Bare foot

I've experienced a renaissance in bare foot walking of late. I used to go shoeless a lot, although the dangers of urban bare foot walking (glass, dog poo, etal) became to much. Out here though, in the forest, it's different...it's fantastic. Of course, out in the woods you have to watch out for that nemesis of the bare foot walker, the bastard Holly, but beyond that it's liberating.

Becton Bunny Sunset

Sunset as seen from the cliffs above Becton Bunny.

Dead Kennedys

It makes me smile to see that old punk bands still have an influence on section of youth. The symbol carved into the sand cliff face at Barton is that of The Dead Kennedys, an American new wave band formed in the late 70's, which had a big influence on both sides of the Atlantic. Right on!

Playtime

It's rare for the forest ponies to approach you, more so if you've got a hound with you and it's even rarer for a foal to approach you. But that's what happened today. A lovely young foal made directly for me and allowed me to pat and stroke it, before playing with Norris for some while. It would have continued to play if we hadn't move on, rare indeed. It was a lovely moment on a lovely morning walk. 

Spider parlour

''Will you walk into my parlour?'' said the Spider to the Fly,
 'Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy. 

''Fuck off!'' said the fly.

Heavy

It's little know, but the New Forest suffers from pockets of heavy gravity. They keep it quiet so not to scare people or put them of visiting. Though, it's harmless to the passing visitor, it does have longer lasting effects on the forest wildlife, who have though adapted over time and still thrive. Here we see an example of a heavy gravity pocket pony who was born in the pocket with shorter legs to compensate for the added pressure. Locally they're known as forest dachshunds. What do you mean, I'm talking shit?

Dumb Poets @ Dean Park Inn

Another local venue I'd never been to before, and another local band I'd not heard before. The venue was the Dean Park Inn located at the Bournemouth end of Charmy, it felt very local (if you know what I mean), though said locals and staff were friendly and welcoming. The band were a four piece, the Dumb Poets, Lance Riley Vocals and Guitar, Harry Skinner Lead Guitar, Joe Musker Drums and Jim Greenwood Bass Guitar, and this was their inaugural outing.  Inaugural outing maybe, although at least one of the band members, lance Riley, has been in other bands (and I suspect by the standard of musicianship the other members have too). Lance has been in locally legendary bands The Bewley Brothers and The Spoons. As I say, all the bands members were proficient in their art and created a nice tight sound, as they belted out some quality tracks. The audience loved it, every track receiving rapturous applause. The whole evening had a lovely atmosphere, created by a group of excellent musicians.  When seeing or hearing a band for the first time the brain automatically tries to categorize, I have to say I struggled to pin a genre on the Dumb Poets or say 'they're like', and that's no bad thing. Though, if I 'had' to say, I'd say their sound is in the indie rock pop ball park. I should mention DJ Will provide a fine range of sound before and after the bands performance. All round a great evening. I'll be catching the Dumb Poets next time they're about and recommend them to you too.

Mill Lawn

Mill Lawn early this morning, looking towards Red Rise. What a way to start your day.

King Fisher

Yeah, all right I know, it's not the greatest picture of one of our most colourful birds, but hey, think of it as a 'Where's Wally?' type thing.  For a few days now I've spotted a beautiful Kingfisher darting along this section of Red Rise Brook. It's been notable to me as I can't remember seeing them along this section stream in the past. On the other occasions I'd seen it, it was little more than a fast moving blue flash, though today it paused, perched on a stream side shrub, affording me an extended viewing. Nice.

Autumn fruits

It'll soon be Mabon and the period of second harvest, the fruit/berry harvest. The fruiting shrubs of the forest, the Crab Apples, the Hawthorns and Blackthorns all see their fruits swelling, with the potential of good crops. For me, Blackthorn is my main focus, every year I make a litre or two of Sloe gin/vodka, and this years crop is looking good, with good sized fruits. It's exiting, I look forward to this time of year and its foraging potential.

