Woodpecker

I promise you this is not going to turn into Wildlife On One... but one of the reasons I like living in Ewell is that we get more interesting visitors to our back garden. ("More interesting" in comparison to our previous slightly-closer-into-London abode. Gardens generally smaller and fewer nearby parks, thus, less roaming wildlife.)

Today a green woodpecker was assiduously hunting something on our lawn; insects, I suppose. He seemed quite successful, staying for at least ten minutes. With a beak like that, we won't need to worry about aerating the ground any time soon...

Exploring Surrey's Past...

This week's local Guardian mentions a new web site that has been created by Surrey Heritage, called Exploring Surrey's Past.

It's drawn together information from many sources -- archaelogical records, museum collections, old photos and the like -- to let locals and not-so-locals find out more about their areas of interest. It's organised such that one can either search using a keyword, or can browse the site via a collection of themes; either people, places or times.

Here is the main page for Ewell.

I can see this site getting a lot of traffic from those looking for information for school projects, as well as those just browsing for general interest!

Glorious EwellVision...

Today's technology experiment...Brought to you by the wonders of YouTube: frog porn!

Quaking in our boots

-- or not, perhaps. I'm afraid that, in this corner of Ewell, last night's earthquake went completely unnoticed; it failed to wake us up, unlike the Buncefield explosion a couple of years ago!

Froggy Would A-Wooing Go

I can tell it's getting on towards Spring in this corner of Ewell, as my garden pond is wriggling. No, I do not have the Loch Ness Monster in residence -- but I do have a significant number of frogs, plus the occasional toad, who turn up at about this time every year, get down and dirty in the pond, and then hop off to who knows where, leaving only their spawn behind.

It doesn't seem to make any difference that the pond's badly in need of a clear-out (and a new pump); back they come each year. In a small piece of evidence that Spring is unusually early in 2008, the frogs themselves are somewhere between ten days and two weeks earlier than I'd usually expect to see them.

It can be very disconcerting to glance out of the kitchen window and spot shiny amphibians writhing -- or maybe that should be mud-wrestling, given the state of the water....

New 'Keet On The Block

I don't know how many of you saw the BBC programme which was shown on Friday and Saturday -- just a little ten-minute job, called "The Great British Parakeet Invasion". I doubt that it'll be news to anyone that green parakeets have thoroughly colonised this area along with much of the rest of England, especially the south-east. There's a colony of thousands in Esher, but there's also a fair number of them flying around Nonsuch Park whenever I've been there in the last few years. We don't often see them in our garden, but we did have this rather cheeky visitor just before New Year!

Although they're very noisy when they get going, I confess I'm rather taken with them -- it's the bright colour that attracts me, I think. I saw some once in a yew tree near the café in Nonsuch Park, feeding on its berries, and the contrast between the light green birds and the dark green tree was very attractive -- shame I didn't have my camera with me that day.

(Expect more postings about Ewell's wildlife over the next week or two -- I seem to have seen quite a lot of it today...)

Coming Up: Meet The Romans!

This year's Herald Of Spring event at Bourne Hall is a Roman-themed event, promising hands-on archaeology, Roman cookery, gladiator fights and spectacular floral displays, among other attractions.

(You didn't know that the Romans were famed for their spectacular floral displays? No, me neither.)

While Bourne Hall's building is more or less modern, Ewell does have a fair bit of Roman history to find out about -- Birkbeck College of the University of London have done excavations here over the last couple of years. There should be plenty to see.

The exhibition is open on Saturday 8th March 2008 from 1000 - 1800 and on Sunday 9th March 2008 from 1100 - 1700, with a preview for disabled visitors on the Sunday from 1000. Admission is £2 for adults; children and OAPs get in free. There's also a free park-and-ride scheme running from Nescot.

Businesses: Ewell Books

Up until 2007, Ewell had a second-hand bookshop called "Ewell Bookshop" (no prizes for original names here). It was much-loved by your humble narrator, but unfortunately it closed; it has now been replaced by the Gift Gallery. (Sorry, Gift Gallery; I'm sure your stuff is lovely -- in fact I know it is, since I've been in a couple of times -- but there's an important issue here, which is that you are Not A Bookshop.)

In any case, luckily the book-selling business concerned is still alive and thriving in the back streets of Ewell, even if the shop itself has faded into the mists. Ewell Books' website is open for business.

Coming Up: Antiques Valuation Day

The Rotary Club of Ewell have organised an Antiques Valuation Day on Monday 3rd March 2008 at Bourne Hall, running from 0930 - 1700. Entrance is £2 plus £3 per item valued -- so if you've always wondered whether Aunty Gladys's hideous old jug is worth anything, or whether the picture of a crying child which has graced your wall for the last twenty years is really an undiscovered Old Master, now's your chance to find out...

How to find Bourne Hall (if you hadn't already spotted the UFO which landed in the middle of Ewell in the 70s)

Beware The Ties That Blind

Anyone who has walked, driven or otherwise travelled down the A232 towards the Ewell Bypass in the last few months will have noticed the new flats being built (roughly opposite Conaways Close).

If you're walking past the flats in the evening, be careful! The fencing outside the construction site is held together with cable ties, some of which protrude out towards the pavement. They're black (and thus not easily visible in the twilight or in the dark) and some of those which stick out are about at eye level...

[Update, 13th March 2008: the ties and the fencing have now been taken down.]

Welcome, welcome...

...to the blog of Bemused Of Ewell.

As you might perhaps guess from the title -- if you happen to know where Ewell is, in any case -- this is intended to be a blog at least vaguely relevant to the Ewell Village area. For those who don't know where Ewell is, you'll find the village next door to Epsom, in the county of Surrey, just outside Greater London.

Ewell has good bits, bad bits, odd bits -- and some of them will be turning up here, I dare say. Do feel free to drop by every now and then.