printed on page 7 of issue 524 (September 2011)

The dessicated path
stone hard and deeply grooved
with horsehoof prints
skirts the ragwort
the squalid ragwort
that seems so sunny
from Aston home
to Blewbury.
The way seems long
the horses now just phantom
when will they pass again
and the way so long and dry
when too will I
walk again by ragwort
from Aston home
to Blewbury.
                        Sheila Paine

The difference of a Blewbury Season
The busyness of spring and early summer - gone !
The accolades of School and Festival and Play are won.
Homes and gardens can enjoy their families again;
Our lanes are quiet but the chuckling streams remain.
Long and easy days are here for some
But for others holiday packing must be done.
We should appreciate the emptier days 
For soon will Autumn occupy our ways .
We could not manage life without this calmer time
It doth refresh us, and return us to our prime. 
                                                              Freda Chapman

printed on page 11 of issue 524 (September 2011)

It is that time of year again, when lovers of the night sky look forward to darker, and, hopefully, clear skies. The summer months have been put to good use. Chasing the creepy crawlies out of the observatory, brushing away the cobwebs, modifications to equipment, cleaning, and adjusting telescopes etc. On cloudy nights, we have been looking through the books, and star charts, planning the months ahead.
I, for one, am looking forward to developing my imaging techniques with Jupiter. This spectacular planet is back with us, after several months of hiding behind the glare of the Sun. It is now very visible, late at night, shining like a searchlight as it rises in the East. It promises to be a good apparition of Jupiter this season, as it reaches a higher altitude than recent years. This means the light has less atmosphere to struggle through, so it should be a steadier telescopic image. Jupiter is in the constellation of Aries, and if you look to the left, you will spot the familiar asterism of the Pleiades (seven sisters). Very much a winter pattern of stars. Shows how time marches on, and the Summer is over all too quickly.
If you look further to the North, the Plough can be seen above the horizon, and at this time of year, the correct way up, so no mistaking the familiar shape, which is also known as the Saucepan. High above your head, you will see the W shape of Cassiopea. But this time, you will need a rubber neck to see this. Perhaps it will be easier to look for the shape of an M. Both of these major constellations are circumpolar from these latitudes, which means they never go below the horizon, as they revolve around the Pole Star.
This year, the Autumnal Equinox will be on 23rd September – 09.05am GMT.
Full Moon 12th. Harvest Moon (Old Farmers Almanac), Singing Moon (Celtic – A time for festivities following a successful harvest), Nut Moon (Cherokee Indian). New Moon 27th. Clear skies: John Napper – Starfields 818853  

printed on page 15 of issue 524 (September 2011)

I’ve worked on countless antique and furniture restoration projects in the last twenty years, but restoring the 1709 porch of The Charity School House, opposite St Michael’s Church, is in a class of its own. Over the years, the porch slowly sagged forwards, leaving a gap of about four inches between the top and the wall of the house. This, and gradual distortion of the structure, admitted rain and rot and caused much damage – a nightmare!
The demi-cupola of lath and cement was in surprisingly good condition and not a single lath needed replacing. But the original barrel vaulting and the complex structure of wooden mouldings above the cupola, holding up the immensely heavy original sand-cast lead caul, was extensively split, distorted, wood-wormed and rotted. This has all been reconstructed, layer by layer, using as much of the original timber as possible. Fortunately the lead was in good enough condition to be reused.
Originally, the brackets, with their carved cherubs complete with wings and holding open books (this was a school, after all!) and the wooden moulding were treated with a mixture of glue and crushed stone, to resemble real stone, losing a lot of the fine detail of the carving in the process. Much of the rest of the detail was hidden by countless further applications of white paint during the next 300 years. All this has been stripped down, sealed, filled where necessary and primed and painted to reveal the fine carving by the unknown craftsman (and probably his apprentice since one of the cherubs is slightly less crisply carved than the other) in all its beauty.
The weight of the lead caul was until recently held up (just) by a sheet of plywood fixed to the wall of the house with rather flimsy metal brackets and two-inch screws - some screwed into the original soft lime mortar rather than the bricks of the house itself. The lead is now supported by a new but completely hidden steel structure.
The restored porch can, of course, be admired by all passers-by, but you can come and see some ‘before-and-after’ photos of the whole project on the afternoons of Saturday and Sunday, 24th and 25th September, and have a closer look at the cherubs by going up the ladder and scaffolding (at your own risk!).
Edward Fitzgibbon (Restorer, Tel 07964 66 37 32) Peter Saunders, Ann Saunders

printed on page 19 of issue 524 (September 2011)

