Well I cannot resist any longer to tell you I bought a new shepherd's crook , not only that Skippy fell in love with one also.

Here a a very kind gent who allowed us to photograph him making a stick.
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The two sticks we chose, Skips has a wooden crook & very nice too, mine has a rams horn crook.
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Close up of the rams horn
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Close up of wooden crook perfect height for Skippy & notice that grain.
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Nothing can replace the stags horn one which was stolen but these will go a long way!!! What a craftsman.............

Well, well, we went to Chatsworth show too, on the Saturday. Lovely weather, stayed in the motorhome at Ashover, so only a short trip to the show, rather than having to travel from home.

Won't bore you with what I bought!

Very nice tibbar! Thanks for posting the photos. They certainly do go a long way to making up for the ones that were stolen, I didn't see those but these ones look great.

Thanks Bill , I rather think that they are a celebration of country crafts & must have taken many hours to make.

Lovely! Just don't leave them where the local riff raff can make off with them .

Kingfisher

You were very close to one of our counties best sites for Dragonflies and Damselflies. If you go again, check out Cupola Ponds. Plus there are some good walks around Matlock Forest (Nightjar and Crossbill) and nearby there is Beeley Moor, good for Raptors.

Martin.

Thanks for that Martin, we certainly intend to go back, as there are often Camaping & Caravanning Club DA meets there and I was impressed with the scope for walking round that area. The geology is interesting too. Didn't realise there were nightjars so close to home (we live in Buxton), normally we go to Cannock for them. Crossbills are also to be seen in Macclesfield Forest, which is not