Though now when foraging or using wild foods, I find there's an increasing conflict of ideas and traditions. When to pick, how to process and of course the myriad of old folk lore around both, most of which is based in sound observations and understanding, although I feel climate change now challenges some of the old sayings and ways. Take Blackberries for instance, traditional folklore says you can't pick them after a certain date in September (moveable depending on your geography nationally) as they become the 'devils berry'. Clearly they don't, though there is a chemical change around said dates which makes the blackberries unpleasant eating. It was easier to explain this to a preliterate population by associating it with the Devil rather than trying to explain chemical changes, hence the lore. But this was when seasons were reliable seasons, I think due to climatic changes and seasonal fluidity, the date is more flexible (although at some point the berries taste will change for the worst, that aspect still hold true). This year as we rapidly approach that point of chemical change, the majority of the forest Blackberries are still unripe, and will probably ripen and still be edible after the old cut off date. With Sloes they say pick them after the first frost, but again due to seasonal climatic changes we might not get a frost until after new year, by which time the sloes will all be gone, eaten by the birds. So you've got to take them earlier. The same can be said for so many other forageable resources, the old lore, which endured for centuries, now conflicts with our weather/climate reality.

I think we're going to have to adapt our folklore to reflect our current climate, and not stick so rigidly to the old lore, respect it, though adapt. 

Red Rise Shade

No better way to start the day.

Attacks on the NHS

It appears that every day now you see or hear more reports in the 'news' about the NHS, nearly all negative and most ill informed or purposefully misleading. Of course this is not by coincidence, it's part of a well orchestrated plan to demonize our publicly controlled NHS and sow the seeds of a commercial model heath service. Not a day goes by, it seems, without some new report being published on failings or some scandal about treatment, and if someone’s anecdotal musings are aired, they'll be almost entirely negative, of course with one tiny positive anecdote shoehorned in to stifle claims of media bias.

Well, bollocks I say. My wife has just been in hospital for a couple of days to have a spinal implant op, a serious neurological procedure. The NHS were fucking brilliant! Yeah, you can see it fraying at the edges, some of the equipment looks tired, and yeah, there don't appear to be enough staff and the staff that are there are all rushed off their feet, and things appear to take longer or sometimes you have to ask a couple of times for things. But don't blame the doctors, the nurses or the support staff, blame successive governments (and the wilfully ignorant who mandate their policies) who have constantly undermined and underfunded the NHS. Any failings in the NHS are there by establishment design. Blame outsourcing (or privatization as it really is), look behind the headlines and 9 out of 10 times the area of the 'NHS' which has failed is in fact a private contractor! This is never mentioned, corporate secrecy to protect competitiveness, don't you know. Blame underfunding. Blame structures embedded by government policy, designed to create discord and demoralize both patient and practitioner, aimed at creating a fertile bed on which to sow the seeds of privatization.  Privatization doesn't work, except for those shareholders reaping the profits. Name one public service or state company improved by privatization; I bet you can't (with honesty).

So next time you see or hear a report on the NHS failing, look behind the headline, think about what's motivated the story, who's directing it and what narrative is being projected. Treat the NHS staff with love, and if you have to wait too long or you have a minor complaint, speak softly, remembering it's not their fault, on the whole they're trying their best to give the best service and care, with ever diminishing resources and ever diminishing respect. Direct you disdain at those truly responsible, government, the establishment and those who give mandate to their wicked plans. The NHS is this country’s greatest achievement and it's being dismantled for profit in front of us, and that's not to the people benefit, no matter what line we're spun. Love it (the NHS) or loose it! It's as simple as that.

And, while I'm going on, the same ill informed and wilfully ignorant who mandate the governments attack on the NHS are usually the same people who complain about immigrants 'coming over here and stealing our jobs' (both being elements of the same ideological package). Whilst in hospital a good half the people we spoke to were foreign, all were competent, coherent, lovely, caring, professional people. They've not stolen anybodies job! That's just right wing rhetoric created to distract from the simple truth, which is, successive governments have intentionally failed to invest in training and recruitment, and we need these foreign workers to staff the NHS. I for one thank the gods for them.

Holy cow!

The last few years have seen a marked increase in the frequency in which you stumble across cows in the forest. It's return to the past in many ways and a positive thing too. Pre industrial forestry in the New Forest saw cattle grazing as common practice, as attested too by the widespread use of pollarding, which is just coppicing put out reach of grazing animals. This practice was banned with the onset of industrial forestry as were the grazing livestock. It's good to see them back, it adds to the diversity, as well as adding an element of danger. What danger you ask? Well, I reckon cows have become more aggressive in recent years, we've been chased by them several times recently. On one occasion this led to a friend suffering a broken ankle. So, when a horny beast like this one pops up from behind the bracken in front of you, looking moody, you think twice about your next move.  That said, I say lets see more! Reintroduce more animals back into the landscape. I'd love to see wild pigs roaming the forest again, it works fine during pannage.  Yeah, it might create some problems, even dangers but the benefits to diversity would be widespread. I think it might make us more human too, having to think more whilst walking the land could reconnect us to our rightful place in the natural order of things, from which we are currently far too removed.

