Sunday stroll: RSPB Arne

Oct9

On Sunday we headed out to the Arne peninsula on the south-western side of Poole Harbour, to visit the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) reserve there. We saw a group of spoonbills, recent arrivals to the UK which are now breeding here. It’s a lovely reserve, with areas of deciduous woodland, heathland and marshland, so attracts lots of different kinds of birds.

Looking through the Scots Pines (Pinus sylvestris) to Poole Harbour. There’s a group of spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia) in there, not that you can make them out!

The best my crappy camera could manage of the spoonbills. I counted about 48 individuals.

Either a Common darter (Sympetrum striolatum) or a Ruddy darter (Sympetrum sanguineum) dragonfly. He let me put the camera almost on top of him!

If I was clever I would stitch these next two photos together … but I’m not. Various islands in Poole Harbour, including Long Island, Round Island, Green Island and Brownsea Island.

The sandy cliffs by the beach at Shipstal Point. The archaeologist in me wanted to cut them back to a vertical section ….

RSPB website

Rings that remind me of things: Part 20

Sep19

Part 20 of an occasional series about rings in my Etsy shop that remind me of things.

Ring:

1969 Erik Granit modernist ring in sterling silver. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details.

Thing:

Morel (Morchella ulmaria). Photo by Walt Sturgeon (Mycowalt) at Mushroom Observer, via Wikimedia Commons.

So far I have had rings that remind me of an Iron Age hillfort, an alien spaceship, a cream horn, a radio telescope, Noah’s Ark, an octopus tentacle, spider eyes, Pluto and its moon Charon, the rings of Saturn, The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh, some lichen, the stepped Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara in Egypt, the Quality Street lady, a herb knife, a sea anemone, an Iron Age miniature votive shield, the Mayan Temple of Kukulkan at Chichén Itzá in Mexico, a screw propeller from SS ‘Great Britain’, and a pair of clackers.

A William Morris alphabet

Jul28

I have some tiny brooches for sale in my Etsy shop – all in sterling silver letter in a lovely ornate script, decorated with leaves and curling tendrils, and one with extra enamelled decoration.

Tiny William Morris letter ‘F’ brooch. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

Tiny letter ‘G’ brooch, in a William Morris style, by Ortak/Malcolm Gray. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on link for details.

William Morris letter ‘C’ brooch, enamelled, made by Ortak/Malcolm Gray. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

A few years ago I sold a letter ‘C’ in the plain silver series: an alphabet of brooches in a William Morris design, made by Ortak, the Orkney firm of jewellers founded by Malcolm Gray and based in Kirkwall on Mainland, the largest Orkney island off the north cast of Scotland. I have since sold letters ‘B’, ‘C’, ‘E’, ‘J’, ‘L’, ‘M’, ‘P’ and ‘R’ in this series, and have seen others (‘A’ and ‘H’):

Ortak silver letter 'A'. Photo by CAtaway on flickr.

Ortak silver letter ‘A’ brooch. Photo by CAtaway on flickr.

Tiny William Morris letter ‘B’ brooch in sterling silver by Ortak / Malcolm Gray. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

Vintage tiny William Morris design sterling silver brooch forming a letter ‘C’, and made by Ortak in the 1970s. Sold in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery. Click for details. (NOW SOLD).

Tiny letter ‘E’ brooch in sterling silver, design by William Morris. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

Tiny William Morris letter ‘E’ brooch in sterling silver by Ortak / Malcolm Gray. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

William Morris letter ‘H’ brooch, made by Ortak/Malcolm Gray. Photo by her.dream

William Morris silver letter ‘J’ brooch (I thought it might be a J or an L, but have since seen the L, so now know this must be a J), made by Ortak/Malcolm Gray. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

Tiny William Morris style letter L brooch, by Malcomlm Gray/Ortak. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

William Morris silver letter ‘M’ brooch, made by Ortak/Malcolm Gray. Sold in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

William Morris letter ‘P’ tiny brooch, for sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery. Click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

William Morris silver letter ‘R’ brooch, made by Ortak/Malcolm Gray. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

This series was also available in gold: I have only ever seen one, a letter ‘M’:

9 carat gold William Morris letter ‘M’ brooch, hallmarked in Edinburgh in 1990. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

I also had another in the enamelled series:

Small enamelled letter M brooch in a William Morris style, by the Scottish firm of Ortak. The brooch is available to buy in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

From my internet truffling, it seems that these letters are most similar to those used by William Morris in his Kelmscott Press edition of Chaucer’s collected works. You can see the letters here (alphabet starts on page 33 of 56).

