Famous Grouse!

Trying out various effects with my photo imaging software and have given this little fellow some chocolate box treatment! Original photo taken on my trip to Yorkshire in September.

Most Strange - Through the Trees

I could have sworn that I had published my poem here last week - but it seems to have disappeared! Anyway, here again by popular demand together with a photo - (of Llyn Brianne) is the poem I hurriedly wrote last Friday morning.

An appreciation


Through the Trees

With me but not with me
My cheeks afire
my eyes welling with tears
as I glimpse the lake
Feeling your presence
supportive in my loneliness
The resin of the trees
like your perfume
heady in the breeze

Moving on
Constant reminders
Ground, soft as a mattress
Clatter of pigeon wings
disturbed by my arrival
A downy feather left in air
dropping finally to the litter of leaves
From pinewood into beech
Woodland autumn odours
Woodland autumn colours
Lake shimmering

Rustle of my footfall
Cheeky grey squirrel
circling the tree trunk.
Above, a vapour trail,
high, flying East
Who are they?
I’ll never know
Dry beech-mast
to a woodland matriarch
already bark scarred
years ago with the words:

.....J P.....
...Loves...
......?.......
All in my heart.

Show of Hands

This week has been memorable in several different ways for me, but I will concentrate on a concert that I went to on Wednesday evening. An old friend of mine who is very knowledgeable about various kinds of music but particularly in folk music and musicians, had asked me months ago if I would like to join him to see Show of Hands at Bristol’s St Georges. I had no knowledge of Show of Hands, previously being only vaguely aware of the name. They are an internationally known group and my friend Godfrey had seen them on their previous year’s tour at the same venue. And so tickets were bought, and we joined the full and appreciative audience in the former church on Brandon Hill, which is well known not for its architecture but its acoustics. Show of Hands has recently published a new album Witness and the songs from that and from other albums familiar to many in the audience were performed with great gusto and to much applause. There was laughter too, as many of the songs have comic elements and local references. Show of Hands are very much local west country singers, hailing from East Devon but are now travelling all over the UK on their autumn tour. They perform at different venues five nights a week from October to the finish at Exeter in early December. Earlier this year they had a very succesful tour to Canada.
I would be hopeless at describing the band in detail and so will let them describe themselves in the e–link above and their Longdogs fan-site. All I will say is that I thoroughly enjoyed the concert and suggest you listen to a bit of their music which is available free on the website. I forgot to mention that Show of Hands had a guest artist with them on Wednesday - Michael Joseph who was also excellent and his act blended in well.

On the March!

Last Saturday morning I took the train to London to join in the Stop Climate Change march to Trafalgar Square. Many thousands of people from all over the country and in other capital cities around the world were marching in solidarity to highlight this simple message to the world leaders now meeting in Nairobi. "Act now before it is too late"
It was a fun march for a serious cause, just maybe, the leaders will now realise the groundswell of public opinion will cost them votes if realistic plans and actions are not put in place very soon.
I joined a group of Liberal Democrats outside the School of African & Oriental Studies at London University and from there we marched with police escort through Covent Garden to Trafalgar Square. I couldn't hear much of the speeches from where I was standing but enjoyed the music and the general camaraderie of the event.
In the afternoon I walked back through Covent Garden and to quench my thirst, went into a little pub called the Lemon Tree which I remembered from my student days. Little had changed, though it now serves Thai food - unlikely in 1963!
Then later I arranged to meet my son Stephen and some friends of his. A nice old pub - The Dog & Duck this time, and standing in the crowded little bar we had interesting conversations about people, life and the universe and enjoyes a pint or two of Timothy Taylor's fine Landlord ale.
After that, I took Stephen to a restaurant I had seen many times before but had never been in. For over 50 years and a long time before the word Gay took on other meanings, The Hungarian restaurant, The Gay Hussar has been serving excellent food to discerning visitors to London. I was not disappointed and we had a very good meal. This visit and having been sent a large quantity of excellent Paprika pepper by a friend in Hungary, I am now fired with enthusiasm to cook goulash and other tasty dishes this winter!
Staying overnight at Stephen's flat, I returned to Bristol on Sunday morning.

Going back to the theme of the march - I should point out that I am not at this point, an all doom and gloom person, far from it and I read with interest the article by Mike Hulme, Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia, and Director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, who advocates a more measured approach, and warns against media hype. Well worth reading!
If you click on this link and view the Lynne Featherstone film, if you pause it at exactly 50 seconds - there's me in the red parka and green cap on the march!

