New Year, Same Old Song.

May 4, 2023May 4, 2023 beatingthebounds2 Comments

P1350966 — *Humphrey Head and Grange from the coastal path to Arnside.*

Taking advantage of some much improved weather, and the fact that my covid-inflicted fatigue seemed to be wearing-off, I got out for a longish local wander, around 11 miles, on the second of January. These days, I’m increasingly drawn to the route around the coast to Arnside with a return over the Knott.

There are lots of other great walks in the area, but the appeals of this one are hard to match.

P1350969 — *Looking back towards Silverdale.*

Just in case the sunshine is making you think it might have been a warm, balmy day, this is the first sight that greeted me when I left the house…

20230102_100739 — *Car bonnet frost flowers.*

20230102_100809 — *A car roof frost spiral.*

On the way to the coast at Far Arnside I indulged myself with some old favourite obsessions, which perhaps haven’t appeared on the blog as often recently as they once did…

P1350970 — *Almost seasonal holly berries.*

Leaves, berries and Robins and the like.

20230102_110931 — *Grange and Hampsfell.*

20230102_110922 — *Turning in to the Kent Estuary.*

At the far end of the White Creek shingle beach there must have been rich pickings in an area of rough grass just above the high-tide line; several Chaffinches, a couple of Robins, and a Blackbird were darting to and fro from the low trees nearby to the turf.

In amongst the others was a bird I didn’t recognise, and I got overly excited thinking that it was something exotic. In my defence, I did assume that it was a bunting of some kind. It is: a Reed Bunting, which I’ve seen in lots of places locally, but never down on the coast before.

20230102_114723 — *The River Kent and Grange.*

20230102_114727 — *Across the Kent to Meathop Fell.*

20230102_114732 — *Along the Kent to the Howgills.*

20230102_115652 — *Arnside Knott from New Barns.*

20230102_115647 — *The river, the viaduct and the Howgills from New Barns.*

20230102_120317 — *Complex channels at New Barns.*

20230102_121017 — *Looking back to New Barns.*

20230102_121451 — *Close to Arnside – it was busy.*

20230102_121504 — *Whitbarrow Scar and the viaduct.*

20230102_122152 — *Clouds reflected in the Kent.*

I’ve joined a Facebook group, Fungi of the World, and the weird and wonderful photos which are posted there have inspired me to pay more attention to the varied forms of fungi in our local woods. On my way up on to the Knott, I took a circuitous route, including a wander around Redhill Woods to have a gander at the fungi there.

20230102_131842 — *Tiny, tiny fungi – Ear Fungus fruiting bodies just appearing?*

20230102_131913 — *Shiny, black bracket fungus.*

I found many kinds, but not all of them are here as some of the photos came out a little blurred.

20230102_132251 — *Warty excrescences on a Birch log.*

I don’t think these are fungi, but I think that it might be the case that the trees produces these odd growths in response to the promptings of a fungi.

P1350999 — *Ingleborough and Silverdale Moss from Arnside Knott.*

20230102_134020 — *Arnside Tower, Arnside Tower Farm, Middlebarrow, Warton Crag and the Forest of Bowland Fells from Arnside Knott.*

20230102_135540 — *The Howgill Fells and Middleton Fells from Arnside Knott.*

20230102_135839 — *Rain in the Lake District pano.*

As I often seem to do, I looked at the clouds obscuring the Cumbrian fells and felt vindicated in choosing a wander straight from my door rather than going further afield, but usually this weather based justification is superfluous – in reality I’m looking for excuses for doing just what I wanted to do anyway.

20230102_140512 — *Starting to clear pano.*

20230102_140710 — *Very short, faint rainbow over Yewbarrow and Whitbarrow.*

20230102_142108 — *Clougha Pike from Heathwaite.*

20230102_142559 — *Ingleborough from Heathwaite.*

Near Far Arnside I spotted this male Kestrel perched on a telegraph pole.

It didn’t seem too happy with my attention and flew from pole to pole, with me following and taking lots of pictures. Of course, after all that effort, it was the first two that I took which came out best. A great way to finish a really terrific start to the new year.

