God's Acre, Hampton-in-Arden

In her 1906 diary, Edith mentions going on long walks and cycle rides through places like Hampton-In-Arden.  My snatched hours in Birmingham don't allow for long country walks but Hampton-in-Arden is only a few minutes down the railway line from Birmingham International.

Old house between Hampton-in-Arden station and village.

Although the village has modern estates on the outskirts and the road connecting it with the station is very busy, there are still clear echoes of the village that Edith walked through in 1906.  Along the road, I see several of the fine old houses and cottages that Edith must have seen as she travelled through.

Saint Mary and Saint Bartholomew Church.

The road curls round the Parish Church of Saint Mary and Saint Bartholomew. This 800-year church is surrounded by a fine example of "God's Acre", alive with wildflowers, bees and birds.

Trees on the edge of the church yard.

The church and graveyard are framed by pretty, flowering trees.



In Loving Memory.

Some of the older, Victorian, gravestones are a curious shape. This must be some local pattern - I have not seen anything like them elsewhere.  Two commemorate members of the Wooley family. Nearby the grass is neatly clipped but near the boundary a froth of cow parsley provides a fine buffet for bees and other pollinators. A red-tailed bumble bee buzzes near by feet as she forages for her last meal of the day.

Thomas Whitehouse's last bouquet.

A Cow Parsley plant adorns Thomas Whitehouse's grave, long after the family members who would have left flowers have joined him in the hereafter. 

Real and carved ivy.

On a nearby cross, real ivy mingles with the carved stone imitation.

Gravestones amongst Forget-me-nots and Cow Parsley

Making my way past an ancient yew, I found a quiet corner, where leaning gravestones were surrounded by cow parsley, forget-me-nots and fading bluebells.

Flowering trees on the way to the lych gate.

As I returned to the lych gate, a cheeky robin perches on the apex of Sarah and Abraham Taylor's headstone.

The White Lion.

After exploring God's Acre, I had an excellent meal at the White Lion.

Buttercups

After my meal, light was fading fast so I took a quick walk round the village, which is full of interest. My favourite spot was a buttercup meadow, with a serene view to the fields. As I took my photos, I could hear sheep and lambs in the distance. 

30 Days Wild

I am just about to start the Wildlife Trusts' 30 days wild, a challenge in which people do something wild every day for a month. Last year's 30 days wild motivated me to explore the area near where I work and stay in Birmingham and find new places to walk in such as Elmdon Park near one of the hotels I regularly stay in. Finding out that Edith Holden, who wrote Diary of an Edwardian Country lady in 1906, walked through Elmdon park 110 years before me inspired me to write this blog, in which I am aiming to find echoes of her observations in the 21st Century.

Bee orchid on a piece of waste ground.

30 Days Wild got me into the habit of being more opportunistic about engineering encounters with the wildlife that tucks itself into the spaces around us. My most memorable encounters were watching grey wagtails and house martins raise their families. They weren't in a nature reserve or even the countryside but in sight of Uckfield station and under the eves of a Birmingham hotel respectively. I even found some bee orchids on a piece of waste ground near our office.

Horse-Chestnut Trees are a mass of white blossom

In her entry for May the 16th, 1906, Edith noted that:

"Some of the Horse-Chestnut trees are a mass of white blossom". 

Horse-chestnut flowers, May 15th - in the evening sun.

Horse-chestnut leaves, May 15th.

110 years later, I am staying in the Arden Hotel, which is surrounded by trees and bushes including both red and white Horse-Chestnut trees. Their scent drifts over me as I examine the strange, complicated blooms. In her diary for this time, Edith painted many tree flowers and I've paid special attention to them in this post.

Hawthorn, May 15th - late moring.

Pine flowers, May 15th.

Earlier, as I walked to work from the station, I found a variety of tree flowers including great swags of May (Hawthorn) and the odd but attractive flowers of Pine.

Male (brown) and female (green) Birch Catkins, May 19th.

Later the same day, as I was looking at the trees near the hotel, 7 House Martins flew overhead. In the car park, I found birches with catkins and briefly played hide-and-seek with vivid green but camera shy Polydrusus Weevils.

