The littlest bunnies will be visiting Peter. Their mama is They are so very excited.
Category Archives: England
The Charlecote Deer
They surprised us to say the least, those deer. Moira finished her dance competition early in the day and since we were already a couple hours from home we hoped to see something of the area before we left it. We chose the Charlecote estate, home to the Lucy family since the 12th century the brochure said.
It was late in the day by then so the manor house was closing to the public but the grounds were open. We read there were deer on the property but it can be hit and miss with brochures and sightings we have learned. Yet, there they were. Down, down the trail, across the pasture, through the gate, up the hill and there.they.were.
I was in a skirt and full of scratches from trudging through brush to get right up close. It was very cool to walk amongst the herd instead of peering through fences. That made it well worth the battle scars on my part. They were not tagged and, though cautious, did not startle easily. This was great for me since I didn't have a zoom lens along. What you see is how close we were.
The world is a beautiful place. : )
suite dreams
Feeding time in Foxley
Wisteria at the Window
Oh how I do so love wisteria. It drapes serenely along the window frames and arbor frames. Working on some prints so I can keep a little bit of it forever.
neighborly
Just a cottage scene I spied in passing. Made me smile. I should have snagged some eggs while I was at it.
Alpaca shearing in Suffolk
A friend let me ride along to watch the alpacas getting sheared at a local farm last week. The herd is part of a large complex that houses a preschool, herb gardens, and a fiber studio. I knew something about alpacas from our years in Colorado. It is not an inexpensive undertaking and great care must be taken to select, breed, and raise up the animals. Shearing too must be done professionally to save as much of the very dear fiber as possible.
A team from New Zealand did the shearing the day we were there. They brought each animal in by catching it and maneuvering it into the shearing shed on three legs. Then it was carefully laid on its side, shackled to cables, and pulled still to prevent getting cut by the shears.
While they had the opportunity, they filed any teeth in need and trimmed the hooves.
The shorn fleece was bagged (in paper potato sacks) and weighed. A small sample was numbered and bagged in little plastic bags to be sent off to Australia to get a micron count for each alpaca in the herd. There is noplace in the UK to have that done, so that's where it goes. Anything that goes to Australia just automatically seems much more exotic to me, as an American. : )
Fwiw, alpacas make a rather unearthly sound when they are unhappy and emerge from a shearing looking even more alien than before if possible. They did, however, take it all in stride. They made very little fuss and were off to pasture in no time.
wild things
We walked into the music room the other night to find a few dozen bees dead, dying or still flying in the room. It wasn't until the next morning that we discovered the cause. There was a cloud of honeybees outside the window. Actually it took us a while to determine what they were. Everyday there were different makes and models. And more and more were coming into the house via the chandelier. Our landlord was on holiday so it took some 3 days before we reached one of the farmhands. He was on his phone calling the exterminator before he reached my door.
Turns out this is a big. deal.
The pest man explained these were feral bees. The queen escaped from someplace and decided to live inside the walls of the house. They were hunkered down between the first and second floor She releases phermones which bring along some 2,000+ worker bees after her. As days progress there were different bees arriving or moving about. Therefore first we saw rather hairless large narrow bees. The last day we saw tiny round bumblebees. Juveniles, he said they were.
Sadly they could not be relocated because the queen could not be coaxed from the house. It is a serious offense here not to seal up such bee hangouts. They can locate all the local bee keepers and determine if any have swarmed and you can be liable for thousands in fines for 'luring' bees. So there was a quick and thorough job of this whole thing done on the spot.
There must be something in the air though. My husband sent a picture from work of a huge swarm that had gathered at one of the buildings there. Thousands and thousands in a huge huddle. Quite impressive. We are told that in that sort of case they can relocate them more easily. Bees are relatively docile when in a swarm that way. What we saw (pictured) was them doing their figure eight 'dance' in front of the hole in the brick facade. They say they can identify and account for each bee which enters a hive that way. The bees can ID each other that is. <g>
So, we got a real life, hands on lesson in honeybees and will be reading more in coming days.
wild things
We walked into the music room the other night to find a few dozen bees dead, dying or still flying in the room. It wasn't until the next morning that we discovered the cause. There was a cloud of honeybees outside the window. Actually it took us a while to determine what they were. Everyday there were different makes and models. And more and more were coming into the house via the chandelier. Our landlord was on holiday so it took some 3 days before we reached one of the farmhands. He was on his phone calling the exterminator before he reached my door.
Turns out this is a big. deal.
The pest man explained these were feral bees. The queen escaped from someplace and decided to live inside the walls of the house. They were hunkered down between the first and second floor She releases phermones which bring along some 2,000+ worker bees after her. As days progress there were different bees arriving or moving about. Therefore first we saw rather hairless large narrow bees. The last day we saw tiny round bumblebees. Juveniles, he said they were.
Sadly they could not be relocated because the queen could not be coaxed from the house. It is a serious offense here not to seal up such bee hangouts. They can locate all the local bee keepers and determine if any have swarmed and you can be liable for thousands in fines for 'luring' bees. So there was a quick and thorough job of this whole thing done on the spot.
There must be something in the air though. My husband sent a picture from work of a huge swarm that had gathered at one of the buildings there. Thousands and thousands in a huge huddle. Quite impressive. We are told that in that sort of case they can relocate them more easily. Bees are relatively docile when in a swarm that way. What we saw (pictured) was them doing their figure eight 'dance' in front of the hole in the brick facade. They say they can identify and account for each bee which enters a hive that way. The bees can ID each other that is. <g>
So, we got a real life, hands on lesson in honeybees and will be reading more in coming days.
Starry Sky Journal 