Moving Image

The morning after the night before

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 →

Land argues with the risen tide all about its borders. Delicate sea pink threatened by the advances of grey brine on a cold May day.

A pair of great tits nested in the cracked and broken concrete of the derelict bofors gun emplacement. They spent many hours, in an unending hunt for caterpillars, hover flies and other bugs to feed their clutch of eight demanding young. … Continue reading →

On the morning of April 30th at 6am, the whole of the Eggdom was shrouded in a dense vaporous mist. It resisted the weak warmth of the sun for several hours.

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 →

Eight Buff Orpingtons hatched after incubation at my neighbour’s home last week and it was exciting and appropriate to record their arrival. Tiny beaks chipped rough circles about the egg tops, before tiny armlike wings began the extraordinarily hard work of levering … Continue reading →

Soon after dawn the rising tide crept in and lifted the Egg from its muddy berth. Overhead the sky had a wet greyness that soon began to splash light rain onto the water surface and disturbed the reflected blackthorn, bare on branch. On these changing marshy margins, the birds of both land and … Continue reading →

Yet another storm from the south west appeared to be gathering from around eight this morning, but the Egg rides the waves well in its sheltered bay. High spring tides can almost clear the protecting embankment however (as can be … Continue reading →

High water is due to top the predicted 3.9m tonight, due to the continuing southwesterly gales and the Environment Agency has issued a flood alert and indicative map. The inundation would be directly across the river as well as east … Continue reading →

A salute of hailstones welcomed the dawn of Christmas Day just after 8am. I was surprised by the unusual swishing noise from sheets of hail hitting water, as a wintry squall sped toward me across the river from a soaking … Continue reading →

By eleven the moon was sufficiently high for its cool beams to wash through my circular skylight and to transit across the bed. As the night progressed I was bathed in, and scanned by, its glow as I slept. As … Continue reading →

Night of the full moon, Sunday 17th November, looking toward the Isle of Wight. 100% cloud.

Predicted wild weather met the Egg this week. According to the Met Office, south westerly winds gusted at up to 99mph over the Needles Old Battery on the Isle of Wight, just across the Solent. Alex Fogarty, who works for Wightlink … Continue reading →