Fieldfare

Fieldfare
Originally uploaded by pebblesfromheaven

Housemartin nest

We've had a slightly different nest this year - housemartins

Housemartin lining nest
Originally uploaded by pebblesfromheaven

more photos on flickr 

Closing the Cumberland Gap!

I am unfeasibly excited! The new motorway opens today!

I've been travelling this section for work and pleasure for many years now, and this will take at least 5 minutes every day off my journey to work, I've calculated that as 42 hours a year .... oh I am so chuffed!!

All that plus it will be massively safer than the old situation, the one I felt strongly enough to rant about almost three years ago.

I've seen it develop slowly over the last two years, and all credit to the scheme managers because I think I've only been held up twice and I think that was nothing to do with the roadworks.

I'm so excited I might even go to work early today!!!

Trying the 365 - starting with Penrith Museum

Penrith Museum ... 1/365
Originally uploaded by pebblesfromheaven

We attended a flint knapping workshop on Sunday - it was fascinating but we'd no chance of making it look as easy as the tutor.

His bench and basket set-up looked (intentionally) as if from another time - so I had another little play with the sepia setting on my camera.

When I reviewed the photos after I got home, I decided this one looked like one that Flickerites might put in their diary or 365 set (ie one photo per day for a year). So, I started my own 365 set. I fully expect it to be like all my diaries throughout my life - I start well and quickly grow bored, but every now & then return for a prolonged burst ... time will tell.

Seasons, Skylines and Stone Circles

We spent an interesting day at Tullie House on Saturday, taking part in what was billed as a "day-school" but was essentially a series on lectures on a subject we love. The title "Much more than Stone Axes" was obviously dreamt up by someone who thought we wouldn't want to know about axes (we did, really) so we were sad to hear the stone axe man had cancelled.

Firstly, Aaron Watson gave an animated talk about stone circles - what they are (they're not all the same!) and why they might be where they are. The most interesting bit for me was where he showed a series of images taken as he climbed a Lakeland fell, and as he became more elevated the distant Mull of Galloway seemed to rise up out of the Solway. This we know now is as a result of the perspective changing to account for the curvature of the Earth; but what must prehistoric people made of it? Did they think that mountains had special powers because they called up entire other mountains out of the sea? And what about the fact that it can be sunny and warm down at low levels but as you climb upwards, the air gets colder and there even might be snow on the peaks? Did they think they were travelling through seasons, through time?

Next there was a lecture by Kate Sharp about prehistoric rock art, a subject we are very familiar with and even so because some of B's images were to be used in the presentation! There were a few sites I hadn't seen before though, and I'd like to check out, especially one reused as a gatepost which looked great. B had to stand up and take a bow for his photos ...

The lunch came next; carrot soup and plates of sarnies, too many sarnies and no cake! shocking. I had to go buy a brownie.

B placed some of his business cards on the top table and they all went almost immediately - each a little artwork all of its own. Some people must have been collecting the set...

The talk after lunch was about fieldwalking in the Eden Valley. This was fabulously interesting to me and made me amazed to think this had been going on so near to us and we didn't know. They had found loads of flinty tools and arrowheads; just imagine being the person to find those - we might do some next year, it sounds amazing.

Finally, the last lecture was about the Brampton Lunula, an item we'd seen pictures of before in a previous talk about Prehistoric Bling! It was a gold fragment first thought to be a gold spoon but soon identified as a lunula, the true purpose of which is unknown but it's shaped like a necklace so is often portrayed as such.

So afterwards some delegates took advantage of the offer of free entry into the museum - something we are already entitles to as locals, so we headed home, our minds buzzing.

FRED 2008 - Cumbrian Art Invasion

Well it's a sad thing to say, but our experience of FRED2008 has not been a good one, but I'll try to review what little we've seen fairly.

The feather was, well, a floppy bit of plastic on a pond which was starting to say more about litter than a "giant feather fallen upon the water, seeming to have been plucked from the air and destined to float with the wind".



