The Horse Chestnut tree

 

This is the Forty in Cholsey it is dominated by a couple of trees, the one on the left is a walnut tree which was pollared over the winter so lacks growth, the other tree is a Horse Chestnut or as most kids will tell  you a conker tree because of the nuts that are dropped in the autumn and sought after to play conkers with 

 It was well in flower when I took the photos and looks glorious in the clear blue sky

Happy SkyWatch

Walk in Millennium Wood

 

Taken over a couple of days  

 Jubilee field named in honor of the queens silver jubilee. It was gifted to the village and at one time was the grazing pasture for cattle. Over to the right out of sight is the brook over which they built a bridge to get to the filed from the recreation ground 

Looking the other way you see a Millennium wood planted as you might guess in 1999/2000 to commemorate it

 

The wood you are looking at now is 25 years old and is situated in a triangle of land between the old branch line and the brook. There are three ways in now, this is one of them

 

 

The trees have grown well over the years though some did not survive

 

 

The bridge is more recent and crosses the stream that comes from the bulls hole which over the years has silted up because no cattle graze in the fields any more

 

 

The paths seem to go on a long way but here we are returning back to Jubilee field 

 

 

The wood is home to a lot of wild life now

 

 

Looking back to the bridge here

 

Take care 

St Peter Hook Norton

 

This week the Church Explorer visits St Peter Hook Norton the last of the churches I needed to visit from the book Oxfordshires Best Churches  that are outside Oxford. 

 

Couple of Sunsets

 

Noticed the sun setting one day back in April so though get up to the bathroom  

Yep worth doing

 Quite a beautiful sunset

Happy SkyWatch 

More feeder photos

 

 Some more feeder photos this time with the acrobatics of the birds on the feeder

Collage of them

Starlings there are three on the fatballs

Blackbird

This magpie was a surprise 

In flight

Catching on

Diving

 

Sparrows

They really go to town on the feeder

squawking starlings

Take Care 

St Andrew Great Rollright

 

This week the Church Explorer visits the second of the Rollright churches and goes to St Andrew Great Rollright and lovely church that stands next to the village school and has some nice Norman features to see along with a beautiful rood screen

 

Sunrise

 

Just the one picture this week

 The sun rising as you look through the trees behind our caravan

Happy SkyWatch 

Photo's from the feeder

 

I have put my wildlife camera up near the bird feeder and came away with some photos of the birds that use it

 First I came across were sparrows

 This male looks taken back

 Two of them on the feeder

The a couple of goldfinches

Blue tits who I know nest in one of our boxes

Sparrow and goldfinch

Then two sparrows and a couple of goldfinches in the photo

Take Care

St Philip Ltlle Rollright

 

This week the Church Explorer visits St Philip Little Rollright a simple church that is still lit by candles 

 

April 1st

 

Aprils fools day which I seem to forget about now as I get older. At least there was no fooling the walk we took with the puppy on this morning.

Lambs by the fence being watched by mother

No doubt the first time they have seen a puppy which was looking at them

Things were starting to come into leaf

Catkins looked worth a photo

With blue sky as a background

On the way back I noticed this little blighter sunning itself

Happy SkyWatch

Garden wander

 

Hope your not fed up with Roses as I have a few more this week as more have come into bloom

Section of the roses growing in our garden

The rambling rose on our patio in full bloom, the pink one I am glad to see is also flowering

This one Veilchenblau is now starting to come out in another few days it will be covered in blue roses

Rosa Califorinca which is flowering well

There are quite a few I forgot the name of but this one is doing well this year after being moved

Foxgloves we have in abundance 

The lupines I am pleased to see growing as some of them I grew in the greenhouse

Another rose flowering well

 This is a small wisteria I have in a pot and is starting to bloom as well

Our original Californica that is 20 years old and been moved a couple of times but now is around 12 foot tall

 Iris's flowering

 More roses

Iris flowering

Take Care