Bee-have

A colony of bees gather on the tree around the entrance of their nest to take in the early morning sun. I don't know how long a nest remains active, though this colony of bees have been living in this old oak for years now. Nice to see.

Sentinet @ the King Arthur 13.8.2016

Fucking astounding! I could just leave it at that, a two word review of last nights Sentient gig at the King Arthur. I could maybe add a couple more exclamation marks, for emphasis. But, as powerful and succinct as that may be, it would just be too lazy and Sentient deserve more... much more ( also, I'm rarely succinct).

I've seen Sentient a few times now, all wondrous, though tonight’s manifestation was imbued with added excitement, as there were new band members on-board. Gone was bass luminary Subs, now that position was taken by the legendary (really, legendary isn't a good enough adjective) Mike Howlett on bass.  When it comes to great bass players Howlett is right up there, his passion and skill shine through brightly, he doesn't just play bass, it flows through him and it shows. Also, Tanya Horn wasn't on drums this evening (although was in the house), that position was filled by the equally magnificent Steve Cassidy. Though a friend who saw Sentient perform Kozfest said they both played, which sounds way cool. Cassidy's drumming is clean and powerful, able to drive and maintain the most rhythmic of numbers.  That wizard of twiddly knobbery Joie Hinton maintained his position at the controls of keyboards and synth. And of course there is Steffe Sharpstrings on guitar. Steffe's a legend, as are his glissando and noodling skills, both instantly recognizable.

As has become commonplace with decent gigs these days, two sets were played of about an hour each, with a small break in-between. What we were served this evening was a tasty feast of, what appeared, improvisational pieces, made up from a myriad of beautifully blended styles and influences, all delivered masterfully. There were psych, dub, space rock and jazz flavours to name few. There was less glissando and more noodling from Steffe this evenings sets that previous gigs, and can the man noodle...yes, and some! Steffe deftly threaded magical paths through the bands improvised sound-scapes, his performance an experience as much spiritual as musical. Mr Howlett was a conduit to the place where bass is born, the bass lines fair burst out of him, as if he were a shaman with the power to birth them. Which he must be, it's the only explanation. Both Steffe and Mr Howlett morphed into space goats at several points, so powerful were the musical vibrations. Well, it's impossible not to. Occasionally Joie, smiling mischievously, would lean over his keyboards towards the audience as if judging just the best moment to lay some mind melting extreme synth twiddling on us. Of course he nailed it every time. Throughout, with steadfast resolve, Steve Cassidy beat the skins, never dropping a beat and making it look effortless (which clearly drumming can't be). What a fantastic drummer, man. The addition of the Howlett/Cassidy combination was something else! (Have mentioned how bloody marvellous a bassist Mike Howlett is?) They certainly elevated Sentients rhythm section to new heady heights (not that the previous Subs/Horn combination wasn't right up there too). Last night we were spoilt, what a performance!

I don't think my descriptions ever do performances real justice, though I can honestly say, I was fair blown away this evening, smiling slack jawed at the wonder of it all. When magic's created it's undeniable, and magic certainly filled the back room of the 'Arthur' last night, and, the audience loved it. Everybody was blissed out, man. One by one they took to the dance floor to swivel, frug and throw shapes, while the end of each track was met with rapturous applause. There were also a couple of notable musicians in the audience last night. Gregory Curvey of The Luck of Eden Hall whose latest album 'The acceleration of time' is a great listen. And, Cary Grace who'll be performing at the King Arthur in September and is well worth catching live. The 'Arthur' was a delight as usual, what a top venue with lovely staff and friendly regulars, and the sound, again, top notch...bravo sound guy. If there was a recording of last nights gig, I'd love to see that available, nudge nudge, wink wink. 