Then last weekend, we drove all the way to Dent because we were incredibly attracted to the idea of Line of Site by Jenni Danson, but when we got there the traffic was depressing, the artwork what looked like miles away, and they wanted £££ for parking the car (Dentdale isn't the sort of place that lends itself to fly-parking). So, I think we saw it, but it could have easily been a bit of gas pipeline.



On the way to Coniston we'd tried to tune in to "Under the Waters" at Thirlmere. On the A591, all we could get was Radio 2 so decided to revisit on the way back north. So yes we did this, driving around the western side of the lake for the first time, which was nice. We promptly forgot about the radio, and walked by the lake instead, capturing a few nice dragonfly shots while there.



And last night, we decided to drive to Stainmoor to see Domestication by Chloe Burns & Hannah Stewart (I could say something here about middle-class pretentions, but I'll resist because I know it's just me being unfair) ... This one more than most sounded right up our street - "A homely glow, from abandoned huts along the railway, are people living there again?" - this had our imagination warking overtime and it would be fabulous with the sunset behind it, perhaps with the Stainmore rock art in the foreground - B had great plans for this in his head. When we got there, just after 7pm and after dusk, not a sign of it, and the directions / loaction description was crap. The A66 is fairly unforgiving to U-turns, so we headed home disappointed having wasted 2 hours and more diesel.

"Get Out There?" I think we did.

This year is the last for FRED - no funding or perhaps the director Steve Messam wants to spend more time with his family or doing something creative (his Drop is fab)

It's a shame that our experience of FRED has been low, I still believe in it and things like it, and regret that it won't perhaps be around in the future. I love outdoor art and to have it in my home county is great. But PLEASE make it easier to find and PLEASE don't make the homepage look so impressive and fabby - the photos made our expectations too high.

Dragonfly at Thirlmere

Dragonfly head -macro square
Originally uploaded by pebblesfromheaven

I'm really pleased with this photo! :-)

Juvenile blackbird

Juvenile blackbird
Originally uploaded by pebblesfromheaven

... possibly?

maybe a fledgling from the nest about 8 feet away from this fence ...

Hammering Rain

Hammering Rain
Originally uploaded by pebblesfromheaven

I love weather like this!

So glad we were inside, unlike my neighbours who got a bit wet walking the dog

Yay! I have two Solfest tickets in my sweaty inbox

Phew ... the tickets for Solfest were released today and as with anything else well saught-after yet trumpetted, the website didn't make it long after the 9am opening.

After two hours pressing redial, B finally managed to speak to a real human willing to take his credit card details so woohoo with purple stripes, we are going to Solfest again!

Wooo... Supergrass, Chas & Dave, Roisin Murphy, Alabama 3, The Pipettes ... gonna be a guddun! Can't wait.

Solfest 2007

Solfest 2006

Blackbird Egg

Blackbird Egg
Originally uploaded by pinkpebbleperson

I got home yesterday to find this lone egg on top of my garden wall. There is a tree nearby but it would never have a nest.

I wonder how on earth this egg got here? Did a bird just drop it off while passing?

How bizarre.

10,000 holes in Silloth, Cumbria

Or at least one big one. Have you seen this picture?? It's amazing what the sea can do!


(from the bbc website)

I love Northumberland

I have a very special relationship with Northumberland. It was my home for two years and during that time I made a deliberate attempt to make the most of my time there, and it made a great impact.

My desire was to move away from Cumbria to get an outsider's perspective; to try to appreciate what others see in it - but instead I ended up loving somewhere else - although in a different way. After all, I have never managed to forget that Cumbria is who I am.

Cumbria, and Carlisle, to me is like loving family because you have to - there are bits I am bored with, places that make me feel safe, and areas I know intimately like the back of my hand. I take it for granted and I treat it flippantly ignoring all those people that might be envious. Cumbria provides memories of childhood and of course contains places that will always be "home".

But when I lived in Northumberland it was like being on a gorgeous relaxing holiday that lasted years. The wildlife and climate feel different - not too much but just enough. The light comes from a different direction, somehow. I think it has to do with being on the opposite side of the same geographic coin - the sea is on the other side, and so is the land. It's as if my magnetic poles get swapped round.

