Interesting - plenty of flints for knapping, but haematite? Not a local ore, even the Wealden (and that's the other side of the Downs) ore is siderite (a carbonate) rather than Haematite (an oxide). A bit of Googling suggests that haematite is associatedwith carboniferous limestone, and that the nearest deposits are in South Wales, and the most plentiful are in the Lake District near Barrow. Imported? Why? From where?

Interesting - plenty of flints for knapping, but haematite? Not a local ore, even the Wealden (and that's the other side of the Downs) ore is siderite (a carbonate) rather than Haematite (an oxide). A bit of Googling suggests that haematite is associatedwith carboniferous limestone, and that the nearest deposits are in South Wales, and the most plentiful are in the Lake District near Barrow. Imported? Why? From where?

https://www.bgs.ac .uk/downloads/start.cfm?id=1364

 
Sorry to be getting away from the thread title - not a deliberate trash! 

 

Originally Posted by: DEW 

its found in different types of soils and in various degrees of purity. It can be found with calcareous soils. I spent an hour last night scrolling the web for information on hematite. I think I also read of deposits being known on the South Downs but on the northern flanks.

It's not magnetic, and was under a very large tree in the thick of the woods. Natural or brought there? Who knows, but it's been there for a long old time.

Yesterday I saw Swallows chasing one another, butterflies fighting, the bees were much calmer and concentrating on work as they usually do, and I saw my first ladybird.

Out for a couple of hours walking this morning as it was such a beautiful day. 34 species of plants in flower seen, including cherry and barren strawberry (potentilla sterilis, not the edible fragaria vesca) for the first time this year, both a bit later than usual; for oak and ash see summer prediction thread . And cowslips ...

Also Peacock and Orange Tip butterflies.

Great photos- that cowslip picture especially. I love the way the shadows on the blossoms mimic the shape of the flower.They are so typical of April around here and are doing particularly well it seems.

OK the temps are pretty cool for late Spring but at least it hasn't been as bad as I feared it might be. Everything seems to be growing just fine here. There's colour everywhere and the streets are starting to look really green!

There's still Magnolia flowers out but the trees look much better now in leaf.

The last thing I expected to see today was Red Hot Poker (Kniphofia) as its mainly found in Summer/Autumn.

Blossom on Olive Trees (Olea Europaea)

And I was surprised to see upon closer inspection a few olives still there from last year. And I would have picked them off and had a little lunch but you can't do that they need processing first.

The public gardens look great as they are in full spring mode now !

And the last picture I took today was of Callistemons (Bottlebrushes) starting to bloom.

Larry- it looks positively tropical. I used to joke about Torquay because of Fawlty Towers but now I've seen those pics I think I'll visit - like going abroad without worrying about flying!

Thanks Bert. I'm glad you like the pictures, its such a pleasure taking them. By Summer you kind of get used to it but in Spring everything seems so new. And you should visit everyone should lol. Funny how you mentioned not having to use the plane because that same idea was used as part of an advertising campaign in the 1990's for the English Riviera. One of the posters from 1995 says "You Won't Miss A Thing Except The Plane".

Right at the bottom of that poster it says "For Our Brochure Call 01803 211211 (24 Hours)". Crazy to think just 21 years ago no website and most people probably hadn't even heard of the internet!

Everywhere seems to be filled with blossom at the moment. It turned out to be a nice afternoon so I went out and got a shot.