I watched a lovely clip this week on breakfast TV. It is a phenomenon of nature involving hundreds, even thousands of birds in an aerial display, in this case starring Starlings in Cumbria. It is called a ‘Murmuration’, a 15th century word; but it’s not known why the word was used or where it comes from.  According to the article, the birds will perform these aerial  displays for about a month during February at dusk, and many people meet in the area to record these Starlings. How do they know which way to turn in synchronism? Why do they do it?  Why that area? There are no answers to any…

On a warm spring day last year, me and my friend were walking around the National Gallery. On the rare occasions when this  happens, I find it to be very relaxing and gratifying as we usually have a purpose for our visits and endeavour to take in as many of the sights that London has to offer.  The foremost reason for this specific outing was so that I could view the galleries Egyptian artefacts; which I have previously discussed in a recent article. The first part of the morning was spent viewing the antiquities and I was surprised at the amount of objects on show. There appeared to be a…

Five weeks ago, or thereabouts, I took myself down to one of the National Trusts stately homes called ‘Belton House’ near Grantham in Lincolnshire. It was a very hot day so that was a good start. It was built by Sir John Brownlow between 1685 and 1688, and owned by the Cust and Brownlow family until it was given over to the National Trust in 1984, due to financial problems and death duties.l won’t go into too much detail about the history of the place, even though that’s important if you like your history, but it’s more about my photographs and the facilities available.Here’s a link if you fancy taking…

I bought this book a couple of weeks ago as I am learning to speak French and I want to find out as much as I can about visiting France. It really is only a short train journey for me on the Eurostar and then ‘Voila’, I’d be there quicker than you can say ‘Je suis ici et il est temps!’ I cannot believe I’ve never actually been to that wonderful country, with its amazing history and culture, but this year I will definitely get there. Anyway, this interesting book is written by an English woman who has lived in France for the past 15 years, so understands the misconceptions…

I wanted to write this article today about the lovely city of Lincoln. I have visited a few times over the past two years and I’m feeling the need to return because I love it so much. Lincoln is full of attractive properties, including 16th century and Georgian buildings with the beautiful Norman Cathedral and castle. Once you visit the centre of the city you feel that you’ve stepped back in time. Lincoln was a Roman town and many of the buildings reflect this, such as the 3rd-century Newport Arch; the northern gateway that is still used by traffic. When you have reached the summit of what’s called ‘Steep Hill’,…