Tour of Britain - Stage 5

See video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cjLr4TR4gI

Well the day started out OK, it was actually dry before 9am but then the heavens opened and it didn't stop. I walked round the back of Machynlleth via the Leisure Centre and came out through a wood into a carpark where the coaches were just driving up. I moved up to the Sky coach and people were already gathering behind railings. Despite the rain, nobody moved away. I was about one row back so was able to peer through to where, under a canopy, the bikes were being set out and the tyres filled to the right pressure by what can only be described as a very tall man. As is the case with most of my observations of celebrity, the staff seemed to be milling around very busy with something but not really sure what they were about. One guy had a very important job of removing the water that collected in the canopy a number of times nearly soaking someone or other with the cascade. I wonder how you would apply for that job.

Just before the race the guys started to emerge in full regalia and made some attempt to sign autographs on rain soaked sports cards given out earlier. I did not attempt to remove my sheet from the bag and just made the effort to get a few close shots of Bradley. Considering the weather, I count myself lucky in what I managed to obtain. And Bradley, well you could tell he had done a lot of this and did not complain but I think he was glad to get off to the starting line. 

We then all trooped over in the rain to the starting line on Maengwyn Street. A guy making the general announcements and even managing to interview Bradley. Bikers getting ready to leave at the same time keeping out of the rain. Excited kids taking photos on 1000's of smart phones. These must be the most photographed bike races to date. Your token grown ups dressed in mascot animal costumes. The Klaxon going off at 8 the 4 then 2 minutes to go. Then they are off in the driving rain but with better weather promised further south at Caerffili.

I looked up and saw our friends, the Turtons over on the other side frantically waiving and generally having a good time. They indicated to move towards the clock tower and we met up where the barriers tapered out  and headed to the White Lion for drinks. We discovered that we were a lot wetter than we had realised but happily my camera was dry and had survived the ordeal with some interesting shots and video.

RSPB - Merefest

The RSPB have been around for a long time and was initially founded as a society for the protection of birds. As most people know they have grown into an organisation was is the watchword for the preservation of all our natural heritage from butterflies to badgers, from pondweed to beech forests.

I have been a member since 2010 and am fortunate to live near to Ynyshir from where Springwatch is broadcast. The Dyfi Estuary is a beautiful unspoiled part of the UK and the wealth of wildlife is truly amazing. My own personal interest is the 50 or so species of butterfly in this country and my aim is to see most of them in my life. To this extent I was in Durlston Country Park where I added several species to my list including the rare Lulworth skipper and the Marbled White.

So I you can imagine my delight when I visited the Albrighton Garden Centre and the RSPB had a stand attended by a lady who was very knowledgeable about everything that is happening right now. I was delighted to learn that RSBP are expanding their range of butterfly pins, I have collected all of them and the 2013 addition of the Brimstone is spectacular especially as this is the butterfly with one of the biggest recoveries since the disastrous summer of 2012. 

The RSBP now have expanded their mandate to embrace an overall preservation of the ecology of the country in general. To that extent they were promoting Merefest that took place on Saturday September 21st 2013. Sadly we were not able to attend at such short notice but I picked up a brochure so that I can go next year. It takes place at Cholmondeley Castle near Wrexham, is all about ecology and more information can be found at www.themeresandmosses.co.uk. The day is centred on pond and bug life but it is approached from a point of view of fun with canoeing, crafts and trampolines to engage young people. If the wildlife of the UK is to survive, this is the way it has to be tackled.

If you are interested in the work of the RSBP visit www.rspb.org.uk for more information. The Merefest is just one of the ways the RSBP is trying to provide corridors for wildlife so that they can continue to negotiate and thrive in our modern country.

