Flowers and other details/Charmouth 2012

The Booth Museum Of Natural History

During my recent trip to Brighton, I visited The Booth Museum for the very first time! Founded by naturalist Edward Thomas Booth in 1874, it remains true to its nickname "home of the dioramas", as Booth was the first man to depict taxidermy animals in scenes resembling their natural habitats, down to the type of foliage and rocks included. His detailed sketches and notes show how determined he was to keep his work true to life, and as well as his taxidermy and famed bird collection, he also studied fossils, skeletons and insects. The skeleton room is vast, holding elephant skulls, and narwhales amongst other amazing examples, even a human skeleton features!

Booth was born in 1840, to a well-to-do family. His early years were spent in education in Brighton and then on to Trinity College Cambridge where he studied only briefly, before be asked to leave having spent more time on the fens shooting and observing birds than studying! The museum guide told us he was quite the playboy character, with too much time on his hands as a young man, it was the best career choice he could have hoped for! He was considered a real character, and even had his own carriage at Brighton Station to hook up to the next outward bound train whenever a new or rare bird was spotted! 

The view inside the museum, as it was around 1911.

Sorry I didn't take a photograph of the entrance now to compare, the light in the museum is so dim (to preserve the taxidermy) that my Iphone was quite useless, and the next photos aren't exactly brilliant, but hopefully they'll give you an idea of the sheer amount of work in this building! It doesn't look like a large space from the outside, but they sure have made the most of the space! Floor to ceiling cases, some absolutely huge, the top ones housing eagles and vultures which are eating lambs and rabbits...nice! Apart from a new desk and study area, the exhibits look exactly the same as the above picture. Here are a few pictures i managed to take, apologies for the quality!

My favourite bird of the moment! See all the leaves and foliage included? 

Family of Partridges

1. Claire and the giant fish!  2. Fantastic Flamingo!

Painted dioramas in the fossil room

Booth should never be regarded as a commercial taxidermist, as his collection until his death was a private resource. The building itself was built specifically around the collection, some cases even featuring in the walls themselves. Considering I co-own several taxidermy pieces with Bruce, I did find the museum quite overwhelming, all those little bodies peering out into the dim lit room...I don't know why I felt like that, I'm pretty tough! I guess the thought that Booth shot all those birds and animals himself is another factor, he certainly was busy! But it's a true gem in the naturalist movements crown, you won't be stuck in queues to look in the cabinets like at the Natural History Museum, it's much more curious at Booth!  It's a truly unique place to visit and I thoroughly recommend you pop by when you're next in Brighton, especially if its raining cats and dogs like on our trip!

 Myself by the Narwhal/Killer Whale/Dolphin and Indian Elephant specimens. 

Stained glass windows in entrance hall.

Thanks for reading!

Katie

The Society For The Preservation of Nothing Very Special

I have been a member of The National Trust for nearly a year now, and I've always enjoyed their seasonal magazine- mostly because it contains one of the few crosswords I can complete! Sadly, the Autumn 2011 edition only just arrived, so despite being out of date, there was a fascinating article by Simon Barnes, a journalist who writes a regular Wildlife Column in The Times. In this article he suggests that we become active members of the "Society For The Preservation of Nothing Very Special" - a concept he believes will raise awareness of the naturally brilliant places that we take for granted every day WITHOUT making them "Special" and therefore different to the norm.

"Special" usually means rare or endangered - why would we want this for our favourite places?

