New Year’s Day, – Home – A storm moved through overnight. Despite its ferocity, it was not given a name. The new year arrives much as the old one seemed so often, grey and wet. House Sparrows and Blue Tits dash to the feeder to grab a seed and then retreat into the shrubbery. A Great Tit calls its two-tone song.
Leominster - Down the road in the early afternoon. It is still damp, almost raining. Onto Butts Bridge. Long-tailed and Blue Tits tumble in the Alders. The water level in the River Lugg has changed little in the last few weeks. Wood Pigeons clatter out of the trees. Angry, storm-twisted clouds are building in the west. A Manchester-bound train pulls into the station where there are passengers waiting to board.
Through the Millennium Orchard and Park, both of which are quiet. On to the River Kenwater. A Moorhen runs across the lawn opposite. An early Daffodil hangs limp. The grey-green river flows steadily. Several Robins are in song. A warning sounds as the Mill Lane level crossing gates close and a southbound train passes. The ground in the churchyard is soft and yielding. The paths are slippery. Along Church Street and into the town centre. Most shops are closed, but cafés and pubs are open but with few customers.
Friday – Leominster – The sky is cloudless and there is a sharp frost. A bitter breeze blows. Overhead vapour trails from aircraft heading for Edinburgh and Houston dissipate rapidly. Down to the River Lugg. A Blackbird rustles in the leaf litter. The water level in the river has been falling marginally over the past week. There is an absence of bird song. Lammas meadow is white with frost and shines brightly in the brilliant sun which is still low over the southern horizon.
Back to the White Lion where a Great Tit sings in the garden. Into the Millennium Orchard. A Chaffinch and a Blackbird sit in the trees. Into the churchyard. Squirrels scurry up the trees and Wood Pigeons fly to and fro. Most of the gravestones have been removed but the remaining ones sport of variety of mosses and lichens. I feel I ought to make an effort to identify these but it is yet to happen.
Home – As I clean the windows, there is a constant stream of aircraft heading north-west to the Americas. In the evening the sky darkens to a rich blue. A horned Moon is high in the south-west. Just inches above, although in reality millions of miles away, is the brilliant disc of Venus. To the east is Jupiter with Aldebaran glowing red nearby.
Saturday – Leominster – The sky is grey and overcast and the temperature hovering around zero. The media is full of dire warnings a snow chaos. Into Pinsley Mill. Magpies are chasing across the tracks. Several Goldfinches are at the top of a Hawthorn. A two-carriage train bound for Holyhead passes at speed. Into the Millennium Orchard there is still frost on the ground. Robins are in song. In the churchyard, Blackbirds search for food. The shops are now mostly open in town and there are quite a few people around. In the evening sleet falls, turning to snow in the night.
Sunday – Home – A thaw is setting in. I still need to take a broom to the fruit cage netting as the snow just sits on top and makes it sag low. Of course, it is not a job that can be done without getting wet. The chicken run is a quagmire – hopefully our builder will be in contact soon so we can get a roof put on it.
Leominster – It is misty in the distance. The snow is turning to slush. Jackdaws and Carrion Crows are on rooftops. Chattering House Sparrows and a cooing Wood Pigeon are heard but not visible. Across the railway bridge. The pristine snow shows that I am the first, despite being later than usual. On to Butts Bridge. Paw prints without any human prints indicate a Fox had passed this way.
Back past the White Lion and into Pinsley Mill. Blue Tits dash around an Elder. Into the Millennium Orchard where over a dozen Blackbirds are feeding on the fallen Dabinett apples. Bell practice at the Minster commences. There are lots of dog walkers here. The River Kenwater is flowing steadily. Through the churchyard passed the fallen birch.
Onto The Grange. Just a single child is being towed on a sledge. Several Snowpersons have been built. A Song Thrush hops across the wet grass. A Border Collie is chasing its ball and returning it to be thrown again, and again and again...
