THE RAMBLINGS OF A STRUGGLING ARTIST ON LIFE WITH TWO TERRIERS, A PONY WITH ISSUES AND OTHER WILDLIFE AND BIRDS THAT CROSS OUR PATH

21 June 2013

BITS AND PIECES 3


The last couple of days have been thick with mist up here on the moor but the bees have been busy nonetheless. Today is much clearer than yesterday and the garden is humming.


                                      

Trigger is hopping about again so the poulticing continues. One day he's fine, the next he's not. The vet thinks he keeps stubbing it and to keep going. I'm giving him some Frankincense (Boswellia Serrata) for the pain; I found it very good for my old horse's navicular disease. 

Here are a selection of photos from this week.....

Common Speedwell.....not so common up here:


Moss flowering:


Honeysuckle:


Hawthorn flowers:


This lichen was almost metallic which isn't quite coming across - beautiful though:


Heath Bedstraw at last. It's so tiny I've had to wait until the clumps have spread. A bit of Tormentil in there too:


Rowan is flowering everywhere:


Great Tit. This one had just visited the seed feeder but I wasn't quick enough!


This Chaffinch lady though............caught in the act!




Sparrow babies:



Huge colonies of tadpoles in our neighbour's very large pond. The newts were on the prowl so we wondered if they might be clumping together, like shoals of fish, applying the principal of safety in numbers.



No idea what these water plants are but they looked amazing in the late afternoon sun. Any ID offers gratefully received:


Yesterday's thick fog:

Sheep....


A Wheatear:



White Jacob's Ladder in the garden:


Lady's Mantle flowers:


Snippet today:


Foal B:


The weather has cleared now and it's a beautiful evening. Have a great weekend and until next time, here's Snippet in one of his 'master of all he surveys' poses.


44 comments:

  1. Beautiful pictures, I learn so much about the local plant life from your photos, thanks for sharing! Wishing you a great weekend :-)

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  2. The bees really are busy right now aren't they? Great pics of tadpoles. We are hoping for them next year. Enjoy the weekend x

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    1. Your pond will be alive with them next year I'm sure. I wish we had the room for one in our garden but the tupperware box sunk into the ground will have to do!

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  3. Such a lovely chance to see what is happening down there on Dartmoor through your photos. Always enjoy the visit here :)

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    1. Thanks Ann. Am still intending to draw William but it's finding the time!

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  4. Lovely atmospheric misty photos, and I loved the wild flowers. Your close-ups are SO good. I have camera envy . . .

    Our main pond tadpoles are chunky chappies, and have their hind legs now. The ones in the wildlife pond are fewer in number and smaller, but I think some may have left already.

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    1. I have camera envy of other people! For every good close up there are many failures - believe me and some of the best ones are taken with my very cheap little point and shoot camera. Also, a lot of them are HEAVILY cropped. Cropping is everything!

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  5. Love the lichen and the ponies in the mist!

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    1. It was seriously foggy at one point....keep to the main path kind of foggy!

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  6. Such amazing photographs. Your blog makes me homesick! Just love the misty sheep ones and Snippet with the fantastic open spaces. I so love visiting.

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  7. Em, is this your water plant?
    http://www.buzzle.com/articles/horsetail-plant.html

    We rarely have fog - your fog photos look magical to my eyes.

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    1. I bet you don't - not really fog country. I see what you mean about the horsetail but it looks too big - these are only about nine inches tall. Perhaps it's of the same family? I'll check it out and thank you!

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  8. Such beauty in nature ,indeed. The tadpoles together is something I've never seen before. Snippet has that Heathcliff air about him!
    Jane x

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    1. Funnily enough, I've thought, since he developed such extreme hair, that he should have been named Heathcliff. That clump of tadpoles was the smallest one but the others were in the shade so I couldn't get a picture. Thousands of them.

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  9. Such lovely photos. Every time I look at your blog I have camera, close-up and photo envy.
    Ay lest foal B has some different markings and is also very pretty. I remember you saying how all the foal looked the same this year.
    Ugh ugh ugh ugh to the tadpoles so uggy.... nonono no.

    Snippet is just the best !

    cheers, parsnip

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    1. Do you feel the same way about the frogs they grow into???

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  10. HI EM I think this is a beautiful collection of varied photos including the fog ones. They seem very ethereal. Regarding that plant that you didn't know. I thought it might be in the family of Mare's tail. Hippuris vulgaris I don't know whether that is the same as Terry was talking about. I did look up that web site. I am not an expert of these matters. Do you have an email address on your site? I love seeing young birds and raindrops on flowers. The tadpoles are amazing all grouped together, I suppose safety in numbers. Have a great weekend. Margaret

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    1. I think you're right Margaret. Mare's Tail is the water version and Horsetail the land version....both right essentially.

