This was spotted on the back gate of a place – on an alleyway going up a hill nearby …
OUR Back Lane – and it reads:
Down our back gardens, through our back Gates
Our back lane world like a secret awaits.
Belongs to no one, Belongs to me and you.
Some cats and some dogs, a frisky fox or two.
There’s scents and blossoms, and its right overgrown,
Our magic half mile, the cow parsley zone.
Fences of all kinds, made up and larch lap,
Where neighbours, Strangers, dog walkers chat.
By nettles and blackberries, hawthorn and beech.
The trees overhang, they’re all within reach,
New garages, proper, Sparkling and tidy,
Old ‘uns tattered and torn, and covered in ivy.
But all garages are equal, no two the same,
All garages are beautiful down our backlane,
Extensions, Constructions, Crazy sheds of all sorts,
Begun as drunk dreams, or afternoon thoughts.
All happy as Larry, in whatever condition,
No matters, no mutters of planning permission,
The horse road to the North, this lane, alley, track,
This common ground we share out the back.
Its yours, so whatever you call it is OK,
The litter pickers call it Lillington Expressway,
It’s dappled, delightful, through shade into light,
It’s heaven for wildlife and lovers at night.
Lets treasure this joy, at the back of our street,.
Lets look after it, plant it, make it unique,
There’s room for us all, is what we are saying,
So let’s create laughter, and the sound of kids playing.
A gatekeeper butterfly had a flutter round the blackberries now emerging in our back garden…
A very imaginative poster in the local pet shop window for the Woof Stock Festival (and it’s a genuine one!) . I’m wondering what The Rolling Bones are planning for the disco!
This was really interesting (and meant I learnt about the knopper gall wasp and what it does to acorns)
There’s a lot of diversity amongst these historical ducks!
There were several of these spotted by the Newcastle coast – I learnt that this is a burnet moth…
This is Edward the woolly elephant (much loved in this household) – trying on some reading glasses…
A spider (not yet named) was considering inhabiting a currently uninhabited bird box (shaped like a post box) out in the garden…
… and a hoverfly was out there having a good look at the daisies.
