Traveling the Midlands of England

After a busy weekend with Julie's family creating many new memories we bid adieu to our welcoming Farm Hosts Rita and Chris. We head off to our new cottage in the village of Grantham in Lincolnshire. On the way we set our satellite navigation to Scenic roads which means many more "Round-Abouts". I'm an expert now thanks to some tutelage from Julie's niece Marilyn. Our next location is a leisurely two hour drive.

Being Sunday, we stop along the way at an Inn serving "Sunday Roast", an English tradition.

Again we are blessed with nice weather as we wind our way to our new home for 5 days - Paddock Cottage. 

We are sharing a home with our hosts which is quite old and beautifully renovated. We are in a two floor apartment that was previously the workers home for the neighboring Manor House. The owners have a lovely garden and I am able to catch a picture of these two backyard birds before we go off on our adventures.

English Robin

Whats for Dinner? Pheasant!

Todays adventure will take us to two National Trust Properties. Prior to leaving home we purchased two Royal Oak Passes. This is an organization of Americans that support the National Trust Properties. The Royal Oak pass gives us free admission to Trust Properties.  

First Stop Woolsthorpe Manor, The home of Sir Issac Newton. 

In 1664 as the black plague ravaged the cities of England, the students of Cambridge were sent home for safety. Issac Newton a young man studying at the University returned to his home in Grantham. He spent the next two years continuing his reading and asking the questions of the day as a student of astronomy and philosophy. As he sat one afternoon reading under his apple tree he contemplated the falling apple and how when objects fall they neither bare left or right but always continue straight down regardless of the height they fall from. He said, "I think I must study the force I believe pulls objects towards the earth such as this apple." If it was me I would have simply said "I think I will eat that!".

Call me a skeptic but I find it hard to believe this is a 400 year old tree.

Being the Easter School holiday we were not quick enough to grab tickets to the house tour so we move on to our next National Trust Property Belton House. A short 5 mile drive and more Round-abouts and we reach our next destination. 

Belton House

Belton House was originally built in the 1600's by Lord Brownlow, the lawyer to Queen Elizabeth I. Our guide tells us that as her lawyer he received today's equivalent of 18 million pounds a year for handling the legal work for the queen. Having studied her reign I can imagine that he was a very busy man. We toured the basement of the house with a knowledgable guide which centered his talk on the life and work of the service personnel of the house.

We learned about the hard lives of the servants and the class system that existed among their lot. There were upstairs servants and downstairs servants. These servants lived separate lives apart as they were discouraged from mingling with the lower class downstairs workers. In the downstairs children were hired as early as ten years old. They would handle menial tasks such as building fires in the kitchen, lugging heavy pots and pans and obeying orders from Cooks and Butlers. Young boys would be sent into drain wells to shovel out the grease and discarded food scraps. A child of this age would work 17 hour days and sleep in the stone basement hallways on straw mats. They were forbidden to go outside or upstairs where they might be seen by the gentry residing above. Many years would be spent in candle light and relative darkness never breathing fresh air.

Bolton House was turned over to the National Trust in the 1980's and serves as a beautiful park ground open to the public. The grounds today, being a school holiday, were swarming with young families picnicking and enjoying the grounds. We enjoyed a lunch in the Cafe of Nettle Soup and Cornish Pasties.

British Cuisine which years ago received terrible reviews has become quite diverse and as good as anywhere in Europe. Many fine restaurants abound in the cities however I prefer searching out the Pubs in Villages and trying traditional fare. Nettle Soup and Cornish pasties would be Pub fare years ago for workmen returning from the farms and fields. This lunch was delicious.

Lots of walking today for me which makes me thankful for my physical therapist however I suspect I will be hurting this evening. Advil is on hand and an early to bed is in order.

I have learned that we are not too far from one of Englands great birding centers on the coast.  I look forward to finding Titchwell later in the week as the weather is projected to get warmer. Sun is shining...life is good.

Springtime in the English Countryside

Join Julie and I as we leisurely ramble through the Midlands of England for the next 15 days. Julie emigrated from this area 43 years ago so our travels are filled with many fond memories for her to share with me. I with camera in hand will enjoy documentiing our experience. This is my sixth trip to England and having seen the major "must see" sites we are both happy to wander the countryside in search of bucolic views, historic National Trust sites and charming pub lunches.

First Stop - a delightful small farm in the Village of Napton On the Hill. Our lovely accommodations are in a former stable beautifully renovated by our hostess Rita Bagshaw. Her farm is appropriately called Napton Fields. Along with her skills of raising her herd of 700 sheep she is also an expert cabinetmaker and has made many of the features in our apartment.

Rita, upon our arrival introduced us to her latest additions and allowed Julie to feed the lambs who had been either abandoned by their Mum or their Mum didn't have enough milk supply. What a precious sight to see these little fellows gallop all in a line from across the field as soon as they saw Rita with her bucket of bottles.