Monday – Leominster – The snow had all melted by yesterday evening and overnight there was heavy rain. Today there are still dark clouds in the sky although the sun is making a valiant effort at breaking through them. Down to the River Lugg which has risen substantially since yesterday. It flows rapidly laden with red-brown soil. A small amount of water has flooded out onto Easters Meadow. A Grey Wagtail flits around the trees which are now in the middle of the water.
Back round to the Millennium Orchard. Blackbirds are still feeding on the rotting apples or searching the leaf litter. A rabbit nibbles the grass on the edge of the hedge along the railway. The River Kenwater has also risen considerably and swirls as it rushes along. There seem to be Blackbirds everywhere, all across the park and churchyard, all pecking at the ground seeking food. Despite the snow and rain, fresh mole hills have been thrown up. A number of Grey Squirrels scatter and dash up the trunks of trees as a small dog charges around.
Friday – Leominster – The overnight temperature fell to around -5ºC. In weather like this, the hens water drinker has to be brought indoors to defrost and be refilled with warm water. A kettle is boiled and the hot water poured into the bird baths.
It is early afternoon but the moon is already in the eastern sky. Grey clouds are overhead. The temperature has yet to reach zero and frost remains where the weak sun cannot reach it. Several Wood Pigeons burst out of the Hazel tree outside the White Lion. Onto Butts Bridge. The water level in the River Lugg has dropped considerably over the week, down around six feet. The water has returned to grey from the previously rusty red colour. The trees are silent and empty.
Into Pinsley Mill, A Robin, Chaffinch and Magpie are on the far side of the tracks. Some of the small brown catkins on the hazel trees in the Millennium Park are lengthening and turning yellow. The water level in the River Kenwater has also fallen considerably. A Moorhen is on the opposite bank. Into the churchyard where more fresh mole hills have appeared. Out onto the Grange. I take a few moments by the information board to visualise the mediaeval view here of a Great Barn, for tithes and various buildings belonging to the priory. The market is packing up in the car park. It is still in the car park as there is no electricity available yet in Corn Square.
Saturday – Leominster – People gather in Corn Square for Wassail. The Jenny Pipes women’s morris dance and a choir sing a couple of songs dedicated to our objective – cider. Off across the Grange and down to the Millennium Orchard. Here a song about the people, birds and sheep involved in the production of cider is sung, although my part – the pruner – is declaimed, I am not trying to sing! Pieces of toast are hung on the trees to feed the spirits, or at least the Blackbirds, and cider is drunk.
The temperature is some way below freezing and a thick fog covers all.
Sunday – Leominster – The morning is a little milder and less foggy but it is still chilly and damp with patches of ice in more sheltered spots. Robins sing and Jackdaws chack. Fresh mole hills have been thrown up beside the path leading the Butts Bridge. The bed of the bridge is icy. The River Lugg flows green-grey. A Mistle Thrush rasps excitedly from the top of a Black Poplar. Blue Tits chatter below in the bushes.
Round to the Millennium Orchard. The Dabinett apples have virtually all rotted away now so there are far fewer Blackbirds feasting on them. Plenty of Robins are in song. Moles have been busy in the Millennium Park. The Minster bells strike 9 o’clock. A pair of Song Thrushes are in the Peace Garden searching the leaf litter around the remains of an old stump that is emerald green with moss. The River Kenwater flows swiftly. Into the churchyard a Nuthatch is calling from a tree outside the Minster porch.
Monday – Leominster – The temperature has risen although it remains cold and damp with a biting breeze. Down the road to the cooing of Wood Pigeons. Over the railway and onto Butts Bridge. The Mistle Thrush is rasping again, Blackbirds chuck chuck and Blue Tits intermittently squeak. A Magpie flies over. The river flows quietly. More Blue Tits are in the track side bushes.
Into the Millennium Orchard. A clump of Wild Arum leaves have appeared beneath one of the trees. The white tips of Snowdrops are appearing along the edge of the churchyard. A Redwing is in the churchyard, one of the few I have seen this year. The Rowans and Hawthorns are completely stripped of berries which may explain this. Surveyors are outside the church.
