Sunday 31 July 2011

From the bedroom window


Yesterday we saw blue sky in the morning - the first for quite some time. This was what greeted me when I opened the bedroom curtains.

Saturday 30 July 2011

Empty quarter

The school summer holidays are upon us, the afternoon was warm and dry and acres of grass in Stanmer Park have been mown - and yet there are acres of empty space. Actually, that is quite unusual, although as the picture was taken on a weekday afternoon that might have had something to do with the sparse crowds.

Friday 29 July 2011

Falmer village hall

overlooks the pond. It's difficult to guess just when the hall was built as the architectural style is so unusual.

Thursday 28 July 2011

Falmer village pond



This was the only place around the pond where I could take a picture without getting fleets of cars or a host of people into it.

Wednesday 27 July 2011

Field Scabious



Also known as Ladies' Pincushion, this is a common wild flower on chalk land like the South Downs. Perhaps surprisingly, it is a member of the teazel family.

Tuesday 26 July 2011

Look up


I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills
Psalm 121

Monday 25 July 2011

Rabbit, rabbit

Fern didn't see or smell them otherwise there would have been a chase.

Sunday 24 July 2011

Woodingdean crossroads

Waiting here at the traffic lights en route to the kennels I get a view over the Downs to the sea - with, of course, the obligatory sea gulls.

Saturday 23 July 2011

Reprise

Looking east from the field alongside the Ditchling Road north of the Upper Lodges to Stanmer Park. The high point is Firle Beacon.

Friday 22 July 2011

The new stadium

Brighton & Hove Albion must be due to play their first pre-season friendly in the new stadium any day now - if they haven't already done so.

Thursday 21 July 2011

The field edge



Rather a wide strip at the edge of the field has been left uncultivated and in among the tall grasses and other plants are several young trees - beech, ash and oak in the main.

Wednesday 20 July 2011

Regrowth


Remember that field of pink flowers? We saw it here, here, here, here and here. Looks like the flowers are growing back again better than before.

Tuesday 19 July 2011

The wall

The path we have been following for the last couple of days is very close to the edge of the wood. this is marked by a flint wall which has seen better days. Just across the wall is the field of pink flowers we saw some weeks back. We'll see it again tomorrow.

Monday 18 July 2011

Replanting


A few days after taking the picture in yesterday's blog, we were back in the same part of the woods and found that a whole, new avenue of beech trees had been planted. What a shame we shall never see them in their maturity, but it's good to know that people are thinking of future generations.

Sunday 17 July 2011

Clearance



A good many beech trees along this track in Stanmer woods have been extensively pruned and are now looking rather sorry specimens. This is, possibly, because of a disease that is sweeping through beech trees in southern England. Lots of other, smaller trees have been felled completely.

Saturday 16 July 2011

The rooftops of Patcham

We tend to look across the houses to the fields and hills so just for once let's see what lies between.

Friday 15 July 2011

The Stanmer yew


This yew tree must be several hundred years old.

Wednesday 13 July 2011

Stanmer churchyard

The grave stones and yew tree predate the current church. Records of a church on this site go back to 1232 but this church was built only in 1838.

Tuesday 12 July 2011

The grass is green again


It was about five week's ago that I was complaining how the grass was brown and the barley green. Now things are back the right way round as shown in the soft evening light in today's picture.

Monday 11 July 2011

"Me and my dad...

...are taking my dog for a walk."

It's an English bull terrier. You can just about see it between the little girl and her father.

Sunday 10 July 2011

A tangle of teazels

There are loads of them close to the car park in Stanmer woods just off Coldean Lane, the one the Council insists on calling Chalk Hill car park.

Saturday 9 July 2011

Party time?


The Boss says he couldn't afford to hire a single room in Stanmer House, let along space for a party with a sit-down meal. And to add dodgem cars as well!

Friday 8 July 2011

Built in 1722

The house might be nearly 300 years old but that tent in the garden to the side of Stanmer House certainly isn't!

Thursday 7 July 2011

In need of TLC

This sign is to be found on the wall of one of the Lower Lodges at what is, to most people, the main entrance to the park. Indeed, to most people it is the only entrance to the park. The old Brighton coat of arms can just be made out with its two dolphins surrounded by martlets. Together with the peeling paint, this indicates how old the sign is.

Wednesday 6 July 2011

Buzz

That bee just wouldn't sit still!


Tuesday 5 July 2011

T'other way round

This view is almost diametrically opposite to yesterday's. Patcham and Hollingbury as seen from the Chattri.

Monday 4 July 2011

Patcham

The large building centre right is Patcham High School and the grass is the school playing field.

Sunday 3 July 2011

Saturday 2 July 2011

Chattri panorama

A panoramic view taken from above the Chattri looking roughly north-east at the left and south-west on the right, ie through 180 degrees (thank you, Photoshop). The first wood from the left (on the skyline) is High Park Wood with the Stanmer woods also on the skyline nearer half-way along. Almost in the centre of the skyline , the high point is the Roman Camp with Hollingbury and Patcham spread out below and to the west.

Friday 1 July 2011

Green path

Today being the first of the month is theme day for City Daily Photographers. Dogs aren't renowned for being slavish followers of fashion and anyway Stanmer hardly counts as a city, but this month the theme just happens to coincide with a picture the Boss took this week of a path through clover in a field yet to be cut for silage.