December: All Wrapped Up.

May 2, 2023 beatingthebounds2 Comments

20221120_113655 — *Warton Crag from near Jenny Brown’s Point.*

Another cheating post! (Apparently) Which will bring 2022 to a close on the blog at long last.

Actually, these first two photos are from the tail end of November and one of our regular Jenny Brown’s Point circulars.

20221120_112752 — *TBH on her way to Jenny Brown’s Point.*

Then we jump forward a bit to a snowy weekend in December and a couple of late local wanders.

20221210_145127 — *A snowy day in Middlebarrow Wood.*

The following day, some of the snow had melted in the sunshine, but a little was still clinging on elsewhere…

20221211_153501 — *Beech leaves catching the last of the sun.*

20221211_154739 — *Looking towards Clougha from near the Pepper Pot.*

20221211_154806 — *Sunset and Morecambe Bay.*

20221211_161756 — *A layer of ice over mud.*

I had high hopes that the ice would hold and keep me out of the mud. It didn’t.

20221211_162330 — *Hampsfell from ‘the beach’.*

Just before Christmas, Little S tested positive for Covid. Subsequently, I felt very ill myself, but kept testing negative. Subsequently, my GP has told me that I probably did have Covid.

We still met up at Gearstones just before Christmas with all the usual suspects, but I have no photos to show for it because, still feeling rotten, I generally stayed inside and didn’t brave the snowy weather. It was great to see everyone, none-the-less.

20221225_113406 — *Christmas Day Roe Deer.*

With hindsight, I perhaps shouldn’t have fetched my Mum and Dad to spend Christmas with us, but it was fabulous to see them and I don’t seem to have passed on the lurgy.

20221225_142825 — *Christmas Day Rainbow.*

20221227_152318 — *Cold and damp on Morecambe Prom.*

The Trouble with Lichen*.

April 16, 2023 beatingthebounds9 Comments

20221028_153937 — *On the coast path: the Kent Estuary and Meathop Fell.*

The final day of October half-term, and for reasons I can’t remember, I only set-off for my favourite stroll around the coast to Arnside and back over the Knott at around three in the afternoon.

20221028_154738 — *The foreshore at White Creek.*

When I moved to the area, around thirty years ago, there was no salt-marsh at White Creek and none at Grange either, but you could walk on the grass from Knowe Point to Far Arnside. Now the situation is reversed, testament to the way the river channel changes and so keeps the Bay in constant flux.

Likewise, thirty years ago, I wouldn’t have expected to see any Little Egrets in the area, but now they are relatively common, and Great Egrets are also beginning to establish themselves.

20221028_161137 — *The Kent Estuary and Meathop Fell again from a little further around the coast.*

P1350914 — *Xanthoria parientina.* *Possibly.*

If I’ve identified this lichen correctly, and it is Xanthoria parientina, then it’s a common lichen which produces a yellow chemical, xanthorin “thought to be produced as a defence against UV radiation” (source), when the lichen is shaded it doesn’t produce the chemical and is then green.

Lichens are famously a symbiosis between a fungi and a photosynthesising partner, either an algae or a cyanobacteria (blue-green algae). I’ve been reading ‘Entangled Life’ by Merlin Sheldrake, which TBH bought me for Christmas, and apparently many lichens are now known to be multi-species symbiosis, that is, to have three or more species living in partnership.

I didn’t study Biology at school, even to O-level standard, but with hindsight that seems like a crazy decision; the more I learn the more unlikely and astonishing almost every aspect of life seems to be. For example, also gleaned from “Entangled Life’, did you know that are own mitochondrial cells might have started life, in evolutionary terms, as independent bacterial cells? I think I’ve got that right, although, as I said, I’m no biologist!

