20 September 2009 TWO REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL: We’re in the midst of an Indian Summer. Today has been absolutely gorgeous, yesterday it was too hot for working in the midday sun. And, On The Plot is out there! I think it’ll be a few days until the warehouse has catalogued and got it [...]
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Posts Tagged ‘house martin’
20 September 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman TWO REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL, PRICKING OUT WINTER SALADS, APPLE DAY PREPARATIONS, PASSENGERS
Sunday, September 20th, 200917 September 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman YESTERDAY…
Thursday, September 17th, 200913 September 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman MOMENTS OF CLARITY, AN EMPTY SKY
Sunday, September 13th, 200913 September 2009 MOMENTS OF CLARITY With the fresh winds come a sense of clarity. Looking over the plot you can beginning to see what’s in store as winter approaches. Against the light-brown of a dry surface and under blue sky with white fluffy clouds, mid-September offers much in the way of promises for the [...]
Read More »3 September 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman THE CHOICE
Thursday, September 3rd, 20093 September 2009 THE CHOICE After a stormy battering which accompanied the darkness hours, there’s a vivid crystalline brilliance to late morning colours and shapes in the veg patch. It’s warm sunshine and blustery. Clouds are voluminous and flat-bottomed. Some are dark. Above behind, to the south, another more distant layer of wispy mares-tails’ fluff [...]
Read More »10 August 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman CHANGE A-COMING
Monday, August 10th, 200910 August 2009 CHANGE A-COMING More change a-coming. Out the back of Orchard Park over pasture grassland swallows and house martins mix in tumbling flocks. I counted fourteen of the former perched on garden centre canopies at lunchtime. Then, walking to my van, saw dozens more practicing for the long flight home in a month [...]
Read More »25 July DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman HOUSE MARTIN ON THE EDGE, AT EASE ON THE PLOT
Saturday, July 25th, 200925 July 2009 HOUSE MARTIN ON THE EDGE The nestling house martin above our front door is fairly well grown now. It has a white throat which puffs visibly with every trilling chirrup from the little entrance/exit hole at the mouth of its nest. This is an inquisitive youngster, emerging sometimes almost to the shoulder, [...]
Read More »6 July 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman BABY BIRDS, MAGIC BEES
Monday, July 6th, 20096 July 2009 BABY BIRDS It’s always a pleasure to spot little house martin baby faces peering out from their nest boxes under the eaves of cottages on our street. This is the time of year when chicks are filling up that little cup-shaped space and parents often simply alight on the outside edge to [...]
Read More »24 June 2009: DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman NEARLY 1PM ON A HOT DAY, AN HOUR HARVESTING, NO MEAT & SIX VEG
Wednesday, June 24th, 200924 June 2009 NEARLY 1PM ON A HOT DAY Coming back from town I met an old boy who lives not far away. “Aye, aye!” I hollered, “You alright then?” “Think so,” he replied, “Why? Don’t I look it?” We chatted at the entrance to our back passage in the full heat of the half-past [...]
Read More »8 June 2009: DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman PART-BUILT MARTIN’S NEST FALLS
Monday, June 8th, 20098 June 2009 PART-BUILT MARTIN'S NEST FALLS I had hoped to report good news regarding the St James house martins, but sadly not. You see, last evening on coming back from down on the plot I stopped by the cherry tree to get a view of the back of Pat’s house. Even without my field [...]
Read More »3 June 2009: DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman TIME ON MY SIDE, PUTTING UP A HOUSE MARTIN NEST
Wednesday, June 3rd, 20093 June 2009 TIME ON MY SIDE Owls don’t understand what urges drag a lark at dawn from bed. Thus, Mrs Nails turns over as I throw back the cover. Left leg over the edge, then right, and roll to a seated posture. In my thirties it was easy, even with a long day of [...]
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