Blackberries

 Blackberries........

Late August, given heavy rain and sun
For a full week, the blackberries would ripen.
At first, just one, a glossy purple clot
Among others, red, green, hard as a knot.
You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet
Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it
Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for
Picking. Then red ones inked up and that hunger
Sent us out with milk cans, pea tins, jam-pots
Where briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots.
Round hayfields, cornfields and potato-drills
We trekked and picked until the cans were full
Until the tinkling bottom had been covered
With green ones, and on top big dark blobs burned
Like a plate of eyes. Our hands were peppered
With thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard's.
We hoarded the fresh berries in the byre.
But when the bath was filled we found a fur,
A rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache.
The juice was stinking too. Once off the bush
The fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour.
I always felt like crying. It wasn't fair
That all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot.
Each year I hoped they'd keep, knew they would not. 

Seamus Heaney

Dahlias........

Late summer wouldn't be the same without Dahlias...............

Tangmere, West Sussex: St. Andrews Church & Graveyard

With the commemorations for the 100th anniversary of WW1 in full swing I was reminded of the small church and graveyard at Tangmere in West Sussex. Tangmere airfield was responsible for the defence of Southampton and portsmouth during WW2 and Douglas Bader was in command for a spell. The graveyard has a mix of both aliied and German graves which are beautifully maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Within the churchyard there is a Yew tree which is thought to be older than the church itself (which dates from the 12th century) as well as a number of 18th century barrel graves. The reason for these graves is unknown but records show they cost 7/6 (about 35p) more than ordinary graves. 

Bee Swarm

Spotted on the way for an early morning swim!

Alphabet In Landscape

Courtesy of the British Museum via The Dirt is this rather wonderful set of  lithographs which are the letters of the alphabet depicted as elements of the landscape. They were created by Charles Joseph Hullmandel in the early 1800s and are wonderfully inventive snapshots of romantic landscape vignettes. The full set can be seen here

Spring Sprung......

Feeling distinctly Spring like in recent days:

Ooops

A new housing development close to the office has been proceeding at pace since late last year. Rumours began circulating that a structural element was not right and that some of the houses may have to be demolished and rebuilt.........

 The local newspaper reported; 'The homes are being constructed by developer Croudace, whose building director Gary Rapson explained they have had to demolish ‘about 15’ new builds due to substandard concrete being used.“We have had a look at all the options available and concluded that for long term durability and to maintain high standards, the only action is to rebuild the affected units,” 

The report went on: 'Mr Rapson confirmed that ‘it isn’t ground conditions that have caused the problems, but it is to do with an issue with the foundations’.“Something did not go according to plan,” he said, adding that in their own quality control inspection ‘something came up awry - a genuine mistake by a party’.

An expensive mistake no doubt and no option for the developer once the problem was discovered - I wonder how much (if any) of the demolished material can be reused...... 

Storm Casualties

Always sad when mature trees go over although interestingly the casualties around us seem to have been confined to trees which were already structurally defective. Given the rain that had fallen prior to the winds it is perhaps surprising that not more trees were completely uprooted.

Interesting image below which came via The Big Tree Society which gives an indication of the size of root system a mature tree can develop:

East Lothian Landscape Interventions

Second World War Tank defences which zig zag their way through mixed deciduous and conifer woodland off the A198 south of the Firth of Forth in East Lothian. 

Interesting landscape interventions...........

LI South East: Medmerry Realignment Scheme

Off to Medmerry on the south coast for a talk and visit organised by the LI South East to see the the new flood defence scheme (the biggest in the UK) which is nearing completion. 

Over 7 km of clay banks have been constructed to create an area which will be allowed to flood naturally, alleviating the risk of flooding to Selsey and over 350 properties, two holiday parks and a water treatment works. A breach has been made which allows the sea water in and out and the plan is to construct several kilometres of paths for walking and cycling.

The site is owned by the RSPBA and the new wetland areas will attract various wildfowl and wading birds.

London: No City For Cyclists

The Danish architect and planner Jan Gehl  has said in a report in  The Guardian  that cycling provision in London is 'laughable'. Gehl is a hugely respected urban designer who has focused much of his career on improving the quality of urban life by adopting a people based approach with an emphasis on travelling by bike and foot.

He went on to say: "In Copenhagen I cycle with one grandchild at the front of the bike and another at the back, and a five-year-old grandchild on his own bike next to me. That can be done if you have bicycle lanes which are proper lanes which have kerbs and proper junctions. But in London, never,"

His comments come in the wake of the deaths of several cyclists in the capital which have received extensive coverage in the national media. 

Gehl has worked in major cities all over the world including New York and is responsible for the award winning New Road in Brighton - one of the few shared spaces in the UK which allows pedestrians, motorists and cyclists to use the same space.

he is also quoted as saying "It is my opinion that to have a substantive bicycle culture it is not only for the extreme sport enthusiasts, the freaks who think, 'It's a good day if I survive'. If, like in Copenhagen, you have a bicycle system that's a real system, it should be city-wide in the major streets. It should be like sidewalks – it goes from one entrance door to another entrance door."