Morris is one of the founders of the Arts and Crafts movement, and a designer of beautiful textiles, tiles, stained glass, furniture, book design and calligraphy—you name it, he probably designed it.

Morris’s skill at calligraphy is well known, and his illuminated manuscripts and book illustrations are gorgeous and wonderful. Here are some letters designed by Morris that might also have been part of the inspiration for the brooch series above:

Letters designed by William Morris.

Man O’War Cove and Durdle Door, Dorset

Jul6

Last Saturday (30 June) we rather rashly decided to visit the Dorset coast – along with most of the rest of the UK, it seemed. The weather has been scorching and so we decided we wanted to see Man O’War Cove and Durdle Door, neither of which places we’d visited before.

Man O’War Cove is part of a larger bay called St Oswald’s Bay, and is marked at its western end by a headland of almost vertically-bedded rock. On the other side of this headland is the famous rock arch, Durdle Door, and another bay. The cliffs behind the bays are steep. Click on all photos to enlarge/embiggen/bigify.

The view of Man O’War Cove as you approach from the car park. Durdle Door is on the other side of the headland, off to the right of the photo.

Man O’ War Cove is the nearer of the two bays: all together this is St Oswald’s Bay. The rocks in the sea are Man O’War Rocks, and the promontory separating the two coves is Man O’War Head. Looking to the east.

Durdle Door, with the high ground of the Isle of Portland (not actually an island) in the background to the left, and Weymouth in the background to the right.

Durdle Door. Some lads were climbing up the right hand part of the arch and jumping off into the sea – you can make them out if you enlarge the photo.

We climbed up a footpath back to the car park, and were rewarded with this fabulous view of the headland: Man O’War Cove on the left and Durdle Door on the right.

All the time we were there was a constant stream of green t-shirt clad walkers was coming from the west. They were all taking part in the Macmillan Cancer Support Jurassic Coast Mighty Hike, a 22-mile walk along the coast to raise sponsorship funds for this fantastic charity.

Green-clad charity walkers for the Mighty Hike organised by Macmillan Cancer Care. The walkers were doing a 22-mile walk in the scorching heat – much respect!

If you are interested in the geology of the area, this illustrated article is a good place to start.

Rings that remind me of things: Part 19

May8

Part 19 of an occasional series about rings in my Etsy shop that remind me of things.

Ring:

Kupittaan Kulta trapped carnelian orb ring. For sale in my Etsy shop: click on photo for details. I also have a chrysoprase (green chalcedony) ring in this design.

Thing:

Clackers, a much-beloved then banned playground toy of the late 60s/early 70s. Photo by Santishek, Wikimedia Commons.

So far I have had rings that remind me of an Iron Age hillfort, an alien spaceship, a cream horn, a radio telescope, Noah’s Ark, an octopus tentacle, spider eyes, Pluto and its moon Charon, the rings of Saturn, The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh, some lichen, the stepped Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara in Egypt, the Quality Street lady, a herb knife, a sea anemone, an Iron Age miniature votive shield, the Mayan Temple of Kukulkan at Chichén Itzá, Mexico, and a screw propeller from SS ‘Great Britain’.

Sunday stroll: West Dorset

May7

Yesterday the weather was so glorious that we headed out first thing for an adventure. We wanted to do a walk along a river, and as the rivers round our way are mainly lacking in public rights of way, we headed to one of our favourite parts of the world, West Dorset. Click on all photos to embiggen/bigify.

Our first port of call was Pilsdon Pen, a hillfort-topped hill very near where my parents used to live. It used to be thought the highest point in Dorset, until a re-survey showed that the neighbouring Lewesdon Hill was a mighty two metres higher.

Lewesdon Hill from Pilsdon Pen.

