The Marloes Peninsula

The Marloes Peninsula coastal walk was our target for today.This walk starts near Marloes Sands and passes Marloes Mere, an area of wetland pools and marsh important for ducks and other wild fowl. Hen harriers and short-eared owls can often be seen quartering the marsh, not that we saw any I am afraid. After passing an impressive Iron Age fort, the route joins the Coast Path. It stays just inland from the cliff tops, but offers great views of the coast and the islands of Skokholm, Skomer and guano covered Grassholm in the distance. All three are home to important seabird colonies in the summer. The walk crosses coastal fields which are managed to encourage chough, something that we did see, and watched, for a considerable time – magic!

Finally arriving at the Deer Park with spectacular views of Skoma and then onto Martin's Haven, the embarkation point for Skomer. 

Islands seen from the Marlos Coastal footpath

The caterpillar of the Oak Eggar (Lasiocampa quercus) moth.

Could not resist the pink sea at this point.

Was I pleased to get this ? – a Chough – and with a compact RX100 camera!

While its black plumage identifies it as a crow, the chough (pronounced ‘chuff’) has a red bill and legs unlike any other member of the crow family. It has a restricted westerly distribution in the British Isles and because of its small population size and historically declining populations it is an Amber List species. It readily displays its mastery of flight with wonderful aerial displays of diving and swooping. Found in flocks in autumn and winter.

Martin`s Haven which is the embarkation point for the isle of Skomer.

Nolton Haven - A really beautiful area to walk, and places to explore. No wonder people want to return here year after year. So many lovely beaches in this part of the world, although photographically, they look the same, they are beautiful!

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Solva and St David`s Head

Sunday saw us drive the coastal road to Solva. On the way passing Newgale and it's great surfing beach and massive pebble beach called a BERM – a term I had never come across before. We will return to have a closer look another day. Then a return visit to the lovely sheltered harbour of Solva where we went for short 2 mile walk followed by a hearty lunch at the Ship pub. After lunch, on through St Davids to Whitesands beach and a walk around St David’ Head. Stunning beach and walk – very weary on finishing as the ground was quite rough, but well pleased with ourselves..

Looks cosy to me! as snails crowd into a crack of a tree.

Gorgeous coloured leaves emerging on the coastal path.

Lime kilns on Solva beach

Limestone would have been brought in by boat and heated in these kilns to produce the lime mortars that Newport’s stone built houses would have been constructed with, they would also have been lime washed (a quicklime and water mix) on a regular basis to protect them from the elements.

A temperature of some 900-1000°C would have been required in the kilns to create the reaction that turns the limestone into quicklime. The lime kilns would have been loaded with intermittent layers of coal and limestone and from start to finish a time scale of some seven days would have been required to produce a batch of quicklime.

This was a dangerous and very strenuous job but the benefits when applied to acidic soil were, and still are, enormous.

The entrance to Solva harbour

This way please!

Mind you don't get your feet wet. On route round the Solva walk.

A secluded beach near St David's Head

Whitesands beach, a bit bright as I was shooting into the sun, but I had to get a picture!


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Arrival in Broad Haven

We found the cottage, which is a part of a converted farm building, in a gloriously quiet area, just up from Little Haven. We are opposite the owners farmhouse, and it's idyllic!

Our holiday cottage in Broad Haven

... and part of the garden, leading to some woods.

One wind bent tree seen one late afternoon in the woods near our cottage 

Looking across Broad Haven beach from the war memorial. 

Saturday, our first full day, we took a walk from Broad Haven, near to where we were staying, to Little Haven – along the coastal path and back by the beach. Followed up with a really good fish & chip lunch. After lunch, a short drive north of Broad Haven beach and a walk back along the coastal path. Three Geocaches found for the day, including one Earth Cache. Not bad. 

Broad Haven beach with ripples left by the retreating tide. 

One of several caverns cut into the cliffs along this coast – this one was called the Foxhole I think 

Found on the beach near Little Haven, and left by the retreating tide. 

Great contrast between the blue sea and the stunning hedges of Gorse. 

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Hunstanton and Snettisham in Norfolk

One of the most eye catching things about Hunstanton in Norfolk, are the cliffs. The best time to see them is in a late evening summer evening - and we had just such conditions for these images.

The famous red and white striped cliffs are an eye-catching attraction. Why are the cliffs striped? The stripes in the cliffs are caused by layers of different coloured rock. The main layers are Carrstone and also Chalk. 

Carrstone is the brown layer and consists of sandstone - sand cemented together by iron oxide (rust). In places where the cement is stronger, the rock is darker and less crumbly. There are no fossils in this layer apart from a little fossilised wood. 

The red and white chalk is made of limestone. Limestone forms in warm tropical climates, which suggests that Hunstanton climate was once warmer than it is today. The colour of the red chalk is due to iron staining.

Patterns in the sand, made as the sea retreated.

On the famous cliffs is the imposing Hunstanton Lighthouse. A lighthouse has been here since 1665, but the present lighthouse was built in 1840, although it ceased operations in 1922 and became a private residence.

The wall is generally referred to as the Chapel of St Edmund. It existed in 1272 but was already a ruin by the Reformation. What survives is basically the south doorway, apparently Norman. You can make out the outline of the south wall of nave and chancel.

More dramatic is the lighthouse beyond it. I tried taking the photograph with the lighthouse beside the ruin, and then with the lighthouse through the south doorway - this is my effort above.

St. Mary's Church in the village of Snettisham has a 14th-century, 172-foot (52 m) high spire. Claimed by some to be "perhaps the most exciting decorated church in Norfolk".

It is certainly striking as you approach it. As it was locked, and is most of the time apparently, we did not get a chance to see inside.

Billy Goat Gruff - what a beard!

And last, a deer giving us a close up look, in the hope of food.


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Lots of water in Layham

After a period of heavy rain - again, the area had some great puddles and small flooded areas to wade in!. So Izobelle and Nanna made the most of the situation.

On my way to see the water.

Not so sure! 

Maybe it's OK

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Newstead Abbey fungi & gardens

We visited here while based in a log cabin in Sherwood. We were mainly looking for different fungi on this trip, so this visit combined an historic site, with some fungi hunting.

The former Augustinian abbey once belonged to Lord Byron and now has a Mixed Style romantic nineteenth century garden.

The priory of St. Mary of Newstead, a house of Augustinian Canons, was founded by King Henry II of England about the year 1170, as one of many penances he paid following the murder of Thomas Becket. Contrary to its current name, Newstead was never an abbey: it was a priory.

In the late 13th century, the priory was rebuilt and extended. It was extended again in the 15th-century, when the Dorter (A bedroom or dormitory, especially in a monastery.), Great Hall and Prior's Lodgings were added. The priory was designed to be home to at least 13 monks, although there appears to have been only 12 (including the Prior) at the time of the dissolution.

The Valor Ecclesiasticus of 1534 gave the clear annual value of this priory as £167 16s. 11½d. The considerable deductions included 20s. given to the poor on Maundy Thursday in commemoration of Henry II, the founder, and a portion of food and drink similar to that of a canon given to some poor person every day, valued at 60s. a year.

Despite the clear annual value of Newstead being below the £200 assigned as the limit for the suppression of the lesser monasteries, this priory obtained the doubtful privilege of exemption, on payment to the Crown of the heavy fine of £233 6s. 8d in 1537.

The surrender of the house was accomplished on 21 July 1539. The prior obtained a pension of £26 13s. 4d., the sub-prior £6, and the rest of the ten canons who signed the surrender sums varying from £5 6s. 8d. to £3 6s. 8d.

The lake was dredged in the late eighteenth century and the lectern, thrown into the Abbey fishpond by the monks to save it during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, was discovered. In 1805 it was given to Southwell Minster by Archdeacon Kaye where it still resides.

The value of these sums may seem small but they have to be multiplied by 300 (approx) to get today's value.

Satyr Pan - Classical Mythology. one of a class of woodland deities, attendant on Bacchus, represented as part human, part horse, and sometimes part goat and noted for riotousness and lasciviousness.

The Byron Oak, as it is known, was planted by the young George Byron, later to become one of Britain’s greatest poets, at Newstead Abbey, shortly after he inherited the estate from his great-uncle in 1798 at the age of 10. The oak, and the poem the Byron wrote about in 1807, tell a story that is eloquently relevant to oak collectors and indeed anyone involved with the planting of trees.

Brown Birch Bolette (Leccinum scabrum for Latin lovers) Seen in one of the gardens.

There were many fungi dotted about. This one appealed to me with the abbey as a backdrop

View along one of the paths to the abbey.

The stew ponds are believed to be medieval and to have been made by the monks. The large rectangular pond is believed to survive from the late 17th century garden. What is a stew pond? A stew pond or stew is a fish pond used to store live fish ready for eating. During the Middle Ages, stews were often attached to monasteries, to supply fish over the winter.

The gardens around the house were made by Mrs William Frederick Webb and her daughters between 1865 and 1900. They include a fern garden, a sub-tropical garden, a Spanish garden, a Japanese garden (c1900) and a rockery inspired by Benjamin Disreali's novel Venetia, which was set in Newstead Abbey. The Rose Garden was added by Nottingham City Council, in 1965, and occupies the old kitchen garden. 

Dawn Redwood

Beautiful autumn colours.


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Sherwood and lots of fungi

There is a certain appeal in woodlands this time of year, as the forest floor hides many fungi. With this in mind, we booked into a Cabin, not too far from Sherwood Forest. We saw many fungi, and below are just a few of them.

Our cabin nestling among the trees 

Dusky puffball (Lycoperdon nigrescens) 

Blackening Waxcap (Hygrocybe cornica 

Web Cap (Cortinarius varius) 

The interior of the cabin where we stayed. The site was a pleasant one, and the cabin spacious but above all the hot tub! 

Leopard Earthball (Sclceroderma areolatum)

A tree stump that looked amazingly like the head of a dog. 

Just liked the shapes of the trees and the light on the forest floor.

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