20221028_161616 — *Andy Goldsworthy leaf sculpture. Or the tideline.*

P1350921 — *Waxcaps. Possibly Orange Waxcap.*

P1350925 — *Distant view of the viaduct and the sun catching Heversham Head.*

P1350928 — *Looking back along the Kent Estuary.*

P1350931 — *The viaduct, Whitbarrow Scar and a couple of boats.*

P1350933 — *Little Egret in the Kent at Arnside.*

There were four Little Egrets stalking the shallows just off the promenade in Arnside. They fish by stirring up the riverbed with their feet, and look pretty comical doing it, a sort of avian ‘Ministry of Funny Walks’.

P1350936 — *And another – note the characteristic yellow foot.*

P1350939 — *Black-headed Gulls on the Kent.*

I know: they don’t have black heads, but their name is a bit misleading, because that’s breeding plumage, which, by autumn, they’d just about lost.

If you are reading in the UK, and haven’t got around to watching ‘Wild Isles’ yet, and, to be honest, I’ve only just started myself, there’s some amazing footage in the first episode of Black-headed Gulls trying to steal Sand Eels from Puffins.

One advantage of a late start!

*If you were expecting at least a passing reference to the John Wyndham novel, my apologies**. I like his novels, this one included, but haven’t read it, or any of his others, for a very long time. Fifteen years in to blogging, when most of your posts consist of photos of leaves and butterflies, and the same three walks repeated ad infinitum, it’s sometimes hard to come up with titles you haven’t used before. That’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it.

**Although, now, of course, you’ve had it. What are you complaining about?

Easter Hols Are Here

May 24, 2022May 22, 2022 beatingthebounds7 Comments

Eaves Wood – Inman’s Road – Hawes Water – Moss Lane – The Row – Bank Well – Lambert’s Meadow – Burtonwell Wood – The Green – Clifftop Path – Hollins Lane – Heald Brow – Hollins Lane – Woodwell – Bottom’s Wood – Spring Bank

P1340705 — *Inman’s Road in Eaves Wood.*

20220402_153322 — *Heading down towards Hawes Water.*

P1340710 — *Clougha Pike and Carnforth salt-marsh from Heald Brow.*

20220402_165328 — *New honeysuckle leaves.*

The first day of our Easter break and, having overslept, I opted for a local walk rather than heading to the Lakes.

Pierrot Peregrinates

February 14, 2022 beatingthebounds4 Comments

Hagg Wood – The Row – Challan Hall – Hawes Water – Challan Hall Allotments – Silverdale Moss – Back Wood – Leighton Beck – Coldwell Meadows – Coldwell Parrock – Gait Barrows – West Coppice – Hawes Water – Challan Hall – Waterslack – Eaves Wood – Inman’s Road

20211113_103906 — *Autumn colour in Eaves Wood.*

Covid laid me up for a little over two weeks. Not a pleasant experience, obviously, but it could have been worse. The first week of that fortnight was half-term, we’d planned to meet up with my Brother, who was over from Switzerland with his kids, and my Mum and Dad. We’d also booked a night away to celebrate our twentieth wedding anniversary. All that went out the window. On the plus side, I did listen to a lot of radio dramas.

I also felt like I’d missed out on a half-term’s worth of walking. So, in mid-November, on the Saturday after my first week back at work, when the skies were virtually cloud free, I was itching to get out for a walk.

20211113_103944 — *Some Inman Oaks, Farleton Fell and the distant Howgill Fells.*

The autumn colours were splendid, and there was fungi in abundance, particularly in Eaves Wood. I very much enjoyed the views and the light and the sunshine and taking lots of photos.

20211113_111212 — *A Harlequin ladybird.*

A drystone wall between the woods around Hawes Water and the meadows by Challan Hall was festooned with Harlequin ladybirds. A non-native species, which arrived in the UK as recently as 2004, they are enormously varied in colour and patterns. The air around the wall was full of them too. As I paused to get some photos with my phone, they began to land on me too. Apparently, they hibernate together in large groups. I assume that this wall, with its many cracks and crevices, is an ideal spot for that.

(Interesting article here)

Whilst I was enjoying the weather and the sights, the walking was another matter. After about a mile, I was already feeling quite fatigued. Anyone with any sense would have turned back, but I kept walking away from home, getting increasingly tired. In the end, I walked a little over six miles, but the last couple were pretty purgatorial – I felt so tired I was tempted to lie down by the path and have a nap.

