Tuesday 15 August 2017

Grey Skies with a Silver Lining

Hello, thank you for popping in here, it's lovely to see you.  We are now just over halfway through our six weeks of school holiday and I am fed up.  The Mathematician finished her stint on Guernsey last weekend and came home...but only for a week because in the early hours of yesterday morning we deposited her at Birmingham Coach Station so that she could travel to Dover where she met a friend and then set off for The Netherlands, Germany, The Czech Republic, Austria, Hungary, Croatia and Italy, all in three weeks, taking in a festival on the way. I admire her sense of adventure but do not envy her.  I didn't even want to do it when I was her age - when I was twenty-one I holidayed in Worcester with my parents and sister over a long weekend!
 
So, during this week of sorting out laundry, travel arrangements, insurance and shopping we fitted in some family time.  The Mathematician spent Monday catching up with her sister while the Best Beloved and I drove out to Carding Mill Valley in the Long Mynd for the afternoon.  It was busy and I was pleased to see so many families there enjoying the great outdoors, happy children playing in the stream, fishing for tiddlers in the pool with nets and buckets and listening to the National Trust ranger's geology talk with rapt attention.  The Best Beloved and I wandered up the path, through the ford, a little further and into the bird hide where we saw ... three empty feeders and a rather shy robin.  Harrumph!  We came out and I sat by the pool; a very small girl threw pebbles in, one after another, and I watched as the ripples rhythmically worked their way out to the edge.  I felt my mind slowing down.  The Best Beloved wandered about with his camera.  It was good to be out beneath the big sky but it would have been SO much better if that sky had been blue. Instead, it was unremittingly overcast and dull.  There was not a glimmer of sun. 

 
We asked The Mathematician to keep Wednesday free so that we could take her out for the day.  Our plan was to remind her and her friend, a language student who has spent the last year in French Martinique and Italy, that their home county is lovely too!  Again, we drove to the Long Mynd, this time up to the top, and although we could see where the sun was shining, we just couldn't quite get there.  Above us was that thick veil of grey cloud, AGAIN.

 
On the way back down we stopped and got out of the car to look at the views and while the girls wandered off together, chatting, the Best Beloved and I saw something rather wonderful: a hen harrier hunting over the heather!  Hunted to the edge of extinction in the UK, only ten chicks have fledged in England this year from three nests (four more nests were unsuccessful), and yet here was a male right in front of us, ghostly grey with black wing tips, rising and swooping, dancing in the air for a good fifteen minutes.  He was the silver lining in the cloud and we were SO glad we had packed our binoculars.

This morning the sky is blue and full of promise.  About time.

See you soon.
 
Love, Mrs Tiggywinkle x

 

18 comments:

  1. Hope you enjoy the rest of the summer and that the Mathematician does too!

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    1. Thanks Amy. She rang me yesterday and she's survived the first week! x

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  2. Our daughter is the same way, lives in Japan and spends all her free time traveling here, there and everywhere and taking in a festival or two.

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    1. I do admire their spirit Janet, and I kind of wish I were more adventurous but it just isn't in me. I can't cope with the insecurity. x

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  3. That looks like a beautiful part of the world despite the grey skies. How wonderful to see the harriers. B x

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    1. It really is beautiful Barbara, it's just that it's supposed to be summer and it feels like just such a waste with out the sun. The harrier was such a treat, we couldn't really believe it. x

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  4. How exciting for your daughter, but yes, it takes a certain amount of energy and youth to travel so extensively! Your own back yard is so lovely and green and how wonderful to see the harrier. xo K

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    1. It is lovely and green Karen, and I am aware that that's because of our weather, I just want a smidgen of sunshine in the summer!x

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  5. You live is such a beautiful part of the country. I hope the Mathematician has a wonderful time on her travels. How wonderful to see the male hen harrier, we nearly always forget to take our binoculars and always wish we hadn't left them in the car:)

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    1. It is a beautiful county Rosie, and I think I am lucky to have found it - I came here when my company relocated and I had never even visited before. What was even more amazing was that we had EACH packed our binoculars as usually, we only have one pair between us! x

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  6. Oh yes, we have a wonderful country which most people rush by without noticing a thing! x

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    1. Except you Karen, you notice everything! Have you read Barbara's post about how blogging makes you slow down and notice things? I think she hit the nail on the head. x

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  7. amazing shots specially the cloudy sky !!!
    i am glad you spent great time with you mathematician and enjoyed the week and views together.
    our holidays are over

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    1. Welcome Baili, it's lovely to see you here. It was lovely to have my daughter home for a week and I wish it had lasted longer. She'll be home for a couple of weeks next month but then it's back to university. x

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  8. I know that grey skies can be a bit depressing, but your last photo of this post is very dramatic, and how wonderful to see a hen harrier. I do hope that you enjoy some sunny days before the end of summer. Marie x

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    1. So do I, Marie! The sky was dramatic and fascinating to watch it constantly change with the light, but I am hankering after sunshine and it's getting me down. We did find some on Wednesday, but one day doth not a summer make! x

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  9. Shame about the overcast skies, but at least you were enjoying each others' company. I've not heard of the hen harrier and had to look him up. Beautiful bird! What an exciting viewing you had. I love it when a day turns out really well like that :)
    Wendy

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    1. Seeing the hen harrier was very special and I was surprised that we were the only people watching him. Perhaps the others who were around didn't realise what he was, and certainly our girls weren't really interested. And of course you are right, the best thing about the day was the company. We have known this friend of The Mathematician's since she was four years old and taken her on holiday with us before now, so it was lovely to be back together. x

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