Corfe Castle

Here are some pics of Corfe Castle.
We visited on a beautiful sunny day.

Look at the right edge of the pic and you can see a large metal ring on a tall stand, this is one of the 'beacons' that are occasionally lit all across the country. They used to be used as a warning and means of letting people far away know of invaders. They stand on prominent hills and when filed with fire the light can be seen for miles.

  As you can see it is quite a climb to get to the castle remains.

Not all the areas are completely safe, but, you get the message.

Do not adjust your monitor, 

these walls really are at this angle!!

A feather

While outside in the garden a feather, probably from a pigeon, gently began to dance on the breeze. 
It was just like the feather at the beginning of 'Forrest Gump'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7voy1vit6Y

This pretty white feather was gently blowing on the wind, literally going up and down as little eddies of wind caught it. Twirling and swirling, bobbing up and down the little feather almost seemed to have a life of its own and was enjoying the dance.

It really was fascinating and magical.

I started humming the Forrest Gump opening music as the feather twisted and twirled, swaying and dancing, even rising as well as falling.

Then,

out of the sky 
swooped and swallow, grabbed the feather and flew off at speed with it!

Talk about breaking the spell.

With the little feather in its mouth the swallow flew off, then realised its mistake and dropped the feather, it began to dance again, but, the swallow was not convinced and grabbed it again, another spitting out and the feather slowly twirled to the ground out over the field.

'And that's all I have to say about that'.

Sea Side

We went to the beach.....


and there was a LOT of it.................

The car park was pretty full, but with this much beach it is easy for people to find their own space.

Roses

The general view from everyone here is that the roses here are ''having a good year'.     They seem wonderful to me and are always fantastic.
Here is a rose bush smothered in roses, the phone camera did not do a good job of capturing them.

I also cut some buds to dry. 

Do not worry, there are still masses on the bushes. What a wonderful 'crop' to harvest.

Bees'll buzz, kids'll blow dandelion fuzz

Bees'll buzz, kids'll blow dandelion fuzz........

In Summer

When life gets rough I like to hold onto my dreams
Of relaxing in the summer sun, just letting off steam
Oh, the sky will be blue, and you guys'll be there too
When I finally do what frozen things do
In summer
In summer!

(From Frozen)

Taking a picture of a fish in running water is very difficult.
Not only is the fish well camouflaged, the reflections off the water make it difficult to see.
Anyway, enough excuses, here is a pic of a fish in the river.

Also on the river were a family of swans, the cygnets are growing fast, here they come down the river, 

and here are some of them between the rushes.

Here is a picture down the footpath covered by trees and bushes at this time of year.

Escapea

Due to the pigeons and the pheasants I erected a mini Fort Knox around the little pea plants to protect them and keep them safe.
All went well and the peas are flowering and producing peas!

Then a problem occured.

I could not 'break-in' to pick the peas! 

Some dismantling went on and now peas can be harvested as they ripen. 

However, with all my defences one pea has escaped.

The 'escapea'.

On a completely different note!

Look at the lovely strawberries that we have grown.

Plenty more where those came from, warm and succulent, straight from the garden.

Just Another Day Digging

Forgot to take a pic at the beginning but here is one after 2 hours of digging.
Don't forget that the soil is mildly damp thus a lot easier to hack through with the pick axe. 
it was a lovely sunny day, so there is the chance that the ground will be too dry to work with tomorrow. I really have to do this when the weather dictates. 

This is the end of 6 hours, really not a lot to show for the ache in my back and shoulders and still lots more left for another day.

Of course while you do this the weeds grow behind your back.

However, there are a few cheery things to see. 
Here are a couple of lovely purple clematis (and a few weeds).

Then on a walk this evening saw this enormous roll of huge hose and the water spraying out further down the field. I should be watering too.

Green Barley

The barley is a sea of green.
However, there seems to be the faintest hint of gold in the right light. A sign of the year progressing.

and a low down picture from a climbing insects view.

Attack From Below

We do not seem to have many worms, the few that we do have are encouraged as they are good for the soil. To that end we have put netting over the Root Bed (celeriac, leeks, beetroot carrots and parsnips, if the parsnips ever decide to germinate,) in an effort to slow down the blackbirds from pecking up our precious worms. Blow me, this morning there is this.....

A mole hill!
Which means that under the ground is a little brown fellow digging AND eating my worms from below.The mole is only doing what he is supposed to do, but really?

It did not help when I went to plant a spaghetti squash and the plant just disappeared down into a mole tunnel running under where I want the plant to grow. Plants do not grow when their roots are surrounded by air.



I also picked peas. We are not going to end world hunger with these, they were yummy, but, I think eating the pods earlier as mange tout is more useful.

On a more productive side strawberry season is beginning!

Early June garden pics

Selection of pics from around the scrappy bits of garden.

 morning view

spaghetti squash

barley growing

strawberry ripening

barley

Runner beans

 beetroot seedlings

 onions, lettuce and spinach

 lettuce

 celeriac

broadbeans 

 tomato

 peas protected from pheasants

 weeds round the lamp post

 front wall potatoes