The Killing Fields of the West

It's too cold. My car his covered in sparkling frost. I've just been out admiring it when I heard a blood curdling animal scream in the field - something has caught something - I hate that sound, poor beast whatever it was. I heard the same thing in my garden last night in bed, lots of screeching owls & then a high pitched terrorised scream, a little unnerving in the dead of night! But then that's living in the countryside for you.

Last weekend the pheasant shooters were abroad.

I hate them.

6 of them strode into the pasture field like they owned the bloody field (yes, it was bloody by the time they had finished), with their dogs & guns. 3 went off into the woods with the dogs to scare the pheasants out, while the other 3 stood in different positions facing the woods. I have to watch, terrible I know, but I shout at the pheasants to get away - fly towards the cottage as they're not allowed (with good reason) to shoot towards buildings. Some birds took my advice & flew high & towards me, while other's in their panic where shot in mid air to only fall head first onto the wet grass, with feathers flying everywhere. One wasn't totally dead & flapped around for a few minutes, until one of the men stamped on it's head.

It's sick.

And not many end up in the pot. All mostly shot for fun.

Why do you think that birds of prey in this country are trapped & poisoned? Because they kill the game birds & game shooting is big business, millions generated every year. So I say, less game hunting, less birds of prey slaughtered.

There's a pheasant farm just over the road from here. A whole field lined with pens packed with silly, dopey, fat pheasants, who can hardly run or fly. So what kind of sport is that? How easy is it to shoot these birds? As they don't have a fighting chance - they can't get away. It's disgusting. Least with fox hunting the fox had a good chance of getting away, out witting the huntsmen & their hounds. Game birds on the other hand have so brains anyway - so unless they fly high & towards buildings they're finished.

Hmmmm I didn't mean to type about this - not sure where all that came from on this frosty night. Maybe it's because it was last saturday they came & tomorrow is saturday, so will they be back? If they do I'll shout them all to hell, yet again!

Emy x x x

It's just not a good look . . .

No it isn't - it isn't indeed.

First of all the UK government should be sacked - losing seven & half million people's names, addresses & bank details is a serious business - what the **** is wrong with this stupid, incompetent country?????? Things just go from bad to worse.

Secondly what is with Exeter town centre? They've recently just opened a new shopping centre & it's a piece of piss - they must be having a laugh? When you live in the countryside you only ever go to a big town every so often & so when you start shopping for Christmas you expect to see nice, lovely things in the shop to buy - but today it was all rubbish, everything, even the Christmas decorations - all a waste of time - I've never seen such useless, ugly, expensive stuff in all my life & some people in these various shops were actually saying how great it all was - are they blind?

Thirdly - what the hell is wrong with me? I've been on a detox diet now for almost 5 weeks - no meat, no dairy, no wheat, no alcohol & I still can't get into the clothes I want . . . & walking around in jeans that are now a few sizes too big for is just not a good look! So I have lost a lot - I've actually lost 15 pounds - but it hasn't had any effect on my trousers size!

Fourthly - again what the hell is wrong with me? I lie in my bed at nights restless thinking of London, thinking of the old house & wandering around it's rooms. I think of drives out into Kent & shopping trips to Bluewater. I think of Canterbury & my MA & where did all that time go to? And where are all my friend's now? Some I've heard from, some have disappeared off the map. I'm beginning to feel too nostalgic for my own good - so much so that I wonder if I did really want to leave London . . . was that really the right thing to do? But then someone did tell me recently that they couldn't imagine me being a city girl, as I'm so at home in the countryside - 'at one' with my surroundings. I don't know if I want to laugh hysterically or cry my eyes out! lol

I can't think of a five - though I should as five is my lucky number (& 9) but then maybe that's why I can't think of a 5.

Oh you know what, I'm going to take up tarot card reading again - used to love doing that years ago - whether it meant anything or not or whether my life has been very different without them I have no idea!

Ok rant over - I think - I keep forgetting about this blog - this is the place to voice my frustrations!!!!!!

Emy x x x

Friends of Nature

Ok massive plug here - if anyone reading this loves wildlife in any shape or form, whether you live in th UK or anywhere else in the world, if you want to find the nicest people to talk to, to get to know & generally have a lot of fun - although there are serious aspects as well - then come & join Friend's of Nature - FoN for short - it's all free & registration takes a few minutes. I've been on this forum now since July & my friend's Christmas card list has drastically increased in number!!!! Plus I'm a super moderator! LOL

Ok, more pictures from Scotland - just a few! The trees of Dunkeld.






