local interest

Pet Jackdaws; the start of the Hiltingbury woodland clearance; a lot of orchids; the first Glow-worm for years; angry caterpillars; the Felon’s Grave and beloved Winchester Cathedral.

Gran writes on June 2nd 1948 (at a time, of course, before the introduced Grey Squirrel became such a confounded nuisance, and people’s attitude to it changed:

Cycling along a quiet lane I was startled when a Grey Squirrel leapt off a post almost into my lap, but my surprise was nothing compared to his. He lost his head completely, tried to regain the post but instead plunged into the wire netting beneath it, where he struggled desperately to get through. How I wish the little wild creatures knew that I would never hurt them!

[Read more…] about Forty Years in Chandler’s Ford – a Journal (Part 18)

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)