There have been a lot of ladybirds this year but I am not sure how many are the undesirable Harlequin.  It has been pointed out that there are few two spot ladybirds which are preyed on by the Harlequins.
Oxford ragwort has been flowering in profusion.  I heard a plea for its conservation but it seems to be doing well without our help.  It supports a mini-wildlife of its own, especially the caterpillars of the Cinnabar moth. Dried in hayfields it is poisonous especially to horses, so owners must weed it out, but on roadside verges it provides yellow colour contrasting with purple knapweed and blue scabious.
Small birds have now left the garden in search of food in hedgerows and fields where there are plenty of insects and weed seeds. They will be back before autumn sets in.  My great joy this summer was being shown a red kite's nest in the village with young peeping out over the untidy mass of sticks that make do for a nest.
Also, but not in Blewbury,  I was shown a rescued swift  Once on land swifts cannot walk or take off to fly.  It had been "rescued" by kind but ignorant people who put it in a cage and fed it bread which it could not eat and was slowly starving. It was rescued from them by a knowledgeable person who fed it correctly and let it practice flying each day by launching it into the air.  On the day I saw it, it was nestling in her hands, she launched it and to her great joy it flew away never to return.
Another pleasure has been the hedgehog snuffling its way across the garden into the shade of our raspberry canes.  Mostly it is seen at dusk or early morning coming through a hole in the fence. A nasty-looking brown slug disappeared so the hedgehog is welcome. They eat slugs but are mainly insectivorous.  Never feed them or any other wild creature bread.           

Bernardine Shirley-Smith

printed on page 15 of issue 525 (October 2011)

Sadly hedgehog populations are assessed by the number of reported road casualties and the few drowned in garden ponds with sides too steep for them to climb out.  I detect live hedgehogs by their distinctive black, cylindrical droppings.  In September they might be expected to be preparing to hibernate, but a second litter can be born as late as now.  However there is no sexual activity from October to April but in midsummer they can be heard to squeak like a pig - hence their name of hog or hedgepig.
Apart from visiting hedgehogs, and birds of course, I was surprised to find a frog sitting by my feet seemingly enjoying the warmth of the late sun.  A much smaller one was returned by my grandchildren to my neighbour's pond.  But we have nothing as spectacular as a full grown badger that ambled through a Blewbury garden at midnight. It stopped at the side of the London Road, looked left and right and allowed two cars to pass before crossing over.
The conker season has arrived and there are some surprisingly healthy conkers in spite of the Horsechestnut trees being once again attacked by the tiny moth whose caterpillars burrow through the leaves.  The leaves die, turn brown and curl up. Each successive attack must eventually weaken the trees exposing them to infections more sinister than eventual failure to reproduce.  It has been pointed out to me that some trees are more affected than others and leaves at the top of the tree can remain green and are less affected.      

Bernardine Shirley-Smith

printed on page 19 of issue 525 (October 2011)

The new football season has brought back all my memories of being the Reading FC Mascot at Wembley in the Championship Playoff. It was all thanks to Keith Sessions, better known as ‘Wobbly’, steward at Goring & Streatley Golf Club and Chair of the Blewbury Badminton Club, and his connections.
Ian Wood-Smith, Director of Reading FC, met me earlier when I was attending the last home match of the season against Derby FC as a guest of Mr Simon Darvill. It was a great day and I correctly predicted who the first scorer would be and the final result 2-1 to Reading. I couldn’t believe it when Keith phoned a few weeks later to say I’d been chosen as the Reading Mascot. I love my football and was goalkeeper for the Blewbury School team and have followed Reading since joining them as a ‘Magnificent 7’.
I travelled up with Keith, Eleanor Fisher, Lisa Tomlinson and my family. I remember getting a little worried about running out in front of 90,000 people and knowing that lots of my friends would be watching in the ground and on TV. Matt Mills really looked after me and talked to me so I wasn’t so nervous. I had a kick about with him and Andy Griffin on the Wembley turf, it was just so brilliant. Andrea Brown of the Football League showed me and Keith round the stadium and into the dressing rooms when all the players were getting ready. It was great day and a fantastic experience, just with the wrong result with Reading losing. I want to thank everyone who gave me this once in a lifetime opportunity, especially Keith, it’s been an amazing experience.    

