Here are a few of the active group advert posts placed on your Facebook page, Chard & Ilminster in the past months.
We had received a good response, with many seeing our adverts, and I am sure attracting potential new members. These have been seen by hundreds of people in the past few months. I welcome new ideas on portraying to potential members just what we do. For an example, the Natural History post was seen by 121 in just a few days. This is free advertising, and we should do more to utilise it to get our message out.
Lewis Bates
U3A Social Cycling at Ilminster
Our group met for a coffee at Riverside Cafe Ilminster. This proved to be a good venue for cyclist.
Chaffcombe Art Carving
Dead Tree Gives Joy
A tree died in public land adjoining our church, so our local artist John who also attends to the land has carved the dead tree into a remarkable work of art for all to enjoy giving life to death. I think this is super! and would love to see it decorated by local children with fairy lights at Christmas time! A great gift to the community indeed.
Warm Colours
Here are some pictures of it, I think you will agree it is very good. The lines and curves remind me of early Christian Celtic art when the tree is lit by the sunlight it glows with a warm golden colour and is certainly enhances the approach to the church.
Sadly one or two locals consider it pagan and demand it be removed and have even removed images of it from the Social Media Facebook page so denying others to make a judgement….so if you want to see it get down to Chaffcombe soon. What do you think?
More images of the artists work can be seen on this link Previous Carvings in Chaffcombe area.
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- Intricate carving
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- Warm colours
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- The numeral at base
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- Existing Carving in the Village Pound
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- Goood Clean Lines
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- Carving as seen from gate, sign made by local man
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- Lovely juxtaposition
Macro at Seaton Wetlands
I went to the Wetlands at Seaton with the express intention of getting some macro shots of the insects there.
I was suprised at the lack of bees but easily found subjects to populate the Facebook Page.
The Shellduck ducklings were on show, see them in another post here.
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- Wasp gathering nest fibres
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- Speckled Wood
Little Egret Seaton Wetlands
Little Egret at Seaton Wetlands
Garden Bees
Time spent in the garden rewarding for bumble bees but no sign of any Mason bees.
Cycling
Cycled today. The field scene at Cricket Malerbie looked good at the time with the bright sunlight and menacing clouds, but not sure now. Used a Nikon P530 went faulty just out of guarantee will not zoom properly. Will not buy Nikon again, its a cheap camera (£230) but I do expect stuff to last more that 24 months.
Rambling & Photography
South Somerset Ramblers
Rambling and photography just does not mix well unless you are happy to take the odd snap as the rest of the group leave you whilst you try to capture a good pic.
On two occasions I lost the group and did eventually catch up with them as I gasped for air running.
I now use only a compact when walking and if the scene is really good I return with a tripod and DSLR.
This image is just 184kb to display on web.Taken when out with South Somerset Ramblers
Bluebells on a walk
The Irish Stamp
One of my images taken in my garden of a blackbird in flight was chosen by stamp designers to adorn the centenary issue stamp commemorating Francis Ledwidge death in the first world war. The issuing date is 21 July 2017.
Wren
Spent some time at Seaton Wetlands, the Wren was perched on a fence rail preening. Pics are a bit oof but I enjoyed seeing it. also the robin as hungry as ever posed.
West Somerset Railway
My Friend Richard Fisher an American who lives in Pennsylvania has a love of English Railways and plans to create a model layout based on Crewkerne Station. To assist him I traveled to Bishops Lydeard the main station to Minehead for West Somerset Railway, to photograph the Steam engines at West Somerset Railway for his project. Here are some of my first attempts at this really interesting photographic subject. I plan to go again.
Beer
A super sunny day spent at Beer lots of subjects to photograph. Used a Nikon P530 (with zoom failed) and my Canon 5d.
A Visit to Seaton
Sunday was a superb day with sunshine and blue skies. The evening sunset provided a soft light which any photographer would enjoy. The wetlands as always had subjects galore and the Robin kindly posed for me. Click to enlarge.