All in all a splendid evening, although I do have one complaint, not about the venue nor the band. But people. Where the fuck were you? Yeah, there was a good turn out, and yeah, we all thoroughly enjoyed it, but the 'Arthur' should have been overflowing, the calibre of musician and quality of music on offer. For a fiver too! My fear is we either 'support them or lose them', and our lives would be diminished by the latter. Whether it's lack of publicity or apathy, it's not good enough. We need innovative and original bands and the local venues for them to perform.  Where ever you are, if you get the chance, support them.

The sky at night

Messing about with the camera, this is what the sky looked like at 2200 tonight, even though the sun had been down for over an hour. The exposure was longish and I didn't use a tripod, hence the blurriness, although I quite like that softened look to the clouds. It's weird how the sky still looks so blue in the photo, as it was much darker with the my eye. Kept me entertained for ages.

Egret

A fairly poor shot (apologies) of one of the Egrets, Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) I think, which I mentioned yesterday. They used to be rare, although are becoming more common (600 to 700 breeding pairs in the country, apparently, first breeding in Dorset in 1996). There's invariably one on the stream between Markway Bridge and Mill lawn, sometimes two, which indicates the health of the streams fish stocks.  A lovely sight.

Misinformation

A petition came up in my Facebook feed to 'protect our forest stream', of course it caught my attention. It told of plans to destroy a 'natural' stream and 'ruin' the 'natural' environment, it had photos which it said reflected previous 'failed' projects. Moving stuff. Except, it was all disingenuous bollocks, probably done with the best of intensions. It just so happens I'd come across a blog post by a local MP from which the petition derived heavily, and which was so inaccurate and ill informed it beggared belief, although being from an MP had an air of authority, but was little more than nimbyism with an anti EU sub text.  The Bog woodland restoration project is a higher stewardship project partly funded by the EU, and it's been running for over 20 years now, I reckon. I'll admit that when I first came across the diggers in the forest remodelling streams I'd grown up with and loved, I was horrified. Although with some research my fears and doubts were allayed, and as the restored streams and their environs healed any lingering fears and doubts were dispelled. The truth of the matter is, all too often what we perceive as natural, is in fact far from it.  Many of the forest streams (pre restoration) were nothing more than Victorian drains to aid forestry, much of the streams environs were plantation woodland too, not natural. The Bog woodland restoration program has returned these streams to the pre Victorian meandering courses, restored a more natural woodland environ and through those actions benefited nature greatly. The Victorian straightened streams were quite sterile, or at best had limited diversity, the waters ran too fast and the drained environs inhospitable to the forests natural flora and insect life.  I didn't know that at the time and though it was how it should have been. Now though along the restored and well healed sections of meandering streams the increased diversity in flora and insect life is clearly visible.  The once empty streams teem with aquatic flora, a huge variety of insects are now present, fish have begun to return and with them an increased number birds such as Egrets, which I don't remember seeing pre restoration. The stream banks, now free from the scouring of fast flowing waters, host a myriad of plants, which also attract increased and diverse wildlife. The environs too have changed markedly, whereas the  straight drains (streams) channelled the water from the land and swiftly out of the forest, the restored streams slow that process down making the environ and the forest in general seasonally wetter, preventing flooding in the adjoining urban areas and increasing the fertility and diversity of the woodland. So, far from destroying a 'natural' stream and ruining the 'natural' environment, this restoration program is enhancing and to a degree (a tiny degree, mind) re-wilding a environment much diminished by human activity.

And, I say all this not being a big fan of conservation per se, what with it myriad inherent problems, born of its species and arbitrary period specific methodology.  Want to know what I'm going on about? Check out 'Feral' by George Monbiot, he explains it better than me. 

Anyway, my point? Question everything, never take things on face value, no matter how emotive or well meaning they may appear. Misinformation in our information age is rife. But hey, don't take my word though.

Knowlton Yew

One of the Yews at Knowlton Henge.

Scabious

Scabious (Scabiosa columbaria), the pincushion flower, is a common sight on the chalk downs and at the moment they're blooming on mass. Their delicate pinky mauve flowers carpeting the hillsides is a sight to lift the spirits. Beautiful.

