South Coast

Malcolm and I got back yesterday, from a few days away exploring the south coast. We started off by driving down to Poole in Dorset and spent a couple of hours exploring the town and the walks around Upton Lake.
Monday morning was overcast but dry so we set off to take a look at the Dorset coast. We started in Swanage - by accident, having taken the wrong road out of Wareham. But it all worked out rather well.

From the town, we walked out onto Peveril Point, which gave us some nice views north across Swanage Bay to the cliffs beyond.

Fortunately and in contrast to the main town, it was quiet along Peveril Point, so we could enjoy the Skylarks singing and the Gulls shouting at each other.

The wild flowers were pretty good too, with plenty of Red Valerian and wild Carrot to enjoy.

This was the view looking south across Durlston Bay...

and in the distance, the grand, Victorian edifice of Durlston Castle. Built by wealthy landowner George Burt in the late 19th century.

From Swanage, we moved on towards Lulworth, but more of that tomorrow!

Country Colour

The countryside is filling with colour as spring comes to an end and summer takes a hold. This morning, as we walked along Slack Road, the fields were filled with the bright yellow of Buttercups, swaying in the stiff breeze.

Always good value, in such vast quantity, Buttercups must surely rival any other flower for sheer exuberance.

Closer to home, we have discovered a stand of Sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia).

A member of the Pea family, Sainfoin has been grown as a fodder crop for many years and it has the added property of being able to purge farm animals of intestinal worms. Since the 1950's, it has largely been replaced by Alfafa.

There seem to be quite a lot of insects around at the moment - the warm weather and a mild winter helping with their numbers. We've seen lots of bright red Soldier Beetles on the flat heads of Cow Parsley and this fabulous little Red-headed Cardinal Beetle (Pyrochroa serraticornis).

Yellow Flag Iris are adding their sunny colours to the scene too. These were growing alongside Mapperley Reservoir a few days ago, accompanied by a Coot, busy in the background.

Lastly for today, a new 'tick' for my life list. This time, an insect found in our own back garden, on a Teasel leaf. It turned out to be a brilliant bee-mimic Hoverfly (Volucella bombylans).

Nutbrook Canal.

As it's still the school holidays and we like to avoid the more crowded footpaths if we can, Malcolm and I thought we would take a look at what's left of the old Nutbrook Canal. In truth, there isn't a lot left of it to explore, but we started at a familiar landmark which we know as 'graffiti bridge' - for obvious reasons.

The upper level of the bridge, used to carry the Mapperley Branch of a mineral railway line and close by, in what is now an area of scrub (just off to the left in the photo above), the line split at what was Mapperley Junction. A huge number of railway lines in the area, formed the Nutbrook sidings and the Heanor Branch line.
Close by the bridge, you can still see the stone remains of an old lock. The lock and indeed the whole canal, was still in use on the 1880 maps, but disused by the 1915 edition.

It's all a bit overgrown now, but the water flows over the stone-built bottom of the canal...

the construction of which can still be seen in places.

The path we were on, runs along what used to be the 'Union and Municipal Borough Boundary'.

Over the far side of the canal, where trees and birdsong now dominate, the West Hallam Iron Works once belched fumes and noise. It is remarkable that still nothing will grow where the Iron Works were demolished over 100 years ago. Makes you wonder what's still poisoning the ground all this time later.

It's all much more peaceful now - thank goodness. And this morning, even a pair of Mandarin ducks could be seen (if you look carefully) paddling along. You certainly wouldn't have seen that 100 years ago!

Soon, the path opened out onto farmland. The area is farmed by nearby Head House Farm but on the 1880 maps, over to the right around this area, the Nutbrook Colliery is marked, along with its associated branch lines, engine house and air shafts.

Leaving behind the open fields, we were soon back into the trees where we had to do a slight 'dog-leg' as we crossed a small drainage channel where it joins the canal.

