A Guillemot perished on the western edge of my parish during the recent stormy weather. Spending most of its life at sea, it would only have chosen the land as a place to breed.
Category Archives for A Personal Parish
Interregnum
The sovereignty of the stormy weather released its grip yesterday for a few hours of sunshine when I was free to inspect my watery bounds after a winter lashing which began on December 23rd. Winds and spring tides have returned today across the whole of southern England and beyond. The Outer Bank camera was knocked out when the sea really rose (on a high spring tide) to the challenge of breaching its water resistant casing. I hope the SanDisc SDHC* will still hold on to its memories after being dried out.
It has been an eventful time at the Egg since my last post. Solar power failed again and then when my batteries were finally recharged on a meagre diet of rare solar particles, storms knocked out electricity to the entire neighbourhood from about 11.30pm on December 23 until 8pm on Boxing Day, curtailing most activity and the reporting of it. Outdoor actions planned for New Years Day (the burning of a large blackthorn Egg) were also postponed by hail and a parallel failure of WIFI which lasted 48 hours. Backdated recollections and musings will be posted over the next few days. Happy New Year to everyone from the riverside at Exbury.
*SanDisk say they designed the card to be very resilient and durable. It is shock proof, X-Ray proof, temperature proof, magnet proof, vibration proof and reassuringly I have read – waterproof.
Flood Warning
High water is due to top the predicted 3.9m tonight, due to the continuing southwesterly gales and the Environment Agency has issued a flood alert and indicative map. The inundation would be directly across the river as well as east toward Lepe, rather than across the somewhat higher marsh around my own protected nook.
Environment Agency flood alert map, issued on January 2nd at 17.03
Living Beside Water
My neighbours Nick and Caroline live in the house at the top of the field and between their home and mine, curved lines of earthworks follow the contours of a hill down to the river and reveal the remains of an iron age refuge.
In Nick’s kitchen a topographical study made in the early nineteenth century depicts house boats beside a creek. The curved bender roofs of the two hulls reminded me instantly of my own situation here in Exbury. Living beside water has long had many attractions.
Other Homes: A Badger Sett
A slightly sunken lane parallels Smugglers Copse down to the river. My neighbour Nick tells me a custom house used to stand at the head of this path at its junction with Inchemery Lane, but all trace (except for a kink in the road) has been lost. Toward the middle of the lane around 100 metres from the river, badgers have made a home in the soft embankment. I could not find any latrines, but there were a few trails into nearby pasture that would provide earthworms for a healthy diet. A few shallow conical scrapes were also noted under the trees above the sett which may be related.
Dust Bath
Beside the eastern bank of the river some 200 yards south of the Egg, a fallen fir provides bathing facilities for some of the many partridge encountered on my walk with local birding expert Juliet. Five or six separate wriggle holes were evident in the fine dusty ground. Around the other side, an interesting looking bottle has somehow found its way under the upturned roots of the tree.
Pre Dawn
Pre dawn light, Exbury Egg looking south toward the Isle of Wight, 7.50am, Wednesday 11.12.13
The Outer Limits
This carapace (top bit of the body) of a spider crab could have inspired the creation of an adversary for Doctor Who or a bit part character from a galaxy far away in Star Wars. I found it on an everyday shore line at N 50.46.960 W 001.23.916 on the extreme edge of the Outer Bank.
Sunrise
Sunrise, Exbury Egg looking South to the Isle of Wight, 7.56am, 7.12.13
Redbreast
A pair of robins are following me all the time around the Bofors Gun emplacement. As I fuss about rearranging bags of charcoal, bottles of paraffin and meths stored there, they pick up the insects and seeds unwittingly disturbed and dislodged. It’s an unusual symbiotic relationship where the redbreast gives us huge pleasure and we in turn help enrich its diet. I am sure it would not take long for them to feed from my hand.
What a poorer place it would be without these commonplace creatures that are such a feature of the ordinary culture of our isles. It was magical at seven o’clock this morning, to sit with a cup of tea in the thicket, listening to all the calls and songs.
The Exbury Egg 