Kedleston - the return

Shady Oaks and Splash Pools

Friday 13th 2019

  

With several of our number otherwise engaged four of us gathered on a glorious morning with not a hint of Friday 13th in the air, well done Jo for ordering perfect weather and a picture perfect venue.

We started with a stroll around the gardens to see the stunning wild flowers recommended by the lady volunteers in  the ticket office and also to give Bob and Betty a chance to let off a bit of steam and anything else they might feel the need to let off!

   

They really were quite a sight to behold

 

But we did decide that none of our gardens were really big enough to recreate the effect and also none of us have the team of volunteers needed to maintain such a scene.

 

Next on the agenda was coffee and a good long chat catching up with all our summer adventures, in fact the chat lasted so long it almost turned into lunch.

 

 

 

Armed with the trusty National Trust walk leaflet in the capable hands of Maggie our duly elected guide for the day we set off on the 'long walk' which the leaflet told us should take an 1hour and 20 minutes, however with such a lot to chat and about and so much to see (including birds that required spotting) we were worried that it might take twice that and that there would only be cake left in the café for lunch.

 Maggie proved to be an excellent guide and pointed out the Sulphur Bath House which none of us had ever spotted before despite several previous visits - not sure that bathing in sulphur sounds like much fun.

 

Hard to believe that Jo didn't have a notebook with her - but bird list making equipment was soon found and was soon followed by some excitement when a nice gentleman from Dudley gave us a false sighting of a shoveler on the lake - his wife was very dubious as were we and it didn't make the list - he tried to redeem himself with some Brummie jokes - mainly for Maggie's benefit.

 

 

Betty looking longingly at the water.....

 

 

.........and getting her own way - as usual.

 

 

Onwards up through the shady oaks, taking in the views and admiring the beautiful striped lawn. Our guide informed us that this is one of the best examples of an 18th century circuit walk in the country.

 

 

Enjoying the view and the lovely benches in Vicar Wood and wondering what the vicar actually got up to in the woods - and also what the priest got up to in Priest Wood which are also known as Pleasure Garden Woods - probably better not to know!

 

 

Back through the gardens and back to the café  which thankfully still had lunch left - still lots left to chat about - Jo and I couldn't compete with Julia and Maggie's famous people that I met on my holiday stories - quite a quartet of Greg Dyke, Noel Fielding, Lynn Faulds Wood and John Stapleton and then Maggie topped it all by spotting her chum Lord Curzon sadly he was in his land rover so couldn't stop to chat.

 

Our Bird list for the day:

 

Coot

Mandarin Duck

Little Egret

Heron

Mallard

Crow

Swan

Canada Geese

Buzzard

Black headed gulls

Wren

Great Crested Grebe

Grey lag Goose

Hacksaw
Pied Wagtail

House Martin

Long tailed fit
Tufted Duck

 

Not a bad list considering that we weren't really concentrating and a lovely day was had by all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whirling around Willington

Whirling around Willington

Friday 12th July 2019

 

Well trained in time keeping, Helen J was greeted by Maggie, Alison, Jo and Bob, Helen M and a whirling dervish of a Betty at precisely 1015 at the definitely free Willington station car park. A combination of reasons meant Julia, Charlotte, Lynn and Pam were unable to join us. A pity, it were good!

 

With good weather promised by both the BBC and yours truly, we still took precautions and had a spell of waterproofs, now on, now off, now ..... 

 

Definitely not something to do with our age!

 

Feeling a bit adventurous, we started, not with a coffee but a walk along the tow path. Although it was very tempting to have a splash in the canal, there were plenty of other curiosities to investigate. And, in typical fashion,

 

 

Betty's attempts to 'barge' in are thwarted. 

 

Over the bridge and into a field we come across a land art spiral made from local willow cuttings and, once we had found the entrance, couldn't resist seeing where it ended up: in a very snug middle, of course!

 

Maggie daren't sit down in case she gets her white (!) trews dirty!

 

Poetry, sketches and sayings add a bit of humour, but hopefully this was not a prophecy for later on.

 

 

We are now about to enter Mercia Marina, named after the Kingdom of Mercia which came to an abrupt end around 800AD when the Danes deposed of the Vikings and deposited their bodies in Repton.  A pity they didn't sort out the dinosaurs at the same time......

 

 

Alison also checks out other ancestral facts.

 

Mercia Marina has, over the last few years,  developed into a 74 acre marina with shops, restaurants, holiday homes with plenty of boating and walking opportunities..  It also been awarded a gold star for its rich wildlife from David Bellamy, but I bet he didn't expect courtship between a mute and a black swan!! 

 

Pretty in pink.

 

We check out a few of the barges and reminisce a little about barging holidays.  We think about maybe a GB barge trip.  But, if we were to buy one, what would we call it?

 

  'Bwaajigengwaagan'?  'Rampant Rhubarb' ?

 

By now, desperate for a coffee we decide it is definitely sunny enough to sit outside.

 

Helen makes sure we all get a dry seat and a good view.

 

Amongst chat about the usual things, we decide that armchair viewing of music festivals may not be very atmospheric, but at least you get a good view and opportunity for a brew up whenever you like.   We have also decided that Bubbles will now be on a strict ration of  Days of Culture (arts, sport, food... anything to stop her getting on a plane to somewhere exotic).  Assisting at a concert would do very nicely!

 

A cheeky robin poses long enough for a fuzzy photo.

 

Freshened up, in more ways than one, we set off on the next leg of our journey.

 

What, no wifi in Willington?!

