October Visit to Herefordshire - Part 2: Queenswood Arboretum and Country Park

 

The weather was lovely on the Thursday - sunny intervals and dry! So we went for a walk at Queenswood Country Park and Arboretum which is only 20 minutes away by car.

Queenswood comprises 123 acres of ancient mature woodland on Dinmore Hill which has been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and an arboretum with many species of rare and exotic trees from around the world.

The wood was once part of a large area of ancient oak woodland which stretched to the Welsh Borders.  It was a royal forest where the king and his nobles could hunt venison.  As deer and boar hunting became less popular the woodland was managed for timber and coppiced.  Much of what was left of King's Wood gradually became farmland and only this small remnant remains.  Its name changed to Queen's Wood during the reign of Elizabeth I.  

A few decades ago there were rumours that the wood would be sold to a property developer for the construction of bungalows. To prevent this happening the Herefordshire branch of the Campaign for Rural England raised funds successfully to save the wood. When they could no longer afford to maintain the wood it was leased to Herefordshire Wildlife Trust and Leaf Sustainable Development.

Over time mature tree species felled between 1914 and 1918 were replaced and a public appeal in 1953 led to the planting of an arboretum of 1200 rare trees to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

Many species of mature trees have been recorded at Queenswood and there are dormice hidden away and fallow deer. There are a good  number of bird, wild flower and butterfly species.

Victorian post box at the Visitor Centre

There is a Gruffalo Trail for families to follow with statues to find along the route.

Leaf Art

After following various paths through the woodland we eventually ended up at the viewpoint.

Old Man's Beard

I was really chuffed to spot this Magpie Inkcap - a new species for me.  Although while I was taking photos I missed a Goldcrest that B and E were watching!

It was a lovely walk and to be honest I am not sure why we don't visit more often although weekends and school holidays are best avoided as it can get busy! I made a few purchases in the Herefordshire Wildlife Trust Shop before we left.

All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera. (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one of mine or my son's I would appreciate an email first - thanks).

October Visit to Herefordshire - Part 1: Hatfield and the Aurora Borealis

 

E was on holiday from work last week and wanted to come with us to Herefordshire for a few days when we had the boiler service done.

We travelled on the Tuesday and did the usual click and collect at Morrisons, Leominster in the afternoon. Wednesday was the day of the boiler service and gas safety check.  At least this time it all went to plan!  Sadly, there is a major part in the boiler which is not working as efficiently as it should which might in the future mean a rather expensive repair or a new boiler but I am trying not to worry about that at the moment!

Thursday we visited Queenswood Arboretum which I will write about in a separate post and we came home Friday afternoon.

Aspen trees at the caravan site  - the leaves have turned a beautiful shade of lemon.

The Herefordshire Oak - perhaps a slight autumn tint in some of the leaves?

The Octopus Tree

The Constable Tree

I've picked a few teasels from the garden to dry and put in a vase but I've left plenty on the plant for the birds.

Autumn means mushrooms and toadstools. I've no idea what this species this. So many fungi look similar so unless they are distinctive looking I really struggle over id.

Acer in the garden

On the Thursday evening  we kept going outside to look for the Northern Lights/Aurora Borealis as I had seen there was a red alert from Aurora UK on Twitter that there might be possible sightings.  A red alert tends to mean there is a good chance you can see them anywhere in the UK.  For ages we couldn't see anything at all although it was a bit cloudy to the North where they tend to appear. But then B went outside after the football and said there is a pink glow in the sky to the North East.

We watched the Aurora Borealis for over an hour as the display got better and better and spread to the North as the clouds disappeared. You could see red columns and in places a tinge of green even with the naked eye. I was totally awestruck it is something B and I have always wanted to see and I have looked for them so many times this year without success.  Hatfield is ideal as apart from a few solar lights on the site there is no light pollution.  I was just upset D wasn't with us to witness it too.

The photos are only record shots as the camera was hand held and I used a long exposure of 13 seconds and iso 6400 hence the graininess.  Of course I should have got the tripod and also put the camera on night setting mode but to be honest I was just too excited.

The Northern Lights are appearing more frequently this year as the sun nears the peak of an 11 year cycle.  The number of sunspots on the sun is increasing and there are more Coronal Mass Ejections  (CME's) from the sun. This results in a stream of ions (electrically charged particles) travelling in a solar wind. Aurora Borealis displays occur when this reaches the earth and the ions collide with gases (such as oxygen and nitrogen) in the atmosphere. This leads to light being emitted at different wavelengths as the gases release energy creating the Northern Lights.