In memory of the grandfather I never knew

I should not need to make excuses, but just in case one or two of my regular visitors have wondered about my lack of posting, here first is a summary of the reasons: -
Busy if not a little stressed at work, lack of sunshine in my life, some worry about a special person in my life (which is slowly getting better and will resolve soon I hope), a busy time writing for other things and people unconnected with my blog, and generally spending time on things which I do want to write about, but I need to allocate good relaxed time at the PC in order to make some sort of decent composition. So, today Saturday the 11th November I will try and relax and make some meaningful contributions to my blog - starting from NOW!

My father's father George William Phillips, though listed here as a Private, was in fact a Corporal in the Royal Garrison Artillery. He was killed instantly by a direct hit on his dugout on February 25th 1918 and so had survived almost four years of that terrible war, only to be killed in its final months at the age of 27. My father was then aged 4. This day - 11th November is of course Armistice Day - Peace having been declared today in 1918 and I always remember the grandfather I never knew on this day.

What a View!

Very busy and it has been ages since I posted - far too long, but this morning I just want to share two wonderful photos that have been sent to me.

Of my two stepdaughters, one lives near Manchester with her husband and two daughters, Niamh and Lara. They are planning to emigrate soon to Cape Town where the other stepdaughter has lived for several years with her husband and one daughter Lola. The Manchester family visited Cape Town earlier this year and the photos of Lara [1st photo] and Niamh were taken on Bloubergstrand beach on that visit.

Thank you for sending them Lyndsay !

Wild Photos

I have had a busy few days and this post is the first of at least two planned. I had marked in my calendar for Friday to go into Bristol to join in a day at the biennial Wildscreen Festival, specifically the WildPhotos symposium. I make no pretensions for being a wildlife photograher or even a good photographer, but I do want to improve my techniques and was not dissappointed with my day. I learned a great deal, was in the company of the best wildlife photographers in the world - some famous names even, and everyone was made welcome. I came away with my mind buzzing with ideas and also with the stunning images that had been projected onto the theatre screen. I doubt that I will make money with any of my photos, but at least I can aspire to make better use of my Nikon and to explore its capabilities.
Here are a few more links to wonderful material that I collected during the day: -
Nature Picture Library
Xpanding Horizons
ARKive - Images of Life on Earth
Steve Bloom
Staffan Widstrand - Images with an Edge
Niall Benvie - Images from the Edge
Wildlife Pets Environment - Ardea
Plenty of photos to see in the links above but just one of mine - a contented bull Elephant Seal - St Andrews Bay. South Georgia - November 2005

Bird Migration

Today I have been investigating one of the mysteries of bird migration. As a member of the Bristol Ornithological Club, I joined five other men on the sea wall at New Passage, just to the North of Bristol. On arrival I realised that I knew Brian the leader, as he works for the same company as myself; I had not previously known that he is a member of the BOC.

The weather was clear but cloudy with some small patches of blue sky. The tide was out and there was a fair breeze. We saw many small birds, mostly flying up-river in a Northwesterly direction. I asked why this was the predominant direction and found out that no one really knows. The majority of the birds are flying South for the approaching winter, but it seems that they have flown down the West coast from Scotland and Northern England but have then turned inland, West up the Bristol Channel when they reached South Wales. The general trend though, is presumed to be South.

I have been interested in watching birds for as long as I can remember but am a novice when it comes to small bird recognition. My fellow anoraks seemed much more knowledgeable and were able to name the birds from their calls or their “jizz” [size, attitude, manner of flight]. So by the end of the session and having seen thousands of birds flying overhead we had a considerable tally. The most abundant were Chaffinches, of which 2,000 must have flown over in the two hours divided up into large or small parties. Other parties of birds, or single birds that we saw on migration at New Passage were:- Siskin, Greenfinch, Redpoll, Pied and Grey Wagtail, Starling, Reed Bunting, Redwing, Meadow Pipit, Song and Mistle Thrush, Goldfinch, Brambling and Chiffchaff. So no particular rarities or surprises were seen. Now home again after an excellent little excursion, which was followed by a warming breakfast at the Motorway Services at Aust. The photo shows the distant Severn Bridge, looming out of the mist from where we were standing.

Nobel Peace Prize

Many congratulatuons to the Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus who has been awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize not for giving to the poor, but for helping them to help themselves. Here is the article from Time Magazine. It is really good news that against much opposition from right and left wings of the Bangladeshi people and initially from the Muslim establishment, his ideas have been put in place. Now many of the poor, because of these ideas, have now lifted themseles out of poverty. The whole country benefits.

