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Green Thumb Sunday
2007-10-07 13:14:00
How To Join Green Thumb Sunday Green Thumb Sunday Blogroll The Hawthorn treeThe Hawthorn tree or 'May Tree' is a native British tree and is many things to many people. The Hawthorn has also long been considered a sacred and healing plant by Druids and Pagans.Traditionally the tree of the Fairy Queen. It is said that fairies and spirits had their meeting place under the hawthorn tree. A spring-time custom was to plait crowns of hawthorn blossoms and leave them for the angels or faeries who came at night. It was believed that if the faeries chose to dance around the crowns, blessings would be showered on those who had made them. Sprigs of hawthorn were attached to the cradle of a newborn baby to afford protection against illness and evil influences. If worn or carried it was said to give psychic protection, to lift the spirits and banish melancholy but unlucky if brought indoors. I personally find it a uplifting tree as it is a sure sign of Spring and of better weather to come. I hav...

Photo Hunters
2007-10-06 01:24:00
This weeks theme.... CurvyHow To Join Photo Hunters Photo Hunters BlogrollMy first thoughts for CURVY was of a nice curvaceous woman, as I don't have any pictures matching that description I thought that this Long Horn sheep, with its curvy horns, from the Isle of Skye would fit the bill.

Vegetable Patch...End Of The Season
2007-10-05 11:37:00
It has been an interesting experiment having a go at growing our own vegetables. I have learnt a few lessons along the way, which will enable me to do better next year. One of the biggest problems is that our garden is quite small (40ft x 16ft), that we were only able to locate the patch in one place. The patch itself is 10ft x 4ft and because of its location it doesn't get as much sun as other parts of the garden. This has resulted in veggies like tomatoes,corn and peppers not receiving enough sun , so they haven't grown very much or the fruit hasn't ripened.I know this could be down to the wet Summer we have had, but I think that next year these veggies will have to be grown in a mini greenhouse. The Winter veggies are doing quite nicely and in fact they are the best things I have grown. The funny thing is I still am not sure what some of them are (didn't label when sown) but they are doing well and have really shot up over the last few weeks. I am at the minute doing somethin...
More About: Season , Vegetable , Patch

Wiggly Wednesday
2007-08-29 16:14:00
The Wiggly CollectionFor the next 12 Wednesday s I will be showcasing my images contained in the The Wiggly Collection .The collection is 12 images that represent various aspects of our natural world. Each A4 print is mounted in a 400mm x 500mm acid free mount (stops it from discolouring) and is limited to 30 prints, each signed by myself.The only place where you can purchase these reasonably priced pictures from is Wiggly Wigglers and you can do that by following this link. I have added the story behind the picture below, which I hope adds that extra bit of interest to the picture.This picture is simply called: Water Lily Berrington Pool is one of my favourite places to visit in Shropshire. Berrington Pool is the largest of three pools situated by Berrington Hall, Cross Houses near to Shrewsbury.I visit as often as I can throughout the year as you can find different things at different times, from wild flowers,butterflies,birds and of course dragon and damselflies.Quite often when I...

Would You Believe It.....
2007-08-27 18:09:00
Can you picture the scene....Their I was in my signalbox enjoying an early morning cup of tea and reading the Sunday papers, when I heard a knock on the door, up I get to see who it is, open the door and nobody is there.I go back to my tea and paper and I hear the knock on the door again, up I get for the second time, open the door and nobody is there again. I was just about to close the door when I heard.....Down here, we are down here. I looked down and to my amazement their was a gang of snails.(I believe that a gang of snails is called a Slime of Snails) I crouch down and they start telling me that they have heard about my snail art and after talking to the other group of snails who had participated in the first shoot, they wanted to have a go as they thought that they to have got the S - Factor. Well this made my job so much the easier as I didn't have to cajole the snails with lettuce as this group wanted to do it.So off we went looking for suitable places for the shoot. A ha...

Green Thumb Sunday
2007-08-26 01:05:00
How To Join Green Thumb Sunday Green Thumb Sunday Blogroll Devil's-bit ScabiousThe Devil was so furious at the success of this plant in curing all sorts of ailments that he bit away part of the root, hoping to put an end to its good works. According to the legend, he left the plant with the abruptly shortened root it has today, but failed to destroy its curative properties.The plant was used as a cure all in the past. Today you may find various concoctions of Devil's Bit for the treatment of mild fevers and to purify the blood. It was and is still used to help treat various skin problems including acne, persistent sores and dandruff.The caterpillar of several butterflies and moths use the devil's-bit scabious as a food plant, as this Silver Washed Fritillary is doing.I have never seen a white scabious flower in Britain, but I believe they do occur. This picture was taken in the Aude region of southern France, where it is as common as the purple flower species.

