Flying on...
If you left a comment on my last post, this is just to say that I will reply! I love getting comments and love replying, but also I like to visit your blogs and see what you are up to as well. I can't quite do it all because I haven't been much at the computer for the last two weeks. Must admit I do presently feel a bit like Alice being dragged along by the Red Queen in Tenniel's illustration.
I'm not complaining, because it's a good reason for rushing about. I've suddenly been gripped by a project that pulls together a few aspects of my life, and right now I'm gathering material which will decide its exact final form. As I said last time, I can't really share it just yet, because I'm still putting it together and it might change, but it does involve a bird like this,
I did go out to Oxfordshire at the weekend and on the way I looked at the OS map and saw "White Lion" marked. I thought it must be a pub (since "The White Lion" is a common pub name) but if so, couldn't imagine why they had put its name on the OS map, which never usually marks pub names. Then I saw this,(below) in the vicinity of the village of Whipsnade, and realised it was a chalk figure.
I'd never heard of this lion, but as you might be able to tell by the style, it is modern - that is, it was built in 1933. Which counts as modern by chalk figure standards. It was a clever advertisement for Whipsnade Zoo, as it was then known (it's a branch of the London ZSL Zoo). The chalk figure lion isn't accessible to the public but I read up about it here and loved the idea of a colony of wallabies living on it - don't you?
Also saw an old windmill. Don't you agree this is a strange place for a windmill, right in the middle of a field when it could be up on the hill? I've been to working windmills before, one in Holland and one in Lincolnshire, the wonderful Maud Foster Mill in Boston, which I thoroughly recommend if you are in the area. The one below is picturesque but its sails were not turning and I didn't have the chance to pass by and see if it is ever open to the public.
As I walked around I wondered if those were beech nuts or sweet chestnuts I was crunching underfoot, and just deciding they must be beech nuts, when ....
I suddenly realised the stone was covering a wasp's nest and so I beat a quick retreat, after taking a photo.
I thought it was a rather elegant insect and looked it up in case it was a special sort of wasp, but no, it's only Vespa vulgaris, "common wasp." It is always worth looking at nature close up, though in the case of wasps, not too close.....
I'm not complaining, because it's a good reason for rushing about. I've suddenly been gripped by a project that pulls together a few aspects of my life, and right now I'm gathering material which will decide its exact final form. As I said last time, I can't really share it just yet, because I'm still putting it together and it might change, but it does involve a bird like this,
and also one like this. I wonder if you can guess what kind of bird it is.
I did go out to Oxfordshire at the weekend and on the way I looked at the OS map and saw "White Lion" marked. I thought it must be a pub (since "The White Lion" is a common pub name) but if so, couldn't imagine why they had put its name on the OS map, which never usually marks pub names. Then I saw this,(below) in the vicinity of the village of Whipsnade, and realised it was a chalk figure.
I'd never heard of this lion, but as you might be able to tell by the style, it is modern - that is, it was built in 1933. Which counts as modern by chalk figure standards. It was a clever advertisement for Whipsnade Zoo, as it was then known (it's a branch of the London ZSL Zoo). The chalk figure lion isn't accessible to the public but I read up about it here and loved the idea of a colony of wallabies living on it - don't you?
Also saw an old windmill. Don't you agree this is a strange place for a windmill, right in the middle of a field when it could be up on the hill? I've been to working windmills before, one in Holland and one in Lincolnshire, the wonderful Maud Foster Mill in Boston, which I thoroughly recommend if you are in the area. The one below is picturesque but its sails were not turning and I didn't have the chance to pass by and see if it is ever open to the public.
As I walked around I wondered if those were beech nuts or sweet chestnuts I was crunching underfoot, and just deciding they must be beech nuts, when ....
...I realised a lot of insects seemed to be flying around. Mostly they were going in and out of the hole beneath that white stone.
I suddenly realised the stone was covering a wasp's nest and so I beat a quick retreat, after taking a photo.
I thought it was a rather elegant insect and looked it up in case it was a special sort of wasp, but no, it's only Vespa vulgaris, "common wasp." It is always worth looking at nature close up, though in the case of wasps, not too close.....
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