Simon writes:
"That's why the SPNVP is so important, it seeks to protect living things and living places before they get special. While we still have the privilege of having them on a routine take-'em for granted" basis; while they are still part of the daily life of this country, rather than something you make a pilgrimage for. The country is full of little patches of this and expanses of that, places where you can find small brown birds and not very special butterflies...just the place for running a firghtfully quick train or putting up more houses. Why worry about these places? Plenty more where they come from"

We all have these little places. Personally, my first lies between Ash Vale and Brookwood, along the railway line (I often see such places out of train windows - adds to the moment, the fact I can't just get out and touch them!). There is some ancient woodland running by the tracks, full of broken trees, overgrown brambles and rickity wooden boundaries. Nothing amazing, quite drab really. Sometimes I see soldiers on training (very common sight around the area) other times a very contented fox curls up and watches the trains zoom by. I only see the spot for 5-10 seconds, and yet for me, its the highlight of my long journey to and from Kent! I'm sure many commuters from the Surrey/Hampshire area will tell you all they see along 80% of their commute is old trees/woodland/scrubland, so what makes it any different? And as for the fox, the plague of Suburbia's front lawns and nothing else right? I don't mind this,  as for me, those old trees by all my local railtrack and so-called "vermin" couldn't be more engaging. 

My second example, is the tall (very ugly!) half-dead hedge that runs alongside my work building in Farnham, around the back of the Post Office Depot. When i finish work around 4.30, I walk past, and the hedge is absolutely full of sparrows which are singing at the very top of their voices, making the hedge sway as they jostle about for roosting room! It only occurs for about 15 minutes, then you wouldn't even know they were there. Any town has these little brown birds fighting with the Pigeons over scraps, but at this moment, their chirping is more exciting than any of the rarer birds calls you could hear at any "special" bird watching location. Their population has already declined rapidly over the last 50 years, but thankfully they aren't deemed too "Special" yet, sadly I predict that in my lifetime, they will be.

Simon continues:

"When we think of the Natural World, we don't think with our 21st century emailing, facebooking heads on. We think with our ancient atavistic selves: as if we were still at war with hostile nature and had to fight every step of the way to keep civilisation on track. We won that war a long time ago But we are continuing, almost without noticing, a frightfully fast programme of destruction and extinction. And always, the first places to go are Nothing Very Special"

He has decided the logo for SPNVS will be the cuckoo - a bird that was once heard everywhere all the time, got taken for granted or viewed as an ugly nuisance and a bully, now has made the sad progression to "specialness" - which is a terrible shame.

With the plans for more high-speed trains, housing developments and of course all the work thats already been done on the Olympic sites around England, I think there's a lot of work to be done. We want plenty of "take'em for granted" natural occurances in our lifetimes thank you very much!

I'm sure this article will stir up similar happy locations with you! Please do add any thoughts into the comments for this post, I'd love to know!

"We all must fight with all we have, green in tooth and claw, for Nothing Very Special".

Thanks for reading!

Katie

Winter Woodland Wanderings!

I'm sad to say that my faithful Yashica T3 has given up the ghost this week! There may still be hope if we take it apart...but at least the last roll in it was a good one! These were from Mine and Bruce's and Thom's woodland walk after New Year, Thom was trying out his recently purchased (from Bruce) Mamiya! Its our usual Hargate Forest route in Tunbridge Wells, you can't beat it!

And then the snow came of course! So here's the last picture the poor little Yashica managed to take:

Lets hope it makes a full recovery! For now, the Olympus will come to the rescue! Hope you're having a good week....it's just started snowing again!

First snow of 2012

I was awake bright and early this morning (mostly because due to ANOTHER cold I couldn't sleep properly!) on the plus side, I got to see the snow before my barmy dog went out and kicked it up in excitement! The birds were out in force, but our little robin chases away any that dare come near his mealworms - grumpy little fellow! Meanwhile in the garden...

We then headed over Rowhills for our usual stroll with Mollie, was quite the winter wonderland but the squirrels kept sending snow all over our heads as they ran about in the tree tops, we got home absolutely soaked!!

Some brilliantly clear badger tracks (mixed with Mollies!) We saw someone over the woods with a torch about midnight last night, I wondered if the ranger was out putting jumpers on the badgers and foxes? I think it's a plausable explanation... :) The one on the far right looks like a bears paw doesn't it?? - we can dream!

Let's see how long it lasts for this time - as i have two driving lessons booked this week i'd quite like there to be none left by Wednesday please!!

Hope you're all enjoying your snow sunday!