Corncockle Seeds
2007-08-22 17:49:00
Just A ReminderI have started harvesting the seeds from this years Corncockle, if you would like me to send you any for your own gardens, just e-mail me with your home address and I will send them to you free of charge wherever you are.I really like this striking purple flower and would love to see it make a come back, so don't delay order today.(once I have sent you the seeds I will destroy your details)
More About: Seed , Seeds

Marks 2008 Calendar
2007-08-20 21:28:00
2008 Calendar Have you ever wondered what you would like to get someone special for Christmas. Well wonder no more as I have decided to help by producing a 2008 calendar.Some of the images you won't have seen before, such as this picture of the World famous Ironbridge, in Ironbridge, Shropshire. Built by Abraham Darby III in 1779 and said to be the birth place of the Industrial Revolution. This beautiful picture of a male broad bodied chaser showing its intricate wing detail to its full . Or this wisteria that is in my back garden with its lovely shades of cream and purple.You can see the remainder of the images by clicking here . If you click on the Lulu button it will take you through to my page and show you how you can purchase one.I hope you enjoy the images and I know it will look great in any kitchen, or wherever you decide to hang your 2008 calendar.
More About: Marks , Lend , 2008

Green Thumb Sunday
2007-08-19 12:11:00
How To Join Green Thumb Sunday Green Thumb Sunday Blogroll The perennial Aster or 'Micklemas daisy', as they are also known ,gives a long-lasting show of violet-purple daisy flowers that heralds the end of summer and continues well into autumn. It is a nice contrast of colour , as many of the flowers at this time of year are red or orange. The flowers attract bees , butterflies and many other insects and is a welcome source of nectar as many other flowers are coming to an end.

Photo Hunters
2007-08-18 14:20:00
This weeks theme....TwoHow To Join Photo Hunt ers Photo Hunters Blogroll Two things that interest me are recycling and nature. I think we have hit on a new way of doing it and that is by employing the recycling duo of Pepsi and Cola. They are already complyling with European directives, in that their waste is neatly packaged ready for immediate use with no additional packaging required.What could be better than putting a product in at one end and it coming out of the other already to use on the garden to start the process off all over again.I think Guinea pigs are the way to go and their recycling skills will be recognised in due time as the amount that these two get through is phenomenal.

Richards Family Day
2007-08-17 18:51:00
As promised yesterday here are some images from the Family day held at the Wiggly Wigglers farm in Herefordshire.I was there in my capacity as photographer, having been asked by Heather. It was a slight departure from the type of photography that I normally do so I was quite excited by the idea.The day was to follow an itinerary, which included , learning about worms, pond dipping, meeting the pigs, lunch, having a trailer ride around the farm and making a bug box.The families split into two groups, one stayed with Richard to look at and learn about worms and how useful they are. The second group went over to the Wiggly pond to do some pond dipping, after being shown how to by Roger. It was really interesting watching all the children and their parents enjoying the dipping and seeing what they could find. Newts, snails, water boatmen, diving beetles and all sorts of other things were skillfully caught. I think the adults were enjoying it as much as the children. After the worms and...
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The Last Cow Gone !!!
2007-08-16 16:44:00
I went down to Wiggly Wigglers yesterday to help out Richard with his Family day . On my drive down it was chucking it down but just after I arrived it brightened up and the sun came out. I was there to take pictures of the day , which were handed out to the families before the day had finished. I will post how the day went tomorrow with some pictures.Before the Family day started I popped in to see Heather, as she had told me she had a interesting proposition for me. Well not one to turn down an interesting proposition ... off I went.Before she told me about the proposition , during tea and cakes, she told me that one of my images had been chosen for the front cover of the next Wiggly catalogue. I feel really pleased that they have chosen one of my images as the catalogues are sent out to many thousands of people world wide and it is nice to think that they will be looking at one of my pictures soon. If you would like one of the catalogues you can contact Wiggly Wigglers on 01981 5...
More About: The Last

