local interest

Never mind the Festival of Britain – let’s go to Kew instead! International relations; two influential Peter Symonds masters; a welter of moths; the legend of the slim Mr Barry and the Bearded Giant; the evil of Death Duties; tennis at Castle Malwood and tennis at Wimbledon.

Gran, visiting Adrian’s mother, writes on June 6th 1951:

The afternoon was beautifully warm and sunny and far too nice to be wasted at the crowded Festival in London as had been in our minds previous to my arrival in Kingston, so we were both agreed when mum suggested a visit to Kew instead.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 38)

A Blue Tit trapped in the Champs Elysées; a stridulating Peacock; “Our Dilemma”; Royal Festival Hall dedication; words from the new Rector; a Black Tern; Kipling’s Cat; lots of tennis; lots of moths and the Chelsea Flower Show.

February 1951 passes with Gran’s daily notes concentrating on mundane activities, and long descriptions of each day’s weather – and it seems that rain and frost, and gales and some thunder typify the month. Work continues most afternoons in the Pinewood Garden, where the usual fight with loganberry and Himalayan Giant blackberry stems ensues, leading to a certain amount of blood loss from Gran’s hands! [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 37)

A bit of New Forest history; Remembrance Day and Christmas shopping; breakfast in bed, ice cream van delayed by snow; the capitalist greed of Piglet; wonderful ballet at The Gaumont, and “thank you for everything” at Compton Church.

Gran clears fallen Winter Pearmain apples in the Pinewood Garden on November 7th 1950, although two hours’ work “made very little impression but gave me an intense backache”, she writes. [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 36)

Too old for tennis; a visit to Cley; the Clifden Nonpareil; a small town-dweller; a grass snake in the garden; the privilege of Cranbury Park access; Forest ponies in the City; the South London Exhibition; the King visits Bushfield Camp; “wireless” or “radio”?

On September 14th 1950 Gran is in Southampton:

I went to help florist friends to pack and deliver flowers to the [RMS] Pretoria Castle, due to sail to South Africa at four o’clock this afternoon. It is an experience I always enjoy, the flowers are beautiful and it is interesting to see the various types of travellers on the ship.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 35)

Eleven varieties of apple are picked, but many are “fallers”; rare plants at Hatchet Pond; a Stork at the Potter’s Heron; a historic entomological visit to Ireland; “like mother like daughter”; please not another war; Gran enjoys shopping, and will the rain ever end?

There is much work to be done in the Park Road garden as the wet summer of 1950 progresses, and Gran picks Early River plums there on July 21st, the day before what she notes, is “an uneventful day for my forty-sixth birthday”. Nevertheless, she does receive at least one present on the day:

…it is now raining again. But I mean to enjoy a few moments with “Corduroy” by Adrian Bell, and I can look forward to more pleasure when I read his “By-road”, given me today by Jock.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 34)

A young Woodpecker dies, and another is stalked; a letter to Adrian; Adder’s-tongue on the chalk; spiritual advice from a friend ; precious caterpillars; the Anderson Shelter; horse manure and some alien plants.

There is more tennis played on June 10th 1950 and Gran’s comments about it give a thought-provoking insight to her current character. She notes with interest some nesting Greenfinches near the courts saying:

…but this was insufficient in itself to penetrate the social whirl in which I found myself, feeling utterly lonely and unhappy…I have been alone too long to settle again in the gay crowds…I felt like a fish out of water in spite of the fact that everyone was kind and pleased to have me in the team again.

She adds though, on a happier note: [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 33)

The lovely Bogbean and the blundering Cockchafer; confusing Butterfly-orchids; Woodlark heard from the front door; Wild Gladiolus at last, and a friendly child in the Forest; a Blackbird attacks a Slow-worm and too much tennis for an aging body.

On May 9th 1950 Gran is worried about “her” little colony of Small Wintergreen in the nearby woods. She writes:

I was pleased to find the Pyrola minor (Small Wintergreen) is just about to flower again in the wood bordering Oakwood Road but sorry to see that the woodman is burning the undergrowth on the opposite side of the road…It always seems to be the wrong time of year for burning, for, apart from the budding plants, many of the migrant birds build their nests on the ground or in low-lying bushes.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 32)

Two late snowfalls; Brown-tail caterpillars; Blackbirds – a second clutch but chick-feeding leaves something to be desired; Alan Moody; Hawfinch behaviour; horse behaviour; tired migrants; birding on The Island; elusive Crossbills; good birds at Farley Mount and a mother proud of her offspring.

On April 25th 1950, after returning from Eastleigh, Gran took her “small nephew and godchild, David, up into Cranbury Park to look for tadpoles”, in the big lake there. This was David, the son of Gran’s brother, Uncle Norris, who shared his birthday with Dad and also with his Grandfather:

Here in this lake we found what we were seeking and, to my relief, I was able to bring David home again without his having fallen head-first into the water. He is a real chip off the Adamson family block, and extremely interested and asking sensible questions upon the subject of nature which he already finds absorbing, though he is not yet seven years old.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 31)

A new food item for a Goldcrest; a Shetland adventure leads to damaged feet; a trip in a fish lorry; a Blackbird saga in the garden; a visit to Titchfield; Jane tours the west; Gran battles cats, and who stole the sounding board?

Book 17

March 21st 1950 – the first day of Spring – sees Barry and Jock in the New Forest where, in the low-lying areas close to Beaulieu Road Station, they estimate four or five pairs of nesting Curlews, the birds displaying in flight with bubbling songs and long glides on raised wings. Many years later, in 2004, this by coincidence, was one of the areas I surveyed for the same species, on a Summer’s contract with the RSPB, in order to update work on the Forest’s breeding waders carried out by the well-known Forest naturalists, Colin and Jenni Tubbs in 1994. [Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 30)