      I don't have an email address on the site. I suppose I just add a link or something, but it's emparko@gmail.com.

      Have a great weekend too.

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  11. Beautiful atmospheric photos and lovely to see some of your wildflowers and the bees :) You do live in a beautiful part of England :)

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    1. We did hand pick it as a location since neither of us come from here originally. It's nice that Origami Boy was born here though and I hope he'll stay in the area when he grows up, not that the employment opportunities are that great here!

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  12. I love that shot of those water plants.
    Interesting that clump of tadpoles - I saw just the same thing up here recently - I hadn't thought of the 'safety in numbers' idea but you are probably right.
    Lovely shot of that foal trotting Em.

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    1. Now we know it's Mare's Tail I'll be able to tell my neighbour and give her the photo. Glad you like that foal.

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  13. Wonderful photos, especially of the bees, - and I'm fascinated by all your local wildflowers, as always. Great to see the garden birds have found all your bird food! And I love the final Snippet pose; he has a fabulous kingdom to look out over.

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    1. I love the way the wildflowers vary around the country. There's SO much Red Campion here but I have no memory of it from being a child in the South East. Do you have it in the hedgerows?

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    2. Yes, there is Red Campion in the hedgerows here, but I'm guessing not as much.

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    3. I think I was just totally uninterested as a child then!

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  14. Yes, glad to see that the birds are finding the new feeder! Foal B is so cute.

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    1. Still not very enthusiastic but getting there. Time to ditch the porridge for a while!

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  15. A lovely, varied collection of photos Em. The creatures in the fog all looked very atmospheric, the sheep quite ghostly. I remember from holidays that the fog can come down very suddenly there. Love the Great Tit with seed and Snippet in contemplative mode.

    I left a reply to your comment and link on my post :-)

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    1. I'm off to have a look at your reply now....

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  16. I love your photos Em. The moss and lichen are amazing looking like something from an alien planet! I must get out into my surroundings more and see what's about, you have inspired me to do more.

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    1. That's such a compliment - thank you so much. Some time ago I did what was called 'Macro Post' which was pictures of just one rock, close up. I think it's still top of the popular post list because something about it made it go viral....not for any good reasons I'm afraid - I still think it was because I mentioned 'Borgen' in it! I bet you could do a similar one of barnacles and things on a rock pool kind of one. I'd love to see it.

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  17. Another set of amazing photos! I just love the black pony in the mist, with the foal behind. Brilliant!

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    1. It wouldn't have looked as good without the mist would it!

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  18. I know I say this every time, but I so enjoy your photos of the glimpses into your world. It seems so different than mine, but then I see something that could be here in Virginia too. And then, I try to pick a favorite, and it always ends up being one of Snippet, or maybe it's the foals, or maybe.. ;-)

    I hope you're enjoying your weekend!! Take care!

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    1. We're having a very relaxed one involving watching a film whilst the rain beats against the windows. I'm just off to feed Trigger and I'm not looking forward to getting wet!

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  19. Thanks Em,

    I'm sorry to hear Trigger is still sore. Poor boy, it must be debilitating too.

    Wonderful photos - the mist felt cold even from the warmth of my living-room. Th foals seem small still - what would they be now, three months old?

    Virginia

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    1. Some of them are only about six weeks but that one, as you say, is about three months I think. Are you going into winter over there now? It feels like we are today with the awful weather.

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    2. Heavens Em, yes!! We've just had the worst storm in 30 years. We're in the capital, known to many as "windy Wellington" and this was a biggie, even for us. Trees down and huge slips, power off to huge areas. We are fortunate, we lost half a tree and it did little damage. In the high country of the South Island there are teams of volunteers out trying to free sheep from snow drifts. Pretty viscous stuff. I suspect we're in for a winter as nasty as your last one was.

      I do appreciate your wonderful pictures, and your descriptions of your surroundings. Thank you for sharing with us.

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    3. You poor things! We just don't hear about what's happening to you unless it involves sport or a disaster on a massive scale. I'll keep my fingers crossed that the weather turns more clement for you but it's not sounding good. I'm going to have a look on the internet about it now.....what a marvelous thing the web is.

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  20. Success on the bird feeder I see!

    Love all the photos of the Moor in the fog and foal B. And of course Snippet survey his domain!

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    1. Hooray! And today the Sparrows and Male Chaffinches have joined in.

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Thank you so much for leaving a comment. It's great to read them and I will always try to reply.