Mutants In The Garden
2007-08-14 17:24:00
Well not only has it been a surprise that it has rained today, after nearly a whole week of sunshine, I have found that I have a mutant plant growing in our back garden.What is happening is that after the main flower on the Pot Marigold has finished and died away , out pop smaller mutant flowers from around the edge. I was a bit concerned about getting to close for this photograph, but I managed to escape unscathed.However I'm a bit worried about going out tonight to do battle with the slugs, that this mutant might attack. If I don't post for a few days you know something has happened!!!!Do you have any MUTANTS in your garden????
More About: Garden , In The Garden , The G , Arden , Garde

Free Headers
2007-08-13 14:54:00
Since finding out how you change or add an image to my blog header, I have regularly added new ones. With receiving many positive comments about my pictures I thought it would be a good idea to offer free headers to anyone who wants to add them to their personal blog.Below are a selection of the headers that I have used, if you would like to use one simply double click on the image , right click and choose option to 'save picture as'. This will save the picture to your files and then you can add it to your blog. If there are any other images of mine from either my Web site or from my blog that you like, let me know and I will send them to you. Also if you have an image that you would like to use as a header and are not sure how to cut it to size, send it to me I will cut it to size and send it back to you.All I ask in return for the header, is a post about where you got the header from and link to me, if you are not already, I will return link to you. Please only use these images ...
More About: Free

Green Thumb Sunday
2007-08-12 12:43:00
How to join Green Thumb Sunday Green Thumb Sunday BlogrollSome people still refer to crocosmias as montbretia. This name comes from the French botanist Monsieur de Montbret, but the correct term is definitely crocosmia from the Greek krokos, meaning saffron, and osme meaning smell, alluding to the saffron scent given off by the dried flowers when placed in water. I took this picture before I went on holiday, as I always miss most of the flowers opening, as by the time I return only the last few flowers are left. This one is Lucifer, I have several others ranging from a butter yellow to this vibrant red. ( If you like this picture, why not have it as your header? Contact me )

Photo Hunters
2007-08-11 12:28:00
This weeks theme...ROWHow to join Photo Hunt ers Photo Hunters Blogroll This image from my recent holiday to southern France immediately sprung to mind for this weeks theme of ROW. I just love the texture and colours of the tiles, they give a building a certain charm and character.The roof tiles and even the shadows are in a row, that's not as easy as you think!!!

The Slug Party
2007-08-10 12:37:00
Give them an inch and they will take a mile. That's what the slugs have done to our little vegetable patch while we were on holiday.I think that they have had a munch party and not left us with much apart from a load of half eaten leaves.But now we are back and the slug patrol has resumed they better watch out.... The vegetable patch was always an experiment and we have learnt lessons for next year so things might be a little better.The sprouts,leeks or turnips (I can't remember what they are) are still to come as well as the parsnips, in time for Christmas, I hope. I'm still amazed at the number of slugs that we have had this year, I'm sure if i had kept them all and weighed them it wouldn't be far off a ton of slugs.....errrggghhh. On the brighter side we harvested out potatoes from the sacks we were growing them in and managed a very healthy amount of 3lbs or 1350gms of fresh potatoes. That's more than enough for a few meals.Well back to the slug patrol.....and the battle r...
More About: Party , Slug

Before The After
2007-08-09 11:16:00
After returning from our holiday in the Aude region of southern France I came down with a bad case of post holiday blues. It was a combination of having a really enjoyable family holiday in a place that we all could enjoy and the thought of returning to work. Don't get me wrong I enjoy my job but the thought of wanting to be somewhere else is becoming quite strong. I returned to work yesterday and the thoughts of our holiday kept popping into my head, both my wife and myself felt a real connection with the place and it is these thoughts that will keep me going until we return.Following on from the Photo Hunters picture of last week, I've had several requests to what did the fountain look like before I painted it and made a quick escape. I hope Life cruiser and Moi enjoy the original.What attracted me to the picture was the slightly run down building in the background with its shutters, the way the sunlight was coming across the building and the leaves from the tree in the top righ...
More About: Fore

Photo Hunters
2007-08-04 00:07:00
This weeks theme....FUNKYHow To Join Photo Hunt ers Photo Hunters Blogroll This is the water fountain in the sleepy picturesque village of Alet-les-Bains, in the Aude region of southern France, where I have been holidaying for the past two weeks. I do hope when the villages wake up they don't mind what FUNKY thing I have done......They won't catch me anyway as we starting our journey home.

