Category: Newton Wood
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Oak sapling in Newton Wood
Or should I say a ‘yack‘ sapling, yack being an 18th-century Yorkshire term for the oak. We also have ‘yackrams‘ for acorns. This is really a follow-on from yesterday’s post about the planting of woodland on bracken covered slopes unsuitable for general agriculture. Newton Wood is a predominately oak woodland but with ash, lime, sycamore,…
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Cockle Scar
I’ve had my eye on this photo for some time, but either the view is dull looking from this way or very contrasty the other with Roseberry silhouetted. It’s taken looking down Cockle Scar, Roseberry’s steep skirt of Staithes Sandstone Formation on its western side. This morning, a sprinkling of overnight snow puts some depth…
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COP26 continues and I am getting more confused about the statistics brandied about
We are told that, as a species, our activities emit 34 gigatonnes of CO² per year which would need around 68 million square kilometres of forest to ‘sequestrate’ — this is about half the planet’s land area, so a bit unrealistic. These numbers are vast. Gigatonnes. I can no more visualise a gigatonne than I…
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Newton Wood Bluebells
Bluebells are supposedly an early flowerer drawing on the energy stored in their bulbs. Three weeks ago they had yet to reach their peak, now they are rapidly losing their brilliance. This year, they seemed a little late. British bluebells, Hyacinthoides nonscripta, are a protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which means…
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Newton Wood
Woke up to snow this morning. The last kick of winter? By half nine the melt had begun.
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Blackthorn, Thief Lane
In 2012, a human headless torso was discovered during industrialised cutting of peat from a bog in in Rossan, Co. Meath. The lower half had been destroyed by the peat cutting machinery. It was dated to the Iron Age and became known as the Moydrum Man although the slenderness of the skeletal remains suggests this…
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A familiar fallback
I haven’t ventured far today. Working with the National Trust in Newton Wood on various odd jobs: clearing leaves from the paths and cutting down sycamore saplings. Newton Wood in north-facing so mostly in the shade. I did manage to snatch this shot of the Topping and the Summer-house on the walk home. I did…
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“Look closely at nature. Every species is a masterpiece, exquisitely adapted to the particular environment in which it has survived. Who are we to destroy or even diminish biodiversity?”
I’ve run in the hills and the countryside all my life. Tearing around with the intention of getting back as soon as possible. Work and family life meant an efficient use of available time. But the upshot of retirement and covid are more relaxing outings. I am quite happy just sauntering around aimlessly looking at…
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The holly and the …
Need I go on? You must be so familiar with the Christmas carol. Holly, traditionally a masculine plant compared with the feminine ivy, although holly is what is called dioecious, meaning that individual trees are either male or female. Flowers occur on both male and female trees but only the female trees have berries and…
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Who was this Guy Fawkes anyway?
I posted yesterday that Bonfire Night developed in celebration of the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot. Re-reading it, this sort of implied that it was unplanned public rejoicing, but although the first bonfires may have been lit spontaneously soon after he was captured as news quickly spread throughout the city, soon afterward Parliament made it…