Animal jewellery

May3

I love nature and wildlife so I’m always happy when I get my hands on some animal jewellery. I have some new pieces in my Etsy shop as of yesterday:

Vintage sterling silver frog stick pin. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

Vintage handpainted lapwing pendant in sterling silver handmade surround with chain. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

Vintage sterling silver and blue glass dolphin brooch. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

They join the animal jewellery I already have: click on all photos for more details.

Vintage horse and bear pendant and chain, based on a Viking-period design. Finnish. (NOW SOLD).

Vintage Art Deco enamel and silver sailfish brooch. (NOW SOLD).

Vintage puffy fish charm bracelet. (NOW SOLD).

Vintage cloisonné enamel brooch, Ancient Egyptian Horus or Ra-Horakhty falcon, Egyptian Revival pin. (NOW SOLD).

Vintage silver butterfly brooch.

Vintage Scandinavian silver leaping deer brooch by A Klokker, Denmark. (NOW SOLD).

Art Deco scorpion brooch with glass jewels. (NOW SOLD).

Vintage silver and enamel peacock brooch from Thailand. (NOW SOLD).

Elegant vintage Danish sterling silver clipon earrings. (NOW SOLD).

Vintage enamel and silver butterfly bar brooch.

Vintage 830 silver bird ring, Danish silver openwork ring, eagle, hawk, raptor or dove, Scandinavian silver. (NOW SOLD).

Vintage sterling silver fish brooch.

Vintage enamel and silver red cardinal bird brooch. (NOW SOLD).

Vintage lion and unicorn heraldic brooch. (NOW SOLD).

Vintage sterling silver brooch with birds and grapes, French by H Teguy.

Vintage 800 silver brooch with birds and grapes, French by H Teguy.

Vintage mesh metal purse with dragon design and blue cabochons. Okay, it might be mythological but it’s still an animal ….

Sunday stroll: a Wiltshire wood

Apr20

We went for a walk last Sunday (April 17) in some woods in south Wiltshire. A lone sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus) and a lone rowan (mountain ash, Sorbus sp.) were already in leaf; the rest of the trees were still leafless, but budding up nicely. There are a lot of holly and birch trees in these woods; we don’t have birch around where we live as they don’t do well on chalk.

Rowan in leaf (Sorbus sp.)

Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum), also known as Woodbine, showing why it has the latter name …

The first bluebells are out, plus wood anenomes, celandine, stitchwort and pink campion, and we came across a few clumps of daffodils too.

Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta).

A bank of wood anemones (Anemone nemorosa).

Celandine (Ficaria verna).

Stitchwort (Stellaria holostea).

Daffodils. They look a little large to me to be our native wild ones: there are gardens nearby so these could be hybrids.

We disturbed a buzzard (Buteo buteo) from its perching spot in a tree above us, and found a hidden trig point.

We also saw a lone roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) hoof print in the mud. Old Peg Leg, they call him.

There were some heavily pregnant sheep in a neighbouring field: they looked like they were due to lamb at any time.

I also found a pellet, not sure if it’s an owl or other raptor pellet, or fox poo or badger poo. I’ve brought it home and am dissolving it in water to see what it contains. A girl’s got to have her hobbies ….

(UPDATE: Lots of mashed up hedgehog spines 🙁 Possibly badger poo?)

It was a lovely day in glorious spring sunshine. And as an added bonus, on the way home, we saw the first swallow (Hirundo rustica) of the season. Magical.

Glorious Wiltshire (seen over a pile of horse manure).

Sunday stroll: Winterborne Tomson and Fontmell Down

Apr11

Yesterday we headed south to visit a small church in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust, in the hamlet of Winterborne Tomson in Dorset. The church is St Andrew’s Church, a Norman church dating from the early 12th century. It’s tiny – a mere 12.20 m (40 feet) from end to end and 4.60 m (15 feet) wide. It still has some of the original stone roof tiles, though most are replacement terracotta ones.

St Andrew’s Church, Winterborne Tomson, Dorset.

The door is studded with nails (and additional pretty orangey yellow lichen).

Inside it is wonderfully plain, with the only Norman apse in Dorset: a beautiful rounded east end to the building, with the oak beams above echoing the shape and decorated with intricately carved wooden bosses.