Bug And Butterflies
2007-08-03 19:33:00
The holiday to the South of France is unfortunately coming to an end. We have all enjoyed our time here and it is a place that we will becoming back to. It in someways reminds us of what Britain was like 30 years ago. No speed or CCTV cameras every 5 metres, no police dressed like robocop who have become unapproachable, no council busy bodies lurking around corners waiting to fine you for f*rting or heavens forbid leave your bin lid open.The way of life here revolves around communities and people helping each other out, many people may not be cash rich but are resource rich so a type of barter system operates. We do not have rose tinted glasses on , as a result of our short visit, but we can see the advantages of what we have experienced.One of the things that has amazed me so much, has been the wildlife. Wildflowers and herbs are everywhere, insect thrive as the way of farming and the lack of overcrowding do not damage their habitats. I only hope that this prevails. Many of the ins...
More About: Butterflies , Lies

John Wayne Eat Your Heart Out
2007-08-02 19:17:00
Today I tried something that I have never done before........What could this be I hear you murmur....well it was horse riding. For as long as I can remember I have had a fear of horses but while we were here, we decided it would be a good idea for us to go.We found a stables not far from our gite,which had the added benefit of Veronique the owner speaking English, albeit with a strong American accent.Veronique runs various trail rides for all levels throughout the summer, ranging from a 2hr ride up to a 4 day ride. After giving my mount for the ride "Mengion" a brush, I donned my hat and chaps and got onto her, at this point I heard a strange noise coming from the stable area, looking around I could see it was one of the other horses having a good old horsey laugh..... Unperturbed by this I started walking around the arena, getting use to Mengion. I found her extremely reassuring and I started to relax. After the rest of the group had got onto their horses, Veronique told us the res...
More About: John , Heart , John Wayne , Wayne

Dragonflies At Last
2007-08-01 23:42:00
We decided to have a rest day, as I was getting a bit fed up of driving around. This was an ideal opportunity to tidy up the gite and get some washing done, well it was for the wife...as for me the dragonflies were calling.We both agreed that I should go and see them, so off I popped.The small river at Renne-les bains was my chosen destination, having visited there a few days earlier. The whole river was alive with all sorts of insects, not only dragonflies. In the dried up parts of the river wildflowers were growing and numerous butterflies were feeding from them. (I will do another post on them)The first dragonfly I saw was a Keeled Skimmer, we have these back home at a place called Cramer Gutter . It is the only place in the midlands they are to be found, so to find them here was quite a plus. They were also quite numerous and seemed to favour perching on the purple loosestrife, that was growing along the river edge. The Brown Skimmer was a new species to me and I was pleased to ...
More About: Dragon , Lies , Drago

Chateau Montsegur And Insects
2007-07-30 11:18:00
The region of Languedoc Roussillon is one of the most fascinating areas in France. It borders the Mediterranean sea to the east and the Pyrenees mountains to the south. It benefits from an exceptional climate and is rich in wildlife,(which has pleased me no end). There are many historical ancient towns together with cathedrals , chateaux and castles notably the famous mountain fortresses popularly known as Cathar Castles.Chateau Mont segur is one of these mountain fortresses and as you can see from the picture it is in an amazing location and it is difficult to imagine how the materials to build it would have been taken up. The Chateau is also famous as being the site in 1244 where several hundred Cathars were burned alive. People still leave flowers there. I took the picture from the road that passes by the chateau and whilst doing so I noticed a pink flower that looked interesting next to a large log in a meadow. I went over to have a look. On this log were all sorts of insects, cr...
More About: Insects , Sects

Green Thumb Sunday
2007-07-29 11:25:00
How To Join Green Thumb Sunday Green Thumb Sunday Blogroll In my quest for natural Snail Art , imagine my surprise at finding a collection of Brown-lipped banded snails waiting for me on a path in the village of Nebias in southern France. I must assume that word has go out that I am on a quest to photograph snails, where ever they may be. I was surprised though, when I whispered garlic butter to them how quickly they scarpered. Snails....so tempremental!!!

