Leek View

Ladderedge Country Park is situated to the south-west of the town of Leek, in Staffordshire. The Park is in two parts - the smallest being situated to the East of the A54, encompassing the end of the Leek Branch of the Cauldon Canal - and the larger part being enclosed by the Canal feeder culvert flowing from Rudyard Reservoir and the A54 (Rudyard Kipling was named after the reservoir, the location of his parents courtship).

The feeder culvert is accessible and a path runs much of its length. On one side is the Park and on the other the golf course. The last hole is a beast. It runs between a forest down a steep hill with a slightly sloping green and two bunkers, out of site from the tee. Every course has its challenging hole!

The park is on rolling hills with three defined walks - each marked with a colour coded set of posts. There is a woodland walk, a habitat walk and a view walk. The town of leek can be seen from the top of the hill at the centre of the park. The spires of the churches stand out clearly and the peaks of the Roaches can be seen in the distance. With a good pair of binoculars you can make out the rock formation called the winking man.

Leek is an unusual moorland town with a wealth of antique shops and furniture stores. There are lots of historic buildings, including some fine timber framed structures and many have been restored to a high standard, giving the town a feel of historical significance.

There are some excellent cafe facilities and restaurants and some surprisingly unique shops along with a traditional market on the square.

Back to the Park.... We walked across the hills to the woodland and enjoyed the sound of crows and small perching birds. The wildlife evidence was abundant, but we did not see much of it.

At the edge of the park woodland we did find a field with Balwen sheep grazing. The trees form a natural forest with plants of different species and different ages. There is not much natural forest left in the UK and Staffordshire has quite a lot of it.

All in all, quite a satisfying walk.

Big Garden Birdwatch

Every year the RSPB organise a birdwatch to provide information on garden birds in the UK. This weekend is that day for the 2008 birdwatch. Volunteers spend 1 hour recording the birds they see in their garden and report the numbers back to the RSPB.

One of a family of 5 collared doves living around our garden

This years count for 11:30 to 12:30 in our Garden in Stoke-on-Trent was as follows:

3 blackbirds; 1 robin; 2 house sparrows; 1 tree sparrow; 1 dunnock; 5 wood pigeons; 2 collared doves; 1 magpie and 6 starlings:

Of course, these events always lead to other interesting observations. The pigeons will settle onto the bird table and scatter breadcrumbs to the four winds. We discovered that one of our neighbours cats is rather partial to our bread!

Casper goes for the bread.....

Postscript: Having observed for an hour at a set time, it seemed that very few birds were observable in the garden. After we had finished the count I saw a flock of about 35 starlings, a bullfinch (seldom seen in our garden), a good bunch of house sparrows and a black headed gull. All 5 collared doves were around and there were at least 6 wood pigeons.

Over the years we have seen some interesting birds. I remember a waxwing, a merlin and a Harris hawk (the latter was an escapee), but a few years ago the Harris hawk flew towards our window whilst we were watching evening television. I said at the time to Rosie, "A Harris hawk as just landed on our canopy" - "never!" - "Yes"..... and it was soon followed by a hawk handler trotting up the drive. It took two days to capture the bird.

Its a dogs life

Today, the headline on page 3 of our local paper reads;

Firm dogged by industrial unrest for months

Private ambulance service up for sale

Imagine my surprise when we saw a private ambulance in town with a truly dogged driver! I know the Staffordchire service has been making cutbacks, but this is a little too ridiculous.

Strolling in the sunlight

Today was the first day for ages when it has not rained. Rosie said we should go for a walk, well not too far. So we went to Ashbourne - just 25 minutes drive away. On route, we did a little shopping and also picked up a couple of items for our neighbour.

We set out along the start of the Tissington Trail, which starts from the Sports Centre car park in the town and follows the course of an old industrial railway line. The first part out of Ashbourne is the Tunnel. This is a long uphill incline under the houses and shops of the town, heading north.

There is a small car park at the other end of the tunnel, but I enjoy the walk the dusky light, the echoing surroundings and the dripping water from the tunnel top. I am easily amused these days.

