Sherborne - Bits and Pieces
A quick round up.
A few short notes:
A reminder that tomorrow, (Monday 19th May) at 6pm in the Village Club is the Sherborne Annual Parish Meeting. I’d encourage every resident to attend.
Nature #1. I’ve noticed a pair of Gadwall ducks on the Brook. Here’s a poor iPhone photo. They are like mallards but 80% of the size, the male almost grey.
Nature #2. Odd kingfisher sightings. I’ve seen a kingfisher or two in recent weeks. Now, I am no ornithologist but it seems to me these kingfishers are behaving slightly differently. It could be I’m just inexperienced and know not very much!
The bird(s) seem a little larger than normal
Previously when I have seen kingfishers on the brook they travel directly down the middle of the stream, at about 3ft off the surface, usually preceded by a high pitched whistle “peep-peep-peep”. But these recent spots have seen them fly about 15 ft over the surface and much less strictly down the centre of the Brook.
They appear quite a bit darker (but that could be perhaps because they are higher and I’m seeing the shaded underside of the wing rather than the iridescent blue.)
Every time they fly downstream they have a fish in their beak. Previously I’ve seen them sit on a branch right next to where they caught it and eat it there. I don’t know where their presumed nest is and can’t think of a 4 or 5ft high steep riverside bank that they put their tunnel nest in.
Let me know what you think.
Here’s a pic of Kingfisher I took on the Brook a few years ago:
Long Barrows. I’ve been having some useful discussion with the Gloucestershire County Archaeologist regarding the possible identification of Long Barrows in the vicinity. They do not, regrettably, have the resources to visit but they are very happy to consider my polite suggestions. I’m flattered too that they have included some of the dialogue on the Historic Environment Records (HER) mapping and plotted the points on the HER. The excerpts they have put on HER are not the full discussion, but hey ho. They are less convinced by the ones on the Northern parish boundary, but still think they might be prehistoric features. They seem more open to the ones discovered on National Trust property in Windrush and on the deer course south of the A40. They have yet to assess the one in Sally Coppice in Lodge Park, which I think is a very strong case. There’s a deafening silence from the NT on these ones on their property. Ah well, never mind if they are not interested or haven’t the resources, that’s the way it is. I’m submitting two more sites for consideration to the County Archaeologist in coming weeks, both of which I think are strong cases for being yet more Long Barrows. Here are links to the HER for the sites where they have referenced some of our input.
I’m very slightly frustrated that the County Archaeologist seems to rely just on LIDAR imagery without visiting the sites in person and seemingly less interested in the “view sheds” and alignments which are very apparent when you stand on the features and examine the mapping carefully. If anything I’m more sure about the Northern boundary suspects than I am on the Nosebery site in Windrush. But in the end that’s what history is all about - a discussion of different interpretations and exploration of sometimes new evidence.
If you’d like to explore the HER features around here, I’d recommend the Gloucestershire “Know your Place” website which links in HER records of you check the appropriate box so they display with a green outline on the old map. (click “General” in the right hand box. you can then navigate something that looks like this, then click and individual area and follow the links:
Every green box is a link to a separate HER record (sort of). The HER web records by are notoriously tricky/clunky to analyse, but it’s a reasonable start. I’m happy to sit down with any members of the Brook Group and show them how to navigate through it - give me a shout.
