local interest

Moths emerge in the breeding cages; the “Devon Belle” takes Gran on holiday; memories of a visit to Italy in 1922; The Artist Dorothy Adamson, and a pair of Ring Ouzels.

May 7th 1948:

In Kingsway the beautiful and unusual Adam Laburnum is just coming into flower. M. Adam, a French nurseryman in 1826 grafted a bud of Purple Laburnum on to a yellow. The hybrid tree produces three kinds of flowers, the yellow of one parent, purple of the other and the pink hybrid flowers. This is the most celebrated record of hybridization.
[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 17)

Grasshoper Warbler; the value of mentors; a singing nightingale elicits bittersweet emotions; a desire to give comfort to others in time of need; quite a lot of orchids, and Dad gets his athletics colours.

Book 5

On April 27th 1948:

An entomological friend of Barry’s came down from Bradford today to go with him for Scarlet Tiger caterpillars. He remarked upon the wealth of blossom on the flowering trees and shrubs down here and said that Spring in the south seemed a good three weeks in advance of Yorkshire… Nightingales were singing all along the banks of the river [Itchen] and a Grasshopper Warbler was also heard.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 16)

Flies everywhere; Tiger Moths; Moldy Warp; return of the Hedgehog; Gran the tennis star; avoiding the agonies of a guided tour; Cuckoos and Cowslips.

By April 13th 1948 many summer migrant birds (Cuckoos, Wood Warblers, Blackcaps and Willow Warblers) have been recorded in the local woods, and Gran is ecstatic about her lovely England in Spring. The weather has been warm, she notes on the 12th:

In the Park Road garden this afternoon there was a positive plague of flies, swarming everywhere, the gutters and front of the house black with them in parts, and all warm places like the edges of the frames, water-tap, shed doors and the grid over the water-cock were thickly covered. D.D.T. did not seem to deter them for long.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 15)

Blue Tits nest early; Gran does some cleaning but is easily distracted; “Hill 60”; the Downs are changing; the lovely village of Pitt; horrid Eastleigh; Jane gets her Guide badge.

Dad appears to be developing a network of entomological friends as Gran sometimes mentions that moths or larvae have been sent to him by post.  For instance, on the 22nd March:

An Engrailed moth emerged in one of Barry’s breeding cages early tonight but up to the time of writing the wings had not expanded. The chrysalis was sent, among others, by an entomologist friend in the north.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 14)

Brusher Mills and a black Adder; update on “old Major”; a day full of beauty; Winnall Moors and “poor old Thumper”.

More work in the Sparrow’s Hedge garden next day, March 3rd 1948, when Gran is:

…setting out Early Midlothian potatoes for sprouting, sitting alone in the sunshine with only the sound of hens scratching round me…”

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 13)

Battling brambles; hungry children; Lou Meadon; skating on Cranbury Lake; hypnosis in the stoat world and get your hair cut during the waxing moon.

This afternoon [February 15th 1948] saw me away to the daffodil wood at Chilworth but unfortunately several others had reached the spot also. I really only went to see how they were progressing but the place is getting so well-known that I realised if I wanted any I must pick them today in bud. They open very successfully in water but I wanted to see them open in the woods. By that time I’m afraid there will be none left so I picked a few for myself and some to send to Kingston.

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 12)