Spotted

 Spotted Recently

Early Snowdrops at Trentham Gardens.  

A Hedgehog in the garden on one of the warmer days a couple of weeks ago.  It looked healthy. After a good rummage around in the grass and along the side of the greenhouse it wandered away into the hedges between us and next door.  I hope it has a warm home somewhere now the first frosts have appeared.

Again at Trentham Gardens beside the lake a strange fungi that looks like a cross between a cone flower and a fried egg.

At a local garden centre a Robin on the roof of one of the little 'gingerbread' cottages.  It flew in from the more open houseplant area into the decorated tree and then onto the little house.

Heron lurking in the branches of a tree overhanging the lake at Westport Lake, when it finally flew away another one flew out from the base of the tree and followed it.

A Kingfisher on the Trent and Mersey Canal between Westport Lake and Middleport Pottery. Paul managed to take a quick photo but the bird darted hither and thither.  It was so nice to see its wonderful turquoise blue feathers as it sped down the canal.

All for now.

The Ha-Ha Walk

 Last week's visit and walk took us to Biddulph Grange Gardens.  It was raining when we arrived so we decided to stop for coffee and a scone first and by the time we came out of the café the rain had petered out and there was a watery sun in the sky.

The Fuchsias in the urns down each side of the steps were looking wonderful.

We wandered down the Lime Avenue and discovered at the bottom that the Ha Ha Walk was open again.  We'd walked it once but then it seemed to close for quite a while .

The walk runs along between the sunken wall of the Ha-Ha and the metal fencing belonging to the country park.

The wall is a great haven for plants and wildlife.

Everywhere was leaf strewn.

About halfway along is a small diversion into a wildlife area.

Bird feeders and insect hotels

Lots of fungus too on fallen trees

The Ha Ha Walk comes out on to the Wellingtonia Walk.

When we first visited Biddulph Grange these were small saplings that had just been planted.

Look at them now after nearly thirty years of growth.

The steps and walk up to the Geological Gallery.

Above is the area where James Bateman's Music House stood.

Below, inside James Bateman's Geological Gallery.

All for now.  Take care.

Helios

 The latest of Luke Jerram's travelling exhibitions, Helios, has been moving around National Trust properties.  As we'd seen both his Museum of the Moon and Gaia installations  at Derby Cathedral we wanted to see this latest attraction and we found it was to be on display at Kedleston Hall, near Derby.  

We booked our timed tickets, necessary as it was showing in quite a small space compared to the other two.

Helios looked rather wonderful in the domed Salon on the first floor of the Hall.  The sun sculpture is named after the ancient Greek god of the sun.

There were seats around the outside of the Salon and bean bags underneath the installation. Helios is scaled so that each centimetre represents 2,000km of the sun's surface.

The accompanying music, by Duncan Speakman and Sarah Anderson, was calm and soothing, and there was a lovely atmosphere as people moved gently and thoughtfully around the room.  The installation has been touring National Trust properties through this year and Kedleston was it's final showing.

I've added below photos of both of the other installations.

 

The Museum of the Moon at Derby Cathedral October 2019

Gaia at Derby Cathedral October 2022

I've just noticed that we visited all three in the month of October as we saw Helios on 29th October.  The exhibition closed on 2nd November.

Helios was part of the Diwali celebration held at Kedleston each year.  This would take a whole new post but in lieu I've added two or three photos to give some idea of how impressive the festival of light was.

All for now.

Into November

I can't quite believe that it is November already.

The clocks were put back by an hour the last weekend in October making dusk an hour earlier.   Lamps are switched on to relieve the gloom and the blinds are closed against the growing dark outside.  

Fireworks sound most evenings, do they bother Mr Fox?

He visits at dusk, his lovely red coat doesn't stand out in the fading light, but I can see him through the kitchen window as I stand in front of the sink clearing away the pots and pans from our evening meal.  The photo above was taken a couple of weeks ago.  He sits at the top of the garden and relaxes for a while.  A few days ago he brought another fox with him, I assume it is a vixen and that he has chosen his mate for this season.

It's a time for brisk and breezy walks.  Yesterday we strolled around Westport Lake and down by the canal.

The Autumnal Trees were looking wonderful.

Leaves crackled and crunched underfoot.

Squirrels bustled around finding scraps to eat, usually from the seeds left out for the birds.

We always divert from the main path through the gate you can see on the right of the photo and walk around the other smaller lakes and ponds in the hopes of catching a glimpse of the elusive Kingfisher.

A black headed gull in its winter plumage.

An assortment of ducks on the smaller lake.  The two dark ones are Cayuga ducks.  Paul took the photo above as my camera decided to give up at this point. The battery has been running down quickly even after being charged so a new battery has been ordered.

There's still lots of interesting fungi about.

I'll be back soon with a visit we made to Kedleston Hall last Wednesday to see Luke Jerram's Helios.