Paul said he’d bring us a dumper load of soil next week. We can then assess whether we arrange for more to be delivered or whether we hire a small dumper and load it by hand when the Plot 1 building site is not occupied. Whenever Tash swims she returns with a big bag ofContinue reading “First frost”
Tag Archives: nature
Send slate, now!
We’re sliding increasingly quickly into autumn: the swallows keep a low profile or have already left; bracken is browning and starting to subside; ling and bell heather are flowering; days are shorter and last night at three I caught my first glimpse of Orion. The year’s excellent blackberries are gone, the remaining fruit soft andContinue reading “Send slate, now!”
Bat time, EV time
Hemi-parasites: In the past six weeks I’ve noticed lots of eyebright here, but is it generally spreading or is this just a good year? Like yellow rattle it’s a hemi-parasite of grasses, ‘stealing’ water and nutrients, weakening them, which incidentally helps other plants establish. I’ve been wondering about the relationship between eyebright and yellow rattle,Continue reading “Bat time, EV time”
Flailing Flores
Monday 4 August: Flores – the storm, now almost forgotten, had arrived. Wild white horses raced up the loch between shores where helpless trees flailed. The air was warm but moving at an unusual rate. Driving anywhere was a questionable decision, but I took Tash to the coach in Tarbert then met my friend Simon.Continue reading “Flailing Flores”
Wasp factory
Rain woke me, the sound of it getting heavier and an odd greenish light; I knew I should make the most of it. Going out of the front door I pulled on my hoody, ran across to the old metal bike store and pulled the lid up, before running back to the house and anotherContinue reading “Wasp factory”
Treshnish Isles & solstice revisited
Into the hills to find a dramatic gulley Richy said the land they bought in the village came with fishing rights to a loch up in the hills. I got out a map to identify it and he talked about a dramatic gulley or ravine nearby, as though you couldn’t visit the loch (which weContinue reading “Treshnish Isles & solstice revisited”
Delectable fat hen
The kids were here, the kids were gone. It happens so quickly. A week passes, filled with fresh acquaintance and, watching them sharing, caring and getting on, you smile inside and out. Forgot to mention: HMRC repaid us all the VAT we claimed. It wasn’t quite that easy. A month after uploading copies of theContinue reading “Delectable fat hen”
Ospreys rebuilding at speed
Osprey: Wednesday 2 March – Tuesday a week ago in the morning and evening we saw an osprey on the tree where, until the ravages of storm Eowyn, there had been a nest. The previous night I’d asked a group of friends who live along the loch whether anyone had seen the ospreys yet; noContinue reading “Ospreys rebuilding at speed”
Imbolc and beyond
To you and me that’s halfway to equinox. We were driving through Ardrishaig, returning from a beach walk, houses on the right, sea on the left, Tash on the phone to her mum. It was still light. When I glanced past her to the calm sea, a short moving line marked the surface twenty yardsContinue reading “Imbolc and beyond”
Mink and more plastic
I spent eighteen days away: in Bristol to rehearse and play two gigs a week apart, with a week in London between. Now I’m back and the photo above, from a walk on the nineteenth of November, seems an age ago. Immersing oneself in one’s emotional and artistic past is peculiar and moving and IContinue reading “Mink and more plastic”
A sustainable house for unsustainable times... 