A spectacular view of Snowdonia, the intelligence of owls and our quiz of the day are all highlights of this morning's Dawn Chorus.
This is the fifth edition of The Dawn Chorus, our new daily round-up of news, nature and fun stuff. Each day, either James (Fisher, Deputy Digital Editor) or I (Toby Keel, Digital Editor) will bring you the big story in the world of Country Life, plus all sorts of things that you might otherwise have missed. We hope you enjoy it.
There’s a horse in the kitchen, what am I gonna do
‘Part of the charm of English style is that it has no formal rules to be slavishly followed,’ says Katy Campbell, a Cotswolds-based property finder who — together with husband Milo — has produced a new book called English Country House Style. While there may be no rules, there are some favourite elements — or ‘motifs’, to use Mrs Campbell’s word: the boot room, downstairs loo, drinks table and four-poster beds all get their own chapters in a book which features 40 houses, among them the homes of interior designers such as Cath Kidston, Birdie Fortescue and Edward Bulmer.
All well and good; but we know you just want to know who that is on horseback in their kitchen. The answer is that it’s Jessica Fleming, wife of architect Christian Fleming, as photographed by Mark Nicholson, who did all the pictures for the Campbells’ book. We’ve not seen the entire tome as yet, but based on the images shared by Mark and Katy on their Instagram pages, it looks exactly as glossy, fun and eccentric as you could hope for. The book is available to order now ahead of publication next week, RRP £40.
Quiz of the Day
1.) How many individual squares are there on the chessboard?
2.) Cosmic Purple, White Satin and Royal Chantenay area all species of what?
3.) What does a dendrochronologist study?
4.) What do Brompton Cemetery, Kensington Gardens and Bushy Park have in common?
5.) Which is the largest of three bottles of wine: A) Melchior ; B) Jeroboam; or C) Nebuchadnezzar?
I can smell the squirrel, and I can hear the squirrel… but I can’t SEE the squirrel…
Very smart squirrel! ðð
Actually the dog wants to play with him. pic.twitter.com/Ay8jRdGz7c
— Figen (@TheFigen_) October 2, 2024
Drink beer, save the world
Well, sort of. The Hepworth Brewery in Sussex have shut off the oil boiler that they’ve used for years, and instead switched to a heat pump that is massively more efficient, and should cut the cost of their ‘wort boiling’ (apparently a key part of the process) by 40%.
Sunshine of the season
The last few days have been grim across much of Britain — but photographer Chris Ecob headed for the hills in hope of grabbing some beautiful pictures of Eryri National Park (aka Snowdonia).
Eryri National Park, October 2024. Credit: ChrisEcob999 / Getty
Mission accomplished, we’d say.
Still on the market
This one is gorgeous: Boleyn House, in the heart of Thomas Hardy country, came to the market in the Spring, but is still available at £1.25 million.
And unlike many traditional country homes, there’s little to fear in terms of maintenance: the owners have recently undertaken all sorts of jobs, from installing a wood-burning stove to sand-blasting the characterful flagstones. They’ve even put in an electric, programmable Aga, prompting James to wail ‘Is nothing sacred anymore?’ See more about it here.
And finally… the role of owls in defining true intelligence
For all their reputation as wise old birds, owls are notorious among bird trainers for being — whisper it — not very clever at all.
‘Unlike parrots that can be taught to mimic speech and hawks to retrieve objects,’ wrote Martin Fone in his Curious Questions slot a couple of years ago, ‘owls, according to bird trainers, cannot be trained to carry out even the most rudimentary of tasks. They just sit there, impervious to the increasingly frantic cajoling of their instructors.’
Yet is that really fair? Are we merely looking at owls through the lens of our own needs and desires? Martin certainly suggests so: ‘An owl is content to stick to its metaphorical knitting, not troubling itself to pander to the wishes of those who want to change its ways. Perhaps that is the true sign of wisdom.’
Read the whole story: Curious Questions: How wise are owls?
That’s all — we’ll be back with more Dawn Chorus on Monday.
Quiz answers
1.) 64
2.) Carrot
3.) Tree rings
4.) They’re all Royal Parks
5.) A
