Monday, November 14, 2016

Monday's Miscellany

The last few days have gone by so quickly and we have had an equal proportion of sunny and rainy days.  Friday was fine in the afternoon and we walked down into town and up towards the library.  I had my camera with me so I took a couple of photos along the way.


The distinctive Bottle Ovens of the Gladstone Pottery Museum.  It has been a while since we visited, I think a visit may be called for again soon to see if there have been any changes.

 Not far from the Gladstone Museum is the parish church of St James the Less.  I loved the reflections of nearby buildings outlined on the tower.

 and the Rowan tree in front of the church, full of berries.

 On Sunday morning we walked at one of our favourite places - Consall Nature Park.  Above the sun reflecting trees in Heron's Pool and below the steam train on the line of the Churnet Valley Railway near the station.  You can see the Caldon Canal in the foreground with its very muddy towpath.  Good job we had our wellies on.

 Back through the woods to the sound of the 'tooting' steam engine which was being run up and down the line, the bellowing of a couple of cows in a field near the canal and the occasional cackle of a pheasant, heard but not seen.
 
 This afternoon after the rain had disappeared and the sun came out we cleared a lot of leaves from the garden and filled up the wheelie bin ready for tomorrow's collection.

 We were rather surprised to spot a new visitor to the garden.


It only stayed for a short time but I managed to get a rather bad photo of it through the window.  A grey wagtail!  We've never, as far as I know, had one of those in the garden before.

Earlier in the day we found evidence of another visitor to the garden......

a Badger had been rooting around!

28 comments:

  1. What a lovely grey wagtail. We often see them but without the yellow. Lovely berries on the rowan tree ; isn't everything looking lovely at the moment :) B x

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    1. Yes, everything is looking wonderful at the moment. I've only ever seen grey wagtails down by the River Trent; we see pied wagtails in the local park but had never seen either in our garden before:)

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  2. Lovely autumnal photos Rosie. Love the wagtail, we have had one keep coming down to our pond, but the little blighter is very skittish and flies off before we can get the camera.

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    1. Luckily this one stayed awhile and pecked around quite undaunted by a rather wet looking pigeon sitting glumly on the patio recovering from flying into our conservatory window - it was ok!:)

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  3. You have a badger in the garden! How great is that? We're walled in, so nothing gets through- just a few birds that brave the area's cats.

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    1. We've never seen the badger, just the evidence it leaves behind! Our neighbours who are night owls have seen the badger in the early hours on their garden:)

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  4. beautiful photos Rosie, sum up the autumn walk perfectly xxx

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  5. Look at all those berries! Great photos Rosie, the bottle ovens are so beautiful :-)

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    1. I love the Bottle Ovens, such a pleasing shape:)

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  6. What a picturesque town you live in! Love the shapes of those ovens...sounds like a great place to visit. You've sure had a lot of rain judging from the muddy path. We've been rather dry here lately, but it's made for beautiful fall days. The wagtail is so cute! I don't believe we have them here ... nor do we have badgers! I'd love to have a badger in my yard (I think?). Although he seems to have found something yummy in yours. Too bad it's underneath your grass :( We have skunks here that do the same thing. Enjoy your week!
    Wendy

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    1. Some areas not so picturesque but I've chosen to photograph some of the good points. Bagersare lovely creatures but do make an awful mess in gardens. I expect skunks make just the same kind of mess:)

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  7. The Bottle Ovens are such a lovely shape - pleasing on the eye! I bet you were thrilled to have a new bird visitor. I hope it visits you again. x

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    1. They are aren't they? I love to see them and we have quite a few still left dotted around the city. It is always good to see a new variety of bird visiting the garden:)

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  8. We had a badger a few weeks ago I managed to get a couple of terrible photos. You took us on a couple of very nice strolls lots of things to admire.

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    1. You were lucky to see the badger the one around here is very secretive and only comes out in the early hours. I wish I could see one though, I've never seen a live one but have seen far too many lying at the side of the roads:)

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  9. I'm always thrilled to see a new bird in the garden. I have never seen a grey wagtail here - that is good that you managed a photo of it. The badgers do like to root around, don't they. I imagine they're much happier now the ground is a bit softer after the drought.

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    1. I was surprised to see the wagtail and even more surprised to get a photo of it. We had a bullfinch earlier in the week, they only tend to come into the garden in the depths of winter as doo the long tailed tits. Have seen goldcrests too flitting in the trees:)

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  10. Lovely photos Rosie - especially love the reflections in Heron's Pool. Keep your eyes on those rowan berries for Waxwings - from reports I have read on Twitter it looks as though we may be in for a Waxwing winter :) Lots of sightings in Scotland, Northumberland and they seem to be spreading south and west slowly. Have seen a few reported in Staffordshire and Leicestershire :) Wonderful news about badgers visiting - am very envious!! Good to see the Grey Wagtail too - we have had one round our pond on and off for a few weeks and I have seen them occasionally in the past at this time of year - I wonder if young disperse or they move to new areas for the winter??

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    1. I follow Staffordshire Wildlife Trust on Facebook and someone reported seeing Waxwings in their garden at Cheadle, Staffs (not the Cheshire one) which isn't very far away from here, I'd love to see them in the garden. I did wonder where the wagtail had come from and also where it was going to. It seemed happy to stay awhile pecking about under the bird feeders, we've seen them on the River Trent down near Trentham but never around here before although we do see Pied Wagtails in the park:)

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  11. Hi Rosie, such a beautiful photo of the trees in autumn reflected off the lake. How nice to be out and about enjoying the fine days - hope you managed to avoid those showers. Marie x

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    1. The showers are a nuisance as we have had a couple of mornings of wondering whether or not to risk a walk. Glad you enjoyed the trees reflected in the lake, Marie, it is very seasonal isn't it?:)

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  12. Great photos of the places where you took a walk on Friday and Sunday, Rosie. You've captured the beauty of the autumnal trees by the lake and the berries on the rowan tree so well. I'm sure the church near the former pottery is full of interest and reflects the history of the area. It's very wet and windy here today. You must be pleased to have gathered up those fallen leaves in your garden if the weather is the same where you are. How lovely to have seen a grey wagtail!

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    1. Thank you Linda, glad you enjoyed the photos. Wet and windy here too we did venture out to the local garden centre but the rain was battering everything and we couldn't find what we were looking for. We were glad to gather up all the leaves before it got very windy, the pond was cleared of them too:)

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  13. There is a whole world in your garden. How lovely.
    Amalia
    xo

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    1. Thanks, Amalia - good to see you back blogging again:)

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  14. Lovely shots. It's a part of the world I don't know well. But I recognise those bottle ovens (or similar) from driving through Stoke. Nice to have a visiting badger - provided it doesn't cause too much damage - they are beautiful creatures.

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    1. We are close to some wonderful places here and Stoke's own history is amazing, the old pot banks, like Gladstone, Middleport and Bridgewater are all worth visiting as is the Potteries Museum and Wedgwood too:)

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