Crab apple blossom, May 15th.

Clouds of Crab Apple blossom floated above the car park as the setting sun made their delicate white petals glow.

Young Ash leaves and tiny 'aeroplane' seeds.

The last rays of sun tured the young leaves of an Ash tree into a fiery bouquet.  Once dark had fallen, I visited the Trinity Park pond. I was thrilled to detect a bat at approximately 47 and to catch brief glimpses of it hunting over the pond.

Coot, May 17th.

Over the next couple of days, I returned to the pond, snatching a few minutes from the working day to watch the birds. 

Watercolour and ink sketch of Moorhen chicks, May 19th.

One lunchtime, squeaking attracted my attention. I saw 3 black fuzzy Moorhen chicks clambering and tumbling around in the reeds. I watched, amused by their antics. Tiny wings flapped as absurdly huge feet grasped strands of old reed.  They were soon joined by their parents who seemed to tell them off for straying so far and making so much noise.

 Other birds that I saw at the pond included:

• 6 Mallards - 2 males, 1 female and her 3 ducklings
• 5 Tufted ducks - 3 males and 2 females
• 2 coots.

In such a controlled, urban, environment, you would imagine that it would be difficult for me to find the type of agricultural weeds that Edith describes in entry for the 26th of May:

"Walking through the fields today, I gathered the pretty little Yellow Heartsease, growing among the grass and clover ... "


Field pansy, May 19th.

In fact, I am more likely to find such them in the unregarded edges of a business park or supermarket car park than amongst a heavily cleaned and controlled modern field crop. I didn't find any Heartsease but I saw, for the first time in my life, a Field Pansy. It was growing on a bank of rubble between the road and a car park. The bank was smothered white Cress flowers, Scarlet Pimpernel and Forget-me-nots.

Cress and Scarlet Pimpernel, May 19th.

A Bat Hunt at Birmingham NEC

After exploring the Bluebell wood and walking round the Birmingham NEC, I had a quick meal at the Crowne Plaza and then came out again in the hope of finding some bats.  The Bat Conservation Trust tells us that "Bat use high frequency calls normally beyond the range of human hearing to build up a sound picture of their surroundings. This echolocation system enables them to wing their way through the dark night hunting the tiniest of insects." I had a "heterodyne" bat detector with me, which makes these calls audible to my much less sensitive human ears. 

View of Pendigo lake from the Crowne Plaza - early morning.

The photo, taken from my hotel room gives an idea of the layout of the area.  The Resorts World hotel and outlet is on the immediate left and the big red building seen to the North of the lake is one of the NEC halls. The trees to the immediate right of the red building are the woodland that I explored earlier in the evening.  The path you can see in the foreground leads round the edge of the lake.

Pendigo lake from the South end of Pendigo lake - about 9pm.

At about 9pm, about half-an-hour after sunset I left the hotel. I turned right and followed the path round the South end of the lake. I had set the bat detector to 45, which is the frequency that our most common bat, the common pipistrelle uses to echo locate its prey in the dark.  While walking, I held the detector up and swept it round. Just a few metres from the hotel I heard some clicks coming from one of the trees at the lake edge. I couldn't see anything and swung round. There were louder clicks coming from a group of trees on a grassy bank between the lake and the car park. As I watched, I could see two and then three bats dancing in the air.

View of Resort World from the South end of the lake - 9:20pm.

They left the trees and flew in the direction of the lake. I watched for a moment then walked to the end of the lake-side path. From here I took nearly an hour to follow the path anti-clockwise round the lake, ending up at the entrance to the wood I had explored earlier.  I detected hunting bats nearly all the way round. The only gaps were in front of the Resort World hotel and the shingle beach at the North West end of the lake. The absence of bats in front of Resort World fits in Bristol University's web page, which tells us:

"Warren et al. (2000) found that when foraging over water, common pipistrelles prefer areas of smooth water surface with trees on both banks. These areas were found to be abundant in flying insects and low in acoustic noise."

Resort World from the North end of the lake - about 10pm.

