Spring(er) time in Stanmer

White on yellow

Plum blossom and forsythia at the bottom of the garden where I'm not allowed on account of the vegetables and slug pellets.

Blackthorn winter?

There seems to be more than the usual amount of blackthorn blossom this year. Very often when the bushes are in bloom, the weather turns wintry and we have what is known as a blackthorn winter. (The opposite of an Indian summer, I suppose.) But this year things seem to have been reversed and we are enjoying a delightful spring.

Spring greens 3

At this time of the year, the most vibrant green of all is probably that of the young beech leaves.

Patcham Rec

Just across the main London Road from the horse trough is Patcham Recreation Ground with its backdrop of glorious beech trees. The cricket pavilion might look fairly old, but it is in fact quite new. It was built along the same lines as the old one, which was burnt to the ground by vandals.

Patcham

Patcham is the next "village" west of Stanmer. It was at one time a small place to the north of Brighton but is now just a suburb of the city. This Victorian horse trough stands where the road from London entered the village and where the Old London Road meets the newer village bypass.

White on blue

The cherry trees in the park are all in bloom so spring must be here.

Spring greens 2

Elm trees come into bloom before they come into leaf

Spring greens 1

The young leaves of a hawthorn tree are a delicate shade of green.

Hey! Watch out!

There I was, mooching along the rampart of the Roman camp and minding my own business, when a golf ball came flying through the air and nearly hit me.

From the Boss: I know not whether the shot was hooked or sliced, but the ball landed under a hawthorn bush in a pretty inaccessible spot. I don't fancy his chances of hitting it out.

Sunday golf

Hollingbury golf course surrounds the Roman camp and it was very busy on Sunday afternoon. Was this despite or because of the first Brighton marathon?

Hazy skies

I heard the Boss talking to a lady on 39 Acres yesterday afternoon and they mentioned something called a volcano which had thrown a lot of dust into the sky. Is that it?

Fencing

The park rangers are busy putting up new fencing to extend the area that sheep can graze in the Wild Park.

It's fallen in the water

From the Boss: Fern dropped her ball, which rolled into the pond. She won't go into the water (being the world's wimpiest dog) so had to lie as close to the edge as she dared and stretch her neck to try and reach the ball with her teeth. It was several minutes before she succeeded.

Water, water everywhere

Not really, but we were up on the Roman Camp yesterday afternoon and the dew pond was as full as I've ever seen it even though there has been no rain for a couple of weeks or more.

Even nearer

In fact, the first few bluebells are very nearly out.

Getting there

Back in Stanmer woods yesterday afternoon, I was able to check how the bluebells are coming on. They seem to be making good progress and should be in full bloom in two or three weeks.

Holiday treat

I nearly forgot to get the Boss to post this picture from my holiday.

When Liza takes us dogs for a walk in the afternoon, she always gives us each a treat at the end of the paddock.

Sheep

Part of the Wild Park has been cleared of scrub and fenced off so that sheep can be grazed. I think the idea is to encourage the growth of plants that were once common on the South Downs when they were largely used for grazing sheep.

The top of the trig point

Trig point

Before satellites, mapping was carried out by the Ordnance Survey using a method known as triangulation. This involved concrete triangulation (or trig for short) points being set up on high spots all over the country. This one is on the ramparts of the Roman Camp. From here, the surveyors would have been able to see several other trig points and measure the bearings from one to another and from trig points to other places, the whole being transcribed onto paper to produce maps.

And another

The hinds were quite curious as well.

Another holiday snap

I was very pleased to have a strong fence between me and him!

My holiday snaps

I really enjoyed my few days on the farm, meeting up with my old friends and making a new one in the 9-months-old puppy that also came to stay for a couple of days. And here is a picture of the first lamb born on the farm this year.