Gunpowder, treason and an unfinished building

Until recently I had little idea how closely involved Northamptonshire notables were in the plot to overthrow King James I and VI.  Throughout the reign of Elizabeth I, Catholics had to keep their heads down if they wanted to keep them on their shoulders.

One Northamptonshire Catholic was the wealthy landowner, Thomas Tresham. He spent around 15 years in prison or under house arrest, and had to pay huge fines because he would not deny his faith.  He was by no means an ascetic, and found time and energy not only to father eleven children, but also to design and construct Lyveden New Bield -designed around significant numbers for Catholics: three – the Trinity; five – the wounds of Christ; and seven – the days of the creation, the deadly sins, the cardinal virtues and so on.

The New Bield was to be a summer house, to entertain his guests. It was linked to the main house, the Old Bield, by a walk through carefully planned gardens – orchards, a moat, and raised mounds for admiring the grounds.

The building was never completed.   Thomas died in September 1605 and his son Francis was involved in the Gunpowder Plot, and imprisoned later in the year. Francis died in prison in December in “mysterious circumstances”. After these deaths, the workmen realised they wouldn’t be paid, and downed tools.

A younger son, Lewis frittered away much of the remaining family fortune.  The building now belongs to the National Trust, who have restored the gardens with an orchard of old varieties of fruit, as planned by Tresham, a moat and landscaped mounts leading to the summer lodge.

Servants entrance into the basement where kitchens etc were - This is lower than 5'6" now

servants' entrance - hidden from the view of guests by the raised banks

A lone duckling - it later followed its mother and siblings to the other part of the moat.

The reflection would be perfect if only the wind dropped

Food for fish and ducks? Tadpoles galore!

Wind and woodpeckers

Out at Eyebrook reservoir on Sunday - the day of the strong winds
On Tuesday Marta and I went to Fineshade
and admired the green roof complete with poppy, which you may be able to see by clicking on the photo below...
a Spotted Orchid (not , as I thought, an Early Purple Orchid)...
a rogue grey squirrel - foiled in its attempt to steal the bird food ...
an interesting entry in the wildlife hide's logbook ...
a woodpecker - I really need a better zoom ...



I didn't manage a picture of the jay, which we also saw close up. Oh and I bought a slightly sad tomato plant for 50p - photo may follow.

Summer means swifts...

Independent, 14th June 2008

According to an article in the Independent today, swifts are declining in Britain, because houses no longer have eaves where they can nest - one remedy is nest boxes like those pictured. (From the newspaper) It would be a great pity if we could no longer experience the shrieking of squadrons of swifts between May and July. Maybe that's why we noticed them so much in May at Montebuoni , where there were nest holes in one of the walls.

We have housemartins at home now, although they arrived quite late in May. The same nest has been used for four years or so.

Baby steps does it.

According to a contact in Australia, during this year's Earth Hour 'the saving was equivalent to two power stations being temporarily out of service.'

Last year it was a Sydney-based event. This year it has gone global. According to the BBC link in the previous post, (which keeps changing some of the details) Chicago and San Francisco took part, along with Bangkok, Manila, Toronto and Dublin. New Zealand joined in as well. In Bangkok they saved 73.34 megawatts of electricity, which would have produced 45.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide.

In Britain, a number of villages arranged their own lights-out, although there has been no big publicity. 26 councils dimmed lights. I don't know which they were. On the south coast, Brighton turned off the lights on its pier, and in London - which was not officially involved - lights were turned down at City Hall.

Next year, will there be more? I guess it's our call.

Earth Hour, Ospreys and squibbles

The Ospreys are returning to Rutland Water, to stay for the summer, perchance to breed.
There are live webcam images, refreshed every minute between 9am and 5pm daily

Today at 8pm local time is Earth Hour. A token gesture perhaps. We are all asked to turn off our lights for one hour, in order to make a point about wasting energy.
I am as guilty as anyone of failing to publicise this, and failing to organise any local switch-off. I fear it is about to squibble. [= v.i. fizzle out like a damp squib Ref: Alidictionary 2008 ;@) ].

Otters, owls and wild boar

These beasts, viewed safely from behind a fence, live at the New Forest Otter and Owl Sanctuary, along with many other animals, from wallabies and badgers to tiny harvest mice, which move so quickly I couldn't manage a photo. There are also a couple of hand-reared rescue deer which enjoy chewing scarves and shoelaces while you're wearing them.
The wild boar and his family seem to lead a fairly placid life. He has a ferocious-looking set of tusks, and is no lightweight. I don't know how many live in the wild in England, but I would hate to corner one.

The Snow Leopard

photo Copyright bbc.

BBC 2 showed an excellent programme about the snow leopard in the mountains of Northern Pakistan. It is an agile animal with enormous paws and a heavy tail it uses to balance as it crosses precipitous slopes, sometimes carrying prey as heavy as itself.
We saw a female play with her almost adult cub, then send him back to the den when she had to do some serious hunting.

The film also tackled the problem of the animal's relationship with the villagers who originally saw it as a threat to their livestock, but came to appreciate it more when they realised its main prey was wild goats.
I felt sorry for the beast when she was fitted with a clumsy radio collar, but she continued to hunt effectively and the researchers hope the information they gained will help to ensure that the species survives.

A link to some of the myths and conservancy work associated with this animal