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 [...]
Read More »How To Blog
Posts Tagged ‘jackdaw’
12 February 2010 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman HURRYING SLOWLY, SCHOOL LANE GILLINGHAM, JUST THINKING, THE PRACTICE OF GARDENING
Friday, February 12th, 20109 January 2010 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman THE AWKWARD CUSTOMER
Saturday, January 9th, 2010THE AWKWARD CUSTOMER Jackdaws in the lime were particularly noisy at 9.20am when I stepped up into the garden to saw some logs. I caught the end of a skirmish with a buzzard. The big bird of prey opened its considerable wings and lifted with a retreating upwards sweep. The undersides of its body were [...]
Read More »21 December 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman THE IRON GRIP OF WINTER
Monday, December 21st, 2009THE IRON GRIP OF WINTER Ground is like iron out on the plot. We’ll not be lifting roots for a while yet, save pot-grown carrots which are in the greenhouse to keep off the worst of the frost. I walked down the allotment field to the tinker-chime of feeding goldfinches in charming flocks. They love [...]
Read More »9 December 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman A RAVEN FLEW OVER
Wednesday, December 9th, 2009A RAVEN FLEW OVER A raven came over from the south, cronking in the bright but cloudy sky. Two jackdaws flew out to meet it, not with pleasure but as though to see off an enemy. For a minute their cries dominated the midday soundscape, three black birds doing an aggrivated dance. The biggest of [...]
Read More »19 November 2009 DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman WINDY DAYBREAK
Thursday, November 19th, 2009Out the back, only elder and the lowest whiskers of lime hold on to any semblance of foliage. The rest, blown inside-out by recent winds, are skeletal-naked. Hilltop trees Mexican Wave their outer branches in an elastic ripple. A stones’ throw from my back-against-a-wall vantage in the veg garden, I can see whole elephantine lime limbs [...]
Read More »DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman 29 June 2009 WRITING AN INDEX FOR ‘ON THE PLOT’
Monday, June 29th, 200929 June 2009 WRITING AN INDEX FOR ‘ON THE PLOT’ The ‘proofs’ for On The Plot arrived on Friday and I got a proper look at them today. What happens is that these papers are the book laid out as it will be when colour printed and bound for sale in the shops, except they’re [...]
Read More »5 June 2009: DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman NOTES
Friday, June 5th, 20095 June 2009 NOTES – Hectic flocks of chattering jackdaws over St James this morning. – Green woodpecker on the allotments. – Clouds of winged green aphids in the garden by our rose covered woodshed this afternoon. Copyright, Joe Hashman www.dirtynails.co.uk
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 [...]
Read More »12 April 2009: DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman JACKDAWS LOVE OLD CARDBOARD, RIBES GETS ME THINKING
Sunday, April 12th, 200912 March 2009: DIRTY NAILS’ BLOG by Joe Hashman SHOW GARDENS AT ORCHARD PARK, JACKDAWS IN THE ONIONS
Thursday, March 12th, 200912 March 2009 SHOW GARDENS AT ORCHARD PARK There has been a very exciting development: I’m going to team up with staff at a local garden centre, Orchard Park in Gillingham, to create a working show vegetable garden. Is been an idea in the offing following tentative discussions between the Managing Director Richard Cummings and [...]
Read More »