Oak beams and bosses in the apse ceiling.

The interior is furnished with plain oak box pews, a pulpit, a simple screen, and communion rails, all of which were added in the early 18th century.

Over the door the old rood-loft has been converted into a gallery. It is so wormy and rickety that the public is asked not to climb up there, and certainly looking at it I’m not sure it would have borne our weight.

The view from the pulpit, with the wormy rood-loft gallery, and the nails bent over on the inside of the door.

The pulpit viewed from the east end of the church, with the screen.

Inside one of the box pews.

The communion rails and altar.

The church is redundant (ie no longer used for regular services), but still consecrated. It was last used regularly in 1896. It is clearly much loved: there were beautiful, simple vases of flowers around the sides.

Another view from the pulpit. Lots of simple flower decorations.

Daffodils and tulips in one of the windows.

On one of the interior walls is a plaque commemorating the architect in charge of the restoration of the church from 1929-1931, Albert Reginald Powys: apparently before that time it was used as a livestock pen for the neighbouring farm. The funds for the restoration were provided largely by the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB): the Society sold some manuscripts it held by Thomas Hardy, himself a SPAB member for 47 years, to fund the costs.

The plaque commemorating Albert Reginald Powys.

Right next to the church is a farmyard with some very inquisitive (and licky) calves.

On the way home we had a blustery walk up on Fontmell Down Nature Reserve.

Fontmell Down Nature Reserve on a very blustery spring day.

The reserve wasn’t looking quite as glorious as the last time we were there, but the common spotted orchids (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) are on their way up: the plants with their well-named leaves were apparent in some numbers.

Leaves of the Common spotted orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii)

Salisbury Cathedral peregrines 2016

Apr6

Whoo, they’re back, and they’ve laid: an egg on Easter Monday (28 March), and another eight days later (5 April). Hopefully there will be more to follow: last year the peregrines successfully hatched and fledged four chicks.

Last year Salisbury Cathedral had a link on its website to a webcam by the nest; I hope it can manage the same this year. It will be wonderful to watch the birds’ progress. Peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) are such amazing and special birds, and this breeding success is a real achievement.

And if you’d like to get an idea of the kind of views the peregrines enjoy while flying round the spire, watch these (but only if you have a strong stomach / head for heights):

I’ll add the link to the nest webcam as soon as it’s put up and I find it.

UPDATE 13 April 2016:

Still no webcam available on the Cathedral website, but there is a series of photos that show that she laid a third egg on 7 April and by 11 April there were four! Hurrah!

Four eggs by 11 April 2016. That nesting box isn’t going to stay clean for long …

Proud parent 1 07 04 2016

UPDATE 2 MAY 2016: In response to a query from Steve Hodgkinson (see comments below) about whether the nest had been abandoned, it seems like the eggs should start hatching on or around 8 May. The Cathedral website says ‘It will take 30 days for the eggs to incubate and the process won’t start until the whole clutch of eggs is laid. Phil Sheldrake, Conservation Officer at the RSPB estimates that we should see the youngsters hatching by the end of April.’ I estimate the hatching date slightly differently using that formula: say she laid her fourth egg on 8 April, 30 days from that date = 8 May. So the eggs should be hatching in the next few days.

UPDATE 23 MAY: All four eggs have now successfully hatched. The first was born on the morning of 16 May; two more followed on the morning of 17 May and the last one on the afternoon of 17 May. The news was reported on the Cathedral’s website, but it appears that they are not providing a webcam link on the website this year, although visitors to the Cathedral can see a live feed. There are other opportunities to see the birds:

‘For those interested in a spot of peregrine watching, a marquee manned by RSPB volunteers with telescopes will offer a grandstand view of the birds from the Cathedral Lawn, Monday-Friday throughout the summer, and there are plans to introduce once-a-week Peregrine Tower Tours with Anya Wicikowski, RSPB Community Officer. Anya will accompany regular Tower Guides on the tour and answer any peregrine-related questions visitors might have. Dates and times of tours will be made available in due course.’

Thanks to Marie Thomas for the hat tip – I hadn’t looked at the Cathedral website for a while so had missed the news.

UPDATE 10 JUNE: Sadly two of the chicks have died – it’s thought the recent cold, wet weather might have been a contributing factor. The remaining two chicks, a male and a female, were ringed on 8 June.