Friday – Bodenham Lake – Another damp, grey morning, although the sky seems to be clearing from the west. The temperature is just above freezing. A Magpie calls in the tall trees by the car park. Wood Pigeons sit silently in trees along the track. A Robin sings, Blue Tits squeak and Blackbirds pause their leaf turning to watch my passing. Three Grey Squirrels chase through the branches. Fieldfares and Redwings fly out of the orchard. Mallard, Tufted Ducks and a few Wigeon are on the sailing bay. The water level is high so the islands are submerged.
A Goldfinch sings in the Alders by the meadow. Fresh large molehills are scattered all across the meadow. A Common Buzzard flies up onto the wires. Croaking Ravens fly out of Westfield Wood. Into the plantation where rasping Mistle Thrushes fly across. Suddenly the air fills with the sound of yelping Canada Geese and several large skeins, over 130 birds, fly in. Into the hide. A drake Mandarin Duck sails across the water. There appear to be no Cormorants, Grey Herons, grebes or egrets here. A few Mallard are scattered about. A single Goldeneye dives at the western end. A pair of Wigeon are by the island. A Mallard passes with an all white body.
Back through the meadow. A closely shaven poodle trots past. A Great Spotted Woodpecker drums in the woods. Into the orchard. A large number of cider apples are still on the ground being fed upon by Fieldfares. Chaffinches are in the dessert apple orchard.
Sunday – Leominster – The sky is a uniform pewter grey. There is no frost but the damp air makes it feel cold. Wood Pigeons coo, Jackdaws chack. Onto the railway bridge. Half a dozen Rooks fly over, very high in the sky. On to Butts Bridge. A Cormorant flies downstream. Two Dippers are on the mud, a short distance downstream from the bridge. A Wren called briefly from the riverside bushes. Above a Blue Tit chatters. A third Dipper calls as it lands on the rocks upstream from the bridge, then all three speed away up the river. The water level has fallen again in the river and it is fairly clear.
Into Pinsley Mill. A Song Thrush starts to sing tentatively then continues into full song. Into the Millennium Orchard. All remaining apples have now turned to brown mush. The trees are all dormant. The River Kenwater is flowing more slowly than in recent times. A Robin ticks at me as I enter the churchyard. The Minster bells clang into a discordant noise before settling into rhythm.
Wednesday – Manchester – The day starts with our train being cancelled. We get to Manchester an hour later than expected. Round behind Manchester Piccadilly station is Mayfield Park, recently developed around the River Medlock. The site was derelict for many years having housed breweries and dye works. The river was concreted over and now is open and largely cleaned although there is still debris on the banks. The huge Mayfield Depot, formally a parcel depot, relief railway station and textile mill, looms to the north. Trains still run along the top. Large iron girders are exposed and look wonderful. A large coloured sculpture of a head is by Kelly Ma. There are stainless steel slides, particularly one where a rope bridge climbs over the river and then a steel tube slides bring the kids back down over the water. At the western end of this delightful park is Boardman Street Bridge with a peeling painted iron plaque stating the bridge was reconstructed by The Corporation of Manchester in 1907.
We then cross the city to the Science Museum where we manage to see a bit of a display of cotton manufacturing machinery before moving on to the Factory International where there is a David Hockney exhibition with huge visuals and sounds, an absolute joy!
We then proceed to the City Arms for a few pints. We are true country bumpkins these days and find the sheer noise and number of people in the city quite intimidating. On to China Town for dinner. Our hotel is in St Peter’s Square, a glass and steel emblem of the modern world close to the site of the Peterloo Massacre. Opposite the entrance is the statue to Emmeline Pankhurst. Out of our window are floors of an office with dozens of rows of computer stations. So today, we have seen the cotton weaving machines that virtually enslaved workers (without ignoring the real enslaved workers who grew the cotton) to the computer stations that grind down today’s workers.
Friday – Home – Rain lashes the windows through the night and the wind roars. Storm Éowyn is one of the most intense extratropical cyclones on record. Winds of 114mph have been recorded in the north of Ireland. Here we are on the southern edge of the depression and winds remain blustery but easing throughout the day. The rain ceases around dawn and there is some sunshine in the early afternoon.