20211113_111359 — *Unidentified fungi growing on the remains of the Cloven Ash.*

After this walk, I took it easier for a couple of weekends and have been okay since, except it took a while for my senses of smell and taste to come back, and now that they have some foods which I formerly enjoyed now taste revolting; peanut butter springs to mind, which used to be a favourite. Almonds too. Curiously, the things which taste bad all have the same foul flavour.

20211113_113640 — *Across Silverdale Moss – Middlebarrow Quarry, Arnside Tower, Arnside Knott.*

Anyway, back to the walk – I was taken by the contrast of the yellow leaves of the Blackthorn thicket and the blue sky behind, but also by the abundance of Sloes on the Blackthorn…

20211113_114259 — *More Spindle berries.*

20211113_115608 — *A partial view of Lakeland Fells* *from Coldwell Meadow.*

20211113_122747 — *Gait Barrows limestone pavement.*

This bench, near Hawes Water was very welcome and I sat on it for quite a while, although it was fairly wet.

20211113_125523 — *Hazel leaves catching the light.*

20211113_130439 — *King Alfred’s Cakes.*

20211113_130815 — *Tall Beech trees in Eaves Wood.*

20211113_132151 — *Candlesnuff Fungus. Probably.*

There was an absolute riot of fungi in Eaves Wood, fascinating to see, but extremely difficult to identify.

Unusually, I think I’ve enjoyed this walk more in retrospect than I did at the time. Can’t wait for some more bright and sunny days.

Loopy

September 20, 2021 beatingthebounds2 Comments

The first of May, the Saturday of the Bank Holiday weekend. The weather was obviously a bit changeable with some sunshine, but some very dark clouds and showers about too. I managed to eke out 5 miles by walking small loops, returning to the house each time; one through Eaves Wood, one via the Cove and the Lots, and finally which took me to Woodwell.

20210501_163648 — *Morecambe Bay from the Cove*

20210501_164625 — *Green-winged Orchid on the Lots.*

20210501_165748 — *I think this might be an Acer, but I’m not good at garden plants. I liked the cheerful colours though.*

I’m always happy to spot the mauve flowers of Coralroot. I knew that it probably wasn’t native to this area, but didn’t realise just how rare it is in the UK.

*Coralroot distribution map.* *Blue dots show native populations.*

20210501_170319 — *Bottoms Wood, decked out with Wild Garlic.*

20210501_172718 — *Ominous clouds and the distant Howgill Fells.*

This last photo was the last of several failed attempts to catch the drama of these dark clouds with one tiny cloud on the right really catching the sun and shining quite brightly. It was quite a sight.

I would be heading out in the direction of the Howgills the following day.

Birds, birds, birds…and Primroses

August 21, 2021 beatingthebounds4 Comments

Early April, when the branches are mostly bare and the birds are busy mating and nesting is a great time to spot and take photos of birds. This Bullfinch photo is a bit of a cheat, since it wasn’t taken on a walk, but through our window, by where I was sitting on a Thursday evening.

On the Friday, when I got home from work, having finished for the Easter break, I headed out for a wander round Heald Brow, to the south of the village.

20210402_151805 — *Forsythia catching the sun.*

I think someone had been doing some major pruning, because a better view of Hazelwood Hall had opened up from the adjoining Hollins Lane. My interest in the hall is due to the gardens, which I believed to be designed by Lancaster architect Thomas Mawson, although the current Wikipedia entry is slightly confusing on that score and seems to imply, in one section, that in fact Mawson’s son Prentice was responsible, only, later on, to state that it was Mawson himself who designed the garden working with another son Edward.

Certainly the tiered terraces, the loggia and the use of stone pergolas are very similar to other Mawson gardens I’ve visited.

On Heald Brow, I noticed a Great-spotted Woodpecker in a very distant tree. I’ve included the photo, rubbish though it is, just to remind myself that I saw it, because, quite frankly, I was chuffed that I could pick it out in the tree-tops.

