Mad March Show and Tell

                                                 Mad March Show and Tell

It has been almost a year of lockdown with a few bits of freedom in between and we have all found different ways of keeping ourselves busy during the times we have been following the guidelines and staying at home. Here are some of the things that we have achieved alongside all the books we have read, walks we have been on and tv series we have binged.

So here are some of the things we have been doing......

Charlotte

So, a year of Lockdowns...

For me that meant unexpected 24/7 teenage care and homeschooling. 

The first Lockdown was difficult as we mastered new restrictions and the nightmare of early homeschooling but it was also lovely in many ways as the weather was glorious and we had space to create our own fun.

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Pam

 During The Great Derbyshire Oatcake Crisis of 2020, a pack of "make at home" was sourced on the internet from the True Home of the Real Oatcake - North Staffordshire! 

             Our resident Newcastellian (under Lyme) approved!!

-:-

Jo

Here is a tapestry that I found at Mum's while house clearing. It was far from finished and it has taken me ages... I just need to turn it into a cushion and return it to Mum. A job for retirement in just 4 weeks!! Can't wait. 

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Alison

 Couldn’t think of anything I had done in the last year! Then I remembered these… from the RSPB site regarding the plight of the curlew.

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Jane

A story I wrote for Charlotte and Evie last summer about their loft conversion "The Mystery of the Black Trousers".

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Helen J

A proper lockdown project undertaken during the wintry weather!  I came across a pile of beautiful cards which I had kept, either because they were too beautiful to throw away or they were from someone special. It was about the same time as I had run out of cards too, so I have recycled them but have only used other material which I have hoarded for years. They are a little wonky but made with love, not precision. Who knows, maybe you will receive a recycled card made from one you sent me, once upon a time! 

-:-

Maggie

Babes do Birds

 Babes BigGardenWatch

29th to 31st January 2021

What am I doing here? Here's the clue:

Tweeting you treats.  I repeat. Tweeting you treats.

We agreed that we needed an additional January blog so three challenges were set:  Join in with the RSPB BigGardenWatch plus create a Babe list of birds which do not show up, but are regular visitors or flyovers. Also, the hardest task of all, to send up to two recognisable bird photos. One or two (maybe more!) of these have been remarkably cleaned up, such is the wonder of modern technology.😉

As usual the weather did a down-turn for the RSPB BGW, and many of us were left with a much smaller count than usual; there are always exceptions, of course. 

Even this one decided food was better elsewhere for some of us!

Most of us looked out of our garden window for the bird garden count; but there was one exception and as the RSPB allow for a local area, therefore, so do we.

Here is the RSPB bird count which follows the strict rules of  the highest number of birds seen at any one time within the hour. 

Female blackbird enjoying her space.

Some very interesting results!  The blackbird was the only bird seen by everyone. Two of you saw nine  in your garden all at the same time which was very impressive.  Did you know that a collective name of a blackbird is a 'Merle'?

Male blackbird not entirely sure about the snow.

  Whilst the house sparrow comes in 2nd, a third of these were seen by one person.

House sparrow pretending to be a hedge sparrow; definitely not a tree sparrow

And, the blue tit came in third place, half of which were seen by one person.

Through the window.

Enjoying the sun

If memory serves me correctly, the goldfinch were very much down on numbers from last year.  A disappointment, especially as there were so many about in the summer. 

Here's looking at you, looking at me.

Some birds were seen both out and about and in the garden

Generosity with food helps, in some cases!  Lovely pair of bullfinch. 

There were quite a few birds which showed up in some gardens, but not in others.  To keep it simple, I have only included birds below which were either not seen by anyone on the day or were seen flying over at some point in January. 

 

A flyover by one resting house crow. What a 'carrion'!

Popping in for a dip anytime soon. If you have a brook (or stream, river, torrent, flood) 

at the end of your garden!

And, if you look up, you might just see.

Grey heron in a tree.

or even a Great White Egret on a roof! 

Out and about...

Mallards going for the sepia look... hmm.. 'in eclipse' or are these hybrids? 

Someone couldn't resist the 'ahhh, cute' photo, even if they are Canada geese!

Well done to everyone, but in particular to Maggie who has the highest variety and count from her very well-stocked garden, which I think is secretly Wirksworth's Bird Reserve. Take-away coffees at the back door coming soon from...

Through the 'Nut-hatch'? 

Although, Helen M came in a close 2nd with her Stanley Common walk too. It was a frustrating time for many of us, but between us, we have some really lovely results.  

I'm going to leave you with a bird frequently mentioned on Winter Watch this year, so I just had to check out my stock (one more time!) and share this beauty with you. Only cos 'Eider' hope we will see each other very soon. 

  

Winter Weather Wanderings and Wonderings.

Winter Weather

As we aren’t able to meet up again this month’s blog is a photographic record of the weather. A photograph (or several in some cases!) and a few words to record our experiences whilst we have been out and about taking our daily exercise - close to home of course.

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness “
John Steinbeck

Storm clouds over Carsington 

A brighter, healthi
Er twenty twenty one, but
Not just yet it seems!

Always looking for the silver lining 

Bob wants a proper frozen lake to skate on....like Betty

Another super sunset sky

Carsington 

I’ve sent a picture of the view from my bedroom window, taken this morning looking out into a temporary “lagoon“, created by the Environment Agency to remove the dredged silt from the nearby river which broke its banks and flooded the town 2yrs ago. When it was first created last spring it was full of wildlife, with swans, cormorants, egrets and hundreds of seagulls having a day out from the coast which is only a couple of miles away (as the gull flies). As the water slowly disappears, we’re left with sludge so no wildlife now. Eventually it’ll be handed back to the farmer. It’s been interesting to watch it all evolve

A lonely tree guards
a Swarkestone field in wintry
late afternoon light.

A frosty morning from our patio. 

Jack Frost crispy elm leaves

Sun going down on
The not so perfect vision
Of twenty twenty

We have been doing some lovely Winter walking, one of my favourites was on the 29th December where we parked in Bakewell, went across the trail through the golf course and Manners Wood and up onto the meadow at the top where there is a pond. Here I made friends with a very friendly chap, bit quiet but great fun.  He had his arms open for a hug but I kept my distance. Sun and snow, such a glorious combination. It was one of those walks where you felt very grateful to live in this area.

Orange path down to the cemetery 

Blue skies and scribble over the windmill ruin.

Brief moment in the snow

Happy Gelly Babes
Lovely, fun, chatty meet ups
Just around the corner!

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.....

Hard, frost-whitened glass.
Glistening sunlight
shoots shards in splintered rainbows.

Wingfield ruins through the binoculars.

I spy sunshine.

I’m supposed to be a sub-Saharan animal.

Wise people follow the post to the conjunction of planets

And in case any of you were wondering this is what Bob was referring to......