Ugly bug diner

 

Not sure you can get much uglier than a ladybird larvae  

 Collage of them munching away

I came across them on one of my globe thistles 

Which came as a surprise because I hardly saw any last year

The one good this is they were eating the blackfly on the thistle 

 

Ugly critters 

But they eat the blackfly and turn into beautiful ladybirds 

Take care 

St Michael at the North Gate

 

This week the Church Explorer visits St Michael at the North Gate Oxford a church I have longed to see and did not disappoint  

 

View from the spire

 

After showing the St Marys church Oxford in Sundays Blog and a teaser from the spire I thought I should show what you can see from it.

The Radcliffe camera from the spire

 

Closer look for you

 

 

Turning left a little to look over Oxford the spire belongs to Exeter College chapel 

 

 

Turn right and you see All Souls College 

 

 

Going around the spire a bit and you look up High Street on the right and past All Souls College 

 

 

Going further around and we look towards Merton College on the left Christ Church Cathedral center and Top Tower on the right

 

 

Zooming in on Christ Church and Tom Tower

 

 

Quick look down at the High Street

 

 

The spire you see is the Former All Saints Church now Lincoln College Library 

 

 All Souls again

 

Happy SkyWatch

Take care

 

St Mary the Virgin Oxford

 

  This week the Church Explorer visits the University Church of St Mary the Virgin the first of the churches I will be visiting in Oxford to finish off the ones I need to visit in the book Oxfordshires Best Churches. This one is certainly one of the best, it is stunning inside.

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