HURRYING SLOWLY Whilst nursing a cup of tea first thing, to wake up… …eight pigeons clapper-board in powerful flight, veering right to left. Blackbirds steer low and straight, either directly in line with my seat, head-on or, with an audible whoosh, coming in to sight from behind my head. A pair of blue tits check [...]
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Posts Tagged ‘beech’
12 February 2010 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman HURRYING SLOWLY, SCHOOL LANE GILLINGHAM, JUST THINKING, THE PRACTICE OF GARDENING
Friday, February 12th, 201011 February 2010 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman OLD LOGS
Thursday, February 11th, 2010OLD LOGS Old logs are like old friends at the bottom of the woodpile. I’ve a few girt solid lumps mingled with planks, cords and various rubbish low down in amongst the rot and sawdust. One piece of ash is a junction of pollard shoots which was once allowed to become branches. It’s a chainsaw [...]
Read More »14 January 2010 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman THE WORLD OF…SURVIVAL
Thursday, January 14th, 2010THE WORLD OF…SURVIVAL An abiding childhood memory is of watching those Anglia TV-produced wildlife documentaries that started with dramatic music and then captivated their audience with the voice-over and title: “The World Of Survival.” I’ve got it in my head that the species featured usually lived in Canada or The States and these half-hour thrills [...]
Read More »27 December 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman HUMPING FAGGOTS
Sunday, December 27th, 2009HUMPING FAGGOTS I planned to stroll out to the Foyle Hill Rabbit Warren and watch the sun go down. As it was, I turned short of the footpath stile and into the sunken world of Breech Lane. The top-side hedge has been managed for many years by the same man, a Shastonian and elder statesman [...]
Read More »13 December 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman WHILST DRIVING HOME FROM YEOVIL
Sunday, December 13th, 2009WHILST DRIVING HOME FROM YEOVIL The mid-afternoon sun shines bright and low over sodden pasture east of Milborne Port. Standing water in the dips shines like silver and twinkles with the ripples caused by the movement of feeding gulls feet. The main road here sweeps along in sinuous bends and curves. Some are deceptively sharp. But [...]
Read More »25 November 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman ONGOING…
Wednesday, November 25th, 2009ONGOING… The bed is straight down its longest edge, then turns a right angle not quite half as long again. The two far ends join with a sweeping curve so in effect it is shaped like a big, blunt-nosed triangle. These longest edges mirror neatly clipped beech hedges. One is shoulder, the other head, high. [...]
Read More »24 October 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman SWEEPING LEAVES
Saturday, October 24th, 2009Love Lane, a sweeping tongue of asphalt upon which plays a rippling jig of golden leaves. Like fishes in panicked rush when rounded up and attacked by sharks, they catch the mild autumnal teeth of breeze and scamper in somersaulting fashion to rest and settle further down the road. Blackbirds chink in garden hedges, a [...]
Read More »28 September 2009 DIRTY NAILS BLOG by Joe Hashman A FASCINATING FACT ABOUT BEECH TREES
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009A FASCINATING FACT ABOUT BEECH TREES Today I learnt that beech mast won’t germinate in soil which has not grown beech trees in it. This is because the trees have co-evolved over millions of years with a particular kind of fungi, called a mycorrhizal fungus, which slightly breaks down the tough seed case and allows [...]
Read More »5 September 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman BENEATH A BEECH HANGAR LOOKING OVER KNOLL DOWN
Saturday, September 5th, 20095 September 2009 BENEATH A BEECH HANGAR LOOKING OVER KNOLL DOWN Field hedges are few and far between. In the whole view, which is expansive, I see only four: bordering a lane, virtually dry river, two slicing away horizontally through stubbles being ploughed to brown earth. In front of me below, a wooded strip of [...]
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