I've had a bit of a winter clean on this blog - gone are quite a few little applications that were driving me mad - I have enough apps on Facebook! So I thought I'd keep my blog App free - perhaps a few - but keep it simple as I've ignored this blog now for too long! Time for a change!

All is good - I'm on a detox diet & have just about lost a stone. For once I'm looking forward to Christmas - as usually I don't like it at all, it's always so stressful, but whenever we spent it in Devon it was always so peaceful. So I'm hoping for a relaxing time!

Emy x

I'm Back!!!!

Hello all, wow, it's been so long! Ok, so, I've been to Scotland, revisiting all my old haunts from last time when I was filming my pines:

Elgin - the Black Cuillins

The Black Cuillins

And again!

Vapour trails over Skye

The Old Man of Stor, Skye

My first mountain - I couldn't see it!!!!

Scots Pine in the Black Wood of Rannoch

Autumn at Blair Castle, Perthshire

On a boat sailing over the Sound of Sleet, in between Skye & the mainland

Looking towards Skye from our own private beech at Lockalsh

Sunset at the Queen's View

Clouds over Loch Garry

Sunset over Loch Rannoch

Clouds over Schiehallion mountain

Autumn trees over the bank of the River Tay

Glen Lyon

Dunalistor Water


Montrose Basin

Easthaven beach near Montrose


Rainbow over Kyle of Lockalsh

More pictures in next few days - I took thousands!

I'm ok, I think, been too busy to do anything recently. Devon life is good & we may have found a home - finger's crossed.

I hope everyone is well,

Emy xxx

Retarded & Stupid . . .

Almost a month. I'm sorry. I've just about recovered from the move - it was a nightmare - it all went wrong - so stressful - but we've done it! I will not go into details as it'll just depress me again.

I've come to the conclusion that I have to rethink this blog. I never look forward to typing this anymore as it usually turns into waffle - which I'm very good at. Plus I've had a few anonymous comments from people calling me a retard lol & a stupid person. Oh well - it had to happen. I do realise that you're not going to feel any better from reading this, you will not have learnt anything new or interesting - so when ever I type this now - I need a subject!

So random: Why is it that women's thermals from M&S are so uncomfortable & itchy, while the men's are warm, soft & a pleasure to wear? Answer me this. I ask as I'm off to Scotland on 28th of this month for 3 weeks - someone told me to wash them in fairy flakes!

Yes Scotland & Cornwall for a few days tomorrow for my Birthday.

This is such a stilted blog - it's been so long.

Plus I'm so obsessed with Facebook & the Forum right now that coming back here again feels odd. I spend half my life talking about wildlife & the other half sending fish & flowers to friends.

I hope everyone is well - whoever sits down & reads this, that is - I expect more nasty comments heading my way - I'm ready for you!!!!!

Emy x x x

Lat Night Living in London (actually sleeping)

99% of me is dead. The remaining 1% has decided to type this blog tonight - as it IS the last night living in London, & this has to be recorded as a moment for me in history! My legs are gone, every muscle & bone in my body is aching. My arms don't move & my fingers feel so floppy that spelling mistakes are bound to happen. My brain is swimming, but my eyes are alert from all the Adrenalin - & this is even before the big day of moving which is tomorrow. Today we were told that 3 packers were coming to pack up the house contents - only 1 showed up at 9:30am. By 10:45am he was picked up & didn't return until over an hour. By 4pm he, single handily, was still packing the kitchen contents. 23 boxes later, he finally made it upstairs & packed 3 boxes of studio items until he was picked up around 6:30pm - none of these people drive!!!

All today I've been constantly busy & have come to the decision that I am NEVER EVER going to wrap ANY paintings up in bubble wrap EVER again - difficult coming from a painter - but my descion is final! I must have packed over 40 paintings today, amazing how the work on the wall clocks up. I'm shattered.

Tomorrow they come with the lorry at 9:30am - they still have the 1001 books to pack up in the study - but we're doing nothing - they can do it all! All we have to do is pack the car with our personal items & that's it. I will walk into the village for the last time to pick up some bits & bobs from various shops - things I know I won't be able to buy in Devon - things I've earmarked for this very occasion. They hope to be packed, loaded & finished mid afternoon - completion is hopefully happening just before 2pm as the phone line & broadband line will be cut then. We leave after the lorry & make our exhausted leisurely way to the cottage in Devon. The removal people are staying over night somewhere in Devon & then we'll meet them at a reasonable hour in the morning of Friday at the container.

