Archive for June, 2012

The Calder Valley in West Yorkshire, a place close to my heart, has been in the news over the last few days due to severe flooding. A beautiful area comprising, amongst others, the towns of Mytholmroyd and Hebden Bridge, it is where I spent many happy times back in the 1970’s.

(more…)

I’ve written at some length recently about the starlings who nest in and around our house. It is a few weeks since they all fledged and some pairs are now busy tending their second brood.

(more…)

The antirrhinum is a very under-rated plant in my opinion. Not that I’m an expert. I think my grandad used to grow them and apart from that and an attempt at a previous house to grow some and save the seeds (the cat decided to lie on the seeds as they were drying in the spare bedroom) I have little experience of them.

(more…)

At 3.37am this morning, as I made my customary mid-nightly trip to the bathroom, I could hear a blackbird singing in the garden, even though dawn was barely visible. Don’t birds lead an extraordinary life?

(more…)

Well I’ve been waiting a week or two now for this years starlings to arrive, in fact I was becoming a bit concerned about them given the recent poor weather.

(more…)

They say one swallow doesn’t make a summer, the same can also be said about  weather. (Yes, I know. Here I go again.) One week in  March and another at the end of May, which were warm and sunny, doesn’t constitute summer in my book.

(more…)

Isn’t it funny where your mind goes when you let it wander? This morning I was lying awake at 4.30am, listening to the birds and wishing on this occasion they wouldn’t sing quite so enthusiastically so I could go back to sleep, when I started thinking about things we’d bought over the years.

So here’s the question. What’s the best thing you’ve ever bought?

(more…)

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, we Brits are rather good at this stuff.

(more…)