The light begins to fade. Seven Jackdaws are at he top of our Ash tree and a further thirty at the top of the Horse Chestnut. Much chacking goes on as disputes about positions and other squabbling ensues. The high winds have further damaged the tarpaulin over the chicken run. A new roof is urgently needed!
Saturday – Home – It can be quite amazing the way weather changes within 24 hours. Yesterday was stormy with high winds, today there is virtually no wind, no cloud and brilliant sunshine. I spent a short time in the garden clearing up some of the trimmings which had been left on the vegetable beds. Then I fill up some modules to sow some chillies then, alas, discover I do not have any chilli seed.
Leominster – Down to the outdoor shop and purchase some seed. Back through Pinsley Mill. Robins and Blackbirds are in song. Snowdrops are in flower on the churchyard.
Home – I have bought some Trinidad Perfumed and Gourmet Jalapeño chilli seeds, now sow them and into the bathroom until spring. It is clouding over although there are sunny periods.
Sunday – Leominster – At dawn there is a shower of rain. A short time later, the sky is full of grey and orange cirrus clouds. As it grows lighter, high grey clouds move rapidly northwards. The wind at ground level is sharp. Jackdaws prattle on the chimney stacks. The River Lugg appears unchanged since last week. A Carrion Crow barks, several Great Tits call, just a single repeated note and a Blue Tit chatters. A Robin bursts into song intermittently.
Back onto the railway bridge. Overhead Jackdaws swoop and play in the wind. Wood Pigeons sit silently in the trees. A Blackbird runs across the garden of the White Lion and a Dunnock sings briefly. Into Pinsley Mill. The feather-like branches of Silver Birches across the railway sway in the wind.
A Robin sings energetically on the edge of the orchard. Several Blue Tits fly about, calling. Many more Snowdrops are coming into flower along the foot of the churchyard. More are appearing along the foot of the hedge by the railway and in the Peace Park. The River Kenwater appears to be flowing more swiftly this week. Wild Arum leaves are unfurling.
Home – I settle down for an hour for the Annual Garden Bird Watch. I have put some seed on the stump of the long gone Wellingtonia. Birds are in territorial mode; the spotty-headed Blackbird chases off a female, a Robin chases off a Dunnock. A Coal Tit visits briefly. The wind is rising. A Wood Pigeon sits in the Ash tree watching the seed pile below. A Great Tit calls its two-tone song. It starts to rain. The Wood Pigeon waddles round and round the garden. It eventually hops up onto the stump and scarfs down a large amount of seed. Indeed, in about ten minutes the entire pile has gone and the Wood Pigeon sits there with a puffed out crop. It takes little imagination as to the damage a large flock of Wood Pigeons can do to a grain crop. Overall it had been the most meagre set of observations I have had in these surveys.
The flapping tarpaulin on the chicken run is stapled down. The wind is rising and the atmospheric pressure falling rapidly. Storm Herminia is approaching. It was named by the Spanish weather service Agencia Estatal de Meteorología (Aemet) on Friday. By evening the atmospheric pressure has dropped below 965mB.
Monday – Leominster – There are patches of blue sky but also a lot of swiftly moving clouds. There is a strong blustery wind and the atmospheric pressure remains very low. It is several degrees above freezing. Through the town and along Burgess Street. It is an odd street with several chapels, a police station and former courts all repurposed. Houses range from a medieval hall through timber-framed 17th century, Georgian, Victorian and modern. On into Green Lane.
House Sparrows chatter on the bushes. Into Ginhall Lane. Several Robins sing. Over the valley, the hills are veiled in mist. Some Wood Pigeons fly between the trees, other sit silently. Blue Tits chatter. On the verge leaves of Wild Arum and heart-shaped Lesser Celandine are emerging. A Dunnock sings from the top of a hedge. A Song Thrush sings from the top of a tree. It is busy here – a Collared Dove, a pair of Magpies, Greenfinches, several Linnets and a Great Tit are all flying to and fro.
