NORFOLK

This post and line fence was a temporary set up here, much needed to keep folks off the dunes where the adults and new born seal pups were sheltering from the recent high tides and stormy weather. Further along the beach there was a viewing platform, so i did manage to get some photos of the seal pups. As soon as I saw this I thought of Isabel (Xata).

For more details about fantails go to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windmill_fantail

The first Pip Shows our youngest grandson, James, and how many steps we needed to climb to reach the viewing platform. The second clickable PiP shows the fantail taken from the viewing platform.

Horsey windpump was working, draining the surrounding area, until it was struck by lightning in 1943. It was acquired by the National Trust in 1948. The mill's damaged sails were removed in 1956, and replacement sails and fantail were installed in 1962. The Great Storm of 1987 caused further damage, and repair works were required before the building could reopen to visitors in 1990. Having succumbed to the ravages of time and the elements, the sails were removed again in 2014. A restoration project started in 2016 to repair and reinstate the cap and sails, with the ambition of restoring the Windpump to full working order. Finally, after a four-month wait of unsuccessful tests in unfavourable wind, the sails eventually turned on the evening of Wednesday 29 May 2019 for the first time since 1943. Here it's possible to see the position of the fantail, and where the fence photo was taken after climbing to the top. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsey_Windpump

Look carefully and you may see adult seals on the beach, and the young pups with their mothers in the dune area. This fence is a temporary structure preventing humans and dogs from disturbing the seals, but sometimes we do silly things. Only last week a seal pup that looked a bit lost was picked up and wrapped in a coat by a well meaning lady, and taken to one of the wardens. The pup died very shortly afterwards, and should have remained near its mother. I used the zoom built in to the camera to achieve closeups.

SC84 - Post 25 February - Someone at work - person/people or animal/s The locomotive is being turned ready for the return trip to Aylsham. With no power available, the crew are obviously putting their backs into the task, while passengers are waiting for the train to be turned round. www.bvrw.co.uk/trains/locomotive-number-9 www.bvrw.co.uk

HBM everyone

SC104 An object out of place. Not an object but a living creature. While walking at the edge of the sea at Horsey on the east coast of Norfolk we came across 100s if not 1000s of these little jelly 'blobs' left stranded on the shoreline by the ebbing tide. They are in fact a member of the group of zooplankton and are called Pleurobrachia pileus or sea gooseberries. As you can see each organism is small, but they were present in such large numbers that they were very noticeable. They have most likely ended up on the beaches due to recent strong winds. They tend to be in high abundance at this time of year in any case due to the increased amount of phytoplankton and very small zooplankton plankton (their main food source) in surface water in the spring and summer, when the days get longer and the sun is higher in the sky. They can survive if they are returned to the sea quickly, but it would have been a mammoth task so to do. They grow up to about 2.5cm long.

At least it didn't rain, and the water wasn't too cold for a paddle.

I used to see a lot of these when we lived in Norway. A few of them were flitting about behind the dune slacks at the Horsey gap. This type of area is the preferred environment for these insects. Auf Jakobs-Kreuzkraut (Senecio jacobaea). Die Pflanze enthält giftige Alkaloide und ist bei Farmern sehr unbeliebt, weil sie Rindern gefährlich werden kann, wenn die diese Pflanze fressen. Zyganea nimmt dieses Gift bereits im Raupenstadium auf und ist so, auch noch als Schmetterling, vor Fressfeinden geschützt. Super Foto! --- Translated by DeepL --- Ragwort (Senecio jacobaea) is a plant that contains poisonous alkaloids and is very unpopular with farmers because it can be dangerous to cattle if they eat it. Zyganea already absorbs this poison in the caterpillar stage and is thus protected from predators, even as a butterfly. great photo! Information - thanks goes to Karl

HFF everyone, and enjoy the summer.

I haven't been very well recently and the garden is out of hand - again. I probably won't be online for a few days. Enjoy the coming week everybody.

James has a couple or so of passions, one being buses, another trains and a third classic cars. So our first stop, after a visit to a cafe for a Pepsi and two coffees was a visit to the bus station - followed by a visit to the train station of course. He forgot to bring his clicker to count all the Norwich buses unfortunately.

HFF everyone. I hope you are enjoying the last of the meteorological summertime, or wintertime for those down under. This opportunity might probably be the last time I dip my toes in the sea this year.