On a really clear day the views are spectacular, but the heat haze made the visibility not so great. Lots of lovely chubby lambs on the hill.

Chubby lamb on Pilsdon Pen.

Then we drove on to Whitchurch Canonicorum, and did a short walk along the banks of the River Char, which flows down to the sea at the aptly named Charmouth.

River Char to the right of the photo. It’s narrow and quite deeply incised.

The walk was pretty, but a bit disappointing nature-wise: we only saw five species of butterfly (orange tip, peacock, small white, speckled wood and brimstone), and very few birds, though we did have a brief encounter with a heron. The wild flowers were also rather limited: mainly dandelions, lady’s smock (also known as cuckoo flower), greater stitchwort, bluebells, wild garlic and field buttercups.

Loads of lady’s smock in the damper areas.

Beautiful wild garlic.

Bluebells and greater stitchwort growing in the shade of a hedgerow.

Afterwards we went to the village pub, the Five Bells, but as they didn’t have any alcohol-free lager (I know, we’re both on the wagon and needs must when you fancy a cold one!) we went on to the Shave Cross Inn in Marshwood Vale. We’ve been here many times and it’s a lovely pub, but sadly too popular yesterday as we couldn’t get a table to eat. And no alcohol-free beer either, so we contented ourselves with big glasses of fizzy water with ice and a slice of lemon and pretended they were g&ts, sitting in the sunny garden. There’s a lovely old Victorian postbox built in to the side of the pub.

Victorian postbox built in to the side of the Shave Cross Inn. The VR stands for Victoria Regina (Queen Victoria).

Then on to the pretty market town of Bridport, which unsurprisingly was Sunday-shut. We snaffled a supermarket sandwich as a pub lunch anywhere wasn’t going to happen (too busy on this Bank Holiday weekend and too late). We took the coast road eastwards out of Bridport, and stopped at the National Trust-owned Cogden Beach at the western end of Chesil Beach. There were quite a few anglers fishing from the shingle, and a few hardy swimmers. The water was pretty calm and I was tempted, until I went for a paddle. Not warm! One very excitable young woman was swimming and shouting to her friends on the beach ‘I love the sea!’ so happily that it wouldn’t surprise me if she’s grown a mermaid tail by now.

She loves that sea!

I tried to take an arty-farty photo of the shingle (pea to grape sized here, where at the eastern end of Chesil they are sweet potato sized), but when I looked at it on screen just now it looked like I could have taken the shot of a dumpy bag of gravel at my local Travis Perkins. Not one for Instagram!

Hmm. Cogden Beach or Travis Perkins?

Then back in the car and we decided that rather than take the A35, the quick road back to Dorchester, we’d bimble along the road that runs vaguely parallel and to the south of it. I cycled this road back in 1987 (a Sunday cycle) when I was working on the archaeological excavations ahead of the construction of the Dorchester bypass and had bought myself a bicycle so I could see some more of the countryside. It was quite nostalgic visiting again – we drove through Long Bredy, Littlebredy and passed the gateway of a new country house that I remember seeing a tv progamme about many moons ago: Bellamont House, built in the Neo Georgian / Neo Gothic Revival style. We admired their golden duck gates and the longhorn cattle within.

Bellamont House, between Long Bredy and Littlebredy.

We decided to head home via the Cerne Abbas Giant: he always seems so pleased to see us.

The Cerne Abbas Giant.

Look closer.

Norman Grant, silversmith

Apr25

I’ve recently become enamoured of the work of Norman Grant, a Scottish silversmith (and occasionally goldsmith) who produced gorgeous work from the late 1960s to the late 1970s. Grant used enamel beautifully; he also favoured organic shapes such as bubbles, circles and peacock feather-like details. Apparently he drew a lot of his inspiration from the nature he observed around him. His use of colour was beautiful too – he favoured mainly blues and purples, but also reds, oranges, ochres and browns.

There are several designs of his which I particularly love. The first is his ‘bubble’ jewellery, featuring open circles of silver, sometimes arranged randomly and sometimes like the petals of a flower.

Norman Grant enamel and sterling silver pendant, hallmarked in Edinburgh in 1979. (NOW SOLD).