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- Sunset Seaton Beach
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- Seaton Wetlands
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- Seaton Wetlands
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- Wren at Seaton Wetlands
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- Robin at Seaton Wetlands
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- Axmouth Seaton
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- Axmouth Seaton
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- Axmouth Seaton
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- Axmouth Seaton
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- Axmouth Seaton watching the sunset at
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- Axmouth Seaton
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- Axmouth Seaton
Solitary Bees
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Mason Bees mating Did you know that female bees can chose the sex of their offspring? Female eggs are fertilised, males are not. Usually, female eggs are placed at the far end of the nest cavity and males eggs in the cells nearer the entrance. Males of a lot of species of solitary bee species emerge before the females, mainly so they can be waiting for virgin females to exit the nest and mate with them immediately. It therefore makes sense for male bees to be in the outer most cells. Leafcutter bees pass the winter as pre-pupa, finally developing into adult bees in the spring. Bees like the red mason bee Osmia bicornis pass the winter as adults, if you open a cocoon of this species in February the bee will be sitting there and fly off fairly fast. |
Winter is the best time to prepare for the next years solitary bee boxes.Clean any boxes from last year removing carefully and take out tubes and canes which contain next years larvae and place them aside in a safe sheltered outdoor place.
If you have used wood with holes drilled these may also contain larvea from leafcutter and mason bees. Although you may not be able to see them, they may be at the back of the tube.
Any canes which appear unused may still be used at the rear of the cane so do not discard them. Cut new canes, use rolled wrapping paper, drill good clean holes in timber blocks, do not use treated timber.
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In the past I made many boxes for sale in charity shops, but the problem with this is people who buy them have little idea of management and use them as garden decoration.
 Bug boxes for Ferne Shop Chard |
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A miner bee sitting happily on my
thumb.
Solitary bees will pollinate more flowers than a honey bee. |
Take care of your bee tubes and remember that a woodpeckers tongue can reach well into a tube or cane removing all bee larvea so its a good idea to protect the box with a 1/2″ wire mesh. at least 2 inches from front of canes/tubes,
Mason bees will leave a gap at the end of the tunnell/tube blocking the entrance with mud with its brood a good inch or so behind.
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Insects
Teal, Pheasants and Moorhens
Seaton Wetlands.
A dull day and high tide with few waders about in the morning. Spent a couple of hours here.
Some Teal brightened the morning feeding near the visitor centre. The Pheasants were evident released and ready to be shot anytime soon by someone who can afford to do this offensive “sport” Over 50,000,000 are released into the environment bringing disease and upsetting the wild bird food chain.
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- Teal at hide at centre
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- Moorhen
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- Pheasant strayed into the reserve
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- Pheasant
Seaton Wetlands
Little Egret obliged me today with this superb take off. Seaton Wetlands.
Little Egret Seaton
and a Little Stint seen on the waters edge near Island Hide
Grand Piano Returns
The Return of the Grand Piano
An enterprising young musician living in the Chard area has decided to branch out making Baby Grand Piano Shells. He realised through his long experience as a performer that he got more attention and respect from the audience when he used his baby grand piano shell he made for his keyboard. His colleagues and friends started asking him to make one for them. So this amazing idea has taken off and orders are flooding in. The picture above is in actual fact a Keyboard placed in his piano shell!
Replaces the X Stand
Normally a musician would use what they call a simple metal X stand to hold the keyboard into position whilst they performed, either standing or sitting. These are not visually exciting.
What he discovered was that he could sit comfortably and his equipment using a Baby Grand Piano Shell and this gave an extra dimension and an air of class to his performance.
The “shell” looks exactly like a grand piano and you would struggle to tell the difference from a real one.
You may all remember the performances by ABBA when Benny played at a baby grand, well this item will provide an on stage attraction.
Portable Grand Piano
Great part is its completely portable, with removable legs and the body will fit into most cars so its easily transported to the next Gig.
Weddings with Real Class
Those musicians who entertain us at functions like weddings are finding that this item is now a “must have” to provide that total air of professionalism. Some have ordered in both colours available white and black as they find this meets all functions and gigs.
Some local hobby music lovers who play at home have now latched on to this idea and are ordering them for their living rooms or playing area.