Out onto the Cholstrey road. Houses are going up on the Westwinds site. Opposite on the Barons Cross Camp site access roads are being constructed and services installed. Back into town. The cloud keeps thinning and thickening but there is sunshine most of the time. A Great Tit calls stridently in Bargates.
Tuesday – Leominster – After dropping to 960mB yesterday evening the atmospheric pressure is finally beginning to rise although there is another depression on the way. There are patches of blue sky between the grey and white clouds. It has rained overnight and everywhere is wet. Onto the railway bridge. A Wren and Robins are in song. An RAF Boeing C17 Globemaster from Brize Norton passes over, hidden by clouds. The level of the River Lugg has risen considerably and the water is mud coloured. Several Carrion Crows fly over.
Into Pinsley Mill. A Cormorant flies north. A Great Tit is calling like an old rusty bicycle from behind the houses. It is joined by a Dunnock. A Common Buzzard is in a tree at the foot of the churchyard. It flies off to a tree in the Place Garden overlooking the River Kenwater. The water level in the river has also risen considerably and it is flowing swiftly. The clouds are thickening and the sky is darkening. Through the churchyard. The Minster is preparing for a funeral.
Wednesday – Leominster – A brighter day although the sun is filtered through high cloud. Down Miles Court to Eaton Close. Carrion Crows in the trees bark at one another. Past the leisure centre and out onto Hereford Road. A Great Tit calls and a Goldfinch sings from the treetops. An iron gate is all that remains of the entrance to the old grammar school, bulldozed to make a car park. Noisy Jackdaws are in various rooftops. An ordinary looking house of three dwellings has a large contemporaneous extension rising at the back with the roof running down to almost reach the ground.
Up the public footpath to Cockcroft Lane. A Common Buzzard flies over. All these open fields could, in the not too distant future, be covered in housing. River-smoothed stones are emerging out of the soil of the footpath. From the top of the hill westwards are the headlands of the hills, Burton and Merbach Hills leading out to Hay Bluff and the Black Mountains. In the foreground the water meadows of the River Arrow are flooded. Just beyond are the shining sheets of plastic of the strawberry tunnels. North of the flat fields created over millennia by the river, the hills rise, the mast on Black Mixen, the Radnor Forest, Hanter Hill and the group of Araucaria on Hergest Ridge. White clouds lay on the horizon. A couple of Skylarks fly around above the fields, twittering rather than singing.
Along the muddy path to Ryelands. Down Ryelands Road. Lesser Periwinkle with delicate purple blue flowers tumbles over a wall. These flowers have a varying number of petals: four, five and six. The jingle of the scrap metal merchants truck rings out from a street somewhere.
Friday – Letton – A pair of Common Buzzards soar over the road near Mansell Gamage. Two Red Kites sit in a tree below. Letton is a small village straddling the Hereford to Brecon road. A narrow lane leads to the church and Letton Court.
After the Conquest, Letton (Letune) became the property of Walter de Lacy and after his death in 1085, it passed to his son Roger. In 1086 it was held from him by Tesselin. In 1096 Roger was banished and the Lacy estates passed to his younger brother Hugh and it is he who probably built the church of St John the Baptist. The church is substantially of the 12th century, with additions of the 13th and 14th centuries with a restoration of 1883. The chancel was lengthened in the 13th century as can be seen by the different stone used. The nave has also been lengthened and widened. There is transept built under licence by Thomas Pychard as a private chapel. The remains of a wooden screen separating from the nave can still be discerned. The pulpit is early 18th century richly carved with with swags, ribbons and an acanthus frieze. The tester is also enriched with a carved front and has pilasters to the angles. The font is 13th century. The glass is of a single design from the late 19th century. A harmonium stands in the chancel. The tower has a timber top added in the 1600s. There are three bells, alas no longer rung; one cast by the Worcester foundry in 1410 inscribed, Ave Maria. Gracia Plena, Dominus Tecum. The second is from 1450 cast byt Robert Kendley of Gloucester inscribed, Sancta Maria Magdalena and the third by William Evans of Chepstow, cast in 1744 and inscribed Peace and Good Neighbourhood. One tablet in the west corner sadly records the deaths of Millbrow Lane on 27th December 1759, Alice who died aged 24 on June 16th 1761, then her husband Thomas who died on February 26th 1789 aged 62 years.
