Wisley
Few more photos from yesterday. As can be seen a grey day and little real plant life of interest. However this is winter!
Few more photos from yesterday. As can be seen a grey day and little real plant life of interest. However this is winter!
A grey sort of day with little to do, so a walk was in order at Wisley. Not many flowers and plants to report but I did learn something about Geese who seemingly have broken wings. We used to see an Egyptian goose at Painshill park for 3-4 years who had what we thought was a deformed wing but it seems this is called ” angel wing or aeroplane wing”. they are born with this, cannot fly but survive about the same as normal geese. A little poster in a Hide at Wisley taught me this! Our Egyptian Goose was named Mangle by my son, who had little interest in the biology of ducks.
Wisley is actually a great place for a walk, no-one has to be an expert on plants to enjoy the scenery there, though a fair amount of puffing and huffing and pontificating does go on.
xmas seems to have zoomed by fast. Silly amounts of food and wine. Little exercise. An appalling game of football on boxing day Brentford v bournemouth 1-1 which made me seriously wonder why I am a Brentford fan. However all presents seem liked! Tonight we went on a whim to the Rose Theatre in Kingston and saw the Snow Queen. this was fabulous. Well acted and in a great little theatre, so small that non-one is far from the front.
New Malden is becoming more like a zoo each day with the various animals living here or thinking that they do. In an average day we would see a fox or two in the garden seeking sustenance from the waste bins , far too many evil minded squirrels , various cats, and now we are blessed with a hedgehog and a hamster. The Hedgehog was initially on a sort of holiday visit, but is now a permanent fixture. The Hamster, called Houdini, as he always manages to escape, must be almost 2 years old. Enjoy, meeting these charasmatic animals.
As per the last post the rain in Hersham was extensive and whether this addled the brain of someone to leave an old sofa outside the Hersham Greyhounds Welfare place and adjoining the cemterty who knows but anyway they did. Bizarre.
The weather has not been pleasant in the Uk this last week and most nights one is greeted by a horrid frost. Today was no exception however the sun also rose and burnt off the frost early on meaning it was a great day to go and walk the rescue Greyhounds at Hersham. The work done by the mostly unpaid volunteers never fails to impress me and indeed today they were saying ” come and walk a hound on xmas morning”. The fields and lanes demonstrated admirably the recent rainfall and were literally full of water.
Today has been a nothing sort of day really so nothing to report. So instead here is one of my favourite photographs from the Farne Islands taken in 2009 I think. Enjoy
One of the best things, arguably the only good thing about gibraltar, was the dolphin trip. Apparently we had a huge slice of luck in that more than 100 dolphins were feeding that morning, and normally 3 pm was the time to see the most dolphins. Beautiful creatures.
Although not exactly a farmer it is still challenging to grow things in a small garden a few yards from the A3 and in the inclement weather that the UK provides. But I must report some success. Some potatoes harvested today planted a few months back that claimed to be ready for xmas. Daffodils also made an early apprearance, not sure where from but purchased in the Co-op in New Malden for £2.
It was deemed by the head chef and main servant in the household that these were too good to put inot the oven tonight so will be eaten and relished tomorrow with some other more appropriate fare.