AUTUMN WILDLIFE AND SCENERY FROM NOVEMBER 2007

[ranunculus]

Many thanks for all your kind words folks...they really are appreciated.  Just nine more images from Cowm to brighten your weekends....some 'arty' adaptations included....you will either love them or hate them....?

[ranunculus]

The image entitled 'Coloured by what'? is as I discovered it on the moors....could sheep urine cause this colouration?

The 'Reflection' image is a natural enigma....is it the right way up?  The answer is yes, but only the photographer could really be categorical about it!

[Paul T]

Cliff,

The Reflection is quite amazing.  I'm glad you clarified it was right way up, as I was going to ask.  I'm still trying to work out where the reflection starts and the "real" finshes.  There just seems to be too many things going in too many directions.  Quite amazing that it's "natural" and not altered. 

Great Stuff.

[David Shaw]

Great pictures, Cliff, I have enjoyed looking at them.
'Coloured by What' seems to show a patch of moss, the green being alive and the brown dead - just as with some of my mossy saxs!
You could be right about sheep ( or a walker/dog etc) peeing on it, but to kill the moss rather than just change its colour.

[mark smyth]

Surely the Ruddy Shelduck and Greylag hybrid weren't in the wild?

Just home from another brilliant AGS Dublin Group discussion weekend. 175 Euro £116 well spent. The scramble for the Aberconwy stand was unbelievable. His van came packed out and he went home with less than 100 plants. After ZZ's slide show on Friday - members mini lectures - all Daphne's were snatched up in a couple of minutes. I got the blame for lifting too many and passing them back but I'm totally innocent.

[ranunculus]

Hi Mark,
Both birds were photographed on the reservoir (the goose was one of three and the Ruddy Shelduck was on his own), but they were joined by an array of other ducks and gulls........all certainly 'in the wild' as far as access to East Lancashire goes!
Glad to hear that Keith and Tim Lever did well at the Dublin weekend....Aberconwy Nursery remains the by-word for excellence in the alpine world. 

[ranunculus]

Hi Mark,
The best images I have of those particular birds on the reservoir unfortunately.

[Maggi Young]

The soil is very sandy, isn't it?
And, how is "Cowm"  pronounced, please?

Glad  you had a good time at Termonfeckin, Mark, we were thinking of you all. Ian said yesterday that  since he'd been down in the South West, he was nearly there and should have just snuck across!  So he should!

[ranunculus]

Hi Maggi,
The soil around here is actually a very claggy clay but the water ski centre has created a miniscule 'beach' area with sand where a jetty juts into the water, the birds congregate here for access to the 'bread givers'.
And, as disappointing as it sounds, Cowm is pronounced like the bovine creature with an 'm' at the end....no fussy 'queue'ms' in this neck of the moors!

[Maggi Young]

Aha! I thought the sand was a bit suspicious!
This Cowm is a funny old name though... sounds a bit Welsh to me    Do you think it is a corruption of coombe ?... ye olde English for "a deep valley"... which a reservoir would be!

[ranunculus]

You could well be right Maggi.....there was a booklet in print entitled, 'Cowm, the valley that died' and I shall be making enquiries of my father-in-law (who is heavily involved with the Whitworth Historical Society and museum) regarding the history of the area and, if possible, the derivation of the name. As it was a quarrying stronghold then perhaps Welsh artisans were involved?

[Lesley Cox]

Cowm is pronounced like the bovine creature with an 'm' at the end....

We all know there are some really outlandish pronuciations in the English language, especially as practiced by the English. I'll bet there's some idiot out there trying to say "bullm."

[Lesley Cox]

Here's the latest sample of wildlife at my house, another stick insect.













Found first on the green timber of a raised bed, she happily transferred to my finger tip (first and fifth, then I deposited her into a patch of a Clematis marmoraria hybrid. This clematis is just a couple of centimetres high and the leaves are about 1-2 cms across. I've no idea whether she's the young of the Niveaphasma I found earlier or whether she's a different species altogether. There are some green native species I think.

[Maggi Young]

Well, if that's as big as she gets, I suppose she's quite cute really....love the green match with the paintwork, very chic! Still don't think I'm quite ready to get up close and personal, though... thank goodness I am only required to babysit for the neighbours' small furries and fish and not  any multi-legged critters!

[Lesley Cox]

I thought of you  Maggi the other night while watching a news item about a new golf course at Queenstown. It is being used as a "gallery" for some wonderful sculptures of insects and other things. There were two magnificent metal dragonflies poised just above the surface of a large pond. Each was perhaps 60cms in length, or more. But especially for you, was an enormous spider, the angled legs maybe 2 metres long and the whole body lifted up so that one could walk under it. I was sure you would enjoy that. It was made of bronze or perhaps corroded iron as it was a lovely warm tan colour.