Category: Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal

Fountains by Floodlight

Every October, Fountains Abbey open its gates on Friday and Saturday evenings to allow visitors to appreciate the site as the sun sets, darkness falls, the Abbey is illuminated by floodlight, choirs sing in the Cellarium, and a flotilla of food trucks cater to most tastes.

This year, there was another attraction: a lightshow telling the story of the Abbey, from its early days as a simple place of a life of prayer for a few devout monks; through its successful days as an important religious and wool-trading centre; to its dissolution by Henry VIII; its re-emergence as part of an 18th century water garden; and finally, as a UNESCO World Heritage site managed by the National Trust. All that history, colourfully and dramatically brought to life in 10 minutes or so, projected on repeat throughout the evening! It was magnificent, and a wonderful window on the past. If you live near enough and fancy this kind of evening out, there are two further weekends this October. Find out all about it here.

If the windows shown here aren’t obvious enough, here’s one more:

For Ludwig’s Monday Window, hosted this week by PR

PS. Radio silence for a while, apart from the odd virtual postcard. Off on a rail trip to visit Team Spain, then on to our old haunts in France for a few days before chugging our way home.

Last on the Card in August

Goodness. I haven’t taken a photo on my phone since last Thursday, and who knows when I last used my camera? It’s been a very busy August. Anyway, here’s where I was last Thursday. Standing in the well-named and beautifully planted Quiet Garden at Fountain’s Abbey, gazing back to the Elizabethan Fountains Hall. I thought it deserved a quick shot.

For Brian’s Last on the Card.

Eight Monday Portraits of Eight Tiny Birds

Mondays at the moment are when I help some of the Wildlife Team here at Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal as we check nestboxes round and about the estate. I’m very much a junior member of the team – lots to learn. The questions change as the season progresses. Which boxes are occupied? (by no means all). Which boxes have meticulously constructed nests within – different species, different nesting styles? Which ones have eggs? How many? Covered or uncovered? Cold? Meaning more will be laid. Or warm? Meaning they are about to be incubated. Is there an adult sitting on said eggs? And now – increasingly – have they hatched? Are the absent parents out and about frantically securing food for those ever-open mouths. Which nests – partly finished or fully constructed have been deserted?

The first photo is of nuthatch hatchlings, maybe four days old, courtesy of Colin, a fellow volunteer. My – slightly fuzzier -photo is of some even younger blue tits.

It’s a tough year. It’s been cold, and insects and caterpillars simply aren’t about. Food is hard to come by. Eggs are abandoned, hatchlings starve. Today wasn’t as bad as we feared, and we were glad to see so many boxes with eggs yet to hatch, just as – finally – the temperatures are promised to rise this week.

For Monday Portrait.

I did rather wonder why not a single soul had either ‘liked’ or commented on this post. It turned out to be simple. I hadn’t pressed ‘publish’ after I had written it …

Dawn. Worth Getting Up For?

You’re  not crawling out of bed at 3.30 because you’ve got an early shift at work.  You’re not getting up at silly o’clock because you’ve got to go through the whole dismal business of airport security and a flight before beginning your holiday.  No.  You’re getting up because you want to.  You can even largely skip getting washed, let alone finding presentable clothing.

That was me, last week.

3.45: I crept out of the house before it was even light, not waking anyone else up. In the car, on the way to Studley, the full moon shone cold white in an charcoal sky. The first glimmer of light – a sort of navy-with-apricot-ish coral stole across the horizon. Rabbits loped along the verges.  A barn owl rose silently from the road ahead, clasping its prey.

About 4.05: At Studley, those rich salmon sky-tones were flaring brighter now. A blackbird sang.  Just the one. Within minutes, he was joined by others.  Then robins, song thrushes. After that, wrens, bluetits, then blackcaps, chaffinches, chiffchaffs and nuthatches.  Even a curlew.  Even a tawny owl.  Not that I’d have known all this if it hadn’t been for Merlin.

I walked towards the trees, not yet quite in leaf, silhouetted against  the brightening sky.  Deer, more curious than startled, came to gaze at me before resuming grazing, or sometimes deciding that fleeing silently away together was a better option.

Gillet Hill gave views of Ripon and beyond, the now magenta sky beginning to halo the cathedral. But maybe the view from St. Mary’s would be even better?  The deer thought so.

The church was a fine sight in its own right, but haze now hid the cathedral, and down the hill I went to catch, at 5.20 (not 5.35, as advertised), the sun rising over the horizon.  I watched it climb – rather quickly, rather dramatically actually.

Then the early morning chill (1 degree ….)  finally got to me, and I elected for the warmth of the car home, then a hot shower, cosy clothes, and – just a bit later, breakfast, fresh-brewed coffee, and the chance to share news of my adventures.

Wasn’t all that worth getting up for?

The correct answer is ‘Yes’.

For Jo’s Monday Walk

Too Late to Take a Seat

A slightly enigmatic shot taken while clearing the Cellarium at Fountain’s Abbey after a concert.

And that’s it. Becky’s NovemberShadows are over. It’s been fun, at least for the participants, and I’ve ‘met’ new bloggers in almost every continent. Thanks, Becky, for being Queen of Squares.

For Becky’s NovemberShadows. And. Dead cheeky here. Jude’s Bench Challenge. Those first three. They look like a bench? Just … maybe?

Autumn Shadows at Studley Royal

Shadows fall below this venerable sweet chestnut tree.

To begin a month of Shadows for Becky’s Month of Squares, I bring you a photo from Studley Royal, where the rutting stags vie for attention with the autumn colours.

Probably too young to join in the rut, this stag poses against dappled shadow.

Thank Becky, for being Queen of Squares once more.

Breakfast Time for a Heron

Walking through the orchard at Fountains Abbey early yesterday, I came upon this heron, not 10 feet away. He was unconcerned about me, and spent his time alert for a breakfast meal. He found three courses during the time I watched him – about 20 minutes. This video shows him enjoying just one of them.

A heron out hunting along the river bank for breakfast.

It’s my last (and first) video of the month. My last shot of the month is also one of the heron, and is my featured photo. I was quite fed up that I only had my bargain-basement phone with me, rather than my camera. Never mind.

For Brian’s Last on the Card

… and IJK’s Bird of the Week.

A Quiet Bench

Near Fountains Hall, the early Jacobean house in the grounds of Fountains Abbey, a new garden has recently been opened. The Quiet Garden. It is indeed a peaceful haven. My favourite feature is this bench, made from the wood of now-fallen trees in Studley Royal’s deer park.

And in case you’ve not seen it before, here is Fountains Hall.

For Jude’s Bench Challenge.