I spent a lot more time deliberately exploring Northumberland itself, as opposed to it being a place travelled through to get somewhere else. Even now, Northumberland is close enough to be visited often and quickly, and is always beautiful whatever the weather.

Solfest 2007

Yay! The weather held out so we camped for only the second time this year. We arrived on Friday afternoon and already the main campsite had overflowed to the opposite side of the road; but the Solfest area isn't very big anyway so it wasn't much further away.

I like Solfest. As last year, there was a fancy dress theme on Saturday night, but this time it was freeform, so there were lots of wacky outfits. Mine was almost identical to last year, apart from this year I wore a lime-green silk dress that I picked up for £4 from a TK Maxx. Somewhere in this house are the glowsticks I bought last year but could I find them?!

This year, B went as a Mexican, and there were quite a few others. Like a numpty, I completely forgot to take any pictures of our own costumes...!

For me, the food at a festival is almost more important than the music! And having been disappointed at Wickerman that there was no Burrito stall, it was the first place we looked for when arriving at Solfest. Yes! The Mexican Food stall was there as last year, worth the queue for the bulging Buffalo Burrito.... yum. the Stoat's Porridge stall was there again too - but we were disappointed to find it closed on Saturday morning - but we were soon comforted by turning round to find the Mexican place open already. Breakfast Burritos - woohoo!

So the stalls as always were also worth a good trawl - seemed like after a while they all started to merge into one large Indian bazaar. The workshops, the peoplewatching, the friendliness, the comfortable atmosphere.. and this year one of the main attractions was the alcohol rub in the toilets! Why has no-one thought of that before?! Brilliant!

So the music we saw was: Bens Brother, Moss Troopers (rehearsing and the real thing), Neck, Chumbawumba, Alison Dewar, Badly Drawn Boy, The Undertones, Lucy & the Caterpillar, Gaurav Mazunder, Thea Gilmore, Louise Mary Martin, KTB, Bex Marshall. Phew... Quite a lot actually!

Bens Brother were good, they are the next tip to be famous...perhaps a bit James Blunty though. Moss Troopers were great, numbered about 15 traditional musicians - would see them again. Can't remember much about Neck, Chumba, Alison Dewar. I think I might have been asleep. Badly Drawn Boy suffered from muffly sound from the main stage - in fact, most of the acts there did. The Bar Stage opposite was in constant competition - I think they should try and stagger it better. The Undertones had the crowd bouncing!

Lucy & the Caterpillar was bloody wonderful (dispite the poor sound quality). I would certainly go out of my way see her again - she was an acoustic guitarist with a voice similar to Joanna Newsome / slightly Bjorkish. One to watch!

Gaurav was a real-life sitar player and I've not witnessed one in the flesh before, he was good and drew quite a crowd, but to be honest we got a bit bored (too sober). It did make me wonder though how Indian classical music was acceptable but no European stuff... hmmm somehow can't imagine that at Solfest though.

Enjoyed Thea Gilmore. Louise Mary Martin was wonderful - did a great version of a Bjork song, Joga, which was nice! (Really looking forward to seeing Bjork perform in the flesh next weekend now!)

KTB was good, another acoustic girl singer - I could easily get mixed up! this girl is part of "Little Sister" who had been on earlier but we'd missed. She taught the crowd a simple song and organised a short round.

Bex Marshall was powerful - more rock chick twanging attitude than the tinkly picking which went before. Her voice sounded a bit too Bonnie Tyler for me but B liked her. She pulled off quite a successful "Purple Haze" including the fancy fingerwork. It's on her myspace page.

So that was it!

Photos now on Flickr

Best Motorway View

I had to say something about this news item.

What a load of pants!

Everyone knows that the best view from any motorway in the UK is the one of the Howgills, heading up the M6 just before Tebay. I can't find a damn picture of it, there must be one online... visitcumbria has one of the Howgills but not as viewed from the M6.

The RAC survey seems very Midlands-centric - it's almost as if the staff in the big glassy RAC call centre were the only ones who knew about the survey. hmmm.... funny that...

Save Our (Red) Squirrels

Remember this guy? If you're British and of a certain age, this was the star of the road safety campaign for kids - where Willy Weasel comes a cropper.

