The Collingham Show

The Village of Collingham in Nottinghamshire has been holding a show in some form for 164 years.  It's always held on the third Saturday in September.  The fine weather had brought people out in their thousands to attend.  There was plenty to keep the crowds occupied, from eventing in the main arena to displays and dog shows in a smaller ring.

It's been a long day

 

Where I come from in the north east of England, Leek Shows are a fixture in the calendars of many towns and villages.  Despite the name, all vegetables are displayed, with owners obsessing over their produce and even mounting security patrols of gardens and allotments to prevent sabotage.  There is usually copious amounts of beer to be consumed as most shows seemed to be held in working men's clubs.

The Collingham show equivalent is a much more genteel affair.

 No show is complete without a giant vegetable of some description.

The cutest animals at the show were hands down the Alpacas.

Peek-a-boo

Over in the main arena, the horses and riders where busy competing.

 If there was one disappointment to the day, was the cancellation of the RAF Memorial Flight which we hoped would make a flypast.  I overheard one of the stall holders telling someone that it had been cancelled because the Lancaster needed repairs and the other planes where at different locations across the country.

We were treated with an acrobatic display by a single plane which was quite impressive.

I don't think it was part of the show, but on the way into the show I spotted an AWACS Sentry plane in the distance.

Of course, if it's a country show, then a display of birds of prey can usually be found.  I'm a sucker for birds of prey.

A not so Bald Eagle

Small World

 Having a smaller garden does have its advantages.  There is of course the obvious reduction in gardening chores (it still feels a novelty not to be cutting grass every week!), but the closer proximity of the plants and flowers show you just how much life is present in such a compact space.  Insect and pollinators abound.  We are certain that under one plant there is a bee hive of some description.  They ignore us even when we are sat in close proximity.

We've been very lucky in buying a house that has had been planned and planted by a talented gardener.  The planting in the garden is such that when one flower display is ending the next is springing into life.  Thanks to this the garden has been thriving with smaller critters.

The pictures below were actually taken at night.  The web was virtually invisible during daylight.  The camera flash managed to show the web and its occupant.

Strolling and Sailing

Apologies for the lack of updates.  Shortage of time, a housewarming and a myriad of other tasks has meant that the blog has had to take a bit of a back seat.  I also like to try, whenever possible to post photos from recent history and not rely on the back catalogue.  I'll endeavour to try and update every two weeks.

At the weekend we made a concious effort to get out for a couple of hours and enjoy a warm August afternoon,  A few miles out of Retford are Daneshill Lakes which had been recommended by a colleague of mine.

The site used to be used for gravel extraction, but it has been turned into a wildlife reserve under the watchful eye of the Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust.  It was a surprise to see small sail boats on the calm waters. The Daneshill Sailing Club is based here.  The peace and quiet is frequently punctuated by the sound of trains on the nearby East Coast mainline but you quickly learn to ignore it.

There are the usual suspects of water fowl, with Canada Goose seemingly the dominant species.  They will quickly head for the shore if it looks as though bread is being thrown.

I was pleased to see a small family of Grebes, that did of good job of being as far away as possible from my camera, but I've managed to get a shot of them.

Scarborough Unfair

Now that the school summer holidays have arrived, its made me think about my own younger years and the family holidays that we used to have.  Butlins at Skegness will always be my childhood favourite (Monorail! Chair Lift!) and Scarborough - well I may have liked Scarborough but it doesn't seem to particularly like me.

Exhibit A - trip to the Blue Dolphin Caravan Park where it rained pretty much all the time and I got the mumps and had nothing but tomato soup for days.  Even winning the darts competition and the greatest bouncy castle in existence couldn't repair the damage.  I think I was eight years old.

Exhibit B, the morning of departure for a few days in the seaside town a couple of years ago resulted in me doing my back in on the morning we were supposed to travel on our non refundable booking.  The hotel was lovely, our room?  Top floor no lift.  I shuffled around Scarborough and Whitby like one of the walking dead.

Below are a selection of pictures from that fateful trip.

A baby penguin at the Sea Life Centre

These are from Whitby.

The Fisher King

 Since moving house one of the new things that we've had to get to grips with is that we are now the custodians of a decent sized pond, complete with approximately 17 goldfish of various sizes and colours and sundry frogs.

 Novices would at best describe our knowledge of looking after ponds, but we have successfully managed to change the UV light that cleans the water, without electrocuting the fish, or indeed, ourselves.

As for potential predators, I have read that a heron can clear a pond of fish in one sitting but cats tend to avoid them due to their fear of water.  With the honourable exception of Bengal cats who love the stuff.

Would anyone care to hazard a guess what type of cat our neighbour owns?

Meet Bob, the beautiful Bengal that seems to rule the roost in the neighbourhood.

Silent Bob, The Bengal Cat

Our neighbour alerted me last week on my return to work, extremely apologetic as her cat, had brought in a large goldfish still flapping in its mouth and deposited its catch in the middle of her living room before deciding to bite its head off.  Our neighbour is elderly, but refreshingly honest.

I told her not to worry, as this is the kind of things cats do.  As former cat owners ourselves, we've seen first hand just what determined hunters they can be and the "gifts" they return with.

On Saturday, we found another fish, minus its tail and fins by the side of the pond.  If we where going to keep the remainder safe, a solution was to be found.

Neither Terry or myself wanted a net across the pond, which would spoil the look of it and the garden.  A local fish stockist showed us a movement sensitive device that could be plugged into the hose pipe and shoot a stream of water at the trespassing cats.  We didn't hold much hope out for that option for a water loving cat.  It would also mean having the hosepipe trailing across the garden and in all likelihood resulting in us tripping over the hose and/or getting sprayed for good measure.

After hitting the internet we came up with a solution, a ring of floating hexagonal lattices that are joined together and sit around the edge of the pond just below the surface, thus preventing Bob from being able to reach in from the side of the pond and take his fill.

The hexagonal lattice in place

So far, the deterrent appears to be working.  We've spotted Bob a couple of times on the edge of the pond but he hasn't made any further kills - as far as we know.

Taking care of the pond is going to be a work in progress.  We'll keep you updated if anything of interest occurs.