To the west is a large timber-framed house, The Gardener’s Cottage, probably late 16th or early to 17th century with a towering farm building beside it. To the east is what is now Letton Court. Near the church is tall arch leads into a courtyard. Large plaques with the date AD1862 are above the arch. This is all that remains of the Court which burned down in 1924. Early occupants were John Kyrewood, followed by Captain William James Downes who was a JP and deputy lieutenant of Herefordshire, and then the Waring family. Thomas Waring was known for his herd of Hereford cattle was much admired. On his death in 1861, his glorious herd of Herefords plus sheep and other livestock were put up for sale. They were followed by the Blissett family and in 1859 the Revd Blissett employed an architect from London, Mr Thomas Teulon and completely rebuilt the house in red brick. A gravel path runs from the court, across the lane that ends here in a field, into a garden with a box hedge pathway to a large greenhouse. The field is parkland with a Cedar of some age and other carefully placed trees.
Bredwardine – Over the River Wye to Bredwardine. A stream runs under the road opposite the Red Lion pub. Onto the road back towards the river. The War Memorial stands beside it. The sky is pure blue and the sun blazes low on the southern horizon. Blue and Great Tits and a Great Spotted Woodpecker call.
A lane leads to the St Andrews church. A sign reads “Choral Evensong, Traditional 1662 Service”. I have visited this church before. Some additional points are noticed. The damaged effigy is probably that of Walter de Bredwardine who died in 1369. There is also evidence that part of the building is almost certainly Anglo-Saxon in origin, particularly the triangular headed priest’s door. The font is composed of “breccia” which is a rock formed by the fusion of a variety of sedimentary rocks fused together and polished. This design comes from Normandy where granite is used and is rather more successful than this example.
Into the churchyard. Large patches of Snowdrops and Primroses are in flower. At the top of one gravestone, dated 1811, is the admonition “Reader prepare to meet thy GOD”. Another of 1830, clearly by the same stonemason, states, “Thy will be done”. To the south of the churchyard is the motte and bailey of the castle also described earlier. A Mistle Thrush rasps from a Mistletoe covered apple tree. Back down the track. Daffodil leaves are rising but the flowers are a few weeks off.
Up the steep Dorstone Hill and along the ridge to Arthur’s Stone, a Neolithic chambered tomb. There are a number of standing stones and another chambered tomb along this ridge, which stands between the Wye and Dore rubber valleys. There is also a settlement site, recently the site of extensive excavations. A Raven barks. Across the Dore valley is Cefn Hill and beyond the Black Mountains.
Dorstone – Down the hill into Dorstone. The Pandy Inn only opens in the evenings. A small green contains a stone construction over the well and the column of a preaching cross with a sundial on top. The old Post Office is a residence. The village hall stands opposite, part of which was the school. Chapel Lane is a mixture of modern houses, a few older cottages and agricultural conversions. The Bethesda Primitive Methodist Chapel of 1864 is now a residence. Down the hill towards the river. A stone house with a timber framed frontage facing away from the lane, is called Leathermill Cottage, suggesting it was originally a tannery. Over the river. The former smithy has a rusted lantern in the wall. It overlooks the entrance to St Faith’s churchyard. Again the church is described here, October 2009.
the leaf litter. The water level in the river has been falling marginally over the past week. There is an absence of bird song. Lammas meadow is white with frost and shines brightly in the brilliant sun which is still low over the southern horizon.
Sunday – Home – A thaw is setting in. I still need to take a broom to the fruit cage netting as the snow just sits on top and makes it sag low. Of course, it is not a job that can be done without getting wet. The chicken run is a quagmire – hopefully our builder will be in contact soon so we can get a roof put on it.
