10 tears on

A simple shroud

a sheet of spider web spreads

across the place that you once grew

the vine still grows

where it once wrapped you

in a dark embrace

two parts of you

lie stretchered on the ground

where you once stood

so close to me

then you fell

I caught you in my arms

and held you here ten years

grieving bitter tears

only your higher part remains

held up by my divided self

till I shall stand no more

Your twined trunk

matches my twinned branches

held high

brought low

decay is sure but slow

You are gone, all rotten

while I stay strong

how long

before I go too

a part of you

still holding on to me

Images taken at the grave today eleven years after Gill Owen collapsed and died in my arms

bird song over bubbling stream

Meeting with Mr Crow

I have not been keeping my nature blog for a long time now. perhaps its time has passed. But I thought I would like to share my meeting with a young crow which has inspired me to write a poem for the Ashmolean museum collection. This is just a couple of pictures for now taken in the meadow near Stonesfield on that side of the valley.

Roman remains

The valley has some quite ancient history.
I have put together some of my own pictures of North Leigh Roman Villa, with wiki images which help to give an indication of what the place would have looked like between 100 and 400 AD.

It will be possible to see inside the covered areas of the site on 15th September this month between 10.00 and 4.00. This is a rare opportunity not to be missed for history lovers.

If you can't go click on the link at the bottom to see the BBC animated version.
                                                                                           An open courtyard of a single story villa like, though ours may have been closed in for the colder climate ours.

 Looking down on the site from the hillside












The old Roman road of Akeman street runs across the valley below the villa.
http://streetmap.co.uk/place/Akeman_Street_Roman_Road_in_Oxfordshire_561611_331611.htm

The people who lived here at the time the villa was abandoned may have looked like this. http://www.lookandlearn.com/blog/14699/britannia-falls-prey-to-invaders-as-the-romans-abandon-her/

Angles and Saxons fought with Vikings for the next few hundred years. It has taken us till the twentieth century to re-discover central heating. I think the roman farmers may have been less barbaric too.

This gives a good idea of Roman under floor heating like they had in North Leigh

This is the covered mosaic floor. many of the rooms had mosaics like this, with under-floor heating.

This picture outside the site shows a rather grander two story villa, unlike our own.











http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/the-roman-villa-at-north-leigh-oxfordshire/5266.html

Kingfisher in flight

I finally worked out how to catch the kingfisher flying.

This little fellow seemed to have left the valley for good. But suddenly I saw him again last week The kingfisher is back in the valley.

I am pretty sure that the floods last year prevented them from breeding. I never saw them this spring; but here they are again for summer.

Last week I saw him flying first one way then the other down the river.

Coming back he banked and swerved as he saw me on the bank. Wonderful.

For these photos I chose a spot in the alders on the bank and only had a minute or two to wait before he came along.

Now all I have to do is learn to get him in focus in flight.

I have been trying to catch an enormous dragon fly I saw in the trees the other day; never saw one before. I always thought the little damsels were dragon flies. Now it is enter the dragon time; like a small helicopter; I think they call them emperors.

Upcoming Exhibition: Poetry and Pictures at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

From July to September there will be a poetry and pictures exhibition featuring works taken from the secluded valley at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. I thought I would share a taste of it with you on the blog to whet your appetites.

There will be poems and pictures about landscape and animals, trees and plants.

Dr Giles Watson shares the exhibition space with me, featuring his own poetry and pictures on the natural world.

The catch of a lifetime.

I was staring up into a tree on the bank of the river trying to get a good shot of a fledgling greater spotted woodpecker.

Then I looked down for a moment to the river at the foot of the tree.

To my utter astonishment there it was, larger than life, smiling up at me with a fair sized fish in its mouth













AN OTTER!



I never thought I would ever see such a thing in the mid day heat, in a small river, in rural Oxfordshire. But there it was. My camera was in my hand
Snap!

Not the best shot technically; the setting were for a bird flying.

But when I checked the screen, there it was.

I have caught a kingfisher once, and that was wonderful, but this is beyond special.

I have talked to people who say they fish about the otter being here.
I mentioned it in my first post of the nature blog.

But I didn't really believe they were here.

Now, not only have I seen one, I have caught him smiling up at me.

Kudos Mr Nick Owen