CathyLoweBerkshire
@cathylowe
Enthusiast. Churches and cathedrals, Modernist architecture, music especially Mozart, birding especially swans. My son is a hospital doctor; I once worked in the NHS in health education/public health.
Here's some pretty posing from the Pied Wagtail. I wonder if the Grey is a juvenile?
On a second landing stage, there was charm in abundance, in contrast to the Heron-ly intimidation. Pied and Grey Wagails provided effervescent entertainment, never still for long. This Grey beauty had a good old wing-stretch, first one side, then the other. @iangrebe.bsky.social
@everyheron.bsky.social A "BeakSpear" of ferocious dimensions, at Dinton Pastures. S/he really was dinosaur-level terrifying on this landing stage. Standing up in a pointed way was bad enough (right), but him sitting back on his knobbly "haunches" was even more intimidating. @stoooo.bsky.social
We must do this thing!! I'm sure in this photo I was wittering on about sturdy Southwell buttresses, when all you wanted was to wax lyrical about Scotch Eggs x
Coming out of the cathedral at twilight after a concert is very special too!
Bright sunlight without (Christ Church cathedral) and gentler light shining within (right). I absolutely love seeing Perpendicular panelling in an arch or doorway, as here. It adds such an elegant flourish! @thehistorymouse.bsky.social
It's hard to say whether these chaps at Cholsey church are giving the Scotch Egg sarnie the thumbs up or thumbs down. For myself, it was a good deal too peppery *ah choo*!
Seen bought and being scoffed, in honour of the legendary Scotch Eggs of Cholsey. *Shamelessly satisfying* @chartresfi.bsky.social @portaspeciosa.bsky.social
@everyheron.bsky.social This heroneer has to grovel for the terrible sin of confusing a heron with a plastic bag lodged in some willows. A walk south from Abingdon on the Thames Path began with this beautiful bird, having a vigorous wash & brush up. 💙 @iangrebe.bsky.social @ceadela.bsky.social
Snaps taken in Christ Church cathedral. Close by the shrine, this lively Burne-Jones window, with St Frideswide's tremendous hogs (& a charming duck)!
Leafy stone carving on St Frideswide's shrine, originally created c 1289, & twice reconstructed from fragments, most recently 2001-2 (after more pieces turned up)! Shy face amidst the foliage (right). Little bird, lost its beak (left); I fear he will not sing again. But the fruiting ivy is a joy.
Truth be told, most architectural & geological terms can be converted into an edible equivalent. Eg Banbury ironstone is clearly composed of compressed ginger cake. As shown here at Deddington church. It has also been suggested that this building is toffee-coloured - a very hard toffee I fear.
This Berkshire Little Egret had chosen his/her backdrop carefully. Lythrum salicaria - purple loosestrife (I think) adds a real pop of colour to the landscape. @everyheron.bsky.social @carolineirwin3.bsky.social
Tom Denny's 2025 Prodigal Son window in Oxford has very evocative birds & animals in its composition. @fabledstainedglass.bsky.social Visiting Christ Church cathedral this week, the sheep & chicken shown here made a powerful impression, the latter being so alert to the reconciliation in progress.
Christ Church cathedral, Oxford. This is a detail from Tom Denny's sublime Prodigal Son window, 2025. The figures in these lights speak to me about the importance of human touch in making connections, like the father's arm draped around his son's shoulder, left. @churchartnature.bsky.social
@everyheron.bsky.social A fully charged heron makes your day. This heron was charging itself up, embedded in the solar panels on a Berkshire lake. Smart work! ⚡@iangrebe.bsky.social @stoooo.bsky.social
The present leopard was put up on 10th January 1986 (copyright of photo as shown). He was carved by Glyn Foulkes of Burledon, Hampshire, a sculptor of ship figure-heads. #LesArmoiriesDuVendredi @chartresfi.bsky.social @portaspeciosa.bsky.social
To think this battered little mite (left) was once up there (right)! This snow leopard is sometimes mistaken for a spotted dog, but it is in fact part of the Sackville coat of arms, at the Sackville College, East Grinstead. After standing on the tower for 130 years, he has been brought inside. 💚
Fuzzy grey bundles of downy gorgeousness. Cygnets being shepherded in a dignified way by mum & dad at the Isis Lock in Oxford yesterday. A favourite spot for a gentle walk, far from the hectic bustle of the city. @stoooo.bsky.social
In praise of townscapes like that of Stratford Upon Avon. Ely St had a row of 3 cottages; late C16th with 1971 restoration/refronting replacing c1800 brick front. I liked the robust original square framing with braced wall plate/tie beam; less keen on the weedy performative woodwork at the front!
And above the misericords? #Woodensday G E Street created a soaring nave with an elaborately wind-braced roof. The height seems astonishing says Pevsner. Apologies for the "orbs" caused by the backscatter of light by unfocused particles (common with compact digital cameras like the one I use).
More wood-carved delights from the nun whose c 1900 work decorates G E Street's chapel in the Old Convent, East Grinstead. She moved adventurously away from domestic animals to give us these misericord portraits of a camelid & a #TinyLion. The lion's foliage supporters match his magnificent mane!
Bold work in the misericords at G E Street's chapel, carved by a sister c 1900, according to Pevsner. Squirrels revelling in their stock of acorns! @stroudstory.bsky.social St Margaret's Convent, East Grinstead, now converted to housing.
#TilesOnTuesday in G E Street's (no longer consecrated) chapel at the Old Convent, East Grinstead. The steps up to the sanctuary & in the former Lady Chapel, now a bicycle store. Pevsner praises the perfectly scaled tile patterns in the Lady Chapel (now obscured by bikes). @johnevigar.bsky.social
It was an excellent day for chimneys, visiting Sussex with @thevicsoc.bsky.social Three remarkable sites & an abundance of handsome chimneys! At Sackville College, on the shady side, left, towering brick chimneys, also visible basking in the sunshine of the central sandstone quadrangle.
I'd definitely hit a purple patch in this idyllic corner of Sussex. These are opium poppies; their scientific name is very evocative - Papaver somniferum.
It was a very good day for flowers at Standen House, with the breeze rippling through the informal planting. Jewel-like silky poppies and pin-cushion Astrantia looked so fine in the Sussex sunshine.
The heron supervising an adjoining lake proved to be built like a battleship!