Anyhoo - Tufty was a red squirrel. Not a grey. The red squirrel was the variety that during the 1970's was familiar to people across Britain - but it is extinct in most areas now, save for a few pockets.

This is a shocking fact. The reason for this is that not only is the beefier, foreign grey squirrel muscling in on the reds' patch, it's bringing with it a deadly disease, Squirrel Pox, which is officially Not Very Nice.

Oh, and how could I forget - Beatrix Potter's Squirrel Nutkin is also a red!



The red squirrel has got to be one of the most endearing creatures, and not just because they are in childrens' stories. If you've ever met one while out and about, you'll know that this can be the highlight of the day - a smiley moment to savour. We met one near the Cree - it ran in front of us and scooted up a tree and I'll never forget it staring back with those beady black eyes, while furiously nibbling on a pine cone.

So, one of the ways we can save the red is to not run over them in cars... The other, is to try to protect it from the pox. This can be by keeping a barrier between the two species, or by vaccination. A vaccine hasn't yet been developed, so we are left with the horrifying fact that if we want to save the reds, we must cull the greys. See? I can't even say kill.

A few goodly people are organising themselves to try and save the red squirrel. They are extremely noble in my opinion and so I decided to do my bit here, and also donate some hard cash to the cause, so that they can do the deed and I can sleep a bit sounder knowing someone vastly more dedicated than me is making it their passion.

So please please, with tufty red ears on top, donate some money after reading all about these gorgeous creatures and all about the projects being organised.

And if you see one, alive or dead, anywhere in the areas listed (or anywhere else) - or indeed if you see a grey (bloody well hope not) - then report it to one of these guys who need the information to help with their surveys.

Thanks, from Sammy.

Northumberland Red Squirrel Partnership

Red Squirrels in Southern Scotland

The Anglesey Red Squirrel Project


More information:

Great story of the squirrel foster mum

Red Squirrel Week

Squirrel News on BBC

Red Squirrel factsheet (pdf)

Talkin Tarn - in better weather

We made a return trip to Talkin Tarn yesterday, to make the most of it before the parking charges are introduced (as it turns out, the first 2 hours are free anyway)

Last time we were here in March, the weather was obviously quite a bit different and the trees were appropriately bare, allowing us to see the red squirrels clearly.

This time, we had more leaves and no squirrels (that we saw) but had people in boats and plentiful ducks, but best of all loads and loads of lovely little blue Damselflies!

Not sure what the spikey thing was though - best guess was some sort of hornet with a big spikey bit coming up from it - it was moving (by flapping the water) towards us so couldn't get another perspective... mysterious, whatever it was!

Wolfy's Talkin pics on flickr

Talkin Tarn on BBC website

Wreay church and Cockermouth & Maryport briefly

We set off in the car yesterday following our noses (or rather my random decision-making).

So we ended up first wandering to Wreay (pronounced "Rear"), which is only about 3 minutes from junction 42 of the M6. I'd been before - the church here is famous - but last time I came I didn't even get out of the car, no idea why (I'm daft like that).

I'd heard some of the story of the church - that it was designed and built by a Victorian woman (Sarah Losh) and is a favourite of people who are generally known to have respectable architectural opinions. It's often mentioned in the same breath as the famous Rosslyn Chapel, for instance, as being a building full of great craftsmanship and delights.

So this time we got out of the car. As soon as I focussed my eyes on the carvings around the door, I knew I was in love!

After exploring the carvings outside, we tried the doors (complete with arrow insets) and yay! it was open... The first things that greet you are two marble pinecones either side of the aisle. To the right is a fabulously-carved marble font with a mirrored pool (supposedly carved by Sarah herself). There is the usual church visitor paraphernalia, plus postcards and leaflets outlining the history. The pews are a bit boring but the windows were fab, with little interesting bits of glass.

The design of the church is apparently based on places Sarah saw on her visits to Italy during her Grand Tour. The layout is similar to a Roman basilica, ie a rectangular building with an apse (round bit). The numbers of columns and windows are significant, there are lots of references to nature including passion flowers, lillies and fossil stencils in the eastern apse windows. The lectern is made to look like a tree, while the birds sitting either side of the apse are sitting on real bog oak stumps. Outside, there are some lovely gravestones with oyster shells and pine branches, and a large cross based on the Bewcastle Cross.