Likewise this Bullfinch. I know that it’s the second of this post, but I don’t seem to have seen many this year.

The Saturday was a glorious day, a great start to our holidays, so I set-off for Gait Barrows in search of birds and butterflies.

I did take no end of photos of butterflies and other insects and even more of birds, but above all else I took pictures of Primroses which seem to have proliferated all around the reserve.

P1330105 — *Blue moor grass – typical of limestone grassland.*

P1330107 — *Hazel catkins catching the sun*

20210403_145354 — *All that’s left of one of the former hedgerows. Still need to have a proper look at what’s grown back.*

P1330122 — *A Drone Fly, I think, but it’s the texture of the wood which I really like.*

There were Drone flies everywhere and I took lots of, I suppose, quite pointless photographs of them, but then occasionally what I took to be another Drone Fly would instead transpire to be something more interesting, like this Bee-fly…

I was quite surprised to see this machinery in the woods by Hawes Water, but the path from Challan Hall around to Moss Lane, which is supposed to be wheelchair friendly, had been getting increasingly muddy and Natural England were having it widened and resurfaced, so bully for them.

I can’t really identify lichens and, I think because I can’t, I don’t always pay them the attention they merit. I think this is Ramalina farinacea, but I wouldn’t take my word for it, and, looking again, I think there are probably at least three different lichens in the photo above.

P1330154 — *Honeysuckle leaves, some of the earliest to appear, catching the light.*

Although it was months ago, I remember my encounter with this Comma butterfly very vividly. It was sunning itself on some limestone, as you can see, and I slowly edged toward it, taking a new photo after each stride. Eventually, I upset it and it moved, finally settling on a nearby tree-trunk, at which point I started edging forward again.

What struck me was that, if I hadn’t seen the Comma land, I don’t think I would have picked it out. Whilst the underside of its wings are drab in comparison to the patterned orange of the upper wings, the underwings are beautifully adapted to conceal the butterfly in a superb imitation of a tatty dead leaf.

This…

…is a warbler. I don’t think it’s a Chiff-chaff, they have a very distinctive song which I can actually recognise, so I can recall getting excited because this had a different song. Sadly, I can’t remember the song at all, and can’t identify which warbler this is without that additional clue.

No such confusion here…

…this is a make Kestrel. I wish I’d managed to capture it in flight when it’s colours looked stunning.

And I suspect that this is a Chiff-chaff…

Though I couldn’t swear to it.

Another mystery here…

…with a bone suspended in a Blackthorn bush. I know that Shrikes impale their prey on the thorns of this tree, but Shrikes are quite small and I think that this bone is probably a bit too big for that. Also, Shrikes are very rare in the UK these days and are not generally seen this far West (although I know that they have occasionally been spotted at Leighton Moss).

P1330239 — *Ash flowers beginning to emerge.*

I was back at Gait Barrows the following day, but the skies were dull and I didn’t take many photos. On the Monday, I had another local wander, including a visit to The Cove…

The Tuesday was a bit special, so I shall save that for my next post…

October 2020: More Showers, Rainbows, and Big Clouds.

May 5, 2021May 5, 2021 beatingthebounds7 Comments

20201020_171042 — *The view from Castlebarrow.*

The title pretty much sums it up. Photos from lots of different local walks, taken during the second half of October. I was aware that some people were beginning to travel a little further afield for their exercise, but somehow my own radius of activity seemed to shrink to local favourite spots not too far from the village.

20201022_162959 — *Crepuscular rays on the Bay.*

20201023_172613 — *Rainbow over The Lots*

This is my mate D and his pug. I often meet him when I’m out for a local walk. I think I’ve mentioned before how much bumping into neighbours whilst out and about has helped during the lockdown in all of it guises.

20201023_172926 — *The sun dips towards the sea, from Castle Barrow.*

I can’t remember exactly when this happened – let’s assume it was October: I bumped into a chap carrying a fair bit of camera gear in Eaves Wood. He asked if he was going the right way to the Pepper Pot. He was. I saw him again on the top. It turned out he’s working on a book, one in a series, about where to take photos from in the North-West. Based in Lancaster, he’d never been to the Pepper Pot before. Funny how that can happen. Cloud had rolled in and the chances of a decent sunset looked a bit poor. I saw him again, a few weeks later, this time he’d set up his camera and tripod a little further West, in a spot I’d suggested. I hope he got his sunset.

