After spending the morning on the Air Rifle Range the other day my usual daily woodland wander began rather late afternoon and being entirely ignorant of the camera setting tricks I didn't bother taking the camera so late in the day. Returning home along the side of the lake I heard a strange commotion on the far side, not the splintering crash of a falling tree, which was my first thought, but rather a loud double thump followed by silence.
Today I decided to investigate. A warm almost Spring like sunny day.
The winter rains on the hills and mountains further inland now make a fine job of flushing the Lake and Reed Beds near where I live on the coast.
In addition to the Lakes and Bridges there are many remnants of a once great country estate here, this early Victorian curved garden seat being one such. Now passers by leave food for the woodland birds and today various members of the Tit family and numerous Nuthatches were taking advantage.
Scouting around the Lake, looking for the cause of the mysterious noises from the other day, I walked along the lakeside path below the high retaining wall which once formed part of the protective wall enclosing the great Country Mansion which occupied the high ground above the lake.
Mystery solved!
One of the great Granite blocks which form the base of the wall had finally escaped it's imprisonment of several Centuries and tumbled down to join others which fell in bygone ages, some of which made it as far as the Lake itself.
A scar higher up on the steep bank marked the path of the Granite block on it's way down the bank.
Now it lays on the path like some first day English holiday maker on a Costa Brava Beach, ghostly pale and very obvious.
Note I say English holiday maker, not Scottish, as I was informed by Sir Billy Connolly at one of his live shows, Scottish people when seen on their beaches during the Scottish summer (July 19th to 27th) are of a feint blue skin colour. Unless of course they had been in Spain for a couple of days, by which time the blue tint would have tanned to the sickly white of their English neighbours.
And so ends another happy day in paradise.
Today I decided to investigate. A warm almost Spring like sunny day.
The winter rains on the hills and mountains further inland now make a fine job of flushing the Lake and Reed Beds near where I live on the coast.
In addition to the Lakes and Bridges there are many remnants of a once great country estate here, this early Victorian curved garden seat being one such. Now passers by leave food for the woodland birds and today various members of the Tit family and numerous Nuthatches were taking advantage.
Scouting around the Lake, looking for the cause of the mysterious noises from the other day, I walked along the lakeside path below the high retaining wall which once formed part of the protective wall enclosing the great Country Mansion which occupied the high ground above the lake.
Mystery solved!
One of the great Granite blocks which form the base of the wall had finally escaped it's imprisonment of several Centuries and tumbled down to join others which fell in bygone ages, some of which made it as far as the Lake itself.
A scar higher up on the steep bank marked the path of the Granite block on it's way down the bank.
Now it lays on the path like some first day English holiday maker on a Costa Brava Beach, ghostly pale and very obvious.
Note I say English holiday maker, not Scottish, as I was informed by Sir Billy Connolly at one of his live shows, Scottish people when seen on their beaches during the Scottish summer (July 19th to 27th) are of a feint blue skin colour. Unless of course they had been in Spain for a couple of days, by which time the blue tint would have tanned to the sickly white of their English neighbours.
And so ends another happy day in paradise.
