shewhomust | Things that please the eye

It was

durham_rambler who spotted the lapwing outside the Window on Wild Lindisfarne building:

"That's new!" we said. We were returning from the village the long way round, via the harbour, where there were signs of dramatically increased activity (lots of lobster pots - no, whatever you're thinking, lots and lots of lobster pots, and boat trailers too), and I was thinking ambivalent thoughts about change and newness. But here was a new thing which was entirely cheering.

Later, D. returned from a walk around the dunes with reports of more willow sculptures, and I asked the internet: sculptures by Anna Turnbull, it seems, arranged along a nature trail.

Our plan yesterday was to visit the Castle, but it didn't open until eleven, so why not follow the Nature Trail, which would take us there by a (not very) circuitous route? As nature trails go, it is designed less to help you explore the island's Nature Reserve, if you were so minded, and more to appeal to those who didn't intend to do more than walk out to the Castle, and show them that look! we have a Nature Reserve, too!

There are eight willow sculptures in all, and my favourites are the first and the last, the peewit (above) and the helleborine where Straight Lonnen enters the reserve:

Recent genetic studies (says the leaflet) show that the helleborines that grown on Lindisfarne's dunes are a distinct species. I don't exactly disbelieve this, but I do feel that this is what genetic studies do: nature is fractal, and each plant is an individual. D. had thought that the sculpture was looking a little bedraggled, but no, that's what these flowers look like, so here, for the record, is one I photographed earlier:

It was a pleasant, easy walk, interrupted only by me stopping to take pictures, and

durham_rambler fielding a phone call from a journalist who wanted to talk to him about student numbers in Durham. ("Hello, I'm returning your call from the bird hide on Lindisfarne..."). By the time we reached the Castle we had counted all eight sculptures (the creche of eider ducks had very pointy beaks, but were otherwise very pleasing).

The Castle has now reopened, although work continues, and the scaffolding (and what the staff refer to as "the Big Bake-Off tent") is still in place (some delay may be blamed on nesting barn owls. Paint and plaster are still drying, and before they bring back all the furniture, artist Anya Gallaccio has been brought in. Her installation is called dreamed about the flowers that hide from the light 2018:

A landscape of colour using large geometric oak sculptures swaddled in organic dyed blankets. The blanket colours have taken inspiration from plants and flowers found in Gertrude Jekyll’s garden, to give visitors a feeling of the outdoors coming in.

It looks a bit like this:

The best thing I can say about it is probably that I enjoyed the opportunity to see the interior spaces stripped bare:

and a splash of colour doesn't hurt.

durham_rambler wanted to lunch at the Ship; I wanted to go to Pilgrims. So we did both: scampi and crab sandwiches at the Ship, then cake and coffee at Pilgrims (with ice cream from the shop next door for

durham_rambler. We knew better than to take our cake into the courtyard.

The visual treat of the day, though, came in the evening: I was sitting at the kitchen table sorting the day's photos, when I realised there was something odd about the light coming through the window. Sunset? Yes, but laid across thunderous rainclouds, and then, a rainbow. I wrestled open the side door, and I could see the whole semicircle glowing above the fields.