Summer in Willeskop Nature Reserve

Hollandse IJselpad Sign

A little bit of watery delight in the Green Heart of the Netherlands Willeskop Nature Reserve invites one in.

We gazed across the lake at the hundreds of water birds while a pair of hen harriers wheel overhead.

The path leads us through trees and dozens of red admiral butterflies most hiding in plain sight as they merge with the tree bark.

Past wild flowers the bright light of high summer making a large white butterfly almost transparent.

Greylag Goose

The lake comes into view again

If you live in a land flat as a pancake then build your own viewpoint. A tower to take in the polder landscape

Irresistible to visit

Yes you can see for miles and miles

Wave to the dog walkers.

Return to earth and cross over to the other side of the lake

We were fascinated by the integrated step stile on the gates.

Enjoy the shade of the trees

Try to pass by a pair of swans taking their ease on the path with their lone chick, one swan hisses a scary warning. I would guess they have lost all their other offspring so of course highly protective of their only child. Eventually they take to the water and we continue on our way.

Go over a bridge

and yes another one

This is a one way bridge for the farmer to gain access to his fields.

These cows were mooing to their compatriots two lines of water away

Who were calling back, probably wishing there were cow bridges.

The polder windmill at rest no raging torrents to move.

Our enjoyable nature walk now comes to an end.

Blue Tailed Damselfly

A blissful time in the polder landscape.

Willeskop Nature Reserve footpaths 

Zoom

Briefly settling among the Rose of Sharon or Hypericum is a Meadow Brown butterfly which are on the wing from June to August but before I could zoom in any further it had flown on its busy way to make the most of summer.  These little brown butterflies are quite similar to the Gatekeeper butterfly but can be distinguished by the fact that they have only one dot in their wing 'eye' whereas the Gatekeeper has two.

I imagine the dots on these rhododendron would identify them but all I know is I thought them pretty as I zoomed in for a closer look.

This is the nearest I could find to a letter Z in my collection for the last letter of the alphabet

which warns that one could by zapped by electricity if vaulting over the fence, not only that but the double helix sign warns that the "premises are marked by a security system using a DNA system" so when laying comatose or dead  perhaps one would be adding even more DNA.

Stay safe, heed the warning, but don't ignore the post box for sending words on paper 

but for those in electronic format next week's post will be in the new home of ABC Wednesday hosted by Melody so the invite is for everyone to zoom over there and zap in your entry on July the 12th and begin the  21st Round of ABC Wednesday.  

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet this week  for the last time at Z here

Bee Hives

In the corner of the gardens at Sizergh is a notice "Beware busy bees buzzing" and here I found

honey bees flying in and out of two hives.

Like the picture on the notice there was also 

a bird in residence watching the coming and going

of these busy bees on their journeys from flowers to hive.

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet, this week sojourning at B here

X Sign

An X in the sky meant when I took this photo one of ABC Wednesday's tricky letters was sorted.  The crossing here is of road, rail and cycle path and the only steam train ever seen is the one painted on the sign as the line is for freight

to the docks. I didn't take any photos of the railway lines because I thought I had some already, which was true, but they are inaccessible at the moment and in the depths of my very poorly old laptop although I do have my memory cards,  which I haven't labeled, xxxx!  

International Nuclear Services Terminal

The rail tracks can just be seen in this photo.  We have had some strange weather patterns this year and the day in May these photos were taken was no exception, sultry, with complete hazy cloud cover,

the lines between sky and water only distinguished by their texture.  The ship is the Oceanic Pintail which makes it sound quite benign but in actual fact it is a carrier of high level radioactive waste so you could say it is x rated.  On its journeys around the world they will turn off the AIS (Automatic Identification System) and if returning via the Suez Canal the canal cameras will be turned off to keep secret its course. The Global Threat Reduction Initiative means that the Plutonium it carries will end up somewhere near the Savannah River in the US. 

'Normal' nuclear waste will trundle up and down the coast to and from the port but on the occasions more exotic nuclear materials are transported then the level of police buzzing up and down the road is usually a pointer to transportation of something potentially more dangerous.   

but not on a quiet November day when the even the rails on this coastal railway seemed autumnal.  

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet, this week sojourning at X here  

    

Zebra Grate Polish

Of course the first thing I noticed on this display of old enamel signs on a fence at the Blists Hill Victorian Town open air museum was the Z (it helped that it was on a bright yellow background). That elusive end letter of the alphabet for ABC Wednesday was sorted by the Zebra Grate Polish sign (a substance launched in 1890 by Reckitts).   It was one of the housewife's tasks to polish up the grate to a gleam, commonly called blackleading   The routine was old newspapers spread out in front of the grate, for it could be a messy business, and then the paste applied evenly all over the object in question, which would be a fireplace or the more elaborate cast iron range, then came the hard work of using the polishing brush to bring up the sparkling gleam.

Reckitt and Sons marketed their product in a similar non-descriptive way as the other famous marketing brands of the era such as Lever's Sunlight Soap and Coleman's Mustard.  The Zebra of course appeared on their tins and on the advertising which

often portrayed cute children in combination with  a zebra called Zebo.

but sometimes there was not a zebra in sight, only stripes. 

While trying to find some images to go with my photograph for this post I came across a great lamentation that modern day grate polish for things such as wood burning stoves does not give the same results as the old Zebra or Zebo products. The conclusion was that you would have to recreate it from scratch.  It originally consisted of pure black graphite finely ground, carbon black, a binding agent and a solvent to keep it fluid for application.  The problem with modern products is that they have a water based binding agent to make them idiot proof (and additionally absolve the manufacturer from any disaster involving their customers in chemicals)  however the fact that it is water based means it does not enter deeply enough into the substrate of the cast iron.  Who knew I would learn all that while trying to find images for an ABC post.

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet, this week sojourning at Z here

  

Jardiniere and Jalopy

Sailing by Harrington Harbour

Flowers in July planted by the Church Road Youth Club in what one could loosly term a  jaunty jardinière near the jetty,  but now landlocked forever.

Which is the only place for a Jaguar car seen here in the Lakeland Motor Museum a jumble of cars, bicycles and motor bikes. Down the side are shops recreating displays from the 1950s and 60s

Did I mention they also have lots of antique signs?  John Bull, a national personification of Britain was the name used by the Leicester Rubber Company (1906-1955) who produced tyres for all vehicles as well as that essential for the cyclist, the tyre repair kits.

which came in little tin boxes and much larger ones for those with horsepower:-

Photo from The Vintage Knitter's   'Tin of the Week'

An entry to ABC Wednesday, a journey through the alphabet,  this week sojourning at J here