 

We spot quite a few more narrow boats.  This one is perfect for Alison: a place to grow her flowers and veg, and if you look very carefully in the window,

 

display her hand knitted crafts!

 

The green paint is obviously the undercoat!

 

Another interesting 'observation'..

 

Crossing the roads in Willington proved to be quite a challenge, and because there had been quite lot of housing development, we were not quite sure where the footpaths might lead.  Perhaps this is why the locals need clear signage

 

for local people.

 

However, a very kindly gentleman helped us out and those of us familiar with the village, have now discovered a new way into Willington Nature Reserve. What a treat! Lots and lots of unkempt flora and fauna. Identifying everything proved a bit of a challenge, but when Helen J asked Alison to hold a plant still for a photo, little did either of them realise that  Cinnabar Moth caterpillars are highly toxic!

 

Should have suspected that stripy things equal danger!

 

At least other creatures seemed to be more friendly:

 

I am not an apostrophe floating in the air; I am a comma

 

If I told you that we saw a rhino in the grass, you woodn't believe me!

 

We pottered down the welcoming shady lane and stopped off at a couple of viewing platforms.  There was some discussion about whether the kestrel was indeed a peregrine, or the peregrine was even a sparrowhawk.  Something didn't 'quite fit'; 'it' had a moustache but later ID (and a Phil comment, which must not be ignored) means that we saw a hobby which for which the reserve is famous!

 

Look, 'it' is even on the poster!!

 

A quiet spot and look how still Bob is..

 

Perfectly still.

 

So, how his lead got completely tangled up with the bench, is anyone's guess! 

 

 Having walked precisely 7.5km each (or an even less scientific few thousand steps), we were a little hungry and Bevington Tea Rooms did not disappoint.  Betty and Bob were greeted with a sausage each and we all tucked into delicious granary bread garnished with something scrumptious and a cuppa tea (mostly). Further cauliflower recipes were shared, as were our concerted efforts to recycle,  freecycle and more attempts at ridding ourselves of plastic.

 

 

The peace and quiet was soon shattered, not just by a barky Bob but by several whirly things in the sky.

 

If only Alison had booked one of these instead of a balloon flight, we might have had a 'fly-by' today!

 

Whilst our wildlife list also included other butterflies, rabbits and a stoat, our bird list was good for the day.  Perhaps this had been a good omen at the start of our walk:

 

 

black headed gull

black swan** (An introduced bird but it fits number 101 perfectly!)

blackbird

blue tit

buzzard

canada geese

common tern*

coot

cormorant (birds of the day for their playfulness and seal-likeness)

crow

goldfinch

great crested grebe

great tit

grey heron

hobby** (I defer to the wise one and gut instinct)  

house martin*

house sparrow

jackdaw

little egret*

magpie

mallard

moorhen

mute swan

oystercatcher*

pochard*

reed bunting (or posh sparrow!)

robin

starling*

swallow

tufted ducks (in eclipse)

wren

 

31 for the day. 60 for the year.  * are firsts for the year. 102 for our running total.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Darley Abbey Dawdle

Darley Abbey Dawdle

June 14th 2019

With the weather forecast not looking too promising and lots of our group with other commitments there were just three of us at Darley Abbey - even Bob and Betty had decided to stay at home and keep dry.

 

Who knew it was such an interesting place

 Strolling from the car park we finally met up - someone didn't read the email and parked in the wrong place.

Despite the grey skies every where was looking very lovely and amazingly it wasn't actually raining.

Of course the first stop is always for a coffee - we even managed to find some dry chairs and sit outside - as always there was plenty to catch up on, swapping tales of our latest travels and gastronomic experiences, grumbling about the weather and speculating about our next Prime Minister - we saved the complexities of Sharia Law for lunchtime. It still wasn't raining and we set off to explore - Helen J really does have a hotline to the weather gods.

Someone seems to be practising for our next photographic competition - however digital effects will not be allowed.

The walled garden is a delight - who doesn't like a lovely herbaceous border and there is a very fine line between needing weeding and achieving the wild look

Lovely euphorbia - or is it splurge!

Lots of insects enjoying the respite from the recent downpours

And the National Collection of Hydrangea's will be a delight in a few weeks

Intriguing view into a secret bit of the garden

 

Can't remember what the bird was but it must be a sign!

Very fine Bugingham Palace

more lovely borders

A wander through the streets of Darley Abbey and a bit of speculation about house prices and what a nice place it would be to live - although this sign is a bit of a worry - perhaps the locals aren't so friendly!

We did manage to restrain ourselves

 

Sadly the pub is closed

Our walk continued along the river and as if on cue to mark Jo's dads birthday we were treated to a perfect sighting of a kingfisher

 

and some grey wagtails

Here we go......



.....round......

.....the mulberry bush - actually it was a tree

Even a bit of watery sunshine

Lunchtime and the café and mugs were coordinated with Helen J's outfit - in fact we had trouble seeing her! The fried egg sandwiches were a great hit and the cheese on toast was jolly good too

 

Our bird list for the day:

 

blackbird

wren
robin

wood pigeon

magpie
crow

longtailed tit
dunnock

jackdaw
pied wagtail

swan
grey wagtail

moorhen

missle  thrush

mallard

swallow
house martin

kingfisher (bird of the day)

gold finch

black cap

(Autocorrect has just turned jackdaw into hacksaw and missle thrush into missile thrush)

 

"It was the Rainbow gave thee birth,
And left thee all her lovely hues......" (W.H.Davies)