St Justinian to Abercastle

A lovely sunny walk with superb views along the coast and good wildlife.

The Mill at Trevine and Careg Sampson.

Linnet; grey seal; comma and mating emperor dragonflies. 

St Justian - Pen Berry- St David's headland - St Justinian

What a lovely varied round walk. Footpaths, lanes, ponds, tracks and coastal footpath (16 miles).

Common blue and painted lady - among many butterflies in the lanes.

Towards Pen Berry; St David's head; Carn Lidi and towards Ramsey in the sunshine. 

Common blue damselfly; common darter; emerald damselfly and black-tailed skimmer.

Choughs and Corn marigolds.

Lovely to have seven choughs accompanying us as we dropped down into Porthgain and then a golden treat of marigolds on our return to Abereiddy.

Abereiddy to Porthgain

A lovely walk along the coast and then back across the headland.

Abereiddy for graptolites.

What a superb day - started off finding lots of graptolites on the beach - much of the car park has disappeared since we were last here - torn away by winter storms over the past few years. 

Graptolites; the beach and the blue lagoon - where the sea came into the slate mine.

Porthclais to Caerfai

Continuing today's walk....

Peacock; chough; rose chaffer...and views. 

St Justinian to Porthclais

A lovely sunny and breezy day: gannets feeding with dolphins; glimpse of a peregrine; fantastic coastal heath.

Gannets and Grassholme on the distance.

Ling and dwarf gorse; dodder and bindweed.

Tynewydd - Porthselau - St Justinian

A 7.5 hour journey down to Pembrokeshire to hurriedly pitch the tent before the promised gales arrive. Then a breezy walk around the St Justinian headland. Fantastic typical flowers.

The post box was great - I started to peel a piece of masking tape off the front, to make a better photo,
but got buzzed off  by several bees - it was clearly inhabited! 

Potfest in the Park 2015

A super morning at Potfest in the Park, Penrith. Good to talk to so many stall holders - thanks for advice and inspiration. So here are some compilations!

Cups, vessels and animal sculptures.

Textural pieces.

Bowness Common NNR

A lovely walk up to Rogersceugh Farm and to the Lily pond. Good view of a barn owl and a fresh hatching of small tortoiseshells - the thistles were certainly attracting the insects.

Meadow brown; cattle; large drone fly; sneezewort; longhorn beetle - strangalia quadrifasciata; brambles and the lily pond. 

Glasson Moss Nature Reserve, near Wigton, Cumbria

A lovely afternoon trying to photograph dragonflies!

Mating pair of black darters; large red damselfly; immature southern hawker
and  male four-spotted chaser.

Varied habitats on the moss. 

Rocky's day on the Dry Gill shales

What a happy dog!

High Pike and Dry Gill shales

A lovely walk up High Pike via the Dry Gill shales. Lots of shiny minerals to find and a rather poor specimen of trilobite - well the head anyway. On the summit of High Pike there was a good expanse of Thamnolia ( an upland specialist - not that common in the Lake District) and also a 'high level' wasp feeding on the thyme flowers. On  the way down - a lovely emperor moth caterpillar feeding on bilberry.

Carrock Fell; looking over Bowscale tarn and a view from High Pike over Caldbeck.

Top left - copper

Top right- mimetite - campylite - green barrel shaped crystals that are mainly lead based and associated with quartz, apparently Dry Ghyll is a world famous site for these! 

Bottom right - trilobite head.

Lichen fruiting bodies; thamnolia; wasp on thyme and a fabulous emperor moth caterpillar.

Double summer moth trap

Last night we put out two moth traps and were able to compare the results. On the front of our property - which is quite open and faces north over the Solway plain - the highlights were, buff tip; peppered moth; gold spangle; poplar hawk and many swallow-tailed moths. At the back of the property - in a sheltered and some what over grown vegetable/flower garden the highlights were, peach blossom; antler moth; marbled minor; elephant hawk and barred yellow. In total we had 50 species which is only 2 less than last year at this time.

Garden tiger; buff tip; lesser swallow prominent; dark arches ( f.aethiops) and light arches.

Garden tiger scales! 

Textile cards

A day making cards.....apologies for the poor lighting in the photos!

Storm over the Solway

Another oil painting - a popular scene.

Greenhouse guttering, silver birch bonsai

Over the last 5 years, a silver birch has  been growing in our greenhouse guttering. Due to the lack of space for it's roots, the tree has naturally miniaturised. Tom extracted it and potted it in a bonsai pot- lets hope it survives! 

The silver birch in a bonsai pot.

Ammonite cards

Pieces of batik based on ammonites - mounted up as cards.

Summer moths in Cumbria

Finally we have decent weather- and the moths have come with it. With 37 species we are still a bit behind last year's 16th July figures of 62 species.

Clouded border; light emerald; barred yellow; garden tiger; burnished brass; barred straw and a plain golden y

Felt balls now on display!

..and finally.

Felt balls installations

With an exhibition about to start at Mae's tea rooms in Uldale, I'm pulling things together to mount these felt balls.

Ammonite ball ; seaballs ; Xanthoria-lichen ball ; Sea urchins.

Mawbray - space for a hurtle!

A lovely bright and fresh day with the dogs at Mawbray....a natterjack ...and then chips at Allonby!

Silk paintings as cards

With the forthcoming exhibition up at Mae's tearooms Uldale - here are the newest cards.

Mouse in a teapot!

A needle felted mouse ...

Sprays of dog rose.

The dog roses along our road are just coming out - it promises to be a spectacular week!

Sweetheart Abbey, Dumfries

Founded in 1273 it was the last Cistercian abbey to be founded in Scotland.

Complete coastal hunter gatherer course in south-west Scotland

Over the last week Tom's been on the complete coastal hunter gatherer course run by the Coastal survival school (http://coastalsurvival.com/bushcraft-courses/complete-coastal-hunter-gatherer)
He thoroughly enjoyed it and was buzzing with ideas and experiences when he came back. The whole experience was fab and the food - well I'm waiting for the fish stews, soups and chilli!
The guys who ran it were brilliant; very supportive and knowledgeable (run by Fraser Christian). Thanks lads!

Willow crab trap; a variety of oak and blackthorn hooks on nettle cordage.

Bass; working the lines; preserving the fish above the fire; shanny (which was not eaten!);
 starry-eyed smooth hound; dog fish; bass; dover sole.

Melancholy thistles

A superb roadside patch!