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