My Photo of the Day

Sunset over Almondsbury, South Gloucestershire - Tuesday October 9th

Even more to worry about

Cataclysmic Events as reported in the October issue of Scientific American may indeed be exacerbated by mankind's poor stewardship of the Earth.

New geochemical evidence is coming from the bands of stratified rock that delineate mass extinction events in the geologic record, including the exciting discovery of chemical residues, called organic biomarkers, produced by tiny life-forms that typically do not leave fossils. Together these data make it clear that cataclysmic impact as a cause of mass extinction was the exception, not the rule. In most cases, the earth itself appears to have become life's worst enemy in a previously unimagined way. And current human activities may be putting the biosphere at risk once again.

How long have we got? How long have these two Cape Petrels got?

+One degree and we are done for

All very worrying to read this in last week's New Scientist: -

"Further global warming of 1 °C defines a critical threshold. Beyond that we will likely see changes that make Earth a different planet than the one we know."
So says Jim Hansen, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York. Hansen and colleagues have analysed global temperature records and found that surface temperatures have been increasing by an average of 0.2 °C every decade for the past 30 years. Warming is greatest in the high latitudes of the northern hemisphere, particularly in the sub-Arctic boreal forests of Siberia and North America. Here the melting of ice and snow is exposing darker surfaces that absorb more sunlight and increase warming, creating a positive feedback.
Earth is already as warm as at any time in the last 10,000 years, and is within 1 °C of being its hottest for a million years, says Hansen's team. Another decade of business-as-usual carbon emissions will probably make it too late to prevent the ecosystems of the north from triggering runaway climate change, the study concludes (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol 103, p 14288).

My Photo of the Day

Chinstrap penguins (Pygoscelis antarctica)
My personal favourite! Just 10 months ago I was sitting on a rock admiring the view when this little fellow came out of the sea and waddled past me on his way to the nest. Aitcho Islands - Antarctic Peninsula.

El Condor pasa

One of my friends has sent me the Simon and Garfunkel song El Condor pasa, it means much and connects with the general theme of my blog.

I'd rather be a sparrow than a snail.
Yes I would.
If I could,
I surely would.

I'd rather be a hammer than a nail.
Yes I would.
If I only could,
I surely would.

CHORUS
Away, I'd rather sail away
Like a swan that's here and gone
A man gets tied up to the ground
He gives the world
Its saddest sound,
Its saddest sound.

I'd rather be a forest than a street.
Yes I would.
If I could,
I surely would.

I'd rather feel the earth beneath my feet,
Yes I would.
If I only could,
I surely would.

Three Brazilian Soldiers

I couldn't resist copying this, though it's probably been flying around the internet for weeks already:
Iraq, George W Bush, Republican, Ignorance, War on terror,

THREE BRAZILIAN SOLDIERS

Donald Rumsfeld briefed the President this morning. He told Bush that Three Brazilian soldiers were killed in Iraq . To everyone's amazement, all of the color ran from Bush's face, then he collapsed onto his desk, head in hands, visibly shaken, almost whimpering. Finally, he composed himself and asked Rumsfeld, "Just exactly how many is a brazillion?"

Exxon and Global Warming

The worst revelation this week that has filtered trough to me is (and I quote) that the oil giant ExxonMobil gives money to scores of organisations that claim the science on global warming is inconclusive – which it isn’t. It’s a strategy that has set back action on climate change by a decade, and it involves the same people who insist that passive smoking is harmless. This is revealed in Heat a new book by George Monbiot and quoted in The Guardian newspaper. The article is to be found at The Guardian and I won’t quote more of it here, just saying Shame on you Exxon.

I'm home!

I returned yesterday from an excellent trip "Up North" taking in many of the beauty spots of Yorkshire and then into Lancashire before driving home. There were no major disasters and all the places I stayed were good and the various Guest Houses or Bed & Breakfast places looked after me well. I can now do without massive breakfasts of eggs, bacon, sausages, tomatoes, black pudding, tomato and mushrooms - with toast, marmelade for several months. The weather was much better than expected and as you will see, had plenty of sunshine.
I took nearly 300 photos some of which have been published to a new folder on Flickr. Please take a look. Three more days including today, then back to work on Monday. The highlight of the trip and where I did the most walking was Malham where stunning limestone scenery dominates the landscape with waterfalls, disappearing streams, cliffs and bare pavements of well weathered rock, in the joints and cracks of which are many species of ferns, protected there from wind and thriving in moist conditions and a thin soil.
Sadly I did not manage to find the wonderful Sandbeck Yew Tree, described in my 18th Century guide book [see previous post], it had probably been felled many years ago. I do hold out some hope to hear more of it as I left my address with Mr Molyneaux who said he would pass it to the local historian.