In most years the aurora is only seen near the Arctic Circle in the Northern Hemisphere but the number of  large solar CME's has meant it can be seen over much larger areas.

All photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera. (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one of mine or my son's I would be grateful for an email first - thanks).

Visit to Kenilworth Castle

 

Recently B needed his usual lift to and from the pub to meet ex work colleagues for lunch so while he was there I took D and E to Kenilworth Castle.

History of the Castle - if you've read my other posts on Kenilworth Castle I would skip this bit!

• The first castle at Kenilworth was built in the 1120's by Geoffrey de Clinton (the Royal Chamberlain) who had been given the land by Henry I.  He built the Great Tower (Norman Keep) and also founded Kenilworth Priory.
• In the early C13th King John added an outer circuit wall and built a dam to retain a large lake.  The castle was now strongly defended and withstood a siege in 1266.
• John of Gaunt, son of Edward III, built the Great Hall and its apartments.
• C15th Lancastrian kings visited to hunt and Henry I  built a retreat at the end of the lake called "The Pleasance in the Marsh".
• In 1563 Queen Elizabeth I gave the castle to Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. He turned the castle into a palace fit to entertain her  building apartments and a privy garden for her use.
• After the Civil War fortifications were removed and in 1650 Leicester's Gatehouse was turned into a residence by Colonel Hawkesworth, a Parliamentarian Officer.
• In 1958 Lord Kenilworth gave the castle to the people of Kenilworth and it has been managed by English Heritage since 1984.

Mortimer's Tower was built by King John ~1210 and it may later have taken its name from Roger Mortimer, one of the Marcher Lords, who held a Tournament here in 1282.

I saw plenty of ivy flowers as we walked to the castle and there were quite a few bees on them.

The Great Tower or Norman Keep

Lunn's Tower

It was raining when we arrived so we took shelter in the Stables and had an early lunch.  The Stables were built in Tudor times and now house a tearoom and exhibition.

Pesto, sundried tomato and mozarella pannini for lunch which was very tasty.  I was very good and refused to be tempted by the cake!

It was still raining slightly after lunch so we had a look around the exhibition which is excellent.  These are trebuchet balls which were fired from a trebuchet during a medieval siege of the castle.  They were found in 1960 during an archaeological investigation. A trebuchet, often used to bombard a building in sieges, was like a giant catapult that had a rotating arm and sling which were used to fire missiles.

A model of how Kenilworth Castle may have looked in 1575-80.

Kenilworth Castle as it is today.

This fragment came from a masonry frieze.  The letters RA may once have been part of a larger inscription.

A capital from a small pilaster column perhaps from the edge of a fireplace. It is carved with acanthus leaves in a classical style.

Although the nose and ears have been broken this may represent a lion.

Thankfully, by now the rain had stopped and we had a look around some of the rest of the Castle.

Leicester's Gatehouse built in 1571/2 by Robert Dudley.

The Great Tower

The Queen's Privy Garden was a private garden created for Queen Elizabeth I by Robert Dudley in 1575.

The garden was recreated by English Heritage in 2009.  The design was based on a description by Robert Langham in the C16th who had managed to sneak into the garden.  Archaeological surveys and historical research were also carried out to help plan the garden.

We walked around the outside of part of the castle.

Queen Elizabeth I's appartments.

Before leaving we had a look around the shop and bought a few items for (dare I mention it so early!) Christmas.  I bought a couple of presents, some Christmas cards and a few bottles of Lyme Bay wine - quite expensive but worth it! I particularly like the Ginger Wine - ideal for a cold winter's night.

I watched a Common Carder bee on this trough of plants.

There have been a few reports of ghosts being seen at Kenilworth Castle such as  the silhouette of a  cot that rocks itself, a ghostly child running across a stable roof and then disappearing, ghostly chickens pecking around the stables and a mysterious "white lady"  wandering around.

Photos taken by me with the Panasonic Lumix FZ330 bridge camera. (I don't particularly rate my photos but if anyone wishes to use one of mine or my son's I would be grateful for an email first - thanks).

Reference: English Heritage Guidebook to Kenilworth Castle and English Heritage website.