20201025_091037 — *A paper round rainbow. Just prior to a proper drenching.*

20201025_132317 — Among all the changes which Natural England have been carrying out at Gait Barrows – raising the water level, felling trees, removing fences, putting up new fences in other places etc, they’ve also renovated this old summer house by Hawes Water. Presently, it’s still locked, but eventually it will be an information centre and a vantage point to look out over the lake.

20201026_105647 — Around this time, TBH started to take a regular weekend walk together around Jenny Brown’s Point. It was interesting to watch the channel from Quicksand Pool change each week and to contrast the weather and the tides each week.

20201026_111023 — *Traveller’s Joy by Jenny Brown’s Point.*

20201026_152607 — *From Castlebarrow, heavy showers tracking in from The Bay.*

20201026_152552 — *Late sun from Castlebarrow again.*

20201026_172136 — *The lights of Grange from The Cove.*

20201027_065519 — *Sunrise from our garden.*

20201027_170908 — *TBH by the Pepper Pot on Castlebarrow.*

20201027_171157 — *Post sunset from Castlebarrow.*

20201027_173213 — *The last of the light from The Cove.*

20201028_080130 — *Silverdale Moss from the rim of Middlebarrow Quarry. It had just finished raining, or was just about to rain, or probably both.*

20201028_080823 — *Autumnal birches with a rainbow behind.*

20201028_092248 — *The Shelter Stone Trowbarrow Quarry.*

20201028_100020 — *Leighton Moss from Myer’s Allotment.*

20201028_152436 — *The Copper Smelting Works Chimney near Jenny Brown’s and more heavy showers.*

20201028_152547 — *Jenny Brown’s Cottages.*

20201029_070809 — *The Bay from The Cove on a very grey day!*

The brown cow at the back here is a bull. I’d walked through the fields on Heald Brow where they were grazing a few times and he’d never batted an eyelid. But on this day he and a few of his harem where stationed in a gateway. I was considering my options and wondering whether to turn back, but when I got within about 50 yards the bull suddenly started to run. At quite a canter. Fortunately, it was away from me and not towards – he was obviously even more of a wuss than me!

*A White-lipped Snail – the rain isn’t universally disliked.*

20201030_130650 — *Clougha across the Bay.*

P1320732 — *The yellow feet are a good distinguishing feature.*

20201030_133958 — *Picnic lunch – apple, mushroom soup and a selection of cheeses.*

I decided that the best way to make the most of sometimes limited windows at weekends was to head out in the middle of the day and to eat somewhere on my walk. This bench overlooking the Kent Estuary was a particular favourite. Haven’t been there for a while now – must rectify that.

20201030_141529 — *The tide had heaped up fallen leaves in a long sinuous line.*

20201030_143533 — *Scot’s Pines on Arnside Knott.*

20201030_144239 — *Birches on Arnside Knott.*

20201030_145301 — *Whitbarrow from Arnside Knott.*

20201030_145933 — *River Kent from Arnside Knott.*

20201030_150621 — *A flooded Silverdale Moss from Arnside Knott.* *Ingleborough in the background*

20201031_162516 — *Clouds catching late light.*

Step Right Up!

June 19, 2020June 18, 2020 beatingthebounds7 Comments

Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!

And blow, blow they certainly did. We’re well acquainted with Atlantic storms up here in the North Wet, but we don’t often get really severe winds in the summer when the trees are in their summery finery. TBH warned me not to go down to the beach, so, of course, curiosity got the better of me and I had to go and take a look. And after I’d had a look, I abandoned any thought I’d entertained of heading out onto the sands, turned tail and sort the shelter of the woods. The woodland floor was carpeted with leaves and twigs, but it was still relatively sheltered in there.