Just before the end of my walk I encountered two young men who wanted to know what I had in my hand. I explained about the bats and pointed the detector over the lake so they could hear it click. They were exited to hear the bats and told me about the wildlife near their own homes - one had owls nearby and the other had foxes that visited his garden.

Wednesday evening

Sun dipping below the horizon - approx. 8:30pm.

This time I wanted to find out when the bats emerged so, before the sun set, I waited by the trees where they seemed to gather on the previous night. The sun set at approximately 8:30pm and I waited about half-an-hour for the bats to appear.

View from the South end - 8:45 pm

9:04pm - First clicks. One bat appeared and flew round the trees  for about 5 minutes before disappearing over the bank separating the lake from the car parks. A few minutes later it returned.

9:17pm - Second bat appeared and joined the first.

9:22pm - They were joined by a third and then all three went hunting over the lake.The bats are not the only ones hunting the insects that fly over the lake. Every minute or so I hear a plop and see rings spreading out over the water - presumably from hungry fish.

Great-Crested Grebe - 9:09 pm.

Birds were still active too. In the time that I was waiting, a heron flew over the lake into the woodland on the East side. A Great-Crested Grebe glided past and I decided to leave the dark lake to the creatures of the night.

Oaks showing their first signs of golden bronze

In her entry for the first of May 1906, Edith wrote about her journey home from a holiday.

The country is looking much more beautiful than when I came through it three weeks ago. The primroses are still thick on the banks, the hedge are all green, many of the apple orchards in blossom; and the Oaks showing the first signs of golden, bronze foliage.

Fields between Coventry and Birmingham.

On my way from Sussex to Birmingham I saw many primroses tumbling down shaded banks and, between Coventry and Birmingham saw a countryside that was, in many ways, not so different to the one that Edith saw - with fields separated by hedges, farm houses etc. However, Edith would not have seen so many yellow rapeseed fields on her journey. The crop has increased massively from the 1970s when scientists bred varieties suitable for human consumption. Increased mechanisation means that there are fewer people and no horses working the land.

This week I was lucky with my hotel room. I've been staying in the Crowne Plaza and had a room looking over the NEC's Pendigo lake. In search of oak trees, I headed to the North East part of the lake, near the Hilton Metropole hotel, where there is a bluebell wood.

First sight of the woodland from the lakeside - Oak with fresh leaves.

Skirting round the edge of the lake, a quick glance reveals that the Oaks here are already green with new leaves.

Bluebells and Yellow Archangel.

 

A path leads me through a patch of bluebells mixed with Yellow Archangel, which Edith referred to as Yellow Weasel's Snout. Two Carder bees are visiting the flowers.

Looking up at a big oak, just coming into leaf.

The oak that I saw from across the water is a lovely big tree that makes a fine silhouette against the sky. As I look up, a group of ducks fly over.  A red-tailed bumble bee is bumbling around the flowers and foliage at its feet.

Fresh Oak leaves and tassels of Oak flowers

As I follow the trail, a younger tree has branches low enough for me to take a good look at the tassel flowers. 

A view of Resorts World from the woodland.

There is a tremendous amount of bird song in this wood.  A sudden rustle attracts my attention and I see a squirrel running up a tree.

oak apples.

Further along, a large tree has oak apples, which are the homes of a tiny gall wasp.  Although the wood is heavily used by hotel guests, there are many wild plants and the promise of flowers to come. Wild Arum is sending up spears, and there are large clumps of foxglove and honeysuckle leaves.

Bluebells near the Hilton Metropole.

If I pick my view carefully, I can see just a lovely sweep of bluebells and trees.

Looking towards NEC halls.

Finally the big NEC halls come back into view and I continue my walk.

Huge Oak - 3 hugs!

The bluebells gradually thin out. Just before the end of the green area, just beyond the hotel, there is a huge, ancient oak. It would take three people to get their arms round it.  I wonder just how many years it has been there and am thankful that the NEC developers had the sense to work round this irreplaceable giant.  When Edith walked and cycled round the countryside, it is quite likely that she passed this already mature tree.