Carcassonne Citadel
2007-07-27 21:22:00
With only being 30km away from Carcassonne Citadel it is a must place to go. I was happy to go as long as we could check out a wildlife site not far from the gite, at a place called Rennes-les-Bains . There is a river running through the small village, which is also home to a Spa.The river was full of wildflowers,butterflies and of course dragonflies. After a quick mooch it was time to head off the Carcassonne. As you approach the city you are greeted with an amazing site of the citadel, it is a real WOW view and one I'm sure people don't tire from. The towers and turrets are almost fairytale like in appearance and are certainly impressive. You can walk around the battlements and get some great views of the surrounding country side.The inside is another matter, it is jammed packed with souvenir shops, restaurants and other shops that bore the pants off me. But as I had agreed to go as long, so I could go to the wildlife area, I bore the boredom stoically. I did however enjoy a Cas...
More About: Sonne , Arca

Trip To Gorges De Galamus
2007-07-26 21:34:00
One thing that has amazed me since being in southern France is the amount of wildlife and flowers that are about. Some things I can recognise but many are completely new to me and this I find exciting. On the way to the Gorge de Gala mus we stopped to have lunch, the site we stopped at was a small exposed cliff face surrounded by wildflowers. While wife and daughter were eating their lunch I went for a wonder.I was so pleased that I did because it was full of bees and butterflies.The first bee that I saw was this huge black one, whose wings were iridescent blue. The main flower that was covering the site also seemed to be the main food source for a lot of the insects, I'm not sure what it is, but it looks familiar, perhaps a Sedum of some sort.The blue butterfly is very similar to a common blue, both in size and colour and could quite well be one. As well as the blue there were butterflies similar to gate keepers,meadow brown, pearl bordered fritillaries, and brimstone. The one that...
More About: Trip

Meet The Neighbours
2007-07-24 21:25:00
Enjoyed a lazy day today, whilst sat out on the terrace enjoying a cup of tea, we were joined by some of the local inhabitants, who also came out to enjoy the sun. These lizards enjoyed the other locals so much that they started eating them. I'm not sure whether the lizards were two different kinds, but the markings on these two was different from the one above. Their is a large bush of some kind on the terrace and it seems to act as a nectar bar, it was packed throughout most of the day with all sorts of different insects from bees,wasps and flies. Many of these I do not recognise which only adds to the interest. With the Gite being close to the river their are loads of house martin type birds flying along the river catching insects so they can feed the young. Most houses have several nest just under the roof in the eaves. The roof tiles are undulating and act as a perfect place for the birds to build their mud nests. Only a few of the nests have chicks in them and this one chirps...
More About: Neighbours , Meet

Il ne pleut pas
2007-07-23 21:10:00
Hurray we are here, after driving a 1000 miles over 3 days we have arrived at our destination. The gite, Mode d' Artiste is in Couiza, which is situated in the Aude region of southern France. Carcasson is the nearest large town and is about 30km away. The journey went quite smoothly, but I will add one piece of advise. If you are travelling on the chunnel from Folkestone and you have never been before and you think it would be a good idea to find where it is from the hotel you are staying in....beware if you get to close there is no way of turning around and you have to ask very meekly from the check in booth "can you let us out please, as we have only come to see where it is and are not travelling until tomorrow". You will find then that the check in person takes a deep breath, sighs deeply and prints you off a special ticket that allows you to escape through a special road that had 'plonkers this way' written on it. A lot of the houses have shuttered windows and the one next do...

Bokashi And The Wormery
2007-07-19 19:47:00
The first Bokashi bucket has been fermenting for the past two weeks and it is time to add it to the wormery.It doesn't matter where you add the bokashi, you can add it to your compost bin like Ann has, or straight into the ground, if you have the space. As you can see it doesn't look much like conventional compost and if anything it looks like nothing has changed to the waste you have put in. The clue that something has happened is the strong vinegary smell. This shows that it has pickled the waste. The juice from the bucket I add to the water butt that I store bath water in. This helps to keep down the smell but also acts as a feed when I water the garden....Not that I have had to for several weeks . I have used an original wormery from Original Organics for the past 7 years and have found it extremely easy to use. It takes about a year for the bin to fill up before I have to empty it, but during this time I tap off worm tea from the reservoir at the bottom of the wormery, and I ...
More About: Kashi

Green Thumb Sunday
2007-05-27 18:06:00
Green Thumb Sunday JoinClematis after the rain from my back gardenGardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.
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