Astronomically, today was the first day of summer. Ha ha. It’s throwing it down here. Even the ducks look depressed.
Incidentally, what you see here is the original bridge, dating from around 1510, for which the town of Hebden Bridge is named. It’ll have seen drier 21st Junes in its time.
You were warned. But I think this is a beautiful creature; currently living in the shed outside our front door. Rarely have I seen a bigger one, and certainly not in England. I won’t get a better photo today so I’m posting this now. (I haven’t been able to identify the species, not for certain: if anyone can help, leave a comment…)
Postscript: Thanks to Gary, a nice man at UKsafari.com, I’ve been told it’s a Cave Spider: see this page. Species either Meta menardi or Meta bourneti, but it’s impossible to tell which one exactly without capturing it and using a magnifying glass…which I am not going to do.
Phew! What a Scorcher, blah blah… actually it was rather cooler today than it has been. I bet this pigeon frequently takes a dip in the fountain, either way. It was certainly quite civilised about it, going about it like some old geezer who still insists on swimming in the Serpentine every morning.
You have to admire robins. Handsome creatures for a start. And people call them ‘tame’, except they’re not – do you know anyone who has one as a pet? Better to see them as fearless, ballsy – they’ve got us sussed, I think. Yes, they’re a species you feel will do just fine.
I’ve totally discovered this plant (also known as ramsons) this year, thanks to Joe, as it happens. I sort of always knew it was there but he was shown it on a school trip and the fact that you can just pick it up and eat the leaves from the ground – and they taste delicious – appealed to him; and to me, too. And it’s lovely in salads. Or the stems gently fried. And free. And it grows everywhere.
Just imagine if you could actually subsist on this stuff. They’d find someway to privatise it, for sure. I always think the same about blackberries, another lovely free food.
So here I am in Denmark, the 6th country to feature on this blog so far – the others being, in order, UK, Finland, Norway, Russia and the Netherlands. (There will be at least one more this year, as I’m off to the US in July.)
The bridge in the background is called the Størebaeltsbroen (Great Belt Bridge) and it links the islands of Sjaelland and Fyn; I came over it earlier on a train from Copehagen airport to Nyborg. There’s not much to do in Nyborg, so this evening I just went for a walk on the beach and photographed great tits. As one does, on beaches.
Is this good or bad luck? I can never remember. Check back in a few days, and I’ll let you know.
a.k.a. ‘Lament for a Lost Spring’… Sorry to wax lyrical, it’s probably just the result of spending the day in a church selling piles of 2nd hand books to bargain-hungry pensioners.
The weather was not wet, nor that cold, today, but it was so dull. So to cheer me up and make things feel more springlike, here are some pretty blossoms for May Day.
It’s also day 250 of the blog, so I have made some new additions to the ‘Best of the Rest’ page.
I’m in the middle of what is, for me, quite a long run of days without going anywhere in particular. So I have to find photographic succour in Hebden Bridge and Manchester, familiar territory but there’s plenty to see if you look around.
Being 42 