Kirkhaugh Church

Today's Guardian Country Diary describes a visit to the unique Kirkhaugh church in the tiny Northumbrian hamlet of Ayle. It's unusual for two reasons: firstly because it is the only church in England dedicated to the Holy Paraclete (the Holy Spirit, symbolised by a dove) rather than to a saint; secondly it has a very unusual needle-sharp spire, the work of the first vicar, who was also the architect of the church. He was Rev. Octavius James, who rebuilt the church on the site of a Mediaeval ruin in 1869, incorporating some of the earlier church's remains but adding a spire like a tooth pick, said to have been inspired by something similar that he saw on his travels in Germany.

Octavius James died in 1889 in a fire in Clarghyll Hall near Alston, another of his architectural enterprises that was a converted 16th. century bastle house.

The interior of the church contains this rather fine marble memorial to a former Lord of the manor, Albany Featherstonehaugh, 'whose line became extinct in 1639'.

The churchyard outside contains this rather melancholy memorial.....

..... with a fine encrustation of lichens, while over against the churchyard wall ....

....... this headstone, whose inscription has been worn away by the Northumbrian weather, has been split in two by the trunk of a horse chestnut that must have been planted as a sapling too close to the grave, perhaps a century ago.

The horse chestnut, which seems to be perfectly healthy, is gradually engulfing the headstone.

Many of the old headstones are well worn and barely decipherable, but host a range of lichens that would probably keep a lichenologist amused for quite some time..

The most delightful inscription in the graveyard is this one, on the back of a headstone whose main inscription has been erased by weather and lichens. The epitaph describes the grave's anonymous occupant as:

A loyal Subject in his Life
A Good Husband to his Wife
A Father to his Children Dear
A Good Neighbour Lieth Here

Seaside beetle

We found this little black snail beetle Silpha atrata, about 1cm. long with beautifully sculptured patterns on its elytra, on Warkworth sand dunes in Northumberland this afternoon.

It's a specialist feeder on snails, with a long narrow head that fits comfortably inside a snail shell opening. Apparently it bites the snail first, with poisonous fangs, causing the snail to withdraw into the shell and secrete bubbles of mucus, which the beetle chews through when it forces its way in to feed on its victim. There's no shortage of Cepaea snails on the dunes for it to feed on. You can see it in action by clicking here and  clicking here

Sounds like the kind of beetle I could do with in my garden, to combat the snail menace.

There aren't many insects about yet, as the promised spring has yet to deliver much warmth, but this is a beetle species that's most often seen in late winter and very early spring. 

Lovely legs.....

This redshank's legs were the most colourful natural objects along the coast yesterday, at Seaburn near Sunderland...