Phew. That's sorted.

I've just had my last shower in the en-suite. I've just pulled down the blinds for an evening for the last time. I have just sat & had my dinner in front of the small tv in the kitchen for the last time. Tomorrow I'll smoke my cigarette for the last time on the garden bench in the garden. Tonight I will hear the last planes, trains, sirens while living in London. All these things have flown through my head these last few days/hours. After 10 years of discussion, 10 years of deciding what was best & where was best to live, we finally made the decision to move & not only to move, but to leave London & live in Devon. There you have it! It's done.

Do I feel sad? Well over the last few weeks I haven't had a chance to think about it. Exhausted every night or talking to my friends online - it hasn't bothered me in the slightest. Even now sitting here, typing all of this, I'm not emotional in any way. Of course I've loved living here in this house but I won't miss it. Of course I have loved living in London all my life, but whenever I'm in Devon I never miss it & I have plenty of friends to stay with to come back & visit. I'm actually hoping to come back & do my Xmas shopping sometime in early December!

So there!!!!!!! LOL

Lots of love to one & all who have sent me some lovely supportive wishes for the big move - I am very grateful & of course I'll call you all ASAP - well - as soon as I've slept for at least a week!

EmyJane xxxxxxx

Last Saturday in London

Yes, this is it, there's no turning back now.

The whole house is FULL of boxes & I've tripped over ALL of them in the past week. It's all a little hectic - my folks 2 beautiful wooden chests of drawers are leaving us (sniff) today as my cousin & her hubby are having them - coming today with hired van to collect them. The sofa, kitchen table, big table & my bed is being taken away on Tuesday - sofa worries me somewhat as it took 4 hefty removal men 3 times to get it up the stairs last time, so it's going to be amusing to say the least.

Oh I can't go on with all that - I'm excited as well as a little bit emotional.

So, yeah, that's all.

Emy xxx

Here I Am - Just About!

It's been so long yet again! Everything is pretty mad right now.

First of all the weather has been appalling - only now the sun is back & Summer is beginning to feel like Summer. I've never seen rain quite like it. During the 3 weeks in Devon all it did was rain - not helpful if you have a jungle of a garden & you really have to cut it all back & the grass on the lawn was knee high!

Secondly I have been busy with various wildlife forums, since Springwatch, I haven't been off my laptop, it has to put it in a nutshell, taken over my life! The first forum closed down after a horrific massive argument in which I witnessed & don't want to get into. I have made so many good friends & my MSN list has increased quite rapidly! So now we've all gone to a second forum entitled Friend's of Nature - all FON for short, where I have been made a moderator as I was one in the previous set up & haven't looked back since.

Thirdly the house. We exchanged contracts last week & will be moving on 23rd of this month. So there's no turning back. Plus we may have found a house in Devon but I won't go into detail just in case it doesn't happen. Typical as the weather has got so nice & I'm stuck sorting out & packing!

This morning I woke up to the news that Foot & Mouth has been discovered on a farm in Guildford, Surrey. Oh my God - here we go again. 60 animals have been tested positive for the disease & so will have to be destroyed. All movements have been restricted. I really hope that they catch it now & don't let it spread. Some hopes. Here's a real test for Gordon Brown who hasn't had a good time of it since becoming PM.

Tonight I'm off to an 'almost 10 year school reunion' it's because of Facebook, so many people came out of the woodwork from school that a friend of mine decided to organise a reunion, even though it will be 10 years next year. I'm kind of glad it's happening as I won't be around next year to go.

So that's the news so far. Apart from all of that I've been trying to spend a few days visiting places in the South before I move permanently to the West, but time is running out fast. Oh well, I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunity to come back as I have received many invites from various friends to come & stay with them & that's what I'll do.

Emy xxx - photos to come as there's been a distinct lack of them, which is a record for me!

Back to the Good Old Waffle

Last updated June 24? Well, where have I been all this time?

In Devon.

And then a week ago back to London. Not particularly happy about that one. Hopefully the next time we go to Devon a removal van will be following in our wake. Yes, that's right, just to clarify things we have sold the house & are awaiting upon exchange. The plan is to leave London put everything into storage & then live in the cottage until we find somewhere bigger to buy . . . but things never go to plan, do they?

