The Lowest of the Low !

                                            

Good morning ,a lovely sunny day again ,and yes its still very cold .After yesterdays entry ,I thought we'd come nearer home today ,or more correctly Holme ,I found this article in the local paper,and since it was of interest Idecided to share it with you .

 

I hope you were able to read that! so its now official ,we in this area are the lowest of the low ! Maurice and I plan to ride out and look for the posts ,its only a couple of miles from here ,give or take !! Although the Fens are on first sight a vista of flat nothing much ,there is so much more happening here than first meets the eye ,at the moment as the ground is being ploughed and readied for the crops ,the soil is a rich black colour ,but is capable of surprising the plough man ,and costing the farmer! a series of jagged stumps rise up from the black peat soil like a forest of ghosts ! and indeed in some ways that is exactly what they are,these wierd objects are Bog Oaks ! and until they are uncovered by the plough have lain uncovered for thousands of years .They were once part of thick blankets of Oak forests which covered this part of the country until the land began to flood.Large shallow lakes formed when the rivers Nene ,Ouse and Welland began to silt up with tidal sands trapping the water inland ,the Oak trees couldnt survive with their roots rotting away  trapped in water so eventually they fell down over the water,over the years layers of dead reeds and other plant materials gathered on top of the wood to form peat,this acted as a natural preservative around the trees because their was no oxygen to rot the wood .So now,some six thousand years later the local farmers are regularly digging up Bog Oaks as they til the fields around the area ,apparently trip beams are used on the machinery,to let the plough man know whenhe comes across one ,they can be dug up later ,the peat is shrinking all the time and that is why the Oaks keep appearing ...........I hope I havent bored you to much with some local History /Geography . 

            AND LOVE FROM Jan xxxx