Schools Class visits the Severn Valley Railway Autumn Gala

Beautiful Cheltenham

Anyone who knows me knows of my passion for all things railway. I always loved the LMS as a child because I had the 'City of London' as my centrepiece on my Hornby Railway from the age of 9 or 10. But living in Staffordshire and holidaying in mid Wales I became enamoured with the GWR with its halls, castles, prairies and wonderful panniers. The highlight of my youth was a visit to Wolverhampton Low Level in its last days and there sitting snorting on the middle line was the 'County of Berkshire'. As most will know the counties did not survive into preservation and I am following the 'County of Glamorgan' new build with interest. That's how things stood for many years, 30 at least, until a new type of engine came into my sphere. These were Bullieds spam cans and there rebuilds into the beautiful Bulleid Pacifics that  have survived in such numbers as to be quite common on most preserved lines. These are wonderful machines that so evoke the landscape on which they worked. The south of England.

Cheltenham

Of all the places in England the home counties are the counties I know the least. My eastward travels came to a halt at Southampton and my southern travels at London. This is not to say that I and never been to Kent, Sussex or Surrey. Dover for the ferry, Gatwick for the airport were familiar place names but Ashford, Tunbridge Wells, East Grinstead, I knew little. Until I started to see pictures of engines that came before the Bullied's pacifics, the engines that ran these places before the second world war. The contemporaries of Royal Scots, B1's and castles. Names like King Arthur, Lord Nelson, M7, D1, Terrier, Maunsell, Urie and Stroudley. But above it was the praise heaped on the almost magical 'Schools Class'. They even had an exciting classification letter, V.

Cheltenham

Anyone unfamiliar with the Schools class, all they really need to know is that Maunsell's 4-6-0 King Arthurs and Lord Nelsons were too heavy and too big for certain routes so a lighter engine was commissioned. The schools were the result but while they were lighter and only a 4-4-0 they ended up being almost as powerful as the engines they replaced. This was unprecedented and they have earned the title of the most powerful 4-4-0's ever built. So they have become a bit of a holy grail for me. I had gone to the Watercress line last year and saw many southern region locos but sadly no schools. I have made plans to go to the Bluebell Line this year but it costs a lot of money so far from my home in mid Wales. So I nearly fell off my chair when I read the rosta for the SVR autumn gala. A schools was coming to the gala. For those who again don't know, 3 schools survived, Repton on the North Yorkshire, Stowe on the Bluebell and Cheltenham on the Watercress lines. Cheltenham is the promised jewel. Let me tell you people I will be glued. N.B. Originally I was going to supplement this article but I felt it stood well on it's own. The next one describes the day.

Dornier 17 Bomber

Discovery of a Dornier 17 Bomber

With thanks to my niece, Amanda Barber, for all the photos.
June 2014 update available courtesy Shropshire Star reporter Liza Radley.

A Dornier 17 bomber has been rescued from the bottom of the English Channel. More remarkably the aeroplane is in pretty good shape considering it has lain on a chalk bed in 50 foot of water for over 70 years.

Dornier 17

Claude Dornier was born in 1884 in south west Bavaria to a French father and German mother. He founded the company Dornier GmBh and the Dornier 17 was developed as a light fast bomber that was designed outrun its pursuers. It was used primarily in the first three years of the war after which it was replaced by the more powerful Junkers 88. For the rest of the war it was used for research and training. The last known example was scrapped in Finland in 1952 yet remarkably an example has been found on the seabed of Godwin Sands, Kent and was raised last week (Jun 10th 2013) and has moved to RAF Cosford for preservation, the one and only example of an important piece of World war II history. The following is a short history of this aeroplane with thanks to 'The Sunday Telegraph' and 'The Express and Star' of Wolverhampton.

The Dornier Do-17Z is believed to be 5K+AR 7th Squadron, 3rd Group Bomber Wing 3 although this has yet to be verified. It left St Trond, Brussels on August 26th 1940 with 16 

33 lb bombs on board. One of nine aircraft on course to bomb RAF Manston as a lure to trap British fighters to be targets for Messerschmitt 109's. The bombers were detected by RAF warning systems and 264 Squadron Defiants were scrambled in response. One of these defiants, piloted by Desmond Hughes brought down two Dorniers, the second of which was the specimen lifted last week from the seabed. Amazingly two of the four man crew survived and became prisoners of war, returning to Germany at the end of the war and both dying in the 1990's.

