Thursday 30 June 2011

A once-living statue


This tree in the back garden of Stanmer House was pruned hard after winter storms brought down some branches and, presumably, weakened others. It was still living then but seems to have died since. Whether death was due to over-enthusiastic pruning or natural causes I can't say but what we are left with looks like a modern statue.

Wednesday 29 June 2011

Spot the spaniel

From the Boss: Fern delights in lying in long grass waiting to have a tennis ball thrown.

Tuesday 28 June 2011

Scrumper's delight

Between the old brick wall of the council nursery and Stanmer Great Wood is an overgrown and rather neglected apple orchard. All the trees have discs indicating what variety they are. Most are Bramleys Seedlings though there are less common varieties such as Laxton's Fortune, Beauty of Bath and Yorkshire Greening. The apples are just there for the taking.

Monday 27 June 2011

Evensong

It's not often one gets to listen to a song thrush in Withdean Park without the noise of traffic intruding. This was yesterday evening.

Sunday 26 June 2011

Missing

From the Boss: It's quite disconcerting. I don't know if my map-reading skills are not what I thought or if Rocky Clump really is missing from the Ordnance Survey map. The picture shows part of Rocky Clump on the right and another copse slightly further down the hill. The map (in the side bar) shows only the second copse - it's on the blue line above the word "Stanmer". Rocky Clump should be a bit further west, up the hill towards the wood, more or less beneath the left hand "3" of the "33".

Saturday 25 June 2011

Sunny?

Last night on the television the weather forecast was that today would be sunny. The picture above was taken from the bedroom window at 10.30 this morning. By way of comparison, the same view on a sunny day is shown below, looking over the Hollingbury industrial estate to Old Boat Corner and Stanmer woods.


Friday 24 June 2011

Which way?

Seen behind Stanmer House.

Thursday 23 June 2011

Poppies

There do seem to be more than usual this year. This is that field of oil seed rape once again - we saw it a couple of weeks back.

Wednesday 22 June 2011

Ox-eye Daisies

Came across this clump in the middle of a field. They are more usually seen on the verges.

Tuesday 21 June 2011

Too long

Although this picture was taken only two weeks ago it seems much longer since last we saw a sunset like this.

Monday 20 June 2011

Low cloud

For too long now our view of the Downs has tended to be like this.

Sunday 19 June 2011

On the map

This covers many of the walks on which the pictures on this blog have been taken. The village of Stanmer is pretty much in the centre with Stanmer woods west and south of the village, including the Great Wood. Down in the south-west corner of the map is a blue triangle superimposed on a black circular line. This is the Roman camp (the triangle marks the trig point) and 39 Acres is just to the north of the words "Hollingbury Castle". The broken red lines mark footpaths and 39 Acres is in the triangle formed by three paths. The new stadium is in the south-east corner of the map.

Saturday 18 June 2011

Brighton & Hove Council nursery...

...is tucked away in a corner of Stanmer valley. On the map it's pretty much in the centre, just under the word "Stanmer".

Friday 17 June 2011

Yesterday

As we walked across the fields, the sky ahead looked pleasant...

...but look what was coming up behind.

Thursday 16 June 2011

The end of another road

That is what is left of the orangery at the back of Stanmer House. The Boss well remembers seeing oranges and lemons growing on trees in there.

Wednesday 15 June 2011

End of the road in Stanmer

There was a time when it was not unusual to find a torched car in Stanmer woods but nowadays this is quite a rare sight.

Tuesday 14 June 2011

They were digging

But just what it is they have uncovered is a bit of a mystery. Yes, it's chalk, but is it a floor of some sort of building?

Monday 13 June 2011

What's going on...

...in the field by Rocky Clump?

Sunday 12 June 2011

The pylons

On the A23 road to London the northern boundary of Brighton is marked by two stone pillars, known as pylons. These originally stood one either side of the road but the road has since been widened so that the western pylon (the one in the picture) now stands in the central reservation.

From the website mybrightonandhove.org.uk:

The stone gate pillars are more properly known as the 'pylons'. They were erected to mark the northern limit of 'Greater Brighton' which was created on 1st April 1928. They "were designed by John Denman and have foundation stones laid by the Duke and Duchess of York on 30th May 1928 (later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth). Buried inside are coins, copies of the Brighton & Hove Herald and the Sussex Daily News and also a bound book recording the laying of the foundation stones given by Mr. J.S. North. The cost was born by a public subscription of £993 and a contribution from Herbert Carden of £2,555. The western pylon bears the message: 'Hail guest, we ask not what thou art. If friend we greet thee hand and heart. If stranger no longer be. If foe our love shall conquer thee.'"

Saturday 11 June 2011

Thanks but no thanks

I don't see me in uniform, thanks very much.

Friday 10 June 2011

Another field

This is a field of oil seed rape but the rape flowers have finished. It would have looked really dramatic with both rape and poppies in bloom!

Thursday 9 June 2011

Poppies

That field behind Moulsecoomb on the road from Falmer to Woodingdean is not the one that was smothered in poppies a couple of years ago but is next to that one.

Wednesday 8 June 2011

Reflections

From the Boss: My eye was caught by the sun reflecting off the windscreens of the parked cars in those roads between the cemetery and Elm Grove.

Tuesday 7 June 2011

And did those feet...

How many feet have trodden this path over the past two or three thousand years, I wonder? This is the southern rampart of Hollingbury hill fort, known to the locals as the Roman camp.

Monday 6 June 2011

England's green and pleasant land


It did start raining yesterday but before that we had gone weeks without rain and the pastures grazed by sheep had started to turn brown. The barley is green but probably not as tall as it should be at this time.

Saturday 4 June 2011

That field again

So we won't be seeing that field covered in pink flowers. Just a couple of days after the last photo, this happened.

Friday 3 June 2011

Back again


Those little blue butterflies, I mean.

Thursday 2 June 2011

Just the one

From the Boss: In France last week we saw plenty of foxgloves growing on the roadside verges but this one, growing in Stanmer Great Wood, is the only one I have seen in England this year.

Wednesday 1 June 2011

A bridge too far

I don't like walking on bridges but luckily the Boss doesn't take me over this one between Coldean and Stanmer Great Wood.