest one so far. The dry spell ended and January and February were wet months. The lake has gone from being a puddle to completely full and the river that flows into it has burst it's banks a couple of times. Our last walk around there was a couple of weeks ago and it was full to the brim. The weather was also cold and sunny.

 

It's hard to believe that we walked across this bit of the lake back in October.

Despite the sun, it has been cold and so we are only seeing the first signs of blossom and green shoots. Actually we aren't complaining as once the weather warms up we will be back into the cycle of cutting crass, pulling weeds, and generally trying to keep on top of the green bits.

The last few mornings have been frost free but the cold is set to return for (hopefully) it's last burst before spring. There is snow in the north of France and the South of England and it is heading this way. It reminds me of the first time I came down here in one Easter and we were caught in snow on the drive down.

We have been very busy with various projects for other people, so have made little progress on our own project. At those times I have to remind myself that we are living here and not commuting back and forth from London to Eastbourne (and spending 12 hours stuck in the snow)!

Women's work:Sepia Saturday 166

This is a photo from my mother's collection and is of her and her colleagues from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. It was sometime in the late 1950s and the Ministry was based in prefabricated buildings in Stanmore, Middlesex. My mother was a shorthand typist.

Work Colleagues Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries 1956-7

Lovely's mum

This is her on the front row, bottom right. My mother worked there until I was born. I think she worked in the typing pool, but then from time to time she worked specifically for some of the Chief Executives. She told us one story, almost as a warning of the apparent dangers for women in the workplace. Apparently one of the CEOs had a bit of a reputation and when his regular secretary was away the temps would last a day or so and then run out of the office in tears. One day mum was assigned to his office. All was going well but after a couple of days he asked her to go over to the low table across the room and look up a phone number for him. As she lent over he jumped on her back and asked her to carry him across the room! She was shocked but kept her cool, stood up quickly, dislodging him and turned to face him. From that moment on she never turned her back on him. She told us he was extremely high up in the Civil Service but she would never reveal his name, even years later. How times change! Women then were expected to just put up with this type of behaviour and manage it as best they could. I have to say her tips stood me in good stead in my working life, as I certainly came across my share of slimeballs!

My mother worked in various secretarial posts. For a long time she worked for an accountant who did the accounts for the cake factory next door. She got me a summer job in the factory one year and my job was making cardboard boxes! I got very fast at it and was then told I was too fast and if I didn't slow down they would make the rest of the production line work faster. I slowed myself down by readiing the paper at the same time as making the boxes.

Mum's last job was at the Commonwealth Development Corporation.  While she was there she met Prince Charles!

Lovely's mum meets Prince Charles

The old boy: Sepia Saturday 165

This photograph was in my mother's collection. All the other photos were carefully named but this one had a question mark by it. "Who's he?" I said. "I don't know who the old boy is", she replied, "nan couldn't remember either, some relative of Tom's (my grandather)".

I know my grandfather's family were originally from Merthyr Tydfil, in South Wales and the family names were Price and Welch. That's all I know.

The photograph was taken at The Penton Studio in Pentonville Road and I have been able to locate some in a similar style here. They would suggest a date of between 1895 and 1903 and a photographer called Wilhlem Goebellhof.

Tom and the bird: Sepia Saturday 164

 

 

 

The prompt for this week shows an Australian soldier looking intently at his tortoise. It reminded me instantly of this picture of my grandfather.

 

 

I absolutely love this photo, and I present it to you as it was found; faded, wonky, tattered and blurred.  It shows him in just his vest, hair uncombed, staring intently at his budgerigar. He is standing by the back window, looking out into the garden as the sun streams in.

I can't remember the name of the budgie, in fact I think he had a few over the years and at least one of them could speak and sing. My grandfather loved music so I think he enjoyed teaching the budgie to sing along with him! On one occasion my father looked after it for a week or so while my grandparents were on holiday and it came back with a slightly fruiter vocabulary, much to the annoyance of my grandmother!

Although it was interesting to discover more about my grandfather's life as a younger man, this is the grandfather that I remember; the sensitive, quiet, slightly nervous budgerigar loving, gardening, pipe smoking man, who spent his whole life with my grandmother. I think she must have taken this photo and that's probably why she kept it all those years. They were completely devoted to each other and had been together all their lives, starting as childhood friends, marrying in their twenties and staying together until he died. Tom never did know how many sugars he took in his tea! A true love story of the time, as I don't know whether those types of relationships are so common now.

The relationships between humans and their animals are fundamental. They help to keep us sane, in touch with nature and the world, and by their very non-humaness keep us in touch with our own humanity.

Here is my more modern contribution to Valentine's day!
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Snow is snow: Sepia Saturday 163

This picture is taken from the begining (or end) of the South Downs overlooking Eastbourne. It was a Sunday afternoon and it shows kids and their parents playing in the snow.

It isn't that old! (You can see the original here). I have just been playing around with it to make it look old, because the truth is, I am not sure that the scene would have been that different 50 years ago. Maybe the town wouldn't have looked quite so big in the background; maybe the jackets and clothes would have looked a bit different, but essentially when the snow comes to Eastbourne everyone goes out to play. They grab whatever they have to hand to use as a sledge and get out there! There's a footpath that goes from the golf course to the base of the downs and after a few people have been down on their sleds it becomes like the cresta run! Walking is more dangerous than sliding!

It doesn't snow very often on the South coast and when it does it makes the news. This was an old postcard I found here. It shows Eastbourne after 'the Great Blizzard of 1908'. The seafront looked much the same after the snow of 2010!

Water

 

 

Sunday was dry for the first time in ages, so we returned to the lake for a walk. The water levels have risen considerably and if it rises another 3 metres it will be full for the first time in several years.

 

 

 

 

It still has a way to go though!

 

Discovering my grandfather: Sepia Saturday 162

I have gone with the 'men in hats or uniform' theme this week and actually trying to uncover some of the puzzles behind the photograph has been very interesting.

Thomas Welch and friends

The man on the right was my grandfather, and this photograph was taken during the Second World War, sometime in the early 1940s I would guess, when he was in his early 40s. I knew that he did something in London during the blitz, but I never really knew what. However, there were a few clues in the photo.



The first clue is the letters on the cuff of the uniform; ARP. This stood for 'Air Raid Precautions' and was an organisation set up just prior to the outbreak of WW2 with the aim of protecting civilians from the dangers of air raids. They were responsible for issuing gas masks, air raid shelters and managing and enforcing the 'blackout'. Volunteer air raid wardens were recruited to do this, and at first I thought that this was what my grandfather had done. However, when I looked for photos of ARP wardens the unforms didn't look quite the same.

 

Clue number two came from the hat. Wardens had tin hats, but this one looked rather different.

 

 

 

 

 

Further investigation lead me to this:

 

 

This is the uniform from the St John's Ambulance and you can see my grandfather sporting a uniform very similar to that of 1950. During WW2 The St John's Ambulance volunteers acted as ARP ambulance attendants, and their job was to aid casualties, search for survivors and remove dead bodies.

 

What struck me from the photo was that despite this gruesome job, they all look quite cheerful and they look impecably smart! No sign of a high visabilty jacket anywhere! My grandfather did take this role quite seriously and he would have done this in evenings, after doing his day job as a postman.