The snow is turning to slush. Jackdaws and Carrion Crows are on rooftops. Chattering House Sparrows and a cooing Wood Pigeon are heard but not visible. Across the railway bridge. The pristine snow shows that I am the first, despite being later than usual. On to Butts Bridge. Paw prints without any human prints indicate a Fox had passed this way.
Monday – Leominster – The snow had all melted by yesterday evening and overnight there was heavy rain. Today there are still dark clouds in the sky although the sun is making a valiant effort at breaking through them. Down to the River Lugg which has risen substantially since yesterday. It flows rapidly laden with red-brown soil. A small amount of water has flooded out onto Easters Meadow. A Grey Wagtail flits around the trees which are now in the middle of the water.
is no electricity available yet in Corn Square.
from a tree outside the Minster porch.
Wednesday – Manchester – The day starts with our train being cancelled. We get to Manchester an hour later than expected. 
Round behind Manchester Piccadilly station is Mayfield Park, recently developed around the River Medlock. The site was derelict for many years having housed breweries and dye works. The river was concreted over and now is open and largely cleaned although there is still debris on the banks. The huge Mayfield Depot, formally a parcel depot, relief railway station and textile mill, looms to the north. Trains still run along the top. Large iron girders are exposed and look wonderful. A large coloured sculpture of a head is by Kelly Ma. There are stainless steel slides, particularly one where a rope bridge climbs over the river and then a steel tube slides bring the kids back down over the water. At the western end of this delightful park is Boardman Street Bridge with a peeling painted iron plaque stating the bridge was reconstructed by The Corporation of Manchester in 1907.
We then cross the city to the Science Museum where we manage to see a bit of a display of cotton manufacturing machinery before moving on to the Factory International where there is a David Hockney exhibition with huge visuals and sounds, an absolute joy!
Tuesday – Leominster – After dropping to 960mB yesterday evening the atmospheric pressure is finally beginning to rise although there is another depression on the way. There are patches of blue sky between the grey and white clouds. It has rained overnight and everywhere is wet. Onto the railway bridge. A Wren and Robins are in song. An RAF Boeing C17 Globemaster from Brize Norton passes over, hidden by clouds. The level of the River Lugg has risen considerably and the water is mud coloured. Several Carrion Crows fly over.
roof running down to almost reach the ground.
After the Conquest, Letton (Letune) became the property of Walter de Lacy and after his death in 1085, it passed to his son Roger. In 1086 it was held from him by Tesselin. In 1096 Roger was banished and the Lacy estates passed to his younger brother Hugh and it is he who probably built the church of St John the Baptist. The church is substantially of the 12th century, with additions of the 13th and 14th centuries with a restoration of 1883. The chancel was lengthened in the 13th century as can be seen by the different stone used. The nave has also been lengthened and widened. There is transept built under licence by Thomas Pychard as a private chapel. The remains of a wooden screen separating from the nave can still be discerned. The pulpit is early 18th century richly carved with with swags, ribbons and an acanthus frieze. The tester is also enriched with a carved front and has pilasters to the angles. The font is 13th century. The glass is of a single design from the late 19th century. A harmonium stands in the chancel. The tower has a timber top added in the 1600s. There are three bells, alas no 
longer rung; one cast by the Worcester foundry in 1410 inscribed, Ave Maria. Gracia Plena, Dominus Tecum. The second is from 1450 cast byt Robert Kendley of Gloucester inscribed, Sancta Maria Magdalena and the third by William Evans of Chepstow, cast in 1744 and inscribed Peace and Good Neighbourhood. One tablet in the west corner sadly records the deaths of Millbrow Lane on 27th December 1759, Alice who died aged 24 on June 16th 1761, then her husband Thomas who died on February 26th 1789 aged 62 years.
the sun blazes low on the southern horizon. Blue and Great Tits and a Great Spotted Woodpecker call.
excavations. A Raven barks. Across the Dore valley is Cefn Hill and beyond the Black Mountains.