No more kissing under the mistletoe

The National Trust have claimed that Mistletoe may disappear from some parts of the British Countryside within 20 years.

Apparently Mistletoes heartland  is cider country, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire but this where the trust reckons it has an uncertain future due to the dramatic decline in traditional orchards over the past 60 years.

Although Mistletoe is a parasitic plant it provides winterfood for birds such as Thrushes.


In 2009 the Trust and Natural England launched a project to reverse the loss of this type of habitat by restoring traditional orchards, supporting small cottage industries producing cider and juices and promoting the growth of community run orchards.

It's the Dogs!

As you may know proper beer (Bitter) have some unusual names.

For example you can get Old Speckled Hen and Bishop's Finger.

However I came across a rather good one today. We went out for a team lunch, as we lent on the bar to choose a drink (I had a diet coke!) I noticed one of the beers was called The Dog's Bollocks - I kid you not! It's brewed by the Wychwood Brewery in Oxfordshire.

I rather like the idea of walking into a pub and asking for a pint of Bollocks and for once you wouldn't get a gassy lager!!!

A stroll around Cambridge

Hang on a mo the sun is starting to melt!

I didn't think there was much heading to Rye Meads as lots of the water would be iced over and we did the Forest last week so I thought we'd head for somewhere different and have a stroll around Cambridge.





The Round Church.


The Chapel of St John's college






King's College Chapel


Punting in December??



Great St Mary's


King's College Chapel

Still Cold, Still Snowing, Still Grey

The weather is still flipping horrid, cold, snowy and grey!

I've been in the office by 6:40 for the past few days. It means I get on the roads before the hordes and leave before the rush.

What is particularly annoying is the impact it will have on my weekend!! I'm wondering where I can go to get some pictures since the back roads are awful. I have visions of me pulling the duvet up!!

It's only November for goodness sake!!

I woke at 4:50 this morning, I would normally pull the duvet up but I popped out of bed and looked out of the window....

SNOW


I would like to remind North American readers that in the South East of England we get a particularly nasty type of snow. where 1/2 inch is equivalent to about 12-18 inches over there.

I decided to head out early (after sticking some good out for the birds), some of the roads obviously hadn't  been gritted (I mean why would they it's not as if we had notice now is it!!) still I arrived nice and safe at work at about 6:40!!

It has snowed most of the day but the roads were fine tonight.

This is the most snow we've had this early for years.

A Lazy Day

I woke this morning and with great trepidation turned on the radio. The name Cook was soon heard and I breathed a sigh of relief! We had recovered in the cricket PHEW!!!

It was flipping cold out there! Whilst my neighbours were scrapping ice of the car I got mine out of the garage. We've escaped the snow down here but its coming, its going to be a long winter if this is a foretaste - parts of Wales reached -17c even by OC standards that's cold!!

No photos today all I've done is visit dad do a bit of shopping and read a 100 pages or so of Conn Iggulden's Bones of the Hills (part of a set of "historical" novels about Genghis Khan.

I was pleased people liked the stump picture yesterday as that was a favourite of mine. For the record I preferred the B&W version of pics 1&2.

Yet more Forest pics

I awoke this morning to a rather sharp frost. I really didn't want to get out of my warm bed!! I did nip downstairs for a cup of tea and to stick the heating on!

When I did go out it was dull and grey. I considered going to Cambridge but stopped at the forest. I wanted to try out a lens I bought the other week for my Panasonic GF1 the new 14 f2.5. I know Trish wants to see how it performs!

Black & White or colour version?













The local ducks weren't happy as there lake was frozen!



It was flipping cold and I stopped for a cup of tea and a sausage sarnie.

Lots of redwings about and the lake had some teal and gadwall. Lots of Bulfinches about.










St John's Bush End sits right next to the forest. It's a simple victorian church but I thought I'd pop in.

Tyres, Breakpads, Mozart, a book and some birds

The car went in for its service this morning. Annoyingly I needed new front break pads and one of the tyres had a nail in it!

The service was 3 hours so I waited. I sat in the comfy chair, put my MP3 on and opened my book. It is quite offputing when you are absorbed and you look up and find yourself in a car showroom!! Still I read about 180 pages and listened to three Mozart Symphonies (39, 40 and 41 if anyone is interested).

I popped in to see dad and he kindly whipped up a bowl of soup and cheese and tomato on toast for me.

Given the lack of photos last week and of birds on this blog I popped to Fisher's Green.