After the first reservoir, came the second. And after the second reservoir came a trip up to the pretty village of Hatherleigh. Up being the operative word, because this is another sky scraping place, reached by a ladder like road I kept trying to imagine cycling up.
At the top of the village, was the former market garden-cum-nursery home of an entirely formidable couple with a combined age of 187. It may no longer have been used for commercial purposes, but it was still a jungle of apples at the back, and vegetable beds up the side.
Wasps had colonised the bird box, but luckily the garden was an avian paradise anyway. A bird feeder under the kitchen window was sheltered in a magnolia, offering great views of sparrows, tits, and a spectacular nuthatch, characteristically feeding upside down, I was told.
Outside swallows were plentiful, and honeybees and bumblebees fed on a rampant hydrangea and other garden flowers. The sweet peas smelt like they'd been picked on Olympus, and Le Crunch Bunch of days of yore could not have eaten all the apples in the orchard even if they'd had all eternity.
Si
All text and images Copyright CreamCrackeredNature 01.09.15
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| Stripey squatters |
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| Nuthatch. Sorry that the pictures were taken through a window |
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| Sneaky blue tit |
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| Busy on the feeder |
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| Carder bee |
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| Still blooms to feed off |
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| Sunflower bees |
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| Fiery colours |
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| Great tit now on the feeder |
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| Moon over the moors |
