.. Covid-19 Lockdown 2 .. an artist's impression .. perhaps?

Although not in keeping with the usual blog posts found below, I did just want to capture and record this eloquent statement in response to the second Covid-19 Lockdown which came into force in England on Thurs 5th November 2020.

Overnight the totem pole standing at the foot of the picnic meadow in Buchan Country Park, was dressed with disposable medical masks. The masks remained in situ until they started to deteriorate, and risked becoming litter.

I suspect that the totem pole was photographed by the local visitors more in those couple of days, than it has been over a long while?

Samhain

In the time of Covid-19 we chose to forsake the annual Samhain story-telling in Little Woodbury at Butser Ancient Farm. Instead we shared a splendid evening around the fire-pit with P & C - good company, good ale, and a drop of mead or two.

Blessed be

.. an Iron Age sleepover .. Butser Ancient Farm

Attending a socially distanced Ancient Living Skills course at Butser Ancient Farm, provided with it the most exciting opportunity to sleep-over in Little Woodbury Iron Age Roundhouse (Experimental Archaeology Replica).

Over the last decade A and I have spent many sociable evenings within the round of this splendid building, warming ourselves by the fire listening to story-telling, live music and catching up with dear friends - so it was a real pleasure to be able to light my own fire within it's heart, and raise a glass of mead or two to a successful day's activity.

Butser Ancient Farm - "Iron Age" village

Little Woodbury

I shared the living space with an engaging and thoughtful technical writer, who was also writing her first novel set in those distant times, and had chosen the course to experience the colours, smells, skills and ambience of ancient home-life.

Evening light - looking west over Little Woodbury

Butser AF is a dark sky site, so as night fell we lay on our backs outside the roundhouse observing the Milky Way, counting shooting stars - the meteors arisng from the annual Perseid shower - and watched as the ISS tracked overhead.

The evening's fire was out by morning - so I coaxed new flames from the cooling embers. Cracking.

a less than "authentic" sleeping arrangement?

New flames coaxed from the night's cooling embers

After breakfast, I walked home carrying a self-made spear, the product of yesterday's flint-knapping, spear shaft prep, and string making - a touch of pride in my step, and a heart full of joy.

In my absence A had kindly set the moth-trap overnight, so later that morning I emptied the trap, recording 47 moths of 20 spp. including the stonking Bulrush wainscot (Nonagria typhae) a somewhat unexpected moth for a garden set in a dry chalk valley? Although perhaps of local provenance coming from either Catherington or Clanfield Pond?

Bulrush wainscot

Cairns, cists and stone rows .. Bellevor Tor environs .. Dartmoor pt 3

On the wettest day of our trip, we caught up with A & Z for a socially distanced exploration of the monuments of Lakehead Hill & Bellevor Tor.

Cairn and cist detail

Cairn detail

Stone row

This cairn, cist and stone row setting was simply beautiful, even more so for its unexpected "reveal", appearing within a small glade as you walked down a short forest track. I found it difficult to leave and took too many photographs, instead of simply spending time within it. A new site for a future pilgrimage.

In complete contrast the next cairn we viewed was with the most unwelcoming of monuments I have ever encountered. In response to my usual silent greeting to ancestors and request for permission to enter the circle of kerb stones - I felt the strangest of pressures on my chest - pushing against me to move away from the site. This sensation was new to me, and I heeded the discomfort and did not enter.

An unwelcoming cairn

Not wishing to spend anymore time with the unwelcoming cairn, I headed off quickly to track down a solitary cist, its cairn lost long ago below the woodland edge. Then on to Kraps Ring settlement - whose scale defied any meaningful photography - having walked the perimeter - we settled for lunch on the stones of a presumed hut circle.

Heading South we passed beneath the mist clad Bellevor Tor, and beyond to Laughter Tor. From the the summit of Laughter Tor - we picked up the line to follow to get to the single standing stone positioned at the upper end of a double stone row. The stone rows ran approx south-south-east before ending abruptly at a more modern field boundary. A little below the field boundary we found a second double stone row, which appeared to follow the first on the same bearing, and thus possibly belonged to the same monument?

Standing stone (looking South)

Double stone row - looking South towards field boundary

Double stone row - looking north towards
field boundary and standing stone beyond

Grimspound & Challacombe triple stone row .. Dartmoor pt 1

Covid 19 pt 5 .. Knowlten Henge and the Cranbourne Chase sacred landscape - Social Distancing applied

It was a joy to meet up with our good friends A & Z, albeit social distancing. Only the absence of a warm friendly embrace at first greeting somewhat jarring for the occassion.

Time well spent at the complex that includes Knowlten Henge - followed by a short road trip to take in the Roman Road, and locate the visible field remains of the Cranbourne Cursus.