Then, it was along to our last point on the canal for today. We know this area somewhat affectionately as Vole Bridge (we've watched Water Voles here before), but on the old maps it's marked as Parker's Bridge. By now, the canal looks more like a long, thin pond as it slowly gets taken over by vegetation.

So, that's a stroll through some local history!

Shipley Hall

As promised, more today from our recent jaunt around what remains of Shipley Hall. Originally built in 1700, this grand hall was once the residence of the Miller-Mundy family and was surrounded by stylish, Italianate gardens.

Coal mining became the main income for the estate and the family started to run the local mines in 1765 - and they were very successful, making enough money to have the hall rebuilt in 1799 and the grounds laid out by William Emes who followed the workings of the rather more famous 'Capability' Brown. There was once a grand glass corridor running down what is now just a paved slope...

Even though the hall has long gone, the grounds are still rather nice and well looked after by Derbyshire District Council. This Beautiful Potentilla was popular with the bees...

as was this pale Wisteria...

and this Cotoneaster.

Around the hill, the sun was shining through these lovely Horse Chestnuts.

Eventually, the hall fell into disrepair and was demolished - ironically, due to subsidence from the very coal mining that provided the money for it in the first place. But thankfully, it has now become a beautiful place to take a stroll.

Rhododendron Time

The fine weather has meant that the Rhododendrons and Azaleas have opened their blooms - in abundance. As always, those on Shipley Hill are particularly good. This fine specimen was growing in the deep shade under the trees.

With a bit of a scramble and determination, I managed to get a shot of this one, in the grounds of the Nottingham Lodge.

Of course, where the Miller-Mundys of Shipley Hall once had their Italianate gardens, there are some gorgeous examples too.

Some of them seem to glow in the sunshine.

While others are just stately and magnificent against a blue sky.

There will be more from Shipley Hall next time....

Blue Sky and a New Tick

This morning, with the sun shining and the breeze blowing, we decided to do 'the Donkey Walk'. As usual, it was a good decision.

It's difficult to imagine as we enjoy these surroundings, that only 100 years ago, this was the site of the West Hallam Colliery. Looking down the slope to the left, there would have been a reservoir on the site, fed by the Mapperley Brook which is still down there somewhere.

Malcolm was keen to test out the capabilities of the camera on his new phone and as he was thus engaged, my attention was caught by a rather drab little butterfly nearby.

It was a little tricky getting a good shot of it as the breeze was interfering with the focus, but it seemed like something I hadn't seen before and after a bit of a search, it turned out to be a Burnet Companion (Euclidia glyphica). So that was a nice new 'tick' for my life list.
On the abundant flowers of the Cow Parsley plants, many insects are busy collecting nectar and among them, Ladybirds can be seen preying on the unwary. This one is a Harlequin Ladybird - the well-known Asian interloper.

One last picture for today and another from along the 'Donkey Walk' where White Dead-nettles are in full flower right now.

No doubt we will be back to do this walk again, very soon.

Ponds and Panoramas

It was a glorious morning again, so Malcolm and I set out across Shipley Park to take a closer look at a new pond. This area was until very recently, part of an opencast mine. But since the mining has come to an end, trees have been planted, grassland opened up and a few small ponds have appeared.

Many, circular walks have been signposted and footpaths created around here, so we will have to investigate them over the summer. For today, we were just happy to enjoy the weather and the view. It afforded me the opportunity to use the panorama setting of my camera.

... and again!

On our walk yesterday, we stood and took in the view of another, smaller pond, which has been planted with reeds and generally landscaped, close to the visitors' centre.

Back to this morning and as we walked through the woodland around Mapperley reservoir, a beautiful, yellow flowered plant caught the eye. It is a Greater Celandine (Chelidonium majus). Unlike the Lesser Celandine which is a member of the Buttercup family, this Greater Celandine, belongs to the Poppy family and is in fact rather poisonous.

The fields are now filling with the 'clocks' of Dandelions, glowing like small, white, fluffy globes in the sunshine.

We will have to return to these walks at a later date.