UPDATE 30 JUNE: The male, Raphael, took a tumble during what is thought to have been his first test flight and fell 68 m (224 feet) to the ground: luckily he was okay and cared for overnight by a wildlife charity.

Salisbury Cathedral

Mar14

I was with a friend in Salisbury on Saturday, and we spent the day looking round some of the sights (Mompesson House, on its first day of opening for the year), St Thomas Church (also known as St Thomas and St Edmunds Church, and as the Church of St Thomas a Becket) with its amazing Doom Painting dating from 1475, and at the end of the day, Salisbury Cathedral.

Salisbury Cathedral in the gloaming: the North Front.

We were very lucky to hear the boys’ choir practising in the Quire. The light was starting to fade, and the candlelight made it all the more atmospheric. Their singing was absolutely beautiful.

View from the Lady Chapel at the east end of the Cathedral, looking all the way down to the west end. Behind the fancy ironwork screen is the Quire. The people were looking in, watching the boys’ choir practising.

Two Cedars of Lebanon in the Cloisters.

The 123 m (404 feet) high spire seen from the Cloisters.

Hopefully the peregrine falcons will be back in a few weeks to nest on the spire again.

2019 UPDATE on the peregrines at the Cathedral.

The photographer’s assistant

Mar4

To photograph the vintage jewellery I sell in my Etsy shop, I use the windowsill in our bedroom as my studio. It faces south-west, so gets the best of the sun on offer to our dark old cottage. I prefer photos that are taken in natural light, and so am limited by our gloomy winter weather in the times I can successfully take photos. But whenever I do, there is always one constant: Ballou, my photographer’s assistant.

Ballou in her natural habitat: on her (our) bed.

As soon as I get the gear for my photographing together (the board from an old flower press, some sheets of A4 white paper, some blu tack and an old kilt pin), she’s alert and ready to go. She’ll jump on to the windowsill next to my set-up, and oversee proceedings. Every single time.

Had enough now.

Thank goodness for the cropping facility in my photo editing software, because there’s often a paw (or even a sniffing nose) in shot.

She’s even managed to sneak into a couple of the shots I have used in my shop. Here she is reflected on the back of a fabulous N E From amethyst necklace:

John Ruskin

Feb17

I have long loved the art of John Ruskin (1819-1900). I was given a card in the 1970s with a reproduction of one of his watercolours, and I still have it. It’s a study of a peacock breast feather, held in the Collection of the Guild of St George, Museums Sheffield.

John Ruskin. Study of a Peacock’s Breast Feather. 1875, watercolour, 22.3 x 14.7 cm.

This first got me interested in his art, especially his stunning watercolours (click on all pics to make bigger):

John Ruskin. Rocks and Ferns in a Wood at Crossmount. 1847. Perthshire. Pencil, ink, watercolour and bodycolour, 32.3 x 46.5 cm

John Ruskin. Rocks and Ferns in a Wood at Crossmount, Perthshire. 1847, pencil, ink, watercolour and bodycolour, 32.3 x 46.5 cm.

John Ruskin. The Garden of San Miniato near Florence. 1845, watercolour on paper.

John Ruskin. Mountain Rock and Alpine Rose. 1844-1849, pencil, ink, chalk, watercolour and bodycolour, 29.8 x 41.4 cm.

John Ruskin. Part of the Façade, San Michele, Lucca. 1845, pencil and watercolour on pale cream paper, 33 x 23.3 cm.

John Ruskin. The Chateau of Neuchatel at dusk, with Jura mountains beyond. 1866, pencil and watercolour, 13.3 x 21 cm.

John Ruskin. Coast Scene near Dunbar. 1847, pencil and watercolour, 32.5 x 47.5 cm.

John Ruskin. The Casa d’Oro, Venice. 1845, pencil and watercolour, with bodycolour, 33 x 47.6 cm.

John Ruskin. Study of a peacock feather and another feather.

Ruskin was particularly fond of painting peacock feathers. In 1875 he wrote, ‘I’ve to draw a peacock’s breast-feather, and paint as much of it as I can without having heaven to dip my brush in.’