One Size Fits All
The Steveway Piano Shell is made to fit all keyboards currently in production, so it makes no difference whether yours is an expensive Yamaha or a low cost Casio you will look great sitting at your keyboard and be the envy of all.
Christmas Gift
Each Piano shell is made individually so you will have to place an order now to get it for Christmas.
Contact
Steve Walters can be contacted on his website www.stevewaypianos.com
Mute Swans
Mute Swans landing , from Tower Hide Seaton Wetlands
Compo The Cat
Compo The Cat
Sneaking into our yard the small black cat was seen scoffing the cat biscuits left for another stray and was every time chased off by our resident Maysie, a fierce greedy fat cat who is intolerant of any intruders into her domain.
This continued for some time, just getting glimpses of this new cat on the block.
Huddled and Frightened
Eventually the cat was found huddled and crouched on the inside our wooden compost box, squatting on the thick polystyrene block placed there to provide heat retention when the compost was working to reflect the heat generated, so it must have been this that the cat liked, the heat of his body reflected back.
It was emaciated, its ribs were quite apparent even under its fur and it was small in comparison to other cats.
We fed it and provided some blankets for it to squat on. Food was always devoured in an instant and the weather was kind and warm in the evenings and so it could stay outside for the time being.
From its behaviour we were certain it was a female , it hissed a bit when we first tried to stroke it but was too pre-occupied with eating to resist our attempts.
Photographs for Facebook
We took a picture and posted it on Facebook on the village page and had hundreds of hits, even someone claiming it was their cat until they came to collect him and realised it was a mistaken identity as their cat later turned up.
Touring the village enquiring who had lost a cat turned up a firm lead, but alas this proved to be wrong as well all the time feeding and protecting him from the fierce attentions of the evil Maysie the resident house owner cat.
Identity Chip
Eventually we decided to take the cat to the vet, this was easier said than done, but bribing it with a generous helping of best cat food proved to be too much to resist, we grabbed it and shoved it into a cat box.
To our amazement it was not at all fazed by this and calmly sauntered out of the box at the Vets room.
RSPCA
Expecting it to be announced a stray we were astonished to find this cat was indeed a male, and captured and chipped by the RSPCA at Cricket St Thomas some miles away only in August. The RSPCA had neutered him tagged him and let him go. We later learned the captors regarding him too “feral”for re-homing.
This is untrue as Compo as we have named him from the compost heap is friendly and a delight to be with. Friendly and full of character.
Eats at the speed of light
His appetite was insatiable, devouring all his food with the speed of light, and always looking for more. This sounded like he may be feeding roundworms in his tummy, so was given a dose of worming tablets over three weeks. The medication was successful to some extent but he still eats swiftly and claws the food all over the floor.
He won’t come into the house whatever the enticement, is deterred by the fierce evil cat who lurks inside.
Tea Chest
So he took a liking to the tea chest under the carport used to store plastic bags, so it is now lined with a pillow , blankets, polystyrene and hessian sacking to provide some warmth and protection from the weather. In addition he has his own central heating in the form of hot water bottles in the cold winter days and nights and he can now be seen snuggling up in the box at night. He is comfortable warm and safe.
The challenge remains to get him accepted by the wicked evil cat in the house, he has been caught eating from her bowl and this ended in a nasty encounter which he has not forgotten.
He rarely strays from the confines of our small garden, we think he does not want to get lost again.
Running the Compo Gauntlet
Running the Compo gauntlet every time we step into the yard or to gain entry to the garden or garage is becoming difficult as Compos nimble dance of attention always manages to stand him in the place where you want to tread, this causes a delay if one is going anywhere.
Getting trod on does not deter him at all. He just loves attention, he never gives up and insists on being first at all times.
Trust
Compo is the only cat I have ever met who touched noses with me, that in the cat world is trust indeed. Following us about all the time, helping during the hedge clipping, climbing up the thin twigs and getting stuck.
His coat looks in better condition now and he has fattened up, his ribs are well covered with a layer of fat and although he will never be a Tiger of a cat he is by default a lovable cat.
We are going to look after him from now on.