The vast majority of children in the small Sussex village where we live go to school in a neighbouring village and very few of them cycle as it is simply too dangerous with no safe cycling route, most of them have to rely on buses which are expensive, overcrowded  and unreliable.

According to Gehl if people walk and bicycle more it will lead to livelier,  more liveable, more attractive,  more safe, more sustainable urban environments with obvious health benefits.

At a recent Stop Killing Cyclists Campaign demonstration in London there were calls for 10% of the TfL budget to go on cycling (compared to 35% in Holland) which would be an excellent start but Local and Regional Planning Authorities should also be funding safe cycling routes with developers made to contribute more to enhancing and extending local cycle routes.

Rogues Gallery Part 01

Out and about you see some things and you just wonder: bad design, bad planning, lack of maintenance....

All of the examples below were spotted within a single 48 hour period last week, as a nation why do we have so little pride in our public spaces? 

Location; the centre of a well known (and very prosperous) West Sussex Market Town. I suspect it may have been hit by a car - possibly doing it a favour. I look forward to revisiting to see if a replacement has been planted.

Public highway adjacent to a recent (within 5 years) private housing development to the centre of a small Sussex village. 

Is it any wonder these Cherry trees  are struggling.....?

Tree Health & The Landscape - Seminar (Part 1)

Last week I attended a seminar which was hosted by Barcham Trees on Tree Health and The Landscape. Following an overview by Colin Moore of the Landscape Institute, Dr. David Slawson from the Food and Environment Research Agency spoke. After a brief resume of the pests which are currently affecting trees and shrubs in this country we were left in no doubt as to the seriousness and scale of the threats this country currently faces. 

Several of the main contenders (Including Phytophthora ramorum and Chalara fraxinea) could potentially change the British landscape as we know it, indeed this is happening already with the large scale felling of Larch trees in Wales and South West Scotland.

Agrilus planipennis - Emerald Ash Borer  has recently been introduced to this country via imported package material

 As landscape professionals the advice was:

• Get involved - look for signs of disease and pests on site, disseminate knowledge with colleagues and clients, promote initiatives such as OPAL which encourage people to study and explore their local environment;
• Awareness of current legislation; 
• Adopt best practice - eg. source planting stock which have been propagated and grown in this country, avoid possible spreading of diseases through thorough cleaning of footwear.

Worryingly, when asked what the greatest threat to trees and vegetation in the UK he answered that we probably did not know what it was as it hadn't been discovered yet............

Robin Snell and Garsington Opera House

Attended an interesting lecture yesterday evening as part of the 'Inspire' series of lectures hosted by the University of Brighton (http://arts.brighton.ac.uk/whats-on/gallery-theatre/public-lectures). The speaker was Robin Snell who was project architect for Glyndebourne Opera House prior to setting up his own architectural practice.

Topics covered included man-made versus natural, Cedric Price and Fun Palaces, how buildings sit in the landscape and how the way a building is constructed can profoundly influence the design. 

A  key early influence was Joseph Paxton, famous for Crystal Palace (currently very much in the news - (http://www.bdonline.co.uk/news/chinese-developer-plans-to-rebuild-crystal-palace/5058418.article) which employed a revolutionary, modular, prefabricated system and glass. 

A recent project is Garsington Opera Pavilion at Wormsley which was designed to be de-mountable due to planning constraints although the planning authorities have subsequently decided they are happy for the building remain standing throughout the year -  interesting to see how lifelong influences and concerns manifest themselves in a modern building which nevertheless sits comfortably in a very traditional English landscape. 

Sloe Berries

The warm summer has meant the hedgerows have been overflowing with fruit for free, Crab Apples, Rose Hips, Brambles and of course Sloe Berries have all been plentiful in our local field edges. 

Many of the gardens, allotments and community gardens have fruit trees which have been laden with apples, plums and greengages - I doubt if enough people make use of this food for free preferring the convenience of supermarket  prepacked fruit. 

Part of the problem is that much of the fruit becomes ripe at the same time however there are scores of recipes for preserving fruit and enjoying produce throughout the winter - and few more delicious (or fortifying on a cold winters day)  than Sloe Gin

Sloe Berries have a variety of names in the different counties of southern England; Bullens, Heg Pegs, Slags, Snags, Winter Kecksies and Winter Pick are all local names for the fruit of the Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa). 

These tart and berries are pretty unpleasant raw but can be made into a clear jelly as well as Sloe Gin. The recipe we use (handed down through generations) is a pound of sloes to a pound of sugar topped up with gin - the berries have to be pricked with a pin prior to bottling but freezing them will achieve the same result. (Many folk reckon that it is best to pick the berries after the first frosts to achieve a similar result). The bottle is then supposed to be agitated on a daily basis for the first few weeks however my father used to place the bottle in the boot of his car - a particularly efficient alternative!