I wanted to get some postcards printed for my Etsy shop – my first attempt at branding – and needed an image. My photography doesn’t stand up to close scrutiny, so in the end I thought I’d just choose an image I love, and that was available for free use. It meant that my postcards wouldn’t reflect what I sell in my shop – probably a huge no-no when it comes to branding, but I’d rather have a lovely picture rather than a crappy one I took of some of my beautiful vintage jewellery. The image I settled on is one Ruskin painted of a kingfisher.

John Ruskin. Kingfisher. 1870-1871, pencil, ink, watercolour and bodycolour, 25.8 × 21.8 cm.

If you would like to know more about John Ruskin – he was so much more than just an artist – his Wikipedia page has much information and many links to more. Also, this blog is an interesting place to start.

Signs of spring: the first chaffinch song

Feb13

I love the markers of the year’s advance, a series of firsts leading to full-blown spring and glorious summer. One of the earliest markers that spring has truly arrived is when our pond starts roiling with mating frogs. That happened two weekends ago. Today I heard another marker: the first spring song of the chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs).

Male chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs). Photo by Gidzy.

We have chaffinches here year-round, but it is only in the spring that they sing this glorious descending song. I associate it with walks in the beech woods with the acid-green leaves bursting out of their buds. It’s not the most exciting of bird songs, but it is one of the most redolent ones for me. It means the sun is on its way back to us.

Rings that remind me of things: Part 7

Feb2

Part 7 of an occasional series about rings in my Etsy shop that remind me of things.

Ring:

Vintage Swedish green chrysoprase and sterling silver ring, made in 1957. (NOW SOLD).

Thing:

The eyes of a jumping spider. Photo by Opoterser.

So far I have had rings that remind me of an Iron Age hillfort, an alien spaceship, a cream horn, a radio telescope, Noah’s Ark, and an octopus tentacle.

Hmmm. Maybe I should get out more ….

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2016

Jan31

Every year, on the last weekend in January, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) asks the British public to take part in the largest wildlife survey in the world: The Big Garden Birdwatch. We are asked to sit and watch our gardens for an hour, and to count what species and numbers of birds we see during that time. The results help the scientists at the RSPB to get an idea of the health of our bird populations.

Chap and I do this every year. Normally we do it at the same time, with one of us watching the front of the cottage (where our small garden is) and the other watching our tiny back yard. This year we’re doing it slightly differently: I did my stint yesterday, and Chap is doing his today as I type.

Our kitchen has a window that looks out over the back yard. There is a bird feeder with sunflower seeds hanging about a metre from the window, and we have a ‘borrowed landscape’ of our neighbours’ garden, with its shrubs and trees and fat balls in a feeder. I have to admit that I probably slightly skewed the results yesterday: we were sitting at the kitchen table when Chap glanced up and saw a goldcrest (Regulus regulus), creeping about and poking for bugs among the white mossy froth of the woolly aphids that live on the old apple tree. We haven’t seen a goldcrest in the garden for years. At that point I said ‘I’m starting the Bird Watch right now’.

Female goldcrest (Regulus Regulus). Photo by Missy Osborn.

It’s always a very zen time, just taking an hour to do nothing other than watch the wildlife around us. I watched two robins (Erithacus rubecula) having a noisy territorial dispute, with lots of chest puffing and chasing each other, and the occasional physical spat. They were so wrapped up in their fighting that they didn’t notice the third robin who crept in and had a good feed while they were scrapping.

Robin (Erithracus rubecula). Photo by Ramin Nakisa.

A pair of blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla) visited the sunflower feeder too, separately, but I hope they are a breeding pair.

Male blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla). Photo by Spacebirdy.

Female blackcap. Photo by Stefan Berndtsson.

Female blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla). Photo by Stefan Berndtsson.

The fat ball feeder attracted a gang of noisy house sparrows (Passer domesticus),

Male house sparrow (Passer domesticus). Photo by Lip Kee Yap.

whereas the sunflower seed feeder was preferred by the even bigger gangs of goldfinches (Carduelis carduelis) – our most common garden bird here.

Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis). Photo by Ómar Runólfsson.

Last year’s results are impressive: over half a million people took part, counting a total of 8,546,845 birds in total.

There is still time to take part: the survey runs til midnight.

RSPB website

Inglenookery

West Country witterings

Archives