Levens Hall and Gardens

Levens Hall and Gardens is located on the edge of the Lake District in Cumbria, England a few miles outside Kendal and is one of the best examples of a topiary garden in the world. Topiary is the art of cutting trees and shrubs into shapes which are held in position and trained using wires.

The topiary garden was designed by Colonel Grahame's gardener, Monsieur Guillaume Beaumont in 1689 and completed in 1720. Beaumont was gardener to King James II and helped to design the gardens at Hampton Court. Levens Park was originally a medieval deer park but was formally restructured as a recreational park with a great oak avenue, ancient yew trees, specimen trees and views of the river. 

The trees used for the topiary work at Levens Hall are Yew, Golden Yew and Box. The borders to the beds are of Dwarf Edging Box. The historic topiary garden also incorporates a small orchard of apple trees and medlars, a nuttery and herb garden, a bowling green, a rose garden, herbaceous borders and seasonal bedding.

The Hall is a magnificent Elizabethan mansion built around a 13th century pele tower and contains a collection of Jacobean furniture , fine paintings and the earliest English patchwork.

Leopard - Panthera pardus

The leopard, Panthera pardus, is a member of the Felidae family and the smallest of the four "big cats" in the genus Panthera, the other three being the tiger, lion, and jaguar. The leopard was once distributed across eastern and southern Asia and Africa, from Siberia to South Africa, but its range of distribution has decreased radically because of hunting and loss of habitat. It is now chiefly found in sub-Saharan Africa; there are also fragmented populations in the Indian subcontinent, Sri Lanka, Indochina, Malaysia, Indonesia, and China. Because of its declining range and population, it is listed as a "Near Threatened" species on the IUCN Red List.

Compared to other members of the Felidae family, the leopard has relatively short legs and a long body with a large skull. It is similar in appearance to the jaguar, but is smaller and more slightly built. Its fur is marked with rosettes similar to those of the jaguar, but the leopard's rosettes are smaller and more densely packed, and do not usually have central spots as the jaguars do. Both leopards and jaguars that are melanistic (completely black or very dark) are known as black panthers.

The species' success in the wild is in part due to its opportunistic hunting behavior, its adaptability to habitats, its ability to run at speeds approaching 58 kilometres per hour (36 mph), its unequaled ability to climb trees even when carrying a heavy carcass, and its notorious ability for stealth. The leopard consumes virtually any animal that it can hunt down and catch. Its habitat ranges from rainforest to desert terrains.

These photos were taken in 2002 at the Ngala Private Game Reserve which is adjacent to the famous Kruger National Park in South Africa. Having arrived at the reserve only a couple of hours before we immediately left on the early evening safari in an open land rover and this one one of the first sights we saw - this magnificent leopard in a tree with a kill of a young impala (African antelope) in the next tree. As we sat directly below the tree it allowed me a wonderful opportunity to capture multiple images of this beautiful cat as she lounged, yawned and then casually leapt to the other tree to gnaw away at the impala.

Boxing Day

Boxing Day is the day after Xmas on 26th December. The exact etymology of the term "boxing" is unclear and there are several competing theories, none of which is definitive. The tradition has long included giving money and other gifts to those who were needy and in service positions. The European tradition has been dated to the Middle Ages, but the exact origin is unknown and there are some claims that it goes back to the late Roman/early Christian era; metal boxes placed outside churches were used to collect special offerings tied to the Feast of Saint Stephen. 

In the UK, it was a custom for tradesmen to collect "Christmas boxes" of money or presents on the first weekday after Christmas as thanks for good service throughout the year. This is mentioned in Samuel Pepys' diary entry for 19 December 1663; This custom is linked to an older English tradition: in exchange for ensuring that wealthy landowners' Christmases ran smoothly, their servants were allowed to take the 26th off to visit their families. The employers gave each servant a box containing gifts and bonuses (and sometimes leftover food). 

This year we are spending Xmas at home having been away the last 2 years. Last year we were in Shanghai, China visiting friends and this photo was taken at the beautiful Waldorf Astoria Hotel on The Bund. The hotel is located in an old heritage building which has been wonderfully restored as you can see in this image.

Heart of Christmas

Our tree this year is looking especially good as we managed to get a real pine which not only looks great but smells good too. Hopefully by Christmas morning the tree will be brimming with gifts and parcels, assuming of course I have been a good boy and Santa has included me in his rounds.

These Boots Are Made For Walking

This guy means serious business in his wellington boots and he was spotted at a tree planting event organized by EcoWarriors in Malaysia in a peat swamp just outside Kuala Lumpur.

Bracket Fungus

Since yesterday's blog had some mushrooms I thought I would continue the theme with today's photograph of fungi growing on a tree in Brugge, Belgium. This fungus is probably Laetiporus sulphureus which is a species of bracket fungus (fungus which grows on trees) found in Europe and North America. Its common names are sulphur polypore, sulphur shelf, and chicken mushroom. Its fruiting bodies grow as striking golden-yellow shelf-like structures on tree trunks and branches. Like other bracket fungi, they may last many years and fade to a more pale grey or brown. The undersurface of the fruiting body is made up of tubelike pores rather than gills. Laetiporus sulphureus is a saprophyte, and causes brown cubical rot in the heartwood of trees on which it grows. Unlike many bracket fungi, it is edible when young.

Easy Sunday

It's Sunday and a day to relax .... just like this young boy in Siem Reap, Cambodia leaning against this tree by the river.

Here's hoping you are all having a nice, easy Sunday

Cherry Blossom

April is a good time to visit New York .... the weather is not too cold and the streets are full of blooming cherry blossom trees. The picture above was taken in the Greenwich Village area and with the colourful springtime flowers also making a show this really made the streets look great. 

"Giant Squid" Washed Up in Sri Lanka

Walking along the seafront in Colombo I spotted what looked exactly like a giant squid washed up on the beach. However as it turned out the "squid" was in fact a large tree with roots as you can see.

Rain Tree

This magnificent rain tree is situated in central Kuala Lumpur in the small Christian Birch Road Cemetery. It is so nice to see some mature trees like this still standing and has probably only been spared from development due to the burial ground it sits in. These trees with their large spread of branches and foliage provide welcome shade from the tropical sun.

Papaya

This beautiful papaya tree was seen in Bali, Indonesia. The papaya (from Carib via Spanish), papaw or pawpaw is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, in the genus Carica. It is native to the tropics of the Americas, and was first cultivated in Mexico several centuries before the emergence of the Mesoamerican classic cultures.

It is a large tree-like plant, with a single stem growing from 5 to 10 metres (16 to 33 ft) tall, with spirally arranged leaves confined to the top of the trunk. The lower trunk is conspicuously scarred where leaves and fruit were borne. The leaves are large, 50–70 centimetres (20–28 in) diameter, deeply palmately lobed with 7 lobes. The tree is usually unbranched if unlopped. The flowers are similar in shape to the flowers of the Plumeria, but are much smaller and wax-like. They appear on the axils of the leaves, maturing into the large 15–45 centimetres (5.9–18 in) long, 10–30 centimetres (3.9–12 in) diameter fruit. The fruit is ripe when it feels soft (like a ripe avocado or a bit softer) and its skin has attained an amber to orange hue. It is the first fruit tree to have its genome deciphered.