Katie

War Horse - Part Two

As promised, here is the follow up to my last post - including a very interesting video that i found recently, which gives a strong insight into the horses used in WW1. 

The proportion of soldiers to animals on the battlefields was 4 men to 1 horse. Of the one million horses and mules sent to the Western Front during the conflict, only 67,000 returned home to the UK with 933,000 killed through injuries or illnesses, which were rife in the terrible conditions of the trenches. 

Horses in the Great War are as much a symbol of that conflict as the mud or the gas mask. A sad fact of the Great War battlefields is when a field was ploughed, the most common bones were horse or mule. I visited the battlefields a few years ago, and this fact was never mentioned. Many officers wanted to be buried with their horses if they fell, and there is at least one war grave where that indeed happened. These animals were loved and brought great comfort, perhaps a reminder of the "Green and Pleasant Land" they'd left behind.

A Cavalry horse stands over the body of its rider - from the book The War Horses

As author Simon Butler explains, this was not just ‘the first and last global conflict in which the horse played a vital role’, but also a war which changed the entire relationship between society and the horse. A nation which had depended on domestic horsepower up until 1914 suddenly lost its workhorses to the front and had to find mechanised alternatives. By 1918, there was no going back.

You can purchase his book HERE. It has many powerful photographs of horses from both sides of the fields, a very in-depth read.

  General Jack Seely and Warrior.

The tale of War Horse's equine hero exploits is fictional, however a similar tale about "Warrior" who carried General Jack Seely of the Canadian cavalry throughout the horrors of World War I are all true and documented documented in a book written by General Jack Seely, in 1934. Seely's book spoke about his time at battle with his beloved war horse who he called a 'courageous animal.' A group of cavalrymen dubbed Warrior 'The horse the Germans couldn't kill'. He writes how the horse's extraordinary character and some unbelievable twists of fate, helped him survive a war which claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of horses. The first time General Seely rode the Warrior through shell fire, it was at the battle of Mons, on the French border and he was amazed to discover that Warrior did not try to run away and instead the thoroughbred 'was pretending to be brave and succeeding in his task.' I thought the portrait of the both of them above was truly spectacular.

The recent popularity of the play and film War Horse (based on the book by Michael Morpurgo) in my view, can only be a positive. It's imperative to inform a wider audience about such sacrifices, and despite some arguing about correct uniforms/language etc etc, it will undoubtedly encourage people to ask more questions, and discover the truth for themselves, particularly those who might not have previous interest of military history.

Here is the mentioned video, thank you for reading!

War Horse

    18th Century Painting "Wounded War Horse"

    "Wounded Horse" Iraq, 2008.

I've been sitting on this discovery for over a year. Everything considered, I think now is the right time to share.

I will be putting up a related post soon, but for now, I hope these pictures just make you think, and feel.

Katie

National Tree Week 2011

Sally Mann - Scarred Tree 1996, from the series Deep South

National Tree Week began in 1975, and runs from the 26th November to the 4th December. It celebrates the start of the tree planting season, and is a great way to get communities working together on conservation and awareness projects.

As i'm sure regular readers will know, I rather like Trees. Well...I love Trees. A lot. I know Thom Bridge understands!

 A giant sequoia log, Sequoia National Park, California, undated, c1910

Trees and forests, probably because of their great size and longevity, have always vividly stirred our imaginations. Like mountains and stones they seemed immobile, but unlike them, trees could change and sway. They stir thoughts of time and mortaility, dense forests can provide a quietness that can sometimes be overwhelming - they have often been feared and respected.

Even lone trees, particularly in a barren spot, may have appeared miraculous if they provided food for a starving wanderer. Trees were seen and touched by the earliest humans; utilized for food, fuel, shelter, clothing, fences and barriers, lances and spears; and burned, cut or transformed into numerous objects. Their shadows provided cover, camouflage and hiding places for persons on either side of the law. They also provide death. Blunt, but true. From being used in lynching, to becoming self-made memorials, there is definate dark side of trees many would never consider. There has recently been such a sad situation in the woods which are often featured in my photographs, you can see the the torn bark around the branch.