James Ritson, Age 11

printed on page 11 of issue 527 (December 2011)

A surprising find has been made by Edward Fitzgibbon in the garden of The Old School House opposite the Church in the form of the 1914-15 Star War medal awarded to a villager, Tom Alexander. It has lain in the ground for a considerable time but is in excellent condition. Edward asked the Blewbury Local History Group if we could research the soldier and then perhaps pass the medal onto a surviving relative. This is what was discovered:
Tom was christened Eli Thomas Alexander, the son of Henry and Rosetta Alexander who came from Wiltshire and Hampshire respectively. He was born on 27th November 1889 at Salt Box and in 1901 was living in one of the two cottages on Rubble Pit Road with his parents and sister, a note was made that they were on Parish Relief. His other sisters were not listed on the 1901 census as living there and his father passed away some time before his service record was begun as his mother remarried to a Mr Prater.
He lived to the age of 83 before passing away in Wallingford. His medal revealed that he served in the Royal Marine Light Infantry and was a pre-war enlisted man. He joined up on 16th October 1908 as PLY/14707, the PLY meaning he was Plymouth based. He had an eventful 12 years service. Prior to the war, from February 1911 to End of August 1913 he served on HMS Defence. This battleship escorted King George V on his tour to India in November 1911 and then went out to the Far East to serve in the China Seas fleet along with Tom. Whilst in the Far East, in Hong Kong, Tom switched ships and in March 1914 was put aboard a newly refurbished Gunboat HMS Thistle. From his whole service history I have the hunch that he was a gunner, perhaps on the machine guns that all ships had fitted. When war was imminent then he was transferred again whilst still in Hong Kong to HMS Triumph, a battleship which was held in reserve there. She was refitted for a period of four months until November 1914 and Tom stayed with her as she sailed over to the Gallipoli campaign. Here the battleship took part in the action and on May 25th, around Midday, was torpedoed by U21. She took nearly one and a half hours to sink before turning turtle and going down. Seventy men drowned but 630, including Tom, were rescued by other ships in the harbour. Tom was passaged home before being posted immediately onto another gunboat HMS Dwarf. Although the experience of being torpedoed cannot have been pleasant it was significantly a better course than that of his previous ship HMS Defence. She was sunk with all hands at Jutland in 1916.
Tom saw a long spell on Dwarf before being sent to Gibraltar in 1917 and then from March 1918 being posted to unknown armed merchantmen. His service record shows him as serving on HMS President III which was an accounting base for men who were posted in this capacity as Marines onboard merchantmen. He saw the war out and then stayed on another two years to complete his twelve years service. Discharged on 15th October 1920 he was given his Naval Prize fund of £11-5-0 and his War Gratuity of £29.00 before he left the service with two good conduct medals. His commanding officer was CEE Curtoys – perhaps connected with the house in Blewbury?
We did discover that one of his sisters married Alfred Busby who those of a certain age in the village are likely to remember. Alfred also served in the Great War. We have not been able to ascertain why Tom’s medal was lying in the ground nor any surviving relatives and Edward has passed it to the History Group to be saved for the village.

printed on page 19 of issue 527 (December 2011)

It has happened before and it will happen again - an Indian summer stretching well into November.  The natural world is confused by the warmth of the air, by the warmth of the rain and not least by the warmth of the sun when it shines.  The countryside is still green, gardens are pretty with flowers.  There has been no frost to kill off dahlias and other tender plants.  Birds come into gardens to feed but they are not ravenous and seem quite happy flying back to fields and hedges.  Rooks are making as much noise as when they squabble over nesting sites in spring.  The one factor that puts a stop to all this is the shortening days and long dark nights. Light is very much the controlling factor in nature; it regulates hormone production in both plants and animals. 
A sparrowhawk has been busy swooping down from the sky and catching small birds on the wing.  It is irrational of me to be upset by the death of a goldfinch but shed no tears over the loss of a pigeon.  It has been estimated (don't know how) that there are 80,000 sparrowhawks in Britain and each one needs a kill per day.  A pigeon provides a longer lasting meal than a small song bird.  All part of the balance of nature.

