Newcastle in monochrome..

I ventured up north to Newcastle to give a talk at the North of England Beekeepers Convention, and found an hour to have a quick wander around this rather lovely city. The architecture is quite striking, a mix of beautiful old limestone buildings, but with a juxtaposition of modern, but artful, structures. Here are a few photographs which I have posted in monochrome, as the subject matter lends itself to it so well. Enjoy!

On the way home!

Hope you are having a nice weekend!

The Egg Box

I love spring, the promise of warmer, sunnier days, although this year they have been somewhat absent, but we live in hope that spring is surely just around the corner.

And one of the nice things about spring is the enthusiasm with which this time of the year is greeted by our twittering feathered friends. Their optimism inspired me to make a little display made from an old box which has been languishing in the loft, broken and unloved. It previously had semi-precious gemstones and pretty rocks in, and was in desperate need of a little TLC.

I started by taking the box to pieces before painting it with several coats of white emulsion. I then decided to splatter the box with darker blotches to imitate the spottiness of eggs, so out came the box of acrylic paints!

And using the bristles of a paint brush I flickered paint onto the wood, and finished the woodwork off with a couple of light coats of varnish, and then assembled the box.

An old book on birds' nests and eggs (I love these kind of books), painted to scale, provided the perfect picture to scan and print onto computer watercolour (slightly textured) paper. Then it was just a case of carefully cutting around the eggs and the names of the corresponding bird, and arrange all the pieces on the backing board, which I had wrapped in handmade paper.

Using tiny foam pads (from a packet of 200 obtained from a stationers) acting not only to attach the egg to the backing board, but also to raise the individual eggs slightly to give them a three dimensional effect. Since it has been illegal to take the eggs of most wild birds since the Protection of Birds Act 1954 and it is illegal to be in the possession of any wild birds' eggs taken since that time under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, this is the closest I'll get to having my own collection of eggs. I love all the colour variations.

And it sits nicely in a spring display!

I have since seen a photo in a life style magazine showing a framed picture of another egg 'collection' where the artist had made the eggs by cutting them out of old maps. It's a nice picture, although I wouldn't spend £600 on it, and actually I think I prefer my own creation :o)

Happy Sunday to you!

Love is in the air

It's that time of the year again when the pond starts to fill up with new life.  The sound of amorous frogs (Rana temporaria) is quite amusingly loud, especially in the evenings, and whereas the rest of the garden still looks rather drab and uninviting with few blossoms and leaves, the pond is quite green and springing (haha literally!) into life. Sadly few of the many frogspawn survive to full adulthood, this is presumably why the frogs invest so much into producing so many offspring.

The common frog is usually more active at night, though it can be seen during the day too. They become sexually mature at about 3 years old. During February and March the frogs emerge from hibernation and journey to their chosen breeding pond. They have been known to return to the same breeding ground each year.

The male frogs usually reach the breeding ponds before the females, and they attempt the attract a female frog by making a low purring croaking sound, like this:

A successful male will wrap his forelimbs around the female in a mating embrace known as 'amplexus'.  Each female lays 1000-4000 eggs at a time, which are fertilised by the male as they are released.

The frogspawn is encased in a jelly-like substance which protects the little embryos. Depending on the  weather conditions, two to four weeks later the tadpoles will hatch out.

After around 16 weeks the tadpoles start to grow back legs, followed by front legs. When they have fully absorbed their tails they leave the water as tiny froglets, usually in early summer but sometimes as late as September. I for one can't wait to follow their progress this year!
Frogs are a great natural slug deterrent - every gardener should favour a few of these hopping about the borders. Do you have frogs in your garden?

Perhaps you'd like to help with the Million Ponds Project? This Project will create an extensive network of new ponds across the UK. Ultimately the aim is to reverse a century of pond loss, ensuring that once again the UK has over one million countryside ponds. For more information go to the Pond Conservation website.

In the meantime, enjoy one of nature's spring marvels!

Motoring down to the museum

Kattegat's husband here again, let loose with another guest blog post. That's because BB and I were allowed, whilst on holiday in the Cotswolds, to venture into that boy's own domain, the motor museum.

