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Exbury Egg - Beadle's Blog
Stephen Turner's Exbury Egg is addressing the meaning of place at a time of great environmental change. In the guise of The Beaulieu Beadle, he will work on, in and around the Egg for twelve months from July 15th 2013 – July 14th 2014.
"In the character of the Beaulieu Beadle, I intend a performative role which is both practical and poetic as a guardian of the foreshore and the ‘herald who makes aware’ in my small personal parish around the egg, I'd like to provide a voice for mute nature, to be amanuensis to the tides, the terns and the turnstones."
Stephen Turner
Through the Egg's door
It is always a surprise to look through the Egg’s door for a glimpse of how special the ordinary can be. This is the last official post and the culmination of a year of observances, and I can mark the occasion most meaningfully with no special message at all. There may be more posts as I catch up with unedited video moments from earlier in the year and a categorisation of the narratives so as to reveal different threads of thought and observation as we determine the future of
Stephen Turner
Jul 14, 20141 min read
Stephen Turner
Jul 14, 20140 min read
Sans Samphire
Last year the Samphire grew thickly on the marsh beside the Egg, but this year there is none at all in prospect here. The mud bank has lost height and has been covered in a thick layer of green algae … Continue reading →
Stephen Turner
Jul 13, 20141 min read
Below the Waterline
The crab sat unmoving for over an hour in the shade of a three inch high mud cliff, stirring only when the sun rose sufficiently to pierce his shadowy retreat.
Stephen Turner
Jul 13, 20141 min read
Local Breeders
A family of shell duck made their way noisily to the Egg this afternoon to explore the river bank here. They reputedly breed in rabbit burrows hereabout, and I have been looking without success for their nesting sites amongst the … Continue reading →
Stephen Turner
Jul 12, 20141 min read
Oak Trousers + T
Fashion student (now graduate) Sue Carley made me a pair of DIY jeans from unbleached cotton – Dye It Yourself. A small oak ‘bush’ beside the Egg (behind me in the photo) provided galls to create the dye and its individual leaves the templates for … Continue reading →
Stephen Turner
Jul 10, 20141 min read
At Home with the Peacocks
The over wintering Peacock butterfly laid its eggs on the upper leaves of the stinging nettles at 50˚47’10.29″ N x 1˚24’26.60″ W and they are all now hatching. The caterpillars eat on the leaves through five stages of growth, moulting their … Continue reading →
Stephen Turner
Jul 6, 20141 min read
Beaulieu Buff
The native earth of the estuary is mid toned brown in colour, a sort of Beaulieu buff which I washed and spun, then dried in the summer sun, as part of an ongoing collection of refined sediment. It is nothing out of the ordinary, a … Continue reading →
Stephen Turner
Jul 4, 20141 min read
Ochreous Stains
Patches of iron oxide from chalybeate springs stain the generally browner mud at regular intervals along the littoral. John Ruskin, referring to another chalybeate spring in Tunbridge Wells in Kent, felt that the purest form of iron was its oxide, … Continue reading →
Stephen Turner
Jul 3, 20141 min read
Motif for Life
In marking a mooring post with the motif of the Egg, I hope to make new homes for solitary wasps and other singular creatures in need of a secure place to abide, long after the Egg has moved on.
Stephen Turner
Jul 2, 20141 min read
Friendly Neighbours
Anne and Terry visited the Egg to bring the gift of a delicious banana and walnut cake which was most welcomely received. They spend a lot of their time living on their boat ‘Teal’ moored upriver of the Egg and have followed … Continue reading →
Stephen Turner
Jul 1, 20141 min read
White Plumes
The budding brambles on Blackberry Way are increasingly interwoven with the counterpoint of twisting con volvulus. Amongst this bind weed abides the white plume moth, which I observed for a few moments before releasing it into the warm evening air.
Stephen Turner
Jun 27, 20141 min read
Eye
I made an eye in the bow of the Egg by drilling a three inch hole through the sandwich of red cedar and epoxy forming its shell, providing the potential for discreet observation. Early yesterday morning five black headed gulls picked … Continue reading →
Stephen Turner
Jun 25, 20141 min read
Stephen Turner
Jun 24, 20140 min read
A Midsomer Night’s Revels
The morning after the night before
Stephen Turner
Jun 22, 20141 min read
Silas Sailing By
When Paul Baker was building the Egg at Battramsley Farm near Lymington, his dream was to finish his own boat which shared the same barn and to get onto the water himself. This afternoon he saluted the Exbury Egg as he sailed … Continue reading →
Stephen Turner
Jun 21, 20141 min read
The Blue Tit
A young blue tit (they still have yellow cheeks) was found near the Egg by my neighbour Nick who preserved it for me in the refrigerator. Birds of many species have recently fledged but not all will make it to adulthood. … Continue reading →
Stephen Turner
Jun 18, 20141 min read
Sinutab Spider
One of a collection of drawings on the verso of 31 empty packages of goods consumed in April; Bi-Narrative No14_Sinutab Spider. The boxes continue one narrative about headaches, breakfasts (cereal boxes), power consumption (battery boxes) etc. The verso drawings in Exbury … Continue reading →
Stephen Turner
Jun 17, 20141 min read
Stephen Turner
Jun 14, 20140 min read
When My Ship Came In
Large passenger ships are visible cruising along the Solent eastward to port in Southampton and west bound for destinations unknown to me. I did not recognise the ship in the early hours of May 2nd, but Oceania headed past on May 5th at … Continue reading →
Stephen Turner
Jun 10, 20141 min read
Tit’s Nest
The great tits I filmed so intensively feeding their young inside a hollow concrete brick in the ruined Bofors Gun Pit, have now flown; the hatchings fledged and the nest abandoned until next year. I decided to take a look and … Continue reading →
Stephen Turner
Jun 10, 20141 min read
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