Dignity.

Swans sailing around a lake are, surely, one of Britain's most beautiful sights. Most children are fascinated by the idea that a swan can break your leg with a swipe from it's wings. This is probably not true but they could do you some damage nonetheless.
The Mute Swan Cygnus olor, is one of the world's heaviest flying birds. Male birds (known as cobs), average about 27lbs in weight but a particularly large one from Poland weighed nearly 50lbs!
Surprisingly, Mute Swans are more closely related to the Black Swan of Australia and the Black-Necked Swan of South America than the white swans found in the northern hemisphere.
Britain has about 22,000 individual swans including around 5,300 breeding pairs. Today, the British Monarch retains the right to ownership of all unmarked mute swans in open water, but the Queen only exercises her ownership on certain stretches of the Thames and its surrounding tributaries. This ownership is shared with the Vintners' and Dyers' Companies, who were granted rights of ownership by the Crown in the fifteenth century. The Mute Swans in the moat at the Bishops Palace at Wells Cathedral in Wells, England have for centuries been trained to ring bells via strings attached to them to beg for food. Two swans are still able to ring for lunch!

Roses are red.....

...but are violets really blue?
Malcolm and I had an interesting walk this morning along the Nutbrook Trail and were greeted by the sight of more and more spring flowers. Daffodils of several sizes and colours were in abundance, but a little further along, we came across several patches of wild violets, in this case Hairy Violets Viola hirta.
Close up these beautiful little flowers are indeed very blue.
But, continuing along the trail, we soon came across a patch of flowers which poured doubt upon the well-known rhyme.
These little flowers are still violets, but in this case Sweet Violets Viola odorata. Sweet violets are Britain's only fragrant violets - not that I was about to get on my hands and knees to confirm that!
Turning homeward and dodging the light hail showers which had begun, we found another denizen of springtime, the Lesser Celandine Ranunculus ficaria.
Lesser Celandine used to be known as 'Pilewort' and, as the name suggests, they were used to treat haemorrhoids. It was thought that their knobbly tuberous root system resembled 'piles' and therefore could cure them! The Germans had a much more scientific approach and found that the young leaves were high in vitamin C. Because of this, they found it helped to cure scurvy - leading to another old name for the plant, Scurvywort.

Blustery day.

Well, it's been a blustery few days actually. Again I was reminded of Winnie the Pooh as I lay in bed listening to the wind outside. Pooh has a wonderful way of turning any situation into an excuse for a 'smackerel of something' to eat.
Even on a stormy day when he and Piglet visit Owl and Owl's tree-house blows down,Pooh's first thought as he pulls pieces of himself back together again, is "...we were just going to have tea and we hadn't had it".
Pooh's love of poetry never fails him and even in the depths of a gale-induced calamity, he manages this little gem...

I lay on my chest
and I thought it best
to pretend I was having an evening rest.
I lay on my tum
and tried to hum
but nothing particular seemed to come.
My face was flat
On the floor, and that
is all very well for an acrobat;
But it doesn't seem fair
to a friendly bear
to stiffen him out with a basket-chair.
And a sort of sqoze
which grows and grows
is not too nice for his poor old nose,
and a sort of squch
is much too much
for his neck and his mouth and his ears and such.

Forget Shakespeare, lets have Winnie the Pooh on the school national curriculum!

More Spring Flowers

Another lovely day saw Malcolm and I walking around Straw's Bridge pond, along Derby Road into Ilkeston and through town before returning home. On our way we passed the lake known as the Manners Floods around which several willow trees were in full flower. These trees are actually Goat Willows, Salix caprea, also known as Pussy Willow or Great Sallow.
A closer look reveals the flowers in all their glory. Looking like small brushes they are yet another indication of spring.
Willows such as these contain, within their bark, the chemical Salicin which has an anti-inflammatory action and is synthesised to make aspirin.

Mother's Day

We had a nice day yesterday. Rather than buying our mothers flowers (which will die in a couple of days), or chocolates (which is too obvious), we decided to take Malcolm's Mum over to King's Lynn, to my Mum's and take them out for lunch. In the afternoon we went for a short drive to Sandringham, had a wander around the visitors centre, enjoying the fine weather and then 'tea and stickies' at a nearby garden centre and cafe - know to the family as 'Fiddler's Corner' (a long story which I believe originates from my Grandfather).
I was wondering about the origins of Mother's Day and it appears to have several different starting points. It comes from a mixture of mother worship in ancient Greece, the ancient Roman holiday, Matronalia, which was dedicated to Juno and a number of other factors. Mother's Day is celebrated on different days depending on where you live. In Britain it is celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent, a day shared only with Ireland and, believe it or not, Nigeria!
Whatever the origins, it's not a bad idea is it?

From Stephen's Views

Dear old souls!!!!!

When it's Spring again.....

A beautiful walk this morning around Shipley Hill in the sunshine.

From Uploaded

Where, just a few days ago, a carpet of snowdrops greeted the eye, now it is the turn of the daffodils.

From Uploaded

From Uploaded

The sun was glinting off the wonderful yellow of the daffodil petals which almost glowed in the dappled shade of the woodland. It put me in mind of a poem from that most erudite word-smith, Winnie-the-Pooh!

Noise, By Pooh.

Oh, the butterflies are flying,
now the winter days are dying
and the primroses are trying
to be seen.
And the turtle doves are cooing,
and the woods are up and doing,
for the violets are blue-ing
in the green.

Oh, the honey-bees are gumming
on their little wings and humming,
that the summer which is coming
will be fun.
And the cows are almost cooing, and the turtle doves are mooing,
which is why a Pooh is Poohing
in the sun.

For the spring is really springing;
you can see a skylark singing
and the bluebells, which are ringing,
can be heard.
And the cuckoo isn't cooing, but he's cucking and he's ooing.
And a Pooh is simply Poohing
like a bird.

Curbar & Froggatt

Strange sounding title today, but it refers to our walk today. Waking up to a lovely sunny morning, we decided to make the most of it and take our walk along Curbar and Froggatt edges. This panorama picture taken from where we parked the car, looking up towards the edge.

Froggatt Edge is a gritstone escarpment in the Dark Peak area of the Peak District national park, in Derbyshire, England and situated in close proximity to the villages of Calver, Curbar and Baslow. Map HERE.

At the top of the escarpment is a part-managed heather moor, purple in summer and periodically set alight to alter the characteristics of the heather. Below the escarpment is a forest of birch trees which is purple in winter. The edge is a place of outstanding natural beauty and offers excellent views across both moorland and valley. On the paths that run along both the top and bottom of the escarpment, the underlying gritstone is often exposed and subsequently worn by the passage of many feet, creating a warm-coloured sand that is characteristic of this part of the Peak District. The edge itself stands around 1000ft above sea level and normally affords magnificent views of the Derwent Valley and over towards Chatsworth House. Today however, the mist was swirling around and almost robbed us of the views.As with many of the gritstone edges in the Peak District, Froggatt was used as a source of millstones. A number of half-completed millstones can still be found at the bottom of the edge.