Sarah built the church in memory of her sister, which was nice. The thing to bear in mind here is that she showed incredible talent and foresight, building what is really an Arts & Crafts-syle building about 20-40 years before everyone else.

Carvings of pinecones and palms are to be seen everywhere, as a reference to a family friend who sent seeds home from abroad just before he died - but there is also an overall theme of resurrection and growth.

We spent ages taking photographs, being briefly interrupted by some people who had been for Sunday lunch at the pub nearby and decided to stop. They too were locals who didn't even know this place was here! We signed the book on the way out, after reading it of course (full of comments from people visiting it after seeing it on telly)

For more information about the church, see the links at the bottom of the page. Otherwise, enjoy the photographs...

We then headed for Cockermouth, intending to revisit the great little cafe we'd been to a few weeks ago only to find it shut. In fact today, Cockermouth was shut. (Note to self - go on a Saturday)

So Maryport was next, to visit the Senhouse Museum as it holds some prehistoric rock art carvings as well as having Roman stuff. We were disappointed here too, because the small portable stones we were looking for were hidden behind screens, nailed in place to display information about (ironically) the spread of the empire ... typical!

There were some paragliders flying above the cliffs here, looking very relaxed floating about on the soundwaves sent upwards from the jazz festival going on below. It was a very clear day, and when I climbed the reconstructed watchtower I could see much of the Solway Firth, and over to the Isle of Man.

B's Wreay photos on Flickr

B's Paragliding photos on Flickr

St Mary's, Wreay on VisitCumbria.com

St Mary's official website

Songs of Praise

Birds eye view on googlemaps

Mayburgh Bats

We took a short trip to Mayburgh Henge the other evening to try to get some sunset photos of the central stone.

After a while the swallows turned into bats. Honest! They were roosting in the trees and making those wonderful squeaking, clicking noises, and scooting past our ears.

I stood for a while, large flash on my camera, pointing it up into a small tree on the "wall" and got this shot:




PS - yeah I know I haven't finished my Lewis thing yet blah blah blah but hey I've been busy and away a lot, so I'll just have to catch up at my own pace, OK?!

Chapelcross no more ...

A couple of months ago, after our visit to Senwick, we stopped by to see close-up what we'd been driving past and living alongside for most of our lives.

It's difficult to portray the genuine innocent affection that most local people had for Chapelcross. This guy Willie Johnston says it very well.

One of my own first memories is of the view from my bedroom window from a council house in west Carlisle - it was high on a hill and I was told that in the distance we could see Scotland, the proof was the Pipes. This was incredible to me and over the years I remember staring out at the "Annan Pipes", it formed part of my understanding about the curvature of the earth and how come I couldn't see the whole world...

We had been getting grapevine reports about the planned date for the blasting, and it had been delayed a couple of times but now this was it.

So we all grew up with it being there and then early one Sunday morning everything stopped (including the M74 nearby) and the crowds gathered to say farewell. Sod the radiation risks - it seemed that everyone brought granny, the kids and the dog to see the big event. We were standing just down the road from the place where the above pics were taken (we hadn't gotten up early enough to get there this time!)

When the time came (there was no audible warning so lots of people were caught unawares), I was lucky enough to have already had the video camera pointed in the right place; unfortunately we haven't worked out how to download the film yet so I can't show it here!

It all happened rather quietly; I had been concerned beforehand about the young farm animals nearby, the children, the wild birds... but in the end after a series of four remote thuds, the towers fell in turn, mostly inwards on themselves and there was just a big puff of grey dust which blew away quite quickly to leave silence, then a small smattering of applause from the onlookers.

There were a few minutes afterwards when we all stood staring at the remains of tower #1, expecting something else to happen. It took years to built, a few seconds to bring down, and about 30 minutes for us to get back onto the main road through the traffic!

Anyway here are some of my photos, and here are some more.

another bbc link

Official website with video

another flickr - this time an anigif

and another set of pics - watch the coos!