The wreck was located in September 2010 and was deemed to be in remarkably good condition. So good that the engines were intact and there was still grease on the propeller bearings. Three years of planning resulted in the aircraft being lifted on a cradle on June 10th 2013. All the crew of the bomber have since died but another war veteran, Karl Betighofer, who was shot down over Normandy in 1944 was on hand to see the airplane arrive at RAF Cosford on June 17th. The whole operation cost £500k and what now lies ahead is the painstaking conservation of the hulk for display at RAF Cosford war museum. The museum expects thousands of visitors to come and see this piece of history as it is restored to showcase (not running) condition. Before arrival at Cosford the plane was dismantled for transportation at Ramsgate by a nine man specialist team. The work was complicated by the fact the bomber had landed upside down. 

The Dornier 17, nicknamed the flying pencil because of its narrow fuselage, will now be restored and I will return to update this blog when she goes on display.

Update June 2014
Exactly one year on and the slow painstaking process of cleaning up and restoring the aircraft continues. It is constantly bathed in a citric acid solution to combat years of lying on the seabed while restorers chip away at the debris with plastic tools. The final resting place will on display at RAF Hendon in London. Major advances have been the separation of the forward fuselage from the tail boom by de-riveting the units. The citrus solution has also been very effective on bringing the propellers back to life. However the dissolving sea life and the gel created has had the effect of clogging the filtration system. The success therefore has caused its own set of problems. The filtration system has now been upgraded allowing for continuous operation. Visitors are welcome to see the progress of the restoration at RAF Cosford. 

Update August 2014

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Well tell me honestly if you have an interest in something enough to blog about it then you should be

Fuselage

prepared to visit it in person. So finally on August 4th, I did just that. I stopped at RAF Cosford and visited a very wet dornier bomber. She is located in two plastic tents behind the main Cosford museum hangars. The tents are half cylinders and the humidity is so high that she is almost totally obscured. Still I managed to take a few pictures. I also learned that when they separated the fuselage from the wings the bolts were in perfect condition. Also as soon as the aircraft is stabilised and restored she will go on display at RAF Hendon in London. My hope is she will be allowed to be seen for a couple of weeks at Cosford and if she is then I will return to get some more photos without the plastic sheeting, the very necessary plastic sheeting I might add. One last note, as if

to compensate for the poor visibility of the aircraft the entrance has a lovely two dimensional display of what the aircraft looked like. Its makes a nice visual introduction and quite informative comparison. I don't know if I would recommend a visit, there really isn't a lot to see. A bit like being in the Gods at a concert, all you can say is that you were there and you saw it. But if you are an aircraft enthusiast then it is a must see

Ontario Butterflies

Summer Azure

This year (2013) I went to Canada in May which is the beginning of the butterfly season. I was finally equipped with a decent camera so I did not need to be on top of my subject in order to get a decent shot. I therefore had the wherewithal to start a good collection of butterfly photos. A larger photo size can be found at my flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/remedy451/ .
I have discovered two great sites where butterflies can be seen. In Tottenham Ontario close to my in laws home there is a conservation area and running alongside is a disused CP railway line that has been converted into part of a the Canada Way footpath. The path has become a secluded magnet for all kinds of wildlife including butterflies. Also in Guelph Ontario there is a park in the south that has all kinds of habitat, bog, open meadow, deciduous and pine forest which

Bog Fritillary

attracts several different species. We spent several hours in both locations and were rewarded with some lovely sites. The bog at Guelph was especially rewarding as the bog fritillaries danced around in good numbers. The butterfly was somewhat smaller than I had anticipated but the vivid colours made this a spectacular display. The final butterfly I found this year was quite difficult to identify since I could not identify it with a related species in my native Britain. So I really didn't where to start except simply view every photo on Google ever taken of an Ontario butterfly! But luck was on my side and I recognised something similar. It was a Pine Elfin, specifically the Western Pine Elfin, related to the blue family and a

Western Pine Elfin

territory that stretches right across Canada despite its name. There was a certain triumph in the identification and certainly its location on open grassland near a pinewood fitted the bill for habitat.
More butterflies will be added from my file later.