Modern and Ancient

I was forgetting that I had plans for today! It is the annual Heritage Open Day during which many historic buildings not otherwise open to the public are available to view in all the counties of England. Near to me here in Bristol is the village of Westbury-on-Trym where two houses that I had never visited previously were my destination this morning. The first was The Concrete House, a classic “Modern Movement” house built in 1934 and still with many of its original fixtures and fittings. Then by contrast, not far away in the centre of the village, is Elsie Briggs House, a largely unaltered house built in 1445 and still occupied and used as a house of prayer. It is the oldest continuously occupied house in Bristol. So, a morning of contrasts – judge for yourself, look at my photos and follow the link if you would like further information. I try and go to different places each year on open day and it will take a lifetime to see them all, just in this area.

Chatting On Line

I have no idea of the actual numbers of people around the world who are at this minute, typing away at their PC’s chatting on line with people they have never met and never will meet - in all probability. However if the total number shown at the foot of my Skype box for total users on line is any guide, then it will be a substantial percentage of that number, which now as I write is 4,524,889, plus all those using other service providers world wide.

I realise that the Internet is used for all sorts of dubious purposes and that sex and images of sex do make up a huge part of total Internet traffic but there is a genuine and interesting social interaction going on with one to one chat. It is in fact a cultural phenomenon that is, in my opinion allowing people to learn about each other’s cultures, lifestyles and interests in ways never before possible. Ordinary people are talking with other ordinary people, often the other side of the world. Naturally there is a bias towards the “haves” rather than the “have-nots” as it needs an Internet connected computer to join in. Then it needs a little bit of expertise to know what to do to find people with whom to chat and not all computer users feel comfortable doing that. I am one who does feel comfortable chatting with strangers on line; and I get a sense, at an early stage, that the other person is, or is not, someone I can have an interesting conversation with. Several times I have been messaged by people whose only conversation is “Hi, how are you? They want to chat, but the words just don’t come and especially if their on line profile tells me nothing, I get bored by writing back “Ok tell me about yourself, where are you, what are you, how old are you, what do you do? It is necessary for effective communications for people to have posted in a profile, answers to all these questions and more. Profiles should allow one to see immediately a person's main interests and preferred language and a lack of profile might mean that the person has a lot he or she wants to hide.

I would not be on line at all if I could not learn from the Internet, I don’t use it as a game, but as a tool to stimulate my mind and to learn from other people. I have made good and genuine friends with people who are able to speak, or are learning to speak English and these are the kinds of friends who have something to say about themselves, their lives and their countries. I remain fascinated!

As a finish to this post – a special thanks to my friends – they know who they are! - in Hungary, India, Poland, Germany, Austria, Washington, Iowa, Texas, Ontario, British Columbia, China, Taiwan, Sardinia, Lithuania, Philippines, South Africa, and I’m sorry if I’ve missed any off the list.

This is probably my last post for a few days as I’m off on holiday to Yorkshire until the 22nd September. Watch out for my photos after that – OK?

My Photo of the Day

Acton Scott Working Farm

The Beauties of England

One of my oldest books and one of my most treasured is this little travel guide to “The Beauties of England” which was printed in 1757. Just before I set out on a tour to the North of England next Sunday I thought it might be a good idea to compare travelling now with travelling in the 18th Century.
The only people who could afford to travel any distance away from home were the gentry and nobility and it was for them that this book was written. There were coaching inns but these are not mentioned in the book and one’s attention is drawn to the list at the end of the pages for each county of the “Seats of the Nobility and the Gentry.” And so like using a hotel guide today, our 18th century noble traveller with his coach and pair of horses would write a letter in advance to [for instance] the Earl of Carlisle at Castle Howard in Yorkshire asking for the favour of a visit en route to his own lands in Scotland. He would have to give an approximate date of arrival and give the numbers of his party, the numbers of his servants and his horses in order that the Noble Earl can delegate his staff to make suitable arrangements. What a carry-on!
Having arranged the accommodation, our traveller would then pay attention to the beauties and curiosities of the areas to be visited. I quote as an example: -
Near Sandbeck, in a Field called Cuckold’s Haven, is a remarkable Ewe-tree of a greenifh Colour, and very fingular form; its Branches rife one above another in natural Circles of Dimenfions as exact as if they were a Production of Art, and more beautiful; ‘tis hedged in, being efteemed a very great Curiofity. I will try and find if is there still – yew trees tend to live for hundreds of years.
There are hundreds of other little anecdotal snippets of information in the book, useful then in the 1750’s but I doubt if the Noble Earl will be welcoming me and my Ford to his country seat later this month. Note if you would, that the lower case letter s, if used at the beginning or in the middle of a printed word uses a font giving it the appearance of an f. Thus Yorkshire looks like Yorkfhire, Island becomes Ifland and Chester becomes Chefter.

