-
It’s looking a bit black over Bill’s mother’s
An East Midlands expression that came back to me on Potter’s Ridge, a small hill that has Highcliffe Nab on its northwestern end. A few moments later the first drops of rain arrived. And don’t ask who Bill was, ’cause I never found out. On strange phrases, I learnt a new word today – ‘quockerwodger’…
-
Hedge Bedstraw
I thought at first someone had placed this posy of flowers in the top of the one metre high Tuley tube, but after much deliberation, the family conclusion is that it’s Hedge Bedstraw (Galium mollugo), a herbaceous annual of the same family of plants that gives us the sticky weed or cleavers, those long straggling…
-
The Sea-Man of Skinningrove
Skinningrove again. Second day in the row. The cool sea breeze was so refreshing after heat of the day. I was reminded of a tale I once read about when the fishermen of Skinningrove found a merman or sea-man on the shingle beach, which would put it below Hummersea Point, the cliff opposite in the…
-
Cattersty Sands, Skinningrove
When I first came to the North-East in the 70s, I worked on the fabrication yards on the Tees. Well actually I worked in the offices but I had to regularly go on site. One of the pleasanter nicknames for incomers from East Cleveland was a ‘Grover’. This I found out later meant someone who…
-
Lonsdale Slack
The dog found a new pool in Lonsdale. A welcome relief for a black dog from the morning’s sun. Well, three pools actually, in Lonsdale Slack, a tributary of the River Leven. Presumably created as a wildlife habitat. Forestry felling work is ongoing so it’s pleasing that time and money have gone into this project.…
-
Old railway bridge at Swainby Ellers
The fern that has found a home on the stonework of this old railway bridge first caught my eye. Now I could confidently write it’s a Lady Fern but that would be just a sheer guess. Ferns are notoriously difficult to identify, and it would take some climbing ability for a closer look. An ability…
-
“The finest view in England”
It was a tad wet and misty this morning at Sutton Bank. “The finest view in England” according to local author James Alfred Wight (1916 – 1995) was not much of a view. Wight is more widely known by his pen name James Herriot. With no photos in the bag for today’s featured image, I…
-
Summer Solstice Sunrise
Up before the crack of dawn to catch the sunrise on the longest day of the year. Who needs to go to Stonehenge? In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII introduced his new calendar, but, in what now could be seen as Euro-scepticism of yore, it wasn’t until 1752 that England finally adopted it, bringing us into…
-
Wiley Cat Wood
I came across this old weir today but frustratingly I have been unable to find out any history about it. Wiley Cat Wood is a lovely little valley but, at this time of the year, it is heavily vegetated. It’s drained by a beck which flows north seemingly a tributary of Boos Beck but abruptly…
-
Robert Chaloner
A gentle breeze this morning on Great Ayton Moor leading to a slight increase in visibility. In the absence of a stunning view, I had to resort to another of the many boundary stones that scatter the moors. This one is inscribed ‘R C’ so it is likely to refer to Robert Chaloner, but is…
Care to comment?