16 Mar 2016

Coiling copper and spring sunshine

She turned to the sunlight
And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbour:
“Winter is dead.”

A. A. Milne, Daffodowndilly, When We Were Very Young

I saw my first ladybird of 2016 on a gorgeous sunny spring day in early March. Obviously catching some rays to warm and wake up.
I saw my first ladybird of 2016 on a gorgeous sunny spring day in early March. Obviously catching some rays to warm and wake up.

My husband and I have been laid low by one of those especially horrible winter colds that happens about once every 15 years.  A particularly nasty variant that kicked the stuffing out of both of us for around 6 weeks.  Whilst we both experience long-term chronic health issues, we’re not ‘poorly’ very often and neither of us take much time off work for illness.  But this episode has caused us to merely exist for all of February, having started at the end of January and extending now well into March too.

So we’ve done a lot of treading water and not made much progress beyond concentrating on getting from one day to the next. And we largely shut ourselves away in an enforced quarantine, as we certainly didn’t want anyone we cared about to suffer with it.

We found a very quiet spot to eat some lunch in the car and just enjoy looking out at the spring sunshine.
We found a very quiet spot to eat some lunch in the car and just enjoy looking out at the spring sunshine.

But I think we both are at the tail end now (I think I’ve progressed a little faster, my husband had surgery just before it took hold and certainly had two separate colds in the same time) and can start looking forwards again and think about a bit more than just going through the motions.

Thankfully, after we’d met our commitments this weekend, the weather forecast was supposed to be decent and we decided to take advantage and just get out for some fresh air – we’ve long wanted to, but this weekend was the first time that we had the energy to make that desire to do so, into reality.

I know that we both seriously enjoyed it and I’m sure it did us both good too.  There’s been talk in the media lately of the value to health and well being of green spaces and spending time in nature, but this is something I’ve known since childhood.  Fresh air, sunshine, good food and quality sleep – Mother Nature’s healers.

My first lambs of spring 2016. They were very new and clean, but Mum, understandably, wasn't keen on me getting too close.
My first lambs of spring 2016. They were very new and clean, but Mum, understandably, wasn’t keen on me getting too close.

We didn’t do anything particularly energetic, but the spring sunshine felt wonderful after what has felt like a bit of an enforced curfew – just hearing the sounds of the countryside and breeze through your hair on a particularly nice spring day was most rejuvenating.

It makes me long for the long days of May and June when we try and get out as much as we can after work to enjoy those extended evenings – I think that’s perhaps my favourite time of year.

The area we travelled through had a lot of livestock in the fields, including some fabulous long horn cattle, which I wasn’t able to photograph due to the narrow nature of the lane and an impatient 4×4 driver behind us, but there were a lot of heavily pregnant ewes.  I finally saw my first lambs of this spring, two youngsters just tucked inside the perimeter wall of their field, so I got out of the car quietly, hoping to snag some photos, but Mum really wasn’t keen and promptly took them away, so all I got was retreating bottoms this time.

Gallery:

I’ve popped the photos from above, plus a couple more into the gallery below, including a couple of new ones from this week.  They each have captions to describe them.  You can click on any of them and it opens a pop up window and you can scroll through the full set.

My work this week:

Coiled copper teardrop loop earrings.
Coiled copper teardrop loop earrings.

I have a number of designs that feature either twisted wire or coils of wire and it has been my practice to use a small cordless screwdriver to give me the twisting/coiling action.  It needs a power tool that’s capable of a gentle start and slow speed.  I’d been using an inexpensive and very small hand unit that worked a treat for this, but it has been in its death throes for some time and I knew it wouldn’t be long for this world, despite giving me long and valued service.

But my father came to the rescue with a more substantial cordless screwdriver that had a failed battery and he adapted to run from the mains instead. It works an absolute treat and the additional size and weigh allows me to use it standing on its big heavy battery base, freeing me from the need to hold it up as well as co-ordinating the trigger finger and guiding the wire etc.

A longer teardrop of coiled copper wire in these antiqued copper earrings.
A longer teardrop of coiled copper wire in these antiqued copper earrings.

It has an accurate, well aligned chuck, which is especially valuable when coiling wire and it starts up lovely and gently, making for much easier coiling, less wire wastage and reduces the amount of swear words uttered.  I’ve enjoyed using it so much, that I replenished my stock of coiled wire lengths for regular designs and was able to make longer pieces than I have previously, so I put together some new teardrop loop earrings, as shown.

I see some wire twisting in my near future too.

 

 

5 Apr 2015

Mad Easter hares

And if it’s so we only pass this way but once
What a perfect waste of time – ‘My Sad Captains’ / Elbow

Yesterday was Easter Saturday and we had the most lovely day.  We visited our favourite spot, had a pretty decent undulating walk (at least my leg muscles say it was this morning), had a picnic outside (granted, we scoffed with increasing speed as our hands got cold once the sun moved off) and spent some quality time in the car with our coffee.