Going underground

Whilst out walking near Win Green Hill we stumbled across this strange feature, a tunnel or something.  Whatever it is it's not shown on the OS map, although you'd think it would be. The façade is newer than the tunnel itself, the internal brickwork is clearly older, the environs are dense thicket and scrub, though a path has recently been cut through and the area directly outside the entrance is cleared. So it's looked after, used maybe? The entrance is blocked with a substantial steel door, which has two horizontal slots in it, which I'd imagine are to allow bats access.  There's also an older iron barred door about 5m in, beyond this door the the tunnel is prefabricated concrete in a sort of 70's scifi base style. The tunnel floor has regularly spaced blocks along one side, the type which might have carried pipes or electrical conduit, and is strewn with, what looks like, chalk debris. The strangest thing is there is a light, or light coming from somewhere deep into the tunnel.  Quite the mystery. 

For Nepal

Some months ago I heard Evil Hoodoo planned to release a charity record for the victims of the earthquakes in Nepal. It sounded like a great idea and there were some good bands on board. So I ordered a copy. Well, it has arrived and a thing of beauty it is too. I didn't know many of the bands, and the ones I did were through a friend who knows his psyche music onions and who I think has probably seen most of them live (I've only seen Carlton Melton  live, and they were an audio treat and a half). If the rest of the bands are as good live as they sound on this, well! You get 4 sides of great tracks, from great 14 bands and on nice coloured vinyl too, giving never sounded so good. Kudos to all the bands involved, and Evil Hoodoo for getting made.  

Crabbies

The apple trees over the common may have failed this year, and the cooker in next doors garden has produced but a few fruits, but many of the forests Crab Apples (Malus sylvestris) are heavy with apples. I'll have see what can be done with them, beyond crab apple sauce. 

The arse end of a car!

Walking along the edge of Ridley Wood this evening we came upon the arse end of a car, well, the tail bumper anyway. A strange find, made stranger as the busy A31 (the closest road) is some 500m away. How the flip did it get right over here? It must have been one hell of of a crash, or maybe a giant Magpie carried it here. I don't know. It's a mystery! Oh, hang on! As it happens, this bumper turned out to be a prophetic sign, man, as the friend who drove this evening ripped his rear bumper off on a stumpy post as we left the car park. Similar colour vehicle too. Weird!

Antlers

I bothered for wildlife this evening. Of course, I'd like to describe it as 'getting close to nature', although I rather think the deer saw it more as bothering them as they tried to enjoy an evening meal. These five fine fellows were with a large group of does and fauns grazing on the fringes of Brinken Wood. I managed to get quite close to them at times (not the does and fauns, they were straight off), until after about 20 minutes they'd had enough and tried, successfully, to lose me amongst the shoulder high bracken, before disappearing into the shadows of the adjacent woodland.

The Preacher

I have to be honest and say, as forgiving as I am, and I really am when it comes to comic adaptations, I was worried about a screen adaptation of The Preacher, Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon's dark and humorous comic masterpiece.  How would they do it?, was my first thought. Followed swiftly by how would they do it justice? Hearing Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg were behind it, I thought....maybe. Seeing the promotional shots of Dominic Cooper as Jesse Custer, Ruth Negga as Tulip O'Hare and, a favourite of mine, Joseph Gilgun as Cassidy, I thought...I reckon this could work. And watch it I thought...YES!  They did it, it worked marvellously. The Preacher is a thing to beauty. All right, it's not the comic, it never could be, but they've done as good a job as I think could be done. The essence and feel of the comic is there, the main plot of the comic is there, just imagine The Preacher in a slightly different version of the comic reality. The same but different. The main characters are there and have developed well, they're convincing as the comic creations. The supporting characters too, some from the comics, some echoes of characters from the comic and some new, are all engaging. I wont give too much of the story away, enough though to say strange things are afoot in Annville; the episodes are dark, sometimes brutal (the motel fight scene) and so funny (the motel fight scene), there are some really strong performances (DeBlanc and Fiore are great, and Cassidy too, that said, everyone of the actors were great) with great dialogue (little filler, all killer) which weaves several different threads together which leads to one of the best season finales of a series I've seen. And the beginning of something familiar to those who've read the comics. Visually, it's a treat, stylish and well framed. I can't wait for a longer season 2 in 2017. 

Lughnasadh

A bumper wheat and barley harvest's here, 

                 and with it fresh bread and beer.                  

And still there are two harvests yet to come, 

before the growing year is done.

Lughnasadh blessings y'all.