Anyone know of, or even remember, The Spinners? Not our own Northumberland Spinners but the British folk group that peaked at number 14 in the album charts in 1971. Yes, a long time ago, eh? Well, the first LP I ever bought (for the younger ones among us, this is what’s currently called ‘a vinyl’) was ‘Black and White’ by The Spinners. It featured a song unsurprisingly called ‘Black and White’, the third verse of which reads as follows:
Well, I think we’re all agreed that 2020 was quite a year! Sometimes it seems to have dragged and dragged and, at other times, it seems to have flown by. Regarding the latter, I can hardly believe that a year’s gone by since I was photographing Liddle Lamzy Diveys.
As we move through Spring, one of the distinctive features of the Crawley Dene landscape is the re-growth of swathes of wild garlic. The pungent smell of garlic drifts through the Dene, carried on light, warm breezes.
Situated on Beanly Moor is The Ringses: a small Iron Age hillfort. This fortified enclosure is made from three not-quite-circular concentric banks and ditches, measuring about 46m by 43m at the widest point.
The first day of Spring! Yippee!
Well, the astronomical Spring. We’ve actually been in meteorological Spring for the past 20 days, since 1 March!
Bridges are very much a part of the furnished landscape and Peggy Bell’s Bridge, over the River Breamish between Ingram and Linhope, is very much an iconic part of the Breamish Valley landscape.
Not river dogs this time but river trees. One last look at the de-foliated silhouettes of a few trees along the River Breamish before the leaves start to grow back, now that we’re heading for Spring.
I really appreciate the landscape at the top of the Breamish Valley – just as you enter the Linhope Estate. The views are superb. I call it ‘our little piece of Austria’ because it reminds me of some of the rolling hills and upland meadows to be found there.
Since seeing my first three adders of the season on 25 February 2021, the relatively sunny weather has brought more adders into view at Branton Lakes Nature Reserve. They typically hibernate between about October – March, emerging in the late Winter/early Spring, depending on weather conditions.
Like many people in the area, I really enjoy this time of the year and the anticipation of seeing my first adder of the season.
The earliest I’ve spotted one is 20 February (2018). Last year, I saw my first adder on 26 February (2020) and today – one year on – I saw my first three adders of 2021.
