Category Archives: Around the UK

Unknown's avatar

It’s been warm in the Scottish Highlands

by

Another short postcard written at the end of a day that’s changed itself from warm and beaming, to wet.

In the morning we woke up to sunshine and wind. Clouds raced above fields of sheep, the sun was bright on the grass, and the dark chop of the Beauly Firth just visible in the distance. It was beautiful, but weirdly warm for October. I wondered whether it was normal to see rose buds still clinging to cottage walls in the middle of autumn so far north.

Tonight though is a different story. We are still in Scotland but further south, and the rain has arrived with amber warnings attached. I don’t think tomorrow will be an easy day for sheep or roses up here.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023

Unknown's avatar

Farewell to the house martins – may they return

by

This time last week these two little birds were peeping out of their nest, anxiously waiting for food and the power to fly.

Three days later that power had come. We saw the evidence high on window ledge, where one of the fledglings, white chest heaving, scrabbled for a footing a few metres below the nest. We counted the pause in seconds, and then off the little bird span, wings stiffening in flight.

That evening it seemed as if the birds had gone. The following day there was still no sign of them, or if there was we never saw it. We fretted of course.

“Surely too soon.”

“That bird needed more time.”

An anxious blog was prepared, but on the point of pinging it out into the world, the chirruping above the window suddenly started up again, together with the to and fro of food delivery as the birds prepared for the night.

The next day the nest was still full, unbothered by the passing of the autumn equinox.

Then came this morning, and with it the sight of house martins gathered, sharp as arrowheads, below the storm clouds in the distance. It looked as though there were a dozen or so birds, many more than in the nest we’d seen. Like an air squadron in waiting they soared the grey tumbling sky … and then they were gone.

Here’s hoping that next year, at least some of them will make it all the way back again.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023

Unknown's avatar

Salisbury Cathedral – art from a distance

by

I tend to prefer trees to buildings, but there is something so compelling about Salisbury Cathedral.

We were there on a sometimes-sunny Sunday, and walked along a footpath beside the Harnham Water Meadows towards the cathedral. At each sight of it between the trees I stopped. The green seemed to raise the spire higher, and the spire to emphasise the green spread out at its feet. It all looked so beautiful and balanced, truly belonging where it stood, and as though not much had changed since it was completed in 1238.

Two things I’ve discovered since that visit are, first, that Salisbury Cathedral was never part of a monastery, and second, that other medieval cathedrals attempted spires similar to Salisbury’s but many collapsed.

If you would like to find out a bit more about Salisbury Cathedral this video will give you a tour. It includes close-ups of some of the over four decades of restoration work that have been completed recently.

Copyright Georgie Knaggs & The Phraser 2023