We received a quick primer on sheep production and learned that we were arriving at peak "lambing"season. Two new lambs were added to the herd the evening we arrived. Rita markets her sheep for both their wool and for consumption, a thought that we would rather not think about as we feed these darlings. England once known as a supplier to the world of wool does not adequately reward sheep farmers for their fleeces. Rita tells us that the wool barely covers the cost of sheering. We see sheep all throughout the countryside however we learn that trade agreements with New Zealand flood the stores with lamb priced considerably less than local lamb. Fresh local lamb however is worth the price!

"Eh Yank...Take My Picture"

Spending our first full day in England we took the morning to explore the village of Napton on the Hill. The Village resides in an idyllic setting surrounded by farm fields complete with a small village square, a church on the hill and a very nice "local" pub. We are so fortunate that our first day was filled with sunshine and billowing clouds. We can't hope to be so lucky for the next 15 days.

Driving along the village roads we were taken back by the ubiquitous hedge rows all in bloom with a delicate white flower. We stopped for lunch at the local Kings Head Pub and were treated to their award winning Sausage and Mash which was indeed worthy of the title.

The afternoon was spent reuniting with Julie's niece Marilyn who brought along Louise, Julie's daughter, who arrived earlier this morning in London to attend Marilyn's Dad's funeral. We followed their car up to Combe Abbey in Coventry. I am getting the hang of Round-a-Bouts and have solicited a few horn honks and hand gestures from friendly motorists welcoming us to the country.

Tomorrow we will be meeting Julie's family so I am anxious to return to our stable to rest up for the busy day and practice my best behavior. On our way out of the Abbey we caught sight of this humorous road sign which could only be seen in England.  

Ta Ta for now, I'll post again after the family gatherings are over.

Maintaining a Sense of Wonder- the Birds of 2018

Reviewing photos from the past year is a fun walk through the seasons and events of the past year.  I find that bird photography for me has been a great way to nurture a sense of wonder of God's creation and an opportunity to continue to remain open to learn new things. In photography as in life Julie and I talk of "Kaizen", the Japanese word for constant improvement.

Photography is a humbling pursuit.  There are always better photographers, better compositions, more perfect light and better equipment. The fun is in not being obsessed with perfection and to recognize that you can enjoy your hobby without having it produce money or fame. Productivity and competition in our work-life unfortunately has spilled into our leisure pursuits. We feel compelled to run races further, publish articles, win competitions or sell our work to prove its value. I did get a charge out of winning a first place two years in a row in the local Monticello Bird Photography contest, however if your work lights that creative spark of wonder in you...embrace and enjoy it! Make that childhood sense of wonder and discovery a lifelong pursuit.  I'll always remember my Mom sitting down at our piano playing and singing away. The piano was never in tune, a few sour notes here and there and never a public performance....however pure JOY.

This past year's pictures have been gleaned from the backyard "photo booth " areas around our beautiful Virginia countryside and a lovely Spring visit to Montana.  In addition last Spring Julie and I had the pleasure of taking two of our Grandchildren on a James river eagle tour. The discovery tour produced several great Eagle and Osprey pictures (see previous blog post). This year I've continued to dive into information on bird science through readings and lectures about these feathered creatures.  I even fell upon a passionate gathering of "Purple Martin" enthusiasts. The more I learn the greater appreciation I have developed for all our avian friends, yet with more knowledge, questions get raised. How do these pea size brains in a hummingbird prepare them to fly to Central America each year? How do flocking birds maintain such symmetry when flying in groups? What keeps a woodpecker from getting a head-ache? With that last question I digress, here are some favorite photos from 2018.

A beautiful Northern Cardinal, our state bird, in breeding plumage

Success - the female likes him!

The American Goldfinch in winter plumage

American Goldfinch

Don't overlook the "little Brown Jobs" - Two pretty Chipping Sparrows

White Pelican on the Yellowstone River with a breeding bump on its beak

White Pelicans on the Yellowstone River

A Montana Western Bluebird striking a pose 

A Killdeer

Common Mergansers on the Yellowstone River

A Barn Swallow

What's a common seagull doing in the mountains of Montana? Who knew they hang out there.

The Northern Mockingbird mimics other birds calls but he's not the only one with this talent

The Brown Thrasher and the Catbird also are in the family of Mimics

The Western Bluebird

Sand Hill Cranes in Montana - One of the great American animal migrations

The Common Cormorant

 American Bluebird in the photo booth

The Dark Eyed Junco - a Winter visiter

The Yellow Chat

Prairie Warbler

Carolina Wren

Tree Swallow taking over my bird house

This tree swallow is a welcome visiter to my backyard as they eat lots of mosquitos

Yellow Goldfinch

Winter scene of a Northern Flicker

A Red Bellied Woodpecker having a chat with a Mourning Dove

A House Finch in breeding colors

                                                Yellow Rumped Warbler - The Butter Butt

American Eagle on the James River

 Tufted Titmouse -"Julie,Julie,Julie"

My female bird brain friend who can navigate circles around me...

the Ruby Throated Hummingbird