New year, new days

Welcome to 2015!

In the woods round Froghall, the leaves are bare, but the days are growing longer.  At last.

Dunghill of the past

The land we live on has been inhabited for centuries -- yes, not a very profound statement, but we human beings live in the present, and "the past is a different country" as someone said, so it's sometimes an odd shock to think that the land was not always as we see it, even if we should know that already.

This seemingly pristine copse near Newborough is actually known on the map as 'Dunghill Plantation'. Clearly it must have had a past totally different to its present...

Platform in the forest

Thnak God, Spring has sprung at last.  There is green on the shrubs and the birds are singing & calling in a great racket.  It's very welcome, as usual.

I found this rather odd perch (viewing platform?) in the Bass Millennium Wood, on Battlestead Hill at Tatenhill.  I climbed it and sat in it, but for the life of me could not see what whoever built it might be wanting to survey.  It just looked down the dip. 
Maybe they wear a hood and watch birds.  Who knows?

Weather is nuts

The current weather patterns are slightly nuts.  Yesterday was blistering rain, bits of hail, and stormy winds - all culminating in a three-hour electricity power-cut.

Today was all sweetness and light, with a gentle sunshine soothing its way across the landscape.  The daffodils are shooting. Etc Etc.
Inded, this view across the fields at Wrottesley Old Park near Pattingham was balm for the soul.

But ...tomorrow is due to be nasty again.

Whittington's fairy glen

This small wood near Whittington Hall in the very south of Staffordshire county (on the Worcestershire border) is known as 'Fairy Glen'.

I'm interested in why myths arise (see previous post!).
There are two possible reasons (I think) for the nomenclature in the case of Fairy Glen: the dappling effect in sunlight, and the sudden rise in the ground on on side, could lead an imaginative person to believe that there are small movements going on in the peripheral vision; and, secondly, it's a half-mile or so from the nearest farm, so anything could happen there in the witching hours... and you'd never know.
Yes, okay, even my 'reasons' are fanciful - but it's nice to ponder.