Norman Grant sterling silver ring, 1978 Edinburgh hallmark. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

The second is a development of the bubble jewellery, but which features a peacock feather-like motif. The terminal heart-shaped motif has also been used on its own in his jewellery designs, and is described as a lily-pad.

A glorious Grant Norman peacock pendant, in enamel and sterling silver, with 1973-1974 Edinburgh hallmark. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

He also made many pieces in what could loosely be described as an Art Nouveau style, often with blowsy floral and botanical motifs:

Norman Grant floral necklace, hallmarked in Edinburgh in 1979. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

Norman Grant ginkgo leaf enamel and sterling silver pendant and chain. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

as well as scenes of local Scottish life:

Norman Grant sterling silver brooch of a thatched croft, hallmarked in Edinburgh in 1980. Click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

He also made nature-based pieces in a more modern style:

Norman Grant floral pendant and chain, with a 1978 Edinburgh hallmark. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

Norman Grant pendant and necklace, hallmarked in Edinburgh in 1973-1974. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details (NOW SOLD).

Norman Grant enamel and sterling silver ring. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery. Click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

and more modernist, abstract pieces:

Norman Grant pendant and chain. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

After Grant retired from jewellery making to work for De Beers in London in the early 1980s, but his company, Dust Jewellery, continued making jewellery into the 1990s.

There are a couple of good articles online about Grant which are well illustrated and well worth a read:

http://www.modernsilver.com/normangrant.htm

https://www.modernvintagestyle.co.uk/blog-section/about-norman-grant-jewellery

H Dipper of Labuan

Apr18

My maternal grandparents lived and worked in what was then British North Borneo (now Sabah, a state in Malaysia) from 1919 to 1951, apart from home leave periods, and three and a half years spent in various internment camps in Borneo under the cruel keep of the Japanese during World War 2. My mother and her brother were born there in the early 30s, and I have been researching colonial life in British Borneo for quite a few years now. (One day I hope to publish a book about it. One day …)

The carpentry box belonging to H Dipper of Labuan, British North Borneo.

I watch Antiques Road Trip every now and then, and in a recently-aired episode I was interested to see a large wooden chest filled with carpenter’s tools. The name of the owner, H Dipper, was clearly written on the side; the first part of his address was a little less clear but I could just make out ‘LABUAN’ and below it ‘B. NORTH BORNEO’ (for British North Borneo); to the right of this was other script that had been rubbed out and so was pretty much illegible, though I could make out ‘BORNEO’ again. British North Borneo (first ruled by a Chartered Company and then post-war as a Crown Colony) ceased to be on 16 September 1963 with the formation of the independent Federation of Malaysia, after which time it was (and still is) known as Sabah. So that gives me a terminus ante quem for the date of this box and H Dipper’s sojourn on Labuan, a small island (and now a Federal Territory of Malaysia) off the south-west coast of Sabah.

I am curious to find out more about H Dipper and his life on Labuan. Were his tools part of his work? Maybe he worked for the PWD (Public Works Department)? Or was woodworking his hobby? Maybe the tools were added later and are nothing to do with the life of the box in Borneo. If anyone knows anything about H Dipper (I’m pretty confident in assuming he is a he) I would love to hear from you. You can leave a message in the comments field below.

The box was bought by Charles Hanson in Williton in Somerset for £55 and sold at an auction held by Lawrences of Crewkerne, Somerset for an impressive £220. The programme (Series 5, Episode 6) was first broadcast in October 2012, and I think was probably filmed in the spring of that year.

A little postscript: I do know at least that H Dipper was not one of the civilian internees held at Batu Lintang camp outside Kuching in Sarawak, Borneo, the camp where most of the civilians from British Borneo were held by the Japanese during WW2.

Animal jewellery part 2

Apr2

It’s been a while since I last did a blog post on the animal jewellery in my Etsy shop, and I have some new pieces.

