Autumn is here

 The leaves on the trees have been outstanding this season, but they are now starting to fall.

The Brampton is always an eye catching scene in Autumn, with its big trees.

The Dorothy Clive Gardens also gives a magnificent display of late season colour, and an excellent coffee at the top of the garden.

The Black Headed Gulls are still around as Westport Lake and they are starting to lose the black head feathers as Winter is approaching.

At the Potteries Museum, the Spitfire is adorned for Remembrance Day and this Gallery is right next to the Museum Cafe.

Back at home "Cheeky" is spending a lot of time watching us in the Kitchen, from the top lawn.  He is there every evening and often in the early morning as well. We currently have 3 regular Foxes visiting the garden and the odd stranger Fox.  A pair of local Badgers come some evenings and they tend to dig worms up in the lawn and open beds.

This picture if from earlier last month.

RAF Cosford Museum

 Just a short drive south from us is the RAF Museum Midlands which is a visit I like to make occasionally to look at new acquisitions.  Today I wanted to see the Hawker Hind trainer.

This was the RAF light bomber which entered service in 1929.  It was mainly powered by a Rolls Royce kestrel engine with a rams horn exhaust manifold. It was also produced as an army co-operation aircraft as the Hawker Audax and had a tropical kit adaptation for use in India.  This example is a Hart trainer, which was stripped of military equipment and fitted with a reduced sweep upper wing to improve its flight characteristics.

This type was also produced for South Africa as the Hawker Hartebeest, and Boulton and Paul manufactured the aircraft as a single seat fighter, The Hawker Demon.

The Hart can be seen behind this Hawker Hurricane, the Hurricane was the mainstay fighter aircraft in the Battle of Britain.

The Boulton and Paul Defiant was a very effective night fighter.  The engine panels have been put back onto this aircraft since I last saw it.

In the top league of effective warplanes is the first operational vertical take off jet, the Hawker Harrier.  This is a GR3 made in 1982 and decommissioned in 1991.

Inside the Cold War hanger are some significant aircraft of the period, The Avro York in the foreground may well have been one of the aircraft that my father worked on. The 3 RAF V-Bombers (Valiant, Vulcan and Victor) are also represented in this hangar.

The cold War hangar is a custom designed special building for the exhibits on display and it can be seen as an aviation landmark for miles around, reflecting the sunlight.
On our visit there was a military shooting event, as can be seen in front of the hangar - Cameras this time.

The PBN Catalina has been stripped back for maintenance.  The fabric removed from the trailing edges of the wing reveals the metal structure.

This final picture was taken by Rosie.  It is of me photographing the inner cabin of a Vickers Valiant bomber.  All in all, a good day out!

The joy of being on-line!

 On the 20th September, we had the fiercest lightning storm I have seen.  It knocked out lots of internet facilities in our direct location, including our Router/Modem.  On the 21st, I requested a technician.  There is no human interface on the Virginemedia.com help desk other than an AI system that allows you to request a visit after jumping through a few hoops.

Technician visit booked for 24th - cancelled by VM.

Technician visit booked for 26th - no-show, no explanation.

Technician visit booked for 1st Oct -Arrived early and fixed the problem to all computers running in 15 minutes.

In the process, I found out that VM is not really equipped for wide ranging outages and was struggling to get out to everyone.  The AI system cannot cope with missed visits and cancels the appointment.  There is no follow up for repairs other than a check that the techs who turned up did a good job.

Overall verdict.

1. Fast and efficient internet connection when running.

2. Help Line is not fit for purpose and does not give users an opportunity to explain their issues.  AI only copes with preset tick boxes.

3. When a technician arrives, they always do and excellent job.

Service satisfaction.

Not as good as it was after being faced with hundreds of E-Mails at once, and a whole bundle of updates to do after 10 days without internet and telephone land line.

Life goes on!

Garden Dinner

This year we have an abundance of tomatoes, potatoes, onions and a small courgette.  That is crying out for a bake.

Thinly slice the courgettes and pealed potatoes, coarsely chop the onions and tomatoes. then start layering them in a dish, potatoes and onions first, with a sprinkle of basil and pepper.

Courgette and tomatoes next. Then repeat another layer and finish with a layer of potatoes.

Add a small amount of olive oil and sprinkle with finely grated cheese.  Bake in a hot oven 180 degrees for 45 minutes in our fan oven.

Serve with whatever accompaniment you have to hand - in this case some tofu sausages.  Things always taste better when they are fresh out of the garden.

The hot oven was also used to batch bake some loaves and seeded rolls for the freezer.

We also saw a Red Panda - good day......

Garden Progress

 The Summer is passing and the next phase of gardening begins.

The potatoes have been lifted and replaced with winter Brussels sprouts.  A few lettuce plants have been included to help keep the slugs at bay.

The paths have been cleared of overgrowth and tidied up.

Having removed 2 large conifers, I have started to work the soil to remove the hard clay pan under the surface and add garden compost.  Planting out has started and a modicum of protection from fox digging is being respected by our garden visitors at present.

The Bug-snug has been completed with sticks and meadow cuttings.  This will be left until late spring when the weather is frost free.

Having had a thank-you token for the local garden centre from friends, I now have a pair of good quality pruning sheers.  Buying cheap is not as economical as functional quality.

Rosie also made a comment about the size of the Tulip Tree at the top of the garden.  Some years ago we took out a big spruce tree and replaced it with a Liriodendron tulipifera.  This tree came to the house in the back of our car in 2009.  In the intervening 19 years it has become a sizeable tree.  These trees are expected to flower when they are over 20 years old.

Insect Hotel for the Winter

 I am in the process of systematically cutting back our meadow area starting with the edge of the side lawn.  I do this with hand clippers so that I do not damage any of the garden planting.  It also allows me to see if anything is crawling through the grass.

The "Bug Nest" is a set of 3 garden canes tied in a pyramid shape and pushed into the ground.  This will hold all of the cuttings from the side lawn and other garden offcuts. 3 short conifer logs are placed at the base and that is covered with heather offcuts.  This prevents the grass cuttings sucking up water from the ground. Then a layer of grass cuttings, a layer of thicker offcuts and 3 retaining canes laid horizontally inside the support canes to stop the load shifting.  A short cane pushed downwards through the vegetation to pin it together then repeat.......

This is half of the stack, with 3 piles of grass cuttings added, and 3 cross canes at each level.  There is a wild strawberry plant that I have not cut back, just in front of the shrubbery edge.

This is the first time I have notices a wild strawberry in the garden, so I have kept it to see how it progresses.

That's enough for today - Lunch beckons.

Red Pandas

 Today we set out early to visit Peak Wildlife Park to see the new Red Pandas - two females that were stealing the show.

 This is what you would expect to see of a wild Red Panda.  They spend a lot of time resting up in trees, out of sight.

They do occasionally become active to search for food. They are vegetarian feeders and browse on a variety of leaves, and shoots.

At home in the branches, they are very able climbers and can move gracefully from tree to tree. The chestnut brown back and black underbelly and legs are a distinct colour scheme.  The nature of the white facial marks does vary between individuals.

I did get the impression that these gentle little tikes were posing for me.

They are able to climb up a tree using their sharp claws, very quickly.

On the ground, they are not runners, but they have a very fast and determined walk. Notice the generally pale facial markings on this Panda.

This Panda has a darker face colouring and slightly different white patching on the head.

The darker faced Red Panda is called Eshe.  Her sister with the paler face is called Riya.  The pandas have been transferred from Paignton Zoo in Devon, to a custom built enclosure at the Park.  They are naturally from the Himalayan Mountains and Southern China, but are endangered in the wild.