St Alpheges

I gave my son a lift into Solihull on Wednesday afternoon as he had an appointment and so had an hour to "while away". I decided against visiting the shops as I would have made a beeline for Waterstones and I am unable to leave a bookshop without making several purchases!! and with an expensive car service due the following day that may not have been such a good idea!! I decided instead to have a look around St Alpheges Church located at the top of the High Street which I have been meaning to visit for ages.

Its a very lovely church with some beautiful stained glass windows and I even had a guided tour by one of the volunteers. Unfortunately, most of the stained glass window photos I took without flash were a complete disaster so the majority of photos of these shown below were taken with flash which I am afraid doesn't have quite the same effect.

The church is very old with the chancel and chantry chapels being built around 1277 and the remainder of the building completed by 1535. The church is built of local sandstones.









Inside the Porch



The Chancel





Jacobean pulpit dated 1610











The lower crypt chapel of St Francis built in 1277 as the chantry priest's chamber and chapel. The ancient medieval altar survived the Reformation.





The Upper Chantry Chapel







St Katherine's Chapel - the paintings are of saints commemorated by chapels within the church



The Nave

Window by Charles Kempe



Halfway up the side of the window you might be able to make out a wheatsheaf which, according to the guide, is Kempe's trademark.





This is a more recent stained glass window (1977)and was taken without flash





I just had time for a quick walk around the outside of the church before meeting my son. I did keep my eye open for spotted flycatchers as I have seen reports recently of this species being spotted in local churchyards but I was out of luck today.

On the wall by the West door arrow stones can be seen where archers sharpened their arrows in the fourteenth century.



This boulder is a glacial erratic - a rock fragment transported by glaciers during the last Ice Age and eventually deposited a long way from their original source.



Finally, a picture of the War Memorial made of Portland Limestone which has recently been renovated.

Garden Update and the Staffordshire Hoard

There were several warblers in the garden over the weekend - some may have been the same bird but I did see two on one occasion. I am pretty sure one was a willow warbler but the others were either too far away or keeping to much under cover to get decent views. The male and female great spotted woodpeckers are still visiting the feeders daily - they especially like the fat filled half coconut and are very aggressive to any other birds that dare try to feed when they are there. Two robins are feeding together quite happily and blackbird numbers are building as they feast on the rowan berries. The sparrowhawk is still visiting most days but I haven't seen it manage to catch any birds yet.

My son is on holiday this week and yesterday we at long last went to see the "Staffordshire Hoard" at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. A metal detector enthusiast, Terry Herbert, found over 1500 pieces of 7th century Anglo Saxon gold and silver pieces (mainly weapons) in farmland near Lichfield, Staffordshire in July 2009. The collection has now been purchased by the Birmingham and Stoke museums. I was very impressed with the items on display - some of the engravings on the metal work are exquisitely detailed and I loved all the tiny garnets in some of the pieces. I must admit though to being a little disappointed that there wasn't more on display. To be fair the museums concerned are trying to raise more money to fund conservation and research of the pieces found and establish permanent displays so I am sure the amount of items on display will increase in the future.

I did phone the museum beforehand but unfortunately photographs of the Anglo Saxon Gold display are not allowed so sorry no photos.

Blackberrying with butterflies

We went blackberrying yesterday morning. I took my binoculars along in the hope of seeing some warblers feasting on the berries but not a sign. The only birds I saw were a great tit and 12 mallard on the river nearby.

There were butterflies galore though feasting on the ripe blackberries - speckled wood, small white, lots of commas and red admirals looking pristine. A shame I had left the camera at home!

We collected several pounds of blackberries



We froze loads but some were used to make a blackberry and apple crumble

Dahlias at Baddesley Clinton

I met up with a friend last Thursday and we decided to revisit Baddesley Clinton in the hope that the locally famous dahlia bed would be in full bloom.

First a few photos of the house, grounds and garden - not too many this time as I posted loads on my blog posting on Baddesley in July.

































We had a nice sandwich for lunch followed by a delicious slice of carrot cake - National Trust properties certainly know how to make cakes!

Apart from mallards there were few birds around and few butterflies which was surprising as it was warm and sunny following a heavy rain shower before we arrived.

The dahlia bed which covers almost the whole of one side of the walled garden was at its very best. I try and go each year to see it and it just gets better and better. I don't know why I like dahlias so much as I am usually not keen on "showy" flowers perhaps its because my dad and grandfather used to grow dahlias. I can remember being fascinated when I was little (many moons ago!) by the amount of earwings hiding in the pompom dahlias.

A word of warning - I have been very self-indulgent in the amount of dahlia photos so if you are not keen on them it may be best to skip the rest of the post!











































A lovely day out in great company.

Inundated with Yellow Underwings

I ran the moth trap again last Sunday night and opened it on Monday morning to discover the vast majority of the species trapped were the dreaded yellow underwings. At least 15escaped before I had chance to identify which species of yellow underwing they were although I suspect most were the Large Yellow. Once the non-escapees were potted I counted 27 large yellow. Numbers caught in the trap are peaking much later in the year than last year - I've just checked my records and my highest count last year was 46 on 21st August and second highest 33 on 14th August. Last Saturday was the highest count of this year followed by 19 on 28th August.

The most interesting looking moth - a species of carpet - managed to fly off as I was putting the lid on the pot! Although I did trap my first setaceous hebrew character of the year.

Apart from a willow beauty the rest of the species caught were various species of rustic. I am beginning to think that rustics are the hardest of groups to identify! If and, its a very big IF, my identifications are correct 3 of the rustics I caught are new species for the garden. The species are six-striped rustic, hedge rustic and square-spot rustic - I've posted photos below so if I've identified any incorrectly please let me know.

I ended up releasing 11 lbj's that were just too worn to identify. I find it hard enough to try and id ones with fairly good unworn markings! In fact, sometimes I think my moth identifications skills are getting worse not better with practice!!

Summary of moths trapped Sunday, 5th September

10.00 p.m. to dawn

Minimum Temperature 13.5 degrees centigrade

27 x Large Yellow Underwing
1 x Lesser Yellow Underwing
2 x Square-spot Rustic ? New for Garden
1 x Hedge Rustic ? New for Garden Edit - many thanks to Dean for identifying this as a Flounced Rustic
1 x Setaceous Hebrew Character New for Year
2 x Flounced Rustic
1 x Willow Beauty
1 x Six-striped Rustic ? New for Garden
1 x Common Rustic

Total number of species trapped in garden = 95 Edit 94
Total number of species trapped in garden in 2010 = 80 Edit 79
Total number of moths trapped in 2010 = 489


Setaceous Hebrew Character




Willow Beauty - actually this wasn't the individual I trapped as this flew off the minute I opened the pot to photograph it but one I found on the bathroom wall this morning and it never moved an inch all day



The next two photos are the possible Hedge Rustic
Edit - Thanks again Dean - these are photos of a Flounced Rustic





Possible Square-spot Rustic



And finally, the moth which I think is probably a Six-striped Rustic




Garden Update

Wildlife-wise the garden has been fairly quiet over the last couple of days. There are several speckled wood butterflies seen each day and I am hoping for a visit from red admirals soon as this species becomes more common in the garden usually in the autumn. Blackbirds are still enjoying the rowan berries and the usual species - blue, great, coal and long-tailed tits, house sparrows, dunnock, wood and feral pigeon, goldfinch (including seveal juveniles) and great spotted woodpeckers are visiting the feeders.