Over the next few weeks I've decided to become a tourist in my own city. Ok not one to visit Buckingham Palace or Madame Tussuad's - I'd rather stay in bed - I just feel like wandering the streets of town, window shopping, soaking in the atmosphere & taking loads of photos of things that I wouldn't usually take a picture of - like shop fronts, architecture, rubbish bins, pigeons . . . you get my idea? And then I want to have some days out in Kent & Sussex - I want to go to Canterbury & say goodbye properly but then I will be back one day.

We went to Bluewater a few days back. I was just about to buy a green t-shirt in Dorothy Perkins for a fiver when the fire alarms went off & an announcement came over 'Attention Attention, could you please evacuate the building immediately' there was a bit of panic as everyone rushed to various exits - my dad was already outside by the lakes so I didn't need to worry about him - my mum on the other hand was somewhere in the centre -bluewater is the largest shopping centre in Europe, when you approach it it looks like the Emerald city but in silver & if you were to walk the entire upper & lower mall you would clock up a 2 mile distance! So finding anyone is like looking for a needle in a haystack so thank god for mobile phones! So I called my Mum who wasn't far away & she said she smelt burning, so there was a fire. At last when all 3 of us had reunited I heard the sirens of the fire engines. They only cordoned off a small area & people where still shopping in John Lewis oblivious of the drama unfolding a few hundred yards away. We left then, we were going to have some food there, but we decided against it. Bluewater unfortunately, like most places in Britain, is a sitting duck for Terrorist attacks & after the recent affairs in London & Glasgow that's what everyone thought when we were all evacuated. I hate this world.

Smoking ban - yep - here we go - although since the ban I've made a lot of friends outside pubs, people I wouldn't normally chat to inside - & it's alright now as it's warm but when Winter comes & it's cold, windy & wet I'm hoping to have given up by then. Some hopes.

I've really missed this, just waffling on about nothing for 10 minutes. I shall waffle on some more perhaps later as off up to town in 20 mins to go to a Mass at Westminster (haven't been to a Mass in yonks) & then go to the recently revamped Royal Festival Hall & hope to catch some live after noon jazz. :)

Em xxx

Part 2 Springwatch & Wildlife-mania

As I'm sure you all noticed that darn SpringWatch message boards & Webcams took over my life & I loved every minute of it - of course I had a few disagreements with people (see Sparrowhawk argument) but that's part & parcel of life. When it finished the msg boards closed down, the webcams were turned off & all of us (I met some cool people on there) had nowhere to go. Then along came 'Bird-Mania' or 'Wildlife-Mania' as it's just been renamed. Another wildlife forum & so I joined that & haven't been off it since, plus I've just been made a moderator so I have an excuse to be on there! Not only is it a forum but a website too with a gallery, articles on wildlife, news, blogs (yep, now my 4th blog), Travel, ecards & a shop - wildlife books, seed, dvds etc. Plus at the online SpringWatch party (yes, we had one of those, aren't we all sad?) I made a bit of a fool of myself as I was drinking in 'real life' & got a little worse for ware & apparently married Steve the creator of Wildlife-Mania & did the dance of the 7 voles!!! LOL Please, please, I'm not serious, it's all a joke, don't worry I'm not mixing reality with real life I promise, the marriage thing is just an online joke. So with my new job & my nickname 'Skylark' I'm very busy!!!!!!! ;):

Blue Tit

Then I took a lot more pictures for the message boards - least I got to know my Nikon D70

Greenfinch

Nuthatch - I was lucky to get this close

Great Spotted Woodpecker (female)

A baby cricket


A Speckled Yellow Moth

A Mottled Beauty Moth

A Buff Ermine Moth (male)

A Peach Blossom Moth

A Bloodvein Moth

A Privet Hawkmoth - 55mm & I aint joking! HUGE




A very drunk bee on a poppy

An empty dragonfly larva

A Damsel Fly

Our Ox Eye Daisies at the end of the garden, going off a bit now

Field opposite the cottage with Foxgloves


But now it's raining & it hasn't stopped

When the sun DOES come out it looks so green!

Flaming June? More like Flooding June!!!!!

Head for cover!!!!


& when there is a sunset it looks more like winter then summer!

I do feel sorry for the poor saps at Glastonbury - you'd never catch me there!
So back to Wildlife-Mania for me which when I last checked were having technical difficulties, let's hope it's been sorted out otherwise what do I do now? LOL

Emy xxx