The Survivor Tree, an American Elm Tree in Oklahoma, it survived the bomb’s blast and witnessed one of the worst terrorist attacks on American soil. On April 19, 1995, the tree was almost chopped down to recover pieces of evidences that hung from its branches due to the force of the 4,000 pound bomb that killed 168 and injured hundreds just yards away. The Survivor Tree is a symbol of human resilience. Today, as a tribute to renewal and rebirth, the inscription around the tree reads, “The spirit of this city and this nation will not be defeated; our deeply rooted faith sustains us.”

  
On 9/11, debris from the collapsing WTC towers knocked over a giant sycamore tree that had stood for nearly a centuary in St. Paul's churchyard. When the dust settled, the uprooted tree was found lying on a narrow path in the yard. It had fallen in such a way that none of the historic tombstones around it were disturbed, and none of the wreckage reached the chapel. Scluptor Steve Tobin heard the story of the syeamore and envisioned using it’s root as the base of a bronze sculpture.

Trees and forests took on symbolic divine characteristics, or were seen to represent superlative forces such as courage, endurance or immortality. They were the means of communication between worlds. Some societies made them into magical totems. Sometimes a particular tree was considered to be sacred because of association with a holy individual, saint or prophet. Trees have frequently held great religious significance, for example the tree under which the Buddha received enlightenment and the tree used for the crucifixion of Jesus. As a result they often featured in religious rituals, and still do today. Examples include trees upon which prayers or offerings are hung in many different cultures, and the Christmas tree, a custom whose present form evolved in Europe in the nineteenth century. 

 The "Jesus Tree" of Malta

In almost every part of the world travelers have observed the custom of hanging objects upon trees in order to establish some sort of a relationship between themselves and the tree. Throughout Europe also, a mass of evidence has been collected testifying to the lengthy persistence of superstitious practices and beliefs concerning them. The trees are known as the scenes of pilgrimages, ritual ambulation, and the recital of prayers.

 Example of a Wishing Tree in Turkey

The custom of transferring disease or sickness from men to trees is well known. Sometimes the hair, nails, clothing of a sickly person are fixed to a tree, or they are forcibly inserted in a hole in the trunk, or the tree is split and the patient passes through the aperture.

The concept of a tree of life, a many-branched tree illustrating the idea that all life on earth is related, has been used in science, religion, philosophy, mythology, and other areas. 

 An Icelandic example of "The Tree Of Life" 

British folklore wouldn't be complete without some spirtis and witches, and tree's are no different!

The European Rowan tree has long been thought to be a magical tree and protection against witches. It was said in England that this was the tree on which the Devil hanged his mother?! (Crikey!) 

The density of the rowan wood makes it very usable for walking sticks, as in Celtic mythology where it prevents those on a journey from getting lost. Rowan was carried on vessels to avoid storms, kept in houses to guard against lightning, and even planted on graves to keep the deceased from haunting. It was also used to protect one from witches. Even without the connection to witches, yew trees had many superstitions attached to them. It was best not to lie down under a yew, despite the nice cold shade. The tree would suck the life out of anyone, as soon as he or she fell asleep. Yew has always grown in graveyards, as people believed that the tree drank the poison from the ground which was infected by the dead.

 Ancient Yew Tree at Waverley Abbey

The Hardy Tree can be found in Old St. Pancras Churchyard, London. The Ash tree is surrounded by monuments that were, as legend has it, moved by Thomas Hardy during his days as an architect clerk during the regeneration of Kings Cross in the 1860's.  Some of Hardy's poetry is reputed to be inspired by his time working on this unpleasant job - particularly 'In the Cemetery'.

In all honesty, I could talk about trees all day, I hope you have enjoyed reading! 

Better leave with one of mine:

Katie Bedlow, 10x8 contact, 2010.

Thanks! Hope you all have a good week!