printed on page 19 of issue 528 (Christmas 2011)

A murmuration of starlings has been attracting a small crowd of watchers at sunset on the other side of Didcot, when the starlings fall out of the sky like a rocket in reverse. The collective term was given to a gathering of starlings by Dame Juliana Berners in 1486. The word does not appear in concise dictionaries but can be found on Google. It is not necessary to go to Didcot to see the spectacle, just stand on the downs and watch and listen.
Two herons have been observed fighting until one gave in and moved off. This is most unusual as herons are solitary birds except when nesting. Maybe the recent warm weather induced territorial rights.
The swans have returned to the Manor Lake and grounds. I assume they are the same pair. I wonder where they have been. Probably back to a favoured nesting site. Seagulls, like large white snowflakes, covered Tickers Folly field one day competing with the rooks for larvae under the turf. They come in when bad weather hits the coast and when farmers are disturbing the soil ready for sowing. Few of them plough these days.
Mention snow? There are three snowdrops in the churchyard, too early.

Bernardine Shirley-Smith

printed on page 9 of issue 529 (February 2012)

It was a joyous morning on New Years Day when a small bumble bee visited my winter honeysuckle; since then two or three have been feeding from the flowers, but not on cold or wet days.

Tall beech trees are now bare against the skyline and it will be months before they burst into leaf again.  Beech trees are curious in that trees over 10 feet tall begin to shed their leaves at the onset of winter but smaller specimens and hedges keep their leaves all winter. There is a theory about this, something to do with hormones, but I can't find the reference.  Copper beech is a mutant or sport first observed in the eighteenth century; it is usually grafted onto the root stock of the Common beech Fagus sylvatica and sometimes the green chlorophyll begin to show in a few shoots, normally disguised.

printed on page 19 of issue 529 (February 2012)

Clear nights are just like buses! We can go for many weeks without a clear sky – then all of a sudden, we have 5 in a row. One feels obliged to take advantage of these, as we might not have another one for weeks. So I am feeling a bit bleary eyed as I type these notes. It has been cold with it of course. But not a problem if you are wearing the right gear. Although it has been clear, there has been a lot of mist around, which spreads the light pollution even further. So no good for seeing anything faint. But still able to do some planetary work.
It is quite busy on the planetary front. I am sure some of you have noticed the very bright object to the SW, after sunset. The planet Venus – also known as the Evening Star, or when it is on the other side of the Sun – the Morning Star. Orbiting closer to the Sun than we are, it goes through phases, just like our Moon. This was pointed out by the early astronomers, as proof that the Sun is at the centre of things. Not the Earth. The changing phase of Venus can be easily followed with a telescope. It is a good idea to observe it as early in the evening as possible, while it is still quite high, and it will not dazzle you so much, when seen against a lighter sky. By the end of the month, Venus will be showing an almost half moon shape. Look for a spectacular sight, as a young crescent Moon passes close to Venus on the evening of 25th February. But keep watching, as in the weeks ahead, as this brightest of planets will change to a crescent shape – increase in size, and become brighter still.
Jupiter is still putting on a good show, early in the evening. But is now slipping away to the west, and will soon be badly placed for observing through your telescopes. As Jupiter moves away, to pass behind the Sun, it will appear to pass close to Venus around the middle of March. As Jupiter begins to leave the scene, the next planetary target for the telescope is Mars, as it slowly climbs into the sky. Mars can be seen rising in the East, late in the evening, as a glowing orange object beneath the feet of Leo the Lion. A classic spring constellation, and a sign of the ever changing seasons. Perhaps the spring will bring clearer skies. Mars is going to be at its best in March, and from now on, a telescope should show you its northern polar cap, and a few darker features.
Looking further ahead – Saturn, the ringed planet is making a come back, and currently rising at midnight. Unfortunately, it is going to be quite low in the sky this year, and not seen at its best.
Full Moon 7th.  Moon of Ice   (Celtic)  Budding Moon  (Chinese) New Moon 21st.