January 2007

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January

During the winter large flocks of finches roam around in search of weeds, seeds and beech masts. The chaffinch and goldfinch are regular visitors to Well Hall in this month.

Clinging to the walls and trunks of trees, the thick bushy cover of the evergreen ivy provides a sheltered retreat for hibernating insects.

First nesting of 2007...More Jason pictures

Jason's eagle-eyed photography has tracked down the Pleasaunce's first bird's nest for 2007. This blue tit has chosen a home in a hole at the end of a bough in a whitebeam tree in where the path from the woodland glen emerges onto the area to the front of the Tudor Barn

Also see

and these

Eltham resident in the Tate

The depiction in stained glass on a window upstairs in the Tudor Barn includes one Margaret Roper, former resident of Well Hall and daughter of Henry V111's Lord Chancellor Thomas More (pictured here). The stained glass is a representation of a 1526 Hans Holbein picture of the More family which is now being exhibited in the Tate Gallery, on loan from its normal home in Switzerland and seen in Britain for the first time in many decades.

Drops of snow

Several inches of snow fell in the Pleasaunce early on Wednesday 25th in the morning. Although most had gone by mid-afternoon, there were some wintry scenes.

Big Garden Birdwatch

More than 50 keen and trainee birdwatchers of all ages descended on the Pleasaunce on Saturday January 26 to take part in the RSPB 's Big Garden Birdwatch. A total of 14 species were observed.

Snowy scenes

The snow fall of Thursday January 25 might be the only one this winter; it fell in the early hours of the day, most of it disappearing by tea-time.

Rose-y future in prospect

The Tudor motifs of the Pleasaunce's rose beds shown clearly from space. A renewal process has started with new bushes having been planted in the south east block

Barn Storm

Heavy gusts of wind closed the Pleasaunce on the afternoon of Thursday 18th of January. The gusts caused some damage to trees and the signs to the Tudor Barn.

Japonica before and after....

Flowers which had been fooled into thinking it was spring caught a cold during the snowy episode. With experts suggesting 2007 might be the hottest ever, the Pleasaunce has started its flowering season at a record early date. The crocus bed next to Well Hall Road had started to bloom, snowdrops are fully out and the bright red of the flowering quince (chaenomeles japonica) can still be seen, only now with a white covering.