From the outside it looked, well, modest is a good word. As in, maybe too modest to fit a whole car inside. But much like the TARDIS, it must be significantly bigger on the inside, because its seven rooms house a fantastic collection of vehicles and motoring memorabilia.

All the cars had 'drivers'

The rooms are themed according to age, with the earliest cars in the first room, so following the winding route through the building is like traveling forward in time. And although there were, necessarily, a limited number of cars, there were some crackers and every inch of available space was being utilised.

Ooh, I do like a nice Jag!

As well as cars, there were motorbikes and even some caravans, kitted out inside with appropriate period fittings and paraphernalia.

Inside one of the caravans

All in all, both BB and I were very impressed, and it was fun to go round with him comparing notes on the relative merits of the various cars.

'Mod corner', in the 60s and 70s room

I had one of these! Same colour, too.

Ford cars through the ages, both British and American, in miniature

If you find yourself in Bourton on the Water, check out the Cotswold Motoring Museum & Toy Collection - well worth a visit.

A touch of pink

In my little home I have a corner or two that I frequently change. I like to see change, it keeps the house from looking boring. This time the colour veered towards the pink, inspired by a pot of hyacinths given to me as bulbs by my mother. Sitting on the windowsill they grew as the day-length increased, until they sat there pretty in pink wafting their lovely fragrance around our parlour!

In the background lurks a copy of a screenprint by Angie Lewin called Lichen and Thrift. She is one of my favourite screenprinters. I particularly love the flowers she chooses, and there is always such wonderful movement in her prints.

I have a fondness of displays that are made up of collections of old and new, bought and made. Here the 'made' is a couple of felt cupcakes and a pink painted terracotta planter (with candle). A large enamel jug with roses and white painted hazel, an enamel oil lamp, some crazy Empire crockery from the 60s and a wooden darning egg all sit nicely together.

A sweet, silly teapot completes the display!

Meanwhile, outside, the bright pink flowers of the Bergenia brave the chilly, early March air to expose their reproductive organs to tempt any passing (and hardy) pollinator!

With a houseful of boys, sometimes a girl just needs a touch of pink!!

Our new edible hedge

The last section of our old Lonicera hedge really needed to be replaced as it had become old, woody and rather broad. Every time the snow lay thick the hedge would tilt at an alarming angle. The other section facing the road was replaced two years ago with a native hedge and is coming along nicely. Once a decision to do something has been made in this house, it generally gets done pronto. I am not one to procrastinate - life's just too short, and besides now is a good time to be planting trees and hedges. We purchased a new hedge from the nice man at HabitatAid, Nick Mann, and I excitedly waited for the arrival of a new edible hedge to replace the old one. Sounds a tad sad to be thrilled and whooping when it finally turned up on the doorstep, but that's the kind of gal I am!

Looked a little like a body bag had been delivered!

Opening up the goody bag :)

We had asked a neighbour, who is a contract landscaper, to remove the old Lonicera hedge, so that we could concentrate on getting the new one in as quick as possible. Steve made a rustic fence just to give the border an edge and the hedge something to grow against.

After a good drench in a bucket of water, Steve got the whips in, and although BB was supposed to be helping his Dad, he wasn't too impressed with the bitter wind, so watched on for a bit, before disappearing back inside! A final layer of mulch completed the task, and the job was done!

Today after a refreshing (!) walk with Zaf, we headed down to the local garden centre and picked up a dozen heritage (posh word for native) primroses and a couple of pots of Scilla siberica. Not only are the flowers of this bulb a lovely blue, but my honey bees enjoy the nectar and pale blue pollen it provides. Hopefully these and the primroses will naturalise and produce many more plants in years to come.

In case you were wondering what's in my new edible hedge, here is the species list:

Prunus cerasifera (Cherry Plum)
Prunus domestica (Bullace)
Pyrus pyraster (Wild Pear)
Malus sylvestris (Crab Apple)
Corylus avellana (Hazel)
Prunus spinosa (Blackthorn - produces sloes)

But if you fancy a walk past our hedge in Autumn, I'm afraid you might have to wait a couple of years or five before any scrumping is likely...

Prunus cerasifera - Cherry Plum

Have a really good (and hopefully warmer) week ahead!