The trail goes out across the hills following a path that takes us through farmland and cuttings. The embankment is mostly above the surrounding land and holds a commanding view throughout its length.

A flock of domestic pigeons was cruising gracefully around a farm house in the dip as we came out of the first cutting. They wheeled around, catching the sun and glistening, then as they turned, they were lost, only to catch the sun on the next turn.

I could hear the cackle of a magpie, the chip-chip of a blue tit and the harsh cry of a pheasant in the distance. The countryside was back in form after the days of endless rain.


Eventually, after passing field after field of nothing but grass we came across some sheep. They are a tough breed in this part of Derbyshire. The sheep have horns as big as the rams and they have long tails. No-one messes with a Derbyshire sheep.

A little further on and there was a paddock with hens in it. They were big birds and a lone cock was crowing as we came into sight of them.

In the wooded areas, the Male Fern was in full frond. This does not usually grow until later in the early Spring. Snowdrops were flowering at the edge of the trees, again, they are very early in this wild setting. I spotted Honey Fungus under the trees and a few bracket fungi on select trunks of some of the birch trees.


We had left enough time to have a walk around the town when we returned from the trail. Ashbourne is a very historical place with lots of old buildings and associations. It has a wealth of good quality shops and tea rooms, with an ancient market place and a diverse community.

There are too many images of this town to do it justice in a single photograph, but I like this old building near the butter market. It can be seen from the upstairs cafe in the kitchen shop, where you can still get tea in a pot with a tea strainer.

Home for tea........

Ah! Trilobites

Having spent some time searching for pterosaur teeth in my fossil collection, I came across some old friends that I have not seen for some time. I collected quite a few UK trilobites between 1976 and 1984, many of which are poor specimens and a few are excellent. Below is a cephalon (head shield) of a trilobite called Dalmanites myops from Dudley in Worcestershire. This is one of the famous "Dudley Bugs". It has very distinctive kidney shaped compound eyes and genial spines extending back from the edges of the cephalon. This species was probably very good at spotting predators and shuffling under the sediment on the sea floor. Nearby in the next draw of my cabinet was an ampixid trilobite called Cnemidopyge bisecta. I can remember having many a conversation about how to pronounce this name (nemidopyge with a silent C - Semidopyge with a silent N - or the tongue crunching CNemidopyge?) Make your own mind up - I prefer the silent C.

The Cnemidopyge specimen below was the first good specimen I owned. It was collected by Delyth Wilson from Anglesea. The cephalon has a long forward pointing spine which is characteristic of this type of trilobite

Later, I collected a more complete specimen of this Ordovician, Llandeilo age trilobite from Builth Wells in Wales. The three body axes can be clearly seen, though the central axis is displaced between the pleura (mid-body segments) and the pygidium (tail shield).

I do not have a photographic record of my trilobites, so I have decided to take pictures to record them in a more structured way. These pictures are my first trial with my new camera. They look OK for the Job.

Nuts

Two grey squirrels , each with a walnut in their mouth - where do you find walnuts around here? They were chasing around the drive, up the lawn, across the rose garden and in the hedge for ages.

Both went off in separate directions, They returned, both without their nuts. I assume they had been stashed somewhere - and they continued to chase each other around.

At this point I went for the camera. Getting a photograph of these bright and bushy individuals would be a worthy treat on a cold winters day.

A few clicks and the cats started to show some interest. Off they went through the cat flap and the squirrels were gone.

Reduced Cover

Oh deer! where are they going to seek cover now? Actually, the hinds on the Trentham Estate seem to be resting most of the time in a well fenced field near to the main road now that the conifer forest has been felled. I am assuming that the stags are finding cover in the broad leaf forest on the upper slopes of the estate.

It has been a very pleasant day today with dry crisp air and a lot of sunshine. The temperature has been above 4 degrees Celsius, quite warm for this time of year.

On our walk today I spotted the old inverted tree stump with another tree growing out of it. I have seen this root stump many times and now I have photographed it.