Redrise awash

After an unusually dry winter (again), the forests streams are in full flow, flooding their valleys and adjacent woodland.

Pier to nowhere

On aerial photos of 10 years or so ago this pier led out into the Solent, receiving boat loads of day trippers when it's low tide in the forts tiny harbour. It's quite now stripped of decking and land locked, a testament to the shifting nature of the pebbles of Hurst Spit.

Hurst Lighthouse

Blossom

The apple blossom is appearing on the trees, a sign that spring is really here, even though the weather would suggest otherwise.

Sea Beet

Sea Beet, or wild spinach, is a common sight along our coastline and the wild ancestor of vegetables such as beetroot and chard. Sea Beet is a perennial, growing to a meter or so and easily recognizable by its waxy dark green leaves; leaves which have a pleasant taste and can be eaten raw or cooked. Leaves can be found all year long, although best eaten between March and June, all parts of the plant are edible, packed with nutrients and vitamins and would provide a valuable survival resource.

Sea Kale

Sea Kale is found growing mainly on shingle beaches and is the fore bearer of cultivated cabbage, although the leaves are thick and can be waxy, they are good to eat, traditionally the plants were forced by covering them with sand or pebbles and the resulting tender stems then blanched. The plant is rare, due to its specific habitats, although common in these parts and a single plant can produce up to 10,000 seeds a year.

Hengistbury Cliffs

Keith's Big Birthday Bash - Here & Now

With a couple of good friends as company the journey from the forest to the smoke passed in no time at all; soon we arrived in Kingston and the Fighting Cocks, our venue for the evening. 'Here and Now' the band we had come to see. It was Keith da basses (bass player of afore mentioned beat combo) 60th birthday and a performance of quality was anticipated.

I first saw Here and Now in Southampton 83', supported by the Cardiacs; struck by their music and what they had to say, they featured heavily on the sound track of my formative years and continue to be frequently played. Through the years the band's members has come and gone, and come again, the music has evolved and throughout it Keith da bass has remained consistent as have the quality of his bassmanship. So, it would've been rude not to make his birthday bash. All portents were for a fine performance, and we were not to be disappointed.

The Venue, a bikers pub was suggested, was small and busy; the performance area was bijou and intimate, the stage, as it was, a few inches high, had nowhere near enough space to house a solo singer of diminutive proportions, let alone a band. Still. First appeared Redbus Noface, the support, they were fun, some good tunes delivered in a sort a furious psychedelic rock style; which was nice. But, then the main event. The tiny stage area quickly filled up as the (currently 6 member) Here and Now band filed on; Mr Keith the Bass, Dino Ferrari (who I'd not seen play for more years than I can remember), Nik Nimbus, Mark Robson, Andy Roger and Slim Verhoef. The set was well chosen, covering their catalogue from the 70's onwards, tracks like; What you see is what you are, or from 77's 'Floating Anarchy', Ali Barba, Opium for the People, then there was the 'Fantasy Shift' era, Secrets, Jacques Cousteau, and later tracks like Speed it up. Half way through an exotically dressed dancer appeared at the front of the stage in the form of 'Angel Flame', who danced and expressed herself to the music in a very pleasing manner. The crowd were right up for it and enjoying the show no end, the band too appeared to be enjoying it, the sound was great, the musicianship was of course top shelf; the whole thing was just sublime. But we weren't finished yet. For the final number saw former Here and Now knob twiddler 'Gavin Da Blitz' take to the stage to blast out 'Flouting Anarchy Radio'. Bloody marvelous really.

Here and Now never fail to deliver and tonight's performance was no exception. I hope Keith enjoyed his birthday as much as we all did; you know, we should celebrate stuff more often :o)

Harbour Bunker

Fragments of a destroyed concrete pillbox, of unknown type, lay scattered along the Christchurch harbour shoreline for about 30m, where there is a slight knoll on the Hengistbury Head side. Not shown on wartime records nor identified on previous surveys of wartime defences, these remains are a mystery. Although, the nature of the concrete and the diagnostic features that remain suggest it was a substance structure. Further investigation amongst the undergrowth are required.

Mark Ash Spring again.

Rotting hulks and slighted boughs in Mark Ash, bear witness to the losses suffered in elemental battles .

Eagle Oak

I approached the Eagle Oak at the same time as another, a pleasant lady, focused on her mission, who told me she loved the tree and it spoke to her; she's right, they will in you listen. Not wanting to impose I walked on, returning sometime later to share a moment or two with this ancient forest dweller. The Oak is set in over bearing and dark coniferous woodland, the straight evergreens towering over its gnarled form, the air sticky sweet with the scent sap, a heavy place and yet a peaceful, meditative place. To sit a while, as a break in the clouds let the Sun shine through, was a pleasure.

Grafitti

Ephemeral letters, numbers and other markings are easy to miss, camouflaged by time; these markings are most probably Naval, dating from the 1800's. The ambiguity I feel in relation to the rights and wrongs of graffiti on trees still nags at me. At once engaged by their presence, intrigued by their story and yet still not certain it's right to mark a tree; whilst at the same time arguing internally as to whether or not I should add to the forests graffiti, something I have a desire to do. But what would I carve? Although most of the forests graffiti would have been carved on a whip, an act of spontaneity or functional, cut for forestry purpose, I over think what I would write and so mire myself in indecision.

Even more '44

Another piece of wartime graffiti, identified very close to the previous find. I must have walked by this trunk dozens of times and have never spotted this; just goes to prove, you can look, but you don't always see. Again date 1944, this one reads 'MM 1944' and brings the total now up to 6 from this wood, and although some are scattered some distance apart, must reflect a single event? Encampment maybe, or exercise?

Nettles

Stinging nettles, our versatile friends. The stinging nettle is a wondrous plant, medicinal, edible and practical. You can eat it, use it to treat join problems, make beer, make textiles, make string and obtain a yellow (root) and green (leaf/stem) dye. These went into a risotto.

Mark Ash Spring

Minnow

The forest streams appear to have healthy stocks of Minnow, a good sign.