Bills Posts

I think I’ve realised the mistake I have been making with this photo. I’ve tried it several times, and although the reflection is excellent, it’s not as true as I can make it, because of the buildings in the upper part. I need to try it from a slightly different perspective.

Learning something about a thing, changes your perspective of a thing. In this case, it’s the cockle ponds. If you have been following me on facebook, or here earlier this week you would have found me getting quite excited about the fact that I had a very nice response from Gosport Borough Council about what is happening to the Cockle Ponds the picture above is across one of the ponds. A radio amateur friend told me, not long after I had clicked send on the email to the council, that the ponds were being drained to clear the weeds because the boating lakes were on the UK National Model Boating Lake Register. Only for the council to come back and say that the lakes were a Site Of Special Scientific Interest, because a rare brine shrimp lived in them, and the draining was to allow an influx of fresh water to re-balance the salinity of the lakes. Whilst I haven’t been able to identify a national register of model boating lakes, it has been very easy to identify the ponds as part of an SSSI that pretty much encompasses the whole of Portsmouth Harbour.

I confess, after I received the email from the council, I was very excited as I thought the lakes themselves were the SSSI. I was slightly defused when I did that little bit of research to find the scope of the site was as wide as it is. But then I found that there are 3 SSI’s in Gosport alone. I was even more surprised to find that there are 118 in Hampshire of which; 107 are of biological interest, 5 for geology and 6 for both. Of course, that set my mind racing – an interesting project would be to visit as many of them as I can.

Even better, is that there are 139 SSSI’s in Dorset. I must admit I was quite pleased about that (that there were more in Dorset than Hampshire). Petty I know, but there you go.

Having found out that the filling of the Cockle Ponds is a tidal thing, and having seen the water pouring out when they lowered the sluice gates, I’ve been waiting to see the water coming in. I won’t now of course, as the pond side of the feed pipe is underwater, but I haven’t seen the creek side under water, because every time I have been for a walk this week, the tide has been at a low point. Frustrating! But looking at my tidal app appears to show high tides at 0600 for next week, so I only have to wait a few days.

It isn’t something that I’ve given any thought about. But I am excited to find that Gosport has several Sites of Special Scientific Interest. It’s quite likely that in the past, I’ve been near one. But, I’ve never thought of it before. It’s another positive thing for which Gosport should be known.

I had a very nice email from the council explaining that the Cockle Ponds are an SSSI, because they are the home of a Brine Shrimp, one of the few locations in the UK where they live. The ponds get emptied because the salinity levels need to be balanced, they open the sluice gates to drain and then the ponds re-fill on the tide. It was good to have confirmation of that. Of course, that conflicts with the story that the ponds are registered as model yacthing site, and the ponds are drained to clear the weeds. But if the SSSI version is correct clearing the weeds would potentially damage the habitat.

Strangely enough, I’ve been looking at SSSI’s of which there are quite a few in Hampshire and supposedly four in Gosport, but actually, I can only find three, and the Cockle Ponds aren’t one of them. Now, I shall make an effort to visit all of them (the ones in Gosport that is) and indeed, see how many of the Hampshire ones I can get in. That would bee quite an interesting project. One to consider.

The picture is of one the Clarence Gates at the western end of the high street. I managed to get the sun through the glass globe at the top of the gate.

I made a slight change to my route this morning, so that I walked the length of Spring Garden Lane. I am trying to identify which house was Grove House. Located on Spring Garden Lane, it was a centre of the community and played a significant role in the life of the town.

Walking down the road, I was looking at all of the houses to try and gain an indication as to where Grove house was likely to be. There is a patch of open ground Nicholson Gardens – I wonder if that was the location of the house.

It was a last minute change to my normal route, which I sometimes make and adds a bit of variety to the walks and indeed as i got on to the High Street I knew that I was within my normal time frame, because I saw Smoking Lady, at a point where I might normally see her had I followed my normal route. Also, the change in route made little if any difference in the distance that I walked.

I didn’t find Grove House, but I haven’t given up.

Frustratingly none of the pictures I took on this morning’s walk really inspired me, this is perhaps the closest. It’s the blue in the sky and the water and the green of the grass.

When I was at college I did geology. I’d never done it before. But I haven’t forgotten how much I enjoyed it. When I was a kid, I set up a laboratory because I wanted to do chemistry. Is still have the experiments book. I bought some of the glassware, some of the chemicals, I even tried to do some of the experiments. It was all a bit heath-Robinson really. Then Astronomy discovered me, I read about it, and can remember avidly following the Apollo programme.

Geology intruded briefly, along with geography, physical rather than economic (ox-bow lakes and that kind of thing), then computers arrived. I can’t think of a period since 1974 when I haven’t had a computer of some kind. Photography was probably the least scientific interest, but was technical in it’s way, that has lasted quite a long time as an interest. I’ve had several microscopes. Mostly toys, but my latest acquisitions are for an interested amateur, and of course I can’t go without mentioning my love of amateur radio. The thing is though what to do with it all? Well, I think that locality may provide a framework. I’m going to think about this as I head towards 366/366.

From the picture it’s obvious that there were some clouds about, but the blue sky was as striking a blue as the grass is green. It’s just sad that the tree is a victim of the winds over the weekend.

The weather can really dictate how the walk feels. It was quite cloudy as I left the house. By the time I reached the waterfront the sky has cleared apart from a few clouds low in the south. There was a bit of a chill in the air, but not much wind. I was a bit concerned that it might rain, but that didn’t happen. The walk ended up feeling good.

I must admit, most of my morning walks end up feeling good. There’s a degree of righteousness that I’ve done it and the pleasure of being out. There was only one lady whom I see fairly regularly out walking her dog, we usually exchange pleasantries. There’s another lady I see nearly every morning, I’ve never spoken to her. I call her the smoking lady because whenever I see her she has a cigarette on the go.

