Just emerged.

This is a moth that has just emerged. The wings haven't dried and spread yet. The body was nearly 2" long and the wingspan looks as if it will more than 3". We think it is a hawkmoth ??????????

It is an Elephant Hawkmoth.
Thanks Google Images! :o)

Sparrow hawk.

Last year a pair of sparrow hawks nested over the river and raised two chicks. The young ones regularly came down to the water edge. 

Looking across the river.

This is the view across the river from our hedge. There are occasionally red squirrels over there under the oak and beech trees. 

Bird table visitor

Sometimes we get very different birds at the bird table. 

Heron.

The herons love this stretch of the river closer to town. There are a couple of deep pools that often have eels in them. Last week we watched a heron swallowing an eel. It went down tail first and was still moving around till it all went in! The eel was over two feet long! 

House viewed from another angle.

Cumbrian houses are traditionally plastered. All the stone round windows and doors is dressed to plaster up to. This is the first time we have taken all the plaster off the front of the house and there is a hint that the original house was perhaps only slightly higher than the downstairs windows. This house was supposed to have been built around 1745 but there has been a mill on this bend of the river for many centuries before that. 

Work in progress.

Work on the house progresses . The crabapple tree was heavy with blossom when this picture was taken. In the autumn it will be covered with small golden apples. 

The Guard Dog!!

 

Nosey Rabbit!

Wild rabbits keep sitting on this low windowledge. It is only a metre away from the computer screen. 

Butterfly bush!

We have many different coloured buddleias and they attract hundreds of butterflies. The "Black Knight variety has the most amazing scent! 

Cone flowers

These are always covered in bees and butterflies.I am designing a quilt based on this picture. 

Leek or Allium?

This grew from some leeks that went to seed in the border! Each year it grows about a metre high and is a big attraction to the bees!
Is it a leek----or a stray allium? 

Peaches

These did well last year! 

Fly agaric

These appear each autumn on the path beneath the birch. 

Woodmouse climbing on the Goosegrass

 

Bluebells

As soon as the daffodils have flowered the native bluebells take over .As we have cleared the bank the bluebells and daffodils have multiplied.

Spring

In spring the bank is covered with daffodils. 

We are pretty sheltered down in the valley . Once the plants get going they seem to thrive. 

Winter 2005

This is the same view after 15 years . The house built at the bottom of the field is just visible when the trees are bare. 

June 1990--------moving day.

This is a view looking down the field on the day we moved into the house.The grass was a metre high and had lots of dock, nettles and thistles.Apart from one silver birch and grass the field was bare. 

Rubbybanks Mill on the River Cocker

This is what the mill looked like in the nineteenth century . At one time there were up to 300 people working here. Now all that remains is our house(on the right) and what used to be part of the mill behind us. That is now also a house.

All the mill buildings are now demolished though the remains of the twin mill races are still visible.