Winter Retrospective and Sloe Gin Production

Some photos I didn't post from back in December include these Redwing pictures. The Redwings are migratory and visit the UK in October. Most will have left the UK by now - we generally see them around the fields around Naunton Beauchamp, particularly in December and January.

These photos were taken on a beautiful winter's day in December.

Here is a bit more about them on the RSPB site.

Red Wing in Flight

Sloes were really good this year - beautifully plump and plenty of them. The Local Nature Reserve at Piddle Brook Meadows and the public footpath along the Piddle is a great place to pick both sloes and bullace. Last year we made Sloe Gin and Bullace and Sloe Vodka. 

After maturing for several months it is now time to bottle the Sloe Gin ready for Christmas 2015!

The job of pricking the sloes was made easier this year by using the felting needle tool from Clover Japan which is ordinarily used for dry felting! Brilliant for pricking sloes although lots of people just pop them in the freezer and apparently this has the same effect.

A friend from Scotland gave us a bottle of Sloe Gin for Christmas last year and it was the finest Sloe Gin I have tasted. I've used her recipe this year so fingers crossed ours will be as good.

Springtime in Worcestershire

As Marcel Proust said "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands but seeing with new eyes."

Apparently there has never been a greater disconnect between the average bod in the street and the countryside as there is right now.

As someone who was fortunate to grow up in the countryside of Warwickshire but who has lived in four of the biggest cities in the UK, I can understand this. The question has to be asked "Does it matter?" 

Living in the countryside and working in Birmingham gives me that transition from countryside to city every day that I work. It is why I felt it more important than most that to develop industrial scale farming here was something that I had to protest about and, if possible, stop.

So far so good. However, the battle will continue because population continues to grow apace, the majority of the population in this country are disconnected and do not value the countryside and more importantly, don't understand it or even really care. Meat is pre-packaged and in fact most people don't want to think about where it comes from.

In the meantime, after many years of travelling and visiting some of the most beautiful places in the world, I see the place I live, here in Worcestershire, with new eyes and say a "thank you" to all those who campaigned against the chicken farms at Upton Snodsbury for being able to do so.



The Spring is well under way and here are some photos from a beautiful Easter weekend in Worcestershire.

Robin singing his heart out

Lesser Celandine

According to Gilbert White, a diarist writing around 1789 in the Hampshire village of Selborne, the plants came out on February 21, but it is more commonly reported to flower from March until May, and is sometimes called the "spring messenger" as a consequence.

Local Nature Reserve Piddle Brook Meadows

Lovely - an early Peacock

Very new!

Reflection of Lesser Celandine in Piddle Brook

 D H Lawrence - "...going down the hedgeside with the girl, he noticed the celandines, scalloped splashes of gold, on the side of the ditch. 'I like them' he said 'when their petals go flat back with the sunshine. They seem to be pressing themselves at the sun.'And then the celandines ever after drew her with a little spell."

Warbler? Not sure what this is.

Plantlife is celebrating its 25th Anniversary this year. The charity which campaigns on various issues including wildflower meadows such as the ones that we have locally is currently collating votes on the nation's favourite Wildflower - to find out more click here. 

It's a tough one...Bluebell versus Primrose?