Which begs the question, why did I venture out of the woods and across the fields by Black Dyke? I don’t remember, but I do remember that it was more than a bit draughty, was spitting with rain and that dark clouds seemed to be threatening worse to come.

Goldfinches seem to be almost ubiquitous these days; I watched a family of half a dozen flitting back and forth between an ash tree on the edge of the woods and the electric fence. I guess they were impervious because they weren’t earthed?

Black Dyke.

The footbridge over Leighton Beck – not much water running under it.

Middlebarrow and Arnside Tower from the far side of Silverdale Moss.

I’ve made many visits to Lambert’s Meadow this year. It seems to be a very fruitful spot for insect photos, particularly in the vicinity of this sprawling guelder rose hedge.

Green-veined white butterfly.

Marsh thistle. I think.

The first I’d seen flowering this year.

I thought they looked rather fine and this early bumblebee liked them too.

Red campion. Is pink. Why not pink campion?

Sorrel.

The Jubilee Wood car-park on the edge of Eaves Wood. Until a day or two before this photo was taken, the car park had been closed and roped off, but here it is open and fairly busy again, reflecting the beginning of the easing of the lockdown restrictions. (This is from about a week before the end of May.)

Tunes – today amusing songs which are also great to listen too in their own right. First up…

‘Here Come the Judge’ by Pigmeat Markham

Allegedly, the first rap record, from 1968.

Then, ‘Werewolves of London’ by Warren Zevon. This one brings back happy memories of howling along with the kids in the car. This was before the boys started laughing at my musical tastes, listening to grime and opening conversations with barely articulated Caribbean slang like, ‘Wagwan fam?’

The next is a song I’ve only recently come across, ‘Sharon’ by David Bromberg.

What those three all have in common, is that they are the only songs I know by each of the artists. To finish, here’s a song by someone who, by contrast, I’ve followed since discovering great songs like this when I was at school, way back when…

That’s so clever.

Can’t help thinking I’m spoiling you here! What else should I have included? ‘Funky Gibbon’? ‘The Streak’? ‘Shut Up’ by Madness? These are all pretty old songs, I’m obviously missing some more recent possibilities.

The Lazy Trumpeter

May 27, 2020May 26, 2020 beatingthebounds11 Comments

Early light on the new leaves at the circle of beeches.

Squirrel.

Pano from Castlebarrow. (Click on this, or any other, picture to see a larger image on flickr)

Orchids on the Lots.

Early purple orchid.

Welsh poppies.

Bottoms Farm.

Post sunset at The Cove.

The entire beach has acquired a silver-grey crust. Not the best light to show it, I know.

So, back to my wish list of lockdown activities. Have I ‘practiced my trumpet playing’?. Have I heck. It sits in its case under my desk, just as it has for years. Perhaps I should explain – in my teens I was in a brass band. It was great fun, but I was a lousy musician: I didn’t practice enough. I didn’t play the trumpet. I started at second baritone horn and slowly progressed to first euphonium, not because of any progress on my part, but because it was a junior band and the other players grew up and left for pastures new. Mostly the senior band which practised in the same hall. I don’t remember anybody playing the trumpet, the closest we had was a solitary flugelhorn and a host of cornets. In good time, I moved away myself, and for many years didn’t play an instrument.

Anyway, some years ago, when all our kids were learning to play various instruments, I decided that it was a shame that I’d ditched mine and decided to buy a trumpet – that being smaller and cheaper than what I’d played before. I did practice for a while, but my enthusiasm didn’t last all that long. I thought while we were off that I would have loads of time on my hands and would get started again, but it hasn’t really played out that way. Tomorrow though….I’m bound to pick it up again. There’s always tomorrow!

This…

…as well as providing the title for the post, is the piece which I remember most affectionately from my brass band days.

This is obviously very different. I saw Kid Koala live down in London many years ago with my brother. I think he was the support act, but I can’t remember who it was he was supporting. I do remember being spellbound when he performed this.

And from ‘Drunk Trumpet to ‘The Piano Has Been Drinking’:

Beating The Bounds

A Blog about walking, thinking about walking, reading about walking…….and maybe other stuff

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