Teaching English

Since starting my Blog in April of this year I have had much satisfaction from the favourable comments received from all over the world. These have been from people who were previously unaware of my humble existence and I thank them all for visiting.
I have also joined the internet phone network Skype and at various times while I sit here at the PC, I can mark my phone status as “Skype Me” which means that of the millions of people online at that moment anyone could find me and if they wish, text or voice chat with me, all for no cost. Almost all that have Skyped me have been genuinely nice people who in some way have found interests to share with me. One of the most enjoyable and rewarding experiences for me has been chatting with several non-English speakers who want to improve their English skills or show interest in other subjects within my own areas of expertise. While I have no qualification for teaching English, I think I do have a thorough knowledge of my own language and can give many people the benefit of that knowledge. If I don’t know the answer to a question of grammar or lexicon then I always know where to look and /or make intelligent use of Google!
Yesterday I was helping a head teacher in Hungary write a letter to a British charity. She has no budget for obtaining textbooks and needed a particular book that they publish for teaching English. The letter has been sent and I await the result, but for now I have the teacher’s profuse thanks heaping praise on my efforts, saying, “Even if I lived for 100 years I wouldn't be able to compile a letter like this.” I confess that I have a swollen head after such praise but am nonetheless very happy to receive it.
So if you have any questions about English usage please email or Skype me – I’ll do my best to answer. And here is an English rose in return.

My Photo of the Day

The remote Llyn Brianne in Mid-Wales, one of several reservoir lakes in the area.

Jazz at the Old Duke

For many years the world famous jazz pub The Old Duke in Bristol's historic King Street holds an August Bank Holiday Jazz Festival. Jazz bands play to appreciative audiences in the open air between the Duke and the older pub, the Llandoger Trow which is only too pleased to sell more beer to the jazz goers.
I spent a very enjoyable time yesterday afternoon, chatting, having a beer, listening to the bands and taking a few photos. It is a wonderful event for people watching; families, students and jazz lovers of all shapes and sizes pack the end of King Street, sitting on the cobbles or on the benches outside the two pubs. It's a date again for next year! ;-)

D0n't t0uch me!

Since 1839 the British Isles have been colonised by an attractive but highly invasive plant species. Victorian travellers to India brought the plant back to add to their gardens, but now it is to be found on most of our riverbanks. Walking beside rivers as I often do during the summer, it is not long before the tall stems of Himalayan Balsam are evident. It is a garden escape that has been particularly successful in its spread throughout the country. It is a tall, robust, annual producing clusters of purplish pink (or rarely white) helmet-shaped flowers. Also called Jumping Jack, Policeman’s Helmet, Indian Balsam and the “bee bum plant”. This last because when a bee enters the helmet shaped flower that is all one can see of the bee. It has the impressive Latin name of Impatiens glandulifera and is also the Noli-me-tangere plant – from the Latin for “Don’t touch me” because touching the seed pods at this time of year sends the seeds flying in all directions. Each plant can produce up to 800 seeds and can shoot them from the pods up to 7 metres away, which is why it is so successful in its dispersal.

Since its introduction it has become naturalised, especially on riverbanks and increasingly in waste places and has become a problematical weed. Himalayan balsam tolerates low light levels and, in turn, tends to shade out other vegetation, impoverishing habitats. It is sometimes seen in gardens, either uninvited or grown deliberately, but care must be taken to ensure that it does not escape into the wild.

The eradication of the plant is widely encouraged, and usually the most appropriate method is by pulling up or cutting out plants before they flower and set seed. Conservation authorities regularly organise ‘balsam bashing’ work parties to clear the weed from marshland and riverbanks but their work has only managed to clear small areas. As the seeds remain viable for up to two years re-colonisation is commonplace.

As I said, it is an attractive plant and if it did not shade out our native flora I would otherwise be more pleased to see it.