Spot's Sports spots

the weather has turned very cold and Spot has taken to wearing his winter cap. There was a great gathering of rooks today (this group was only a small part of the parliament), goodness knows what they were up to but something was going on

caught in the act

caught in the act, red pawed so to speak, going through the bins. No excuse, no alibis, no reprieve.

meadow dogs

lounging around in a meadow full of bird's foot trefoil, stitchwort and bedstraw

spot goes fishing

Spot was fascinated by the streaks of marble in the bed of the Inny and after trying to paw them decided to try and fish them out. They are very obvious now because the river is very low, and the sun was very bright. He did not catch the brown trout below, which itself seems to have forgotten about camouflage only working against the right background.

holidays

Spot is going on his hols for a bit, we'll be blogging again when he gets back. Have fun.

I like diggin'

Cassie has been doing her best to keep true to her Cornish mining heritage

Inny foot

Spot at the point where the river Inny enters the Tamar, wondering why it is called Inny foot, and whether this is a good example of having one's foot in one's mouth. And below, it was a long way home.

catkin cascade

making up for lost time, the wood anenomes are coming out with the water dogs and daffodils

almost there

a bit more warmth and our native daffodils will be out, meanwhile Spot and Harriet are practising a concept quite new to them, cooperation.

please take me for a walk

Some creatures have started their work for the year. Some are just lounging about looking pathetic

of snowdrops and molehills

it is not only above the ground that we can see some signs of life flowing back into the cold blue veins of Winter's dead hand upon the landscape. Below the ground some small folk are becoming very active. This molehill is enormous and suggests that the builder was unimpressed by any metaphorical reference to a certain lack of ambition by moles and was single handedly setting out to change the world. In the top picture note the hairy dugong in the Inny.

Cadsonbury Hill

Cadsonbury Hill is an iron age hill fort and compound that stands over the Lynher river just southwest of New bridge (so called when it was built in the fifteenth century) over the Lynher, on the road from Callington to Liskeard (see link). This is the view looking up the Lynher valley towards Kit Hill. The rampart and ditch are still very well preserved. Like Silbury, the hill on which the fort stands looks very odd in the surrounding landscape and is clearly man made to some degree. The slopes are very steep. Spot and Harriet are pleased to demonstrate.



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the fields of gold

another strange day with a golden sunset across freezing fog creating an eerie and magical world of soft suffused light; it reminded me for some reason of the song, but fields of miscanthus not barley.

Out for a walk

the light in the morning is lovely at this time of year. In the distance, on the other side of the Inny valley you can see the little village of Treburley (home of the Springer Spaniel pub). I think the Lurcher would also be a winning name for a local pub.

Try clicking on the lane label under this picture to get a flavour of our lanes through the year.

the New Year

It has been unusually cold for this part of the world recently. From the Saturday before Christmas until the middle of last week the roads were covered with sheet ice and many people couldn't even get out of their houses. Car travel was almost impossible without 4 wheel drive. After a brief milder spell, it has turned very cold again. The air is very calm and clear. The views from Kit Hill were spectacular and the quarry was frozen over for the first time in Spot's experience, who can be seen assessing the situation very gingerly (and no, he wasn't allowed to walk on to the ice) .

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down at Inny foot

if you are an avid reader of Spot's blog you may remember a picture of him standing by a tree in the middle of the Inny (see link). Here is the same tree, 10 feet under water. There appears to be a bulge in the water level here presumably because it is where the Tamar (in spate in the background) and the Inny meet. The water level rises dramatically under these conditions.

Below is a tangled wood photo. It turns out that this pond is by a very ancient road down to the ford at this point. In the mist we can hear the faint sound of footsteps of people long gone, tramping towards the future.

where's my ball

Spot in his autumn colours, and Cassie showing no sign of fear in pursuit of an old football lodged beneath the waterfall.

carletta comes to visit

Carletta came all the way from Maine to visit us. As you can see she was very easy to train, and we quickly had ourselves eating out of the palm of her hand. The woods and meadows are a bit drab at the moment, but it was nice to have a visitor. Anyone else for a guided tour? (please bring own biscuits).

and a swim in the Lynher

the light shining through the trees along the banks often creates these beautiful dappled scenes

the Flower Show 4

and some folks just couldn't care less who wins, not our sort of poodles, too small for me, could be shaggy rabbits or Yorkies or something