I've rarely seen a hare for more than a fleeting glance, let alone watch several for an extended period of time.
I’ve rarely seen a hare for more than a fleeting glance, let alone watch several for an extended period of time – there are two individuals in this frame.

My husband pretended to read through closed eyelids (he watches TV using the same rather odd technique) and I spent about an hour with my binoculars welded to my face watching a handful of hares, just being hares, in an adjacent field.

I know that this is the perfect time of year to see hares, when they become more active during daylight in the pursuit of a mate and I also know that this area is good for hares, as we regularly see glimpses of them, so I was hopeful that I might get to see more activity than usual.  And boy was I not disappointed.

The distinct long hind legs of a brown hare and you can see how perfectly their colours blend them into this environment.
The distinct long hind legs of a brown hare and you can see how perfectly their colours blend them into this environment.

As we settled in the car with a cup of coffee and books etc., just to enjoy the peace and the view – as we do at every opportunity (I suspect this is an activity that only becomes attractive beyond a certain number of years lived), I commented that three bunnies appeared to be engaged in some early evening shenanegans and were just chasing each other in circles.

We laughed at them running around and turning back on themselves and how the order of the chase changed often and it was only when I decided to get a better look with binoculars that it became evident that they were hares and not bunnies at all – the distance we were from them had completely skewed the scale and once seen properly, it was very obvious; their huge black tipped ears and much warmer colours, distinct yellow eyes and long hind legs.  They can apparently run at up to 35 miles an hour, so it’s no wonder I struggled to keep up with them with binoculars.

beaconfell_4072h
You can see the distinct long-legged action of a hare at a run, compared with the delicate hop of a rabbit. No wonder they can cover the ground so fast.

The chase disappeared from view into the thick reeds and I scanned the field looking for signs of movement.  I just passed over the field of view where they emerged from the reeds onto a flat green raise in the surface, just in time to see two of the hares leap right up from the ground, to land in boxing stance and put on the most fabulous, albeit fleeting, display of mad March hare boxing.  I’ve only seen it in person once before at distance and as on that occasion, it was over before I could swap binoculars for camera and try to get a shot.  Just a brief spat of handbags.  Unfortunately, they calmed after that burst of energy and from then on they were only interested in feeding, no more chasing, or boxing.

By the time we decided to leave for home, we calculated that we’d seen at least 6 or 7 different hares.  I found that after watching them for a while that I could easily identify individuals – one had a very fluffy white tummy, one had markings on its back, almost stripey like a tabby cat, one had a very fluffy tail and one a long skinny tail.  At one point, a movement caught Barrie’s eye in the car mirror and one was crossing the road behind us.  On the drive home, we spotted at least another half dozen in fields and at the roadside.

Is this a form where a hare might hunker down during daylight?
Is this a form where a hare might hunker down during daylight?

As I was scanning the field for activity, the light caught a shape in the grass and I wondered if this might be one of the forms that hares sleep in, usually during the day, before venturing out at dusk to eat.  I knew that they made rudimentary forms from a scrape in the ground amongst long grasses for camouflage and shelter and certainly since I’ve got home and researched it, I’ve seen several photos of similar structures where a sort of tunnel has been formed in long grass in this way.

beaconfell_4088h
A kestrel settled to survey the area for a short while.

 

I’d also been watching a kestrel, rising up on evening thermals and hovering whilst hunting for food – we regularly watch a kestrel in this same spot.  So it was an extra treat so be able to watch it settled on a nearby hawthorn bush, surveying the ground beneath intently.

Quality of the photographs:

I’m sorry that I’m not able to share better quality photos, but in all of these cases, the hares and the kestrel were some considerable distance away and whilst I could really enjoy them through binoculars, my camera unfortunately doesn’t enjoy the same magnification or clarity.  So these photographs were taken at an equivalent zoom of a 720mm lens and are significantly cropped too.  Plus, there were several objects between me and the animals, such as tall weeds, wire fencing etc., hence some odd blurry patches disturbing the details.  I could have got out of the car to try and get closer, but I think that was likely to have spooked them and I preferred to go on enjoying watching them quietly, as it was such a privilege to spend some time in their company.  But please do click on any of the photos for a larger version.

And finally:

I don’t think I ever posted about my Christmas present from my husband in 2014 – which I have yet to enjoy.

En route to this favourite spot, we pass a local glider school who are often flying when we pass, so we tend to pull in and watch for any take-offs, as they’re winched into the air and it makes quite a spectacle to watch.  I’ve often commented that I fancied having a go, so I now have a voucher for a ‘lesson’ in one to be taken at some time this summer.  Whenever I think about it, my stomach does a somersault of excitement and terror, just about in equal measure. Watching them yesterday just heightened both sensations.

Glider being prepped for take off.  This two-seater is one of the craft I am likely to fly in.
Glider being prepped for take off. This two-seater is one of the craft I am likely to fly in.