Saturday, 26th September 2015
Hello
Things are warming up around here in more ways than one! The sun has decided to shine and for the last couple of days its been just like Summer. Also, we’re hoping to move to Scotland before the end of October so it’s going to get a little too busy for walking and blogging.
Sadly I have to concede defeat and admit that I’m not going to make it to 1000 miles this year.
Never mind, there’s a whole new world of walking out there just waiting for me and Mr RR! As soon as we’ve got ourselves settled in, I daresay we’ll be off on some lovely new walkabouts.
Meanwhile, it’s going to get a little quiet on the blog…..but here are a few miles to keep you going until I get back to it all again.
See you in Scotland!
The (Notso) Wee Ricketyrambler
The Lost Gardens of Heligan (3 miles) and The Penrose Estate (6 miles)
We took ourselves up to the Lost Gardens last week and had a wander amongst the vegetable gardens and the dahlias:
I love the Italianate Garden:
but my favourite thing is the Potting Shed!
I want one!
Beautiful fungi:
Marvellous marigolds:
Fantastic flower gardens still:
Simply stunning!
They’ve got a new family of Tamworths who could squeal extremely loudly:
And a pair of Ostrich:
Mr RR did the rope bridge walk……but I’ve don’t it before and once is enough!
Then today we took the top path around Penrose, descending for coffee at the Stables Cafe and then returning alongside the lake and Loe Bar. We saw sparrows – flocks of them – A Quarrel of Sparrows! Five Great Crested Grebe – A Waterdance of Grebe, a Swim of Cormorants and a Posse of Herons! Quite a good morning for birds on the whole:
The views across to Helston were unusually clear:
These are Oak apples – a soft spongy ball found on the end of Oak tree twigs. Inside the apple is divided into cells and in each cell lives a grub, destined to become gall-wasps or flies very soon!
On the way back along the coast path from Loe Bar we noticed hundreds of tiny holes in the bank:
They went on for quite a way and there were wasps hovering all around. Despite many tries I was completely unable to get a picture of a wasp! Except this one:
Can you see it? On the left hand side – just emerging from it’s hole.
I think these must be Bee-killer wasps! These insects are voracious predators of Honey Bees – they capture and paralyse them and then carry them back to their nests before laying eggs on them. The developing larvae then feed on the bee. Twenty years ago this insect was rare but it is now colonising new habitats throughout England.
Total miles walked this year: 579
Artwork for Ricketyrambler by Andrew Major
ricketyrambler 