Colour

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 →

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 →

Transparent red expressed from layers of decomposing oak leaves floats above heavier ocherous sediments in a warm pool at the river’s edge (@ 50 47.260 N x 1 24.248 W). I gather this fluid reminder of the tree in a small jar and deliver … Continue reading →

Fallen branches of riverine oak were split and packed sardine like into two tins, which were then heated over a fire for nearly eight hours. The charcoal produced is of excellent quality for drawing, but its four ounce weight required four … Continue reading →

A handful of gorse flowers were painfully picked from the parish bush, then washed and dried. Rehydrating a few flowers with boiling water made a tea for breakfast. It has a bitter aftertaste with some sweet notes, but I could … Continue reading →

Leaks to the shell are a regular recurrence. Over the bed (recently stopped), through the closed doors and in through the timbers of the bow where it collects in the shower tray are regular aspects of daily life. In this … Continue reading →

Yellow gorse flowers were a cheering splash of colour on a rare dry evening, given a warm tint by the setting sun as the moon rose up behind. Of course gorse is a common plant up on the heathland of … Continue reading →

The developing blackberry wine is looking very clear. After over a day of cleaning the Egg and my clothing of unwanted fungus (mould), it is pleasing to observe the benefit of a more welcome sort (yeast).

A pair of robins are following me all the time around the Bofors Gun emplacement. As I fuss about rearranging bags of charcoal, bottles of paraffin and meths stored there, they pick up the insects and seeds unwittingly disturbed and … Continue reading →

A small oak opposite the egg has a rich crop of galls to harvest. I will use them to make a dye for my clothing and to create an ink for drawing as the first step toward understanding the cultural … Continue reading →

Oily looking ferrous reds stain the greyer mud of the marsh edges at different locations within the immediate Parish bounds. University of Southampton research concludes these are ‘ochre springs’ of ferrous hydroxide colloids emerging from alluvial sediment and the clays, marls … Continue reading →

Two metres of a green painted lateral channel marker has been washed up at N 50˚47.143″ x W 001˚24.449″ (20 feet from the Egg). These posts are made from boughs of willow driven into the mud to mark the starboard … Continue reading →

Individual blackberries collected from around the Egg were drawn by scraping through an ink wash created from their own juices. Twenty preserved berries (suspended in methanol) have been rendered in this way and a random quartet are here chosen to … Continue reading →

Mint growing wild just 83 feet from the Egg, provided leaves to flavour the potatoes I had for supper yesterday and today’s digestive tea. It has the distinct flavour of spearmint and I have dried a small amount for future use.

The Exbury Egg preserves the fruits of its research in glass jars and vitrines, suspended in a 70% magenta tinted methanol solution; drawing out the red of unripe blackberries from the continuing abundance of my crop at N 50˚47.142′ … Continue reading →

Seamus Heaney’s poem called Blackberry Picking was sent to me just a couple of days ago in response to my ongoing fascination with this bountiful plant, but without mention of his death at the end of August (news of which … Continue reading →

Morning ripened berries were selected from an east facing bush on the Egg Gateway. They were thoroughly washed and examined by hand for bits of thorn and other unwelcomeness. They were then lightly crushed in a bowl. A sachet of … Continue reading →

Hundreds of thousands of blackberries are beginning to ripen along the path below the Egg Gateway. Evidence on the gatepost shows birds to be already feasting and I made my own modest collection for breakfast tomorrow.

The red of the sea beet is in a fight for light with surrounding grasses and the pale yellow of the more plentiful sea purslane is an easily dismissed fuzz of brownish yellow. Relatively dull to the naked eye, they … Continue reading →

The hot sun of late July and the first part of August bleached the egg exterior considerably, as I noted when the first of the protective foil panels was removed this week to reveal the original orange tinted condition of … Continue reading →