First off, it’s frog time! The first frog spawn appeared in our pond on Thursday (29 March 2018) – quite a bit later than last year (7 March 2017) but the Beast from the East and the Mini Beast from the East put everything back quite significantly. In honour of our froggy friends I present:

Edwardian turquoise and red stone frog brooch. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

1987 solid sterling silver frog brooch, London hallmark. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

Art Deco celluloid cicada brooch, decorated with gold paint, probably French. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

1989 sterling silver scarab pendant. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

Spider brooch with faux turquoise body. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

Lion rampant ring. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

1989 sterling silver lion’s head ring, Sheffield hallmark. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

Volmer Bahner red enamel butterfly pendant and chain. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

David-Andersen green enamel butterfly stud earrings. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

David-Andersen orange enamel butterfly stud earrings. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

Victorian yellow glass ladybird brooch. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

Sterling silver owl brooch, in a Charles Rennie Mackintosh style. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details. (NOW SOLD).

Sterling silver bird pendant and chain by Magnus Maximus Designs. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

830 silver dolphin cufflinks, made in Denmark. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

Sea beast / porpoise / dolphin / mythological creature ring in 850 (or possibly 950) silver. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

Sterling silver fish brooch. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

Danish fish link bracelet in 830 silver. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

Sterling silver fish brooch. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

Ram’s head bangle in 900 silver. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

Danish leaping deer or gazelle brooch. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

Swedish pewter hare pendant and chain. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

Zoomorphic Celtic brooch. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

Zoomorphic Celtic bar brooch. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

Zoomorphic pewter serpent brooch by Eivind G Hillestad of Norway, in a Viking style. For sale in my Etsy shop, Inglenookery: click on photo for details.

The full range of the animal jewellery in my Etsy shop can be seen here.

Snow birds

Mar20

In the two recent periods of snowy weather (The Beast from the East, over 1, 2 and 3 March) and the Mini Beast from the East (from 18 March onwards – no more snow falling but it is still heavy on the ground), we’ve been putting even more food down for the wild birds. We’ve been rewarded by some great views of birds we rarely see in the garden – and three species that are new to us.

The first new species might not seem that exciting, as they are all around us in the village, nesting in rookeries in the tall beech trees, but we have never had rooks (Corvus frugilegus) actually come down into our garden before.

Rook (Corvus frugilegus). Photo by Rafał Komorowski (Wikimedia Commons).

Rook (Corvus frugilegus). Photo by Axel Mauruszat (Wikimedia Commons).

The second new bird was a very exciting sighting, and he’s been back several times: a male hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes). This is the biggest finch in the UK, and we’ve never seen one before, anywhere, so to see one in our garden was wonderful. And he’s bloody massive. I tried to get a photo of him next to a chaffinch, the finch it most resembles, but sadly failed to get a decent shot.

Male hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes). Photo by Mikils (Wikimedia Commons).

Male hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes).

Top to bottom: Starling, blackbird, hawfinch.

The third new bird is a male reed bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus). This little bird looks superficially like a male house sparrow, but has a distinctive black head, bright white collar and a black streak like a tie down its chest. Its body plumage is a little streaky in appearance, reminiscent of a siskin’s or a dunnock’s.

Male reed bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus). Photo by Andreas Trepte (Wikimedia Commons).

We’ve also had quite a few fieldfare (Turdus pilaris) and redwing (Turdus iliacus) visit during the snowy periods. We only see these winter visitors occasionally.

Turdus overload: top to bottom Fieldfare, Song thrush, Redwing, Blackbird.

Bird species seen in our garden during the snowy spells of March 2018:

Blackbird (Turdus merula)

Song thrush (Turdus philomelos)

Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris)

Redwing (Turdus iliacus)

Robin (Erithacus rubecula)

Long-tailed tit (Aegithalos caudatus)

Blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus)

Great tit (Parus major)

Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)

Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis)

Greenfinch (Chloris chloris)

Hawfinch (Coccothraustes coccothraustes)

Siskin (Spinus spinus)

Reed bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus)

Dunnock (Hedge sparrow) (Prunella modularis)

House sparrow (Passer domesticus)

Starling (Sturnus vulgaris)

Pied wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii)

Wood pigeon (Columba palumbus)

Collared dove (Streptopelia decaocto)

Jackdaw (Coloeus monedula)

Rook (Corvus frugilegus)