I’m curious now that I know the reason why the cockleponds have been emptied to know when the weed is going to be cleared, and the re-filling start. There’s a lot of mud in the bottom of the pond, so I’m also wondering how they are going to do the clearing. Lots of questions, not many answers. All makes for interesting walking.

It;s not that the weather has been all over the place, it hasn’t. It has been windy and wet, and occasionally a bit cold. To me, this isn’t rough weather, it has character. I enjoy it.

Walking westwards along Stokes Road I was walking into the wind. It’s been very brisk all weekend. We had the branch episode at the Weald and Downland, and yesterday , there were bits all over the garden. When I went for today’s walk a big tree had been blown over near Walpole Park.

I’m trying to work out how they are going to fill the cockle pond. I now know the reason why it has been emptied, and it makes sense. What I don’t know is how the pond is filled.

There wasn’t much going on in the harbour, the Victoria of Wight came in, and there were a couple of yacht’s moving about. The stretch from the waterfront back home is not the most interesting part of the walk (I went anti-clockwise).

It was a very pleasant walk.

Just a minor apology for yesterday’s article, a couple of mis-types, now corrected. Once again, rushing to publish, but all sorted now hopefully.

Yesterday was a very windy day. The house in the picture, if you were to look at the map of the Weald & Downland Living Museum is R4 – The rural farmhouse house of Pendean. Alongside it’s garden. I said yesterday that the museum would have been so much more alive if all the houses were able to have tour guides, or actors within. They weren’t able to because of Covid, so please don’t take that as a criticism. There were members of staff outside each house, who were more than happy to discuss any aspect of a display. I do wonder what people will think of us in several hundred years time. Will they curse us for our profligacy?

I’m featuring this particular house because as we were walking away we heard a very loud crack, and then a crunch. It turns out that a very large branch had come down off a tree, from quite a height and had hit the corner of the house breaking and dislodging several roof tiles. This became one of several exhibits to be have damage caused by the wind. I confess we were a bit nervous walking through the wooded areas. It didn’t take away from our enjoyment.

There was one actor who was mostly in character, I think he was an Apothecary or a physician, he had medicines for treating ill people. It seemed like he quite relished telling us about plagues through the ages.

Today, the only time I have left the house was to do an run. apart from that it has been a lazy day. Not a lot more can be said about that really.

Firstly, I need to apologise for last nights post. It really was quite a dreadful piece of writing. I was supposed to write about the weather. I wanted to make it an article about meteorology rather than just the weather, but I lost it completely.

It was a case of just get something published. I usually try and write between 7 & 8 in the evening, like tonight, things had intruded to defeat me. I’m determined that tonight’s epistle will be of a better quality.

In terms of writing, apart from last night, it has been a good week. I had the episode of the trolly, let alone the emptying of the pond, which I found out last night was being emptied to be cleared of weed. Apparently, the Cockleponds are on a national list of model boating lakes, and the weed interferes with the boats, so it has to be cleared. Which is obviously a good thing, and is very good to know.

There has been a visitation of ships;

Of course, the emptying of cockle ponds meant the loss of “my pets” I know they aren’t, it I have enjoyed watching them and it has become entertainment amongst my amateur radio friends, so the loss is being sorely felt. I emailed the council to ask what was going on with the ponds. I might have had a reply today, I haven’t been able to check yet.

I had another problem with the book of the week. Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, first published nearly 1,300 years ago, is a remarkable piece of work for the view it gives us of lives in the centuries leading up its publication, where Bede drew upon the resources available to him at the time. I got myself well and truly ied up in there religious aspects, rather than the book.

And we ended it all with last nights seriously feeble piece. I’ll try not to let that happen again.

Today we paid a visit to the Weald & Downlands Living Museum, north of Chichester. Very interesting, and I think it would be even better if Covid had affected operations, and there had been more people living in character – not a criticism of the museum, it has been an unfortunate victim of circumstances. I’m glad that we contributed even if only a little bit to it’s operation.

I don’t know what kind of clouds these are. I know they aren’t cirrus or stratus, they’re storm clouds? I think Cumulonimbus Nimbus are the high thundercloud.

What all of this is leading up to is that I am a member of the Cloud Appreciation Society, because I always look at and admire the clouds. Like a lot of things I need to beef up my knowledge on cloud types.

Clear blue skies are nice, but boring. I’d much rather have some clouds to watch.

The weather has been very up and down all week. There was one morning when rain was pretty much a certainty but I have a more than adequate rain coat, luckily I didn’t need it but it was nice to get out.

At the moment it is blowing a bit of a gale.

I spent a bit of time today, every time I went down stairs watching the starlings. We seem to have out own family of up to 20 baby starlings who have adopted our garden as their home. They are striping the bird tables which are there for that. They are beautiful to watch.

I’ve said before that I am reading Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Written in the year 731. I have to confess, that for the first time since I started this blog project, I am having major problems writing about a book that I am reading.

For the time being, I think I am going to read into it a bit more before commenting, if I do comment at all here. I have to say though, that it is a fascinating book, that gives you an opportunity to think about how things were in the times leading up to the 7th & 8th centuries. Where the focus of life lay, if you were in a position to write about it at that time. In some respects it parallels the history of Art, and what the subject of most pictures were before artists realised that they could and should paint what they want rather than what was expected.

In parallel with Bede’s book I also have a available volume 2 of the Oxford History of England, which deals with Bede’s time and the period from 550 – 1087. It gives the modern interpretation of the available facts. It is of course a fascinating counterpoint.

Given that Bede’s book is an Ecclesiastical history, the focus is naturally upon religious events. Whilst it is as already said a fascinating read, I’m not quite ready to discuss that aspect of it yet.