Gelly Babes March Meander

Four Old Birds go Birding

 

March 11th 2014

 

Today the Gelly Babes are on a mission to become birdwatchers - under the expert tuition of Helen J.

We met at Attenborough Nature reserve and headed straight to the café for coffee and a good chat before we got down to the serious business of bird watching.  The weather was absolutely perfect again, a bit chilly in the wind but lovely sunshine and a real feeling of spring.

Helen had set homework for us and we had all come equipped with books and binoculars. Pam had even dressed for the occasion.

 There was lots to spot before we even set off

Pam looking like a real proper birder

(definitely not a twitcher!)

Helen in action - probably spotting a pintail!

 

We spent quite a long time in a hide (thankfully nothing untoward was happening in there!) where we learned that great tits often pretend to be chiff chaffs, thank goodness there was another birdwatcher on hand to clarify things for us.

 

The view from the hide

 

We headed back to the visitor centre for lunch - soup and pasties followed by cake. Fully fortified we set off for a longer walk, taking in the river.It really is a lovely spot and hard to believe it is only a few miles from the centre of Nottingham.

 

At one point on our walk Helen was accosted by a twitcher who was hunting for pintails - he had the audacity to doubt her knowledge - he was gently but firmly put in his place - Helen knows her pintails!

 

This is the list of birds that we spotted throughout the day:

Tufted Duck

Canada Goose

Mute Swan

Mallard

Black Headed Gull

Coot

Red Crested Pochard (doesn't really count apparently)

Egyptian Goose

Great Crested Grebe

Long Tailed Tit

Shelduck

Moorhen

Lapwing

Grey Heron

Carrion Crow

Teal

Pintail

Goldeneye

Wigeon

Gadwall

Great Tit

Reed Bunting

Dunnock

Chaffinch

Robin

Green Finch

Tree Sparrow

Cormorant

Little Egret

Greylag Goose

Pheasnt

House Sparrow

Starling

 



and something small brown and unidentified which is lurking somewhere in this photograph and is probably very rare.

 

 







I can't believe how many birds we spotted thanks to our expert teacher - I just hope that I can remember at least some of them in the future and I am definitely going to get some decent binoculars but probably not Swarovski ones - I think the crystals might dazzle the birds.

 

 

Gelly Babes February Frolic

Eastwood Explorations

4th February 2014

 

Another bright sunny morning for our February outing. We met at the DH Lawrence Heritage centre in Eastwood and drove to Felley Mill for the start of our walk.

The first point of interest - a muddy track!

 

Spot the Fieldfare!

 

Our walk started at the site of the old Felley Mill (Strelley Mill in several of Lawrence's novels) which is now nothing more than a depressing patch of concrete. We then followed Weavers Lane up the hill past America Farm, a walk which Lawrence describes in The White Peacock. On over the motorway (which doesn't feature in any of Lawrence's writing) towards Annesley and then on to Kennel Lane which eventually gave us some lovely far reaching views. 

 

 

 The View with Crich Stand somewhere in the distance!

 

 Three Babes 'Sitting and Ayeing a Minute'

 

Some thoughts on the view from our muse for the day

 

Our walk continued back on down the hill to our starting point at Felley Mill.





 What remains of the Mill Pond

 

Back in the car (once Sherpa Jackson had removed all her layers!)we drove back to the Heritage Centre where we explored the exhibition

 

 Carrot soup anyone?

 Do my legs look long in this?

 

 Just checking your spelling Bert

 

 

 Mr Gove's vision for the future!

 

 Now we know why Mrs J chose teaching over being a miner

 

 

After our very thorough exploration of the exhibition we had a very interesting and entertaining lunch at the Heritage Centre before walking up to the Birth Place Museum



The thin blue line

 

The day concluded with our guided tour of the Victoria Street house where DH Lawrence was born, thankfully we have come a long way from the days when women were judged by how well they black leaded their ranges -although I am sure the Babes would be brilliant at it!

 

 
 

 

 

 





 



Gelly Babes January Jaunt

Shipley Saunter

7th January 2014

A leisurely amble today to start the new year. We met in the car park at Mapperley Reservoir, thankfully Helen J's order for good weather had worked and the sun was shining! Campervan coffee to start the day and we started the walk with a little gentle bird watching. As Helen J was the only one with binoculars (and knowledge)we have to take her word on what we spotted!

 

This is her list:

great crested grebe, cormorant (not shag!), goosander (not red breasted merganser), mallard, tufted duck, moorhen, coot, black-headed gull, wood pigeon, wren, robin, blackbird, redwing, blue tit, great tit, magpie, carrion crow, house sparrow, bullfinch, canada goose, chaffinch, mute swan ... and a grey squirrel

 

We all got very excited about the red breasted merganser but consultation of the twitcher's bible revealed that it was merely a goosander! Dishonest twitcher's would have claimed it as a sighting but we know better.



Best feet forward

Look - there's a tree!

 

Our walk took us along the edge of the reservoir and eventually up to the visitors centre where we availed ourselves of the facilities, even if we didn't need them. From there we followed the track down to Osbournes Pond.





By George I do believe that duck is attempting to fly!

 

No Maggie that is definitely not a Shag!

 

From there we walked up the hill to where Shipley Hall used to stand. And spent some time imagining what it must have been like - from the perspective of drunken colliers wives!(apparently the wives were drunk not the colliers, though they might have been too)

 

Did you know..........?

 

From the Hall site we walked down through the woods via the burial ground and back to the reservoir.

 

 



We drove to the Bottle Kiln where we had a lovely lunch followed by delicious coffee and a jolly good chat. Another lovely day with the Babes!

 

Very Interesting site about Mapperley

Some interesting bits about Shipley





Gelly Babes December Jaunt

Bakewell and Banter

December 10th 2013

 

 

For our December jaunt we decided on a nice easy day out in Bakewell. A beautiful sunny day and we assembled in the car park, a little behind schedule! First stop was coffee and a quick catch up on everyone's news.

Helen J had discovered an intriguing 'tree walk' around Bakewell and after our coffee we set off to discover the arboreal delights of the town.

 

Two heads are better than one (usually!)

 

We began under the fastigiate hornbeam - at least we think it was the fastigiate hornbeam! 

The trail then took us up to the church which proved to be fascinating. We had an excellent guide around the church and not one point of interest was missed on the tour.

The guide took the whole thing very seriously!

Not a seat was left unturned!

 

 

 

Two new mottoes to be adopted by the Gelly Babes

 

 

21st Century Prudent Wives and Gracious Women!

 

The walk continued through a wooded pathway where we had to look out for little people and where we learned that holly is used for making chess men and harpsichord keys. There was a lot of evidence through the woods of last weeks high winds with several fallen trees and the path did become something of an assault course at one point.

The woodland path brought us out onto a lane called The Butts.

 



The Butts!

 

The walk took us back along the river into Bakewell - a very short walk but a very interesting one.

The day was rounded off with a lovely lunch and a bit of banter!

 

Gelly Babes November Outing

26th November 2013
Gelly Babes November Outing

 

 

Today was the first the day that all the members of the Gelly Babes were able to meet and we started the day with a very special visit to Charlotte's beautiful house. Helen J made her own way there and the rest of us had a very interesting drive up the very narrow lane, arriving exactly on schedule at 10.27!

 

The Lady of the Manor!

 

We had a wonderful guided tour of the house and all decided that we are going to move in. Sadly we hadn't brought our swimming cosies so we weren't able to make use of the hot tub on this occasion - but we won't forget next time.

 





It was a bit of a shame that Charlotte hadn't seen fit to tidy the pantry for our visit and we were a little bit disappointed by the missing doors upstairs but other than that we were all very impressed.

How many cafetieres?

 

The visit was rounded off with coffee and tea cakes in one of the conservatories and when we managed to stop talking about the wonders of Charlotte's house we sorted out the education system - and all this before midday!

 

 

We said our goodbyes to Charlotte - it had been really good to see her and catch up with all her news. Exactly on schedule we headed for Tissington for our walk. We started along the trail and then headed over the fields towards Parwich. The views were wonderful but it was very muddy and some of us had difficulty staying on our feet! Some of the stiles proved to be a bit of a challenge too but expert use of a stick can be a great help in such circumstances.

Always good to know that Joe will have something for tea tonight

We ate our sandwiches on the village green in Parwich which was beautiful in the late sunshine and then back up the hill to the trail for the final lap back to the car park for tea and cake in the campervan.



Time for tea!

Just what we needed to keep us going!
 

And finally, as requested by Pam, here is the recipe for the sticky toffee tray bake

 

FOR THE SPONGE
200g pitted dates, chopped
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
300ml boiling water
80g unsalted butter, softened
160g light brown sugar
2 large free-range eggs, at room temperature, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
175g self raising flour good pinch of seasalt
75g walnut pieces
FOR THE TOPPING
100g light brown sugar
75g unsalted butter
100ml double cream
4 tablespoons mascarpone
good pinch of sea salt flakes
walnut halves or pieces to decorate (or jelly babies!)
Instructions
1.Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line a 25.5cm x 20.5cm x 5cm tin. To make the sponge mixture, put the dates into a suacepan, add the bicarb soda and pour over the boiling water. Simmer over a low heat for a minute, then remove from the heat and leave to cool and soften for 15 minutes.
2.Put butter into a mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon or an electric beater until creamy. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy, then gradually add the eggs, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Sift the flour and salt into the bowl and fold in with a large metal spoon. Add the cooled date mixture and the walnuts, and fold in.
3.Transfer the mixture to the prepared tin and spread evenly. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the sponge feels springy when gently pressed in the centre. Cool for 15 minutes in the tin, then carefully turn out and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
4.To make the caramel topping, put the sugar, butter and double cream into a saucepan and heat gently until melted, then bring to the boil and simmer for 3-4 minutes until sticky. Remove from the heat and leave to cool completely.
5.Beat the mascarpone until smooth, then fold in the caramel mixture and the salt. Swirl over the top of the cold cake. Decorate with walnuts. Leave in a cool spot to firm up a little before cutting into squares. Store in an airtight container and eat within 4 days.