Sarah Raven's Wild Flowers

Sarah Raven's Wild Flowers Inspired by childhood excursions with her botanist father, Sarah Raven has travelled the length and breadth of the British Isles to find 500 of our most breathtakingly beautiful wild flowers. This lavishly illustrated book is divided by habitat, covering woods, downs and dales, lanes and hedgerows, meadows, coast, marshes and streams, moors and mountains, and wasteland. Sarah introduces a wide range of plants, telling you their names and something about them - how to identify the families, how they're brilliantly adapted to their environment, their importance to animals and insects, what herbal remedies they can be used for, the story behind their common names and the part they play in local history. Join Sarah on trips to see pulsatillas, fritillaries, bluebells, wild garlic, harebells, forget-me-nots, foxgloves, wood spurge, silverweed,purple cranesbill, deadly nightshade, St John's Wort, comfrey, orchids,wood sorrel, snowdrops and more. There are glorious landscape photographs by Jonathan Buckley throughout, and one of his stunning plant portraits accompanies each of Sarah's authoritative, captivating species descriptions. Informative and lovely, Sarah Raven's Wild Flowers is a botanical marvel. RRP: £50.00 Price: £32.50 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions You Save: £17.50 (35%) Click here to Buy now.Sarah Raven's Wild Flowers .

The River Tay 10th May 2012

Cotton Wool clouds that gave rise to showers then persistent rain, cold, temperature not rising above 10 degrees centigrade, low pressure moving away north east, tomorrow should be a sunnier day.

Mahakala Samye-Ling

Mahakala Samye-Ling Sculpture of Mahakala by Tibetan monk Gyamtso and decoration by Sue Bradley, many months of exacting work almost completed, 5th of May was full moon, an auspicious day and a suitable one for painting in the eyes which by now is done ready for inclusion in the new Mahakala Shrine room. A wrathful Deity and protector.

Golborne Greater Manchester

Golborne is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies 5.4 miles (8.7 km) south-southeast of Wigan, 6.1 miles (9.8 km) northeast of Warrington and 13.8 miles (22.2 km) to the west of the city of Manchester. It has a population of 23,119, yet the local market has closed, shops lie empty, what a shame when so much trade in local produce could happen. I sincerely wish that community awareness grows to love the gems of houses that they live in, preserve and focus on local. Last week I called by this small town and was immediately drawn to and impressed by the quality of The turn of the 19th century houses, in particular the brickwork. Exquisite detailing of brickwork. Golborne a mining and textile town served by a mainline station clearly thrived at that time with high quality housing.

Golborne Dental practice, a really lovely coroneted building somewhat besmirched with advertising.

Brickwork.

Detail of press moulded decorative brick frieze.

Golborne Brick Cornice.

Brick Cornice utilising different clays, containing yellow iron oxide, red iron oxide and red fired in a reduction atmosphere giving blue.

Golborne house Brick Cornice and friezes.

Wild Primrose Earth Day North Fife

Wild Primrose Primula vulgaris, as recorded on Earth Day, a woodland plant. It flowers in early spring, one of the earliest spring flowers in much of Europe. ("Primrose" is ultimately from Old French primerose or medieval Latin prima rosa, meaning "first rose".) In appropriate conditions, it can cover the ground in open woods and shaded hedgerows. Here in North Fife April seems to be the month. In more populated areas it has sometimes suffered from over-collection and theft so that few natural displays of primroses in abundance can now be found. To prevent excessive damage to the species, picking of primroses or the removal of primrose plants from the wild is illegal in many countries, e.g. the UK (Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, Section 13, part 1b).

Wild Primrose North Fife

Chickens Flisk North Fife

Chickens Flisk North Fife. We have five chickens and one cockerel who have now learned to jump the fence to exploit the garden, they habitually scratch up newly planted seeds, eat sprouting plants, create havoc and decimate the vegetable plot. A problem. Wonderful protein rich eggs v mineral and fibre rich vegetables. What would you do?

This is the Dad of the white one above, hard to believe but true.

Queen Wasp

Queen Wasp on Japonica Quince, it's this time of the year when over-wintered queens start to regain energy to start a new colony, feeding and scraping wood fibre to build the first little bike (nest) and produce the first workers which go on to build a much larger bike in another place.

Morning Sunbeams over Luthrie North Fife

Morning sunbeams over Luthrie North Fife

Tree Peony Flisk North Fife

3 Years old and just beginning to flower, to be honest I am surprised by the colour new to me.

Tree Peony Bud about to bloom.

Tree Peony in full bloom.

Peony Bud nearly in bloom.

The same Peony flower a few days later.

Ballinbreich North Fife April 2012

Ballinbreich Castle as viewed from Black-Earnside lay-bye for Lois.

Ballinbreich Castle

River Tay April 11th 2012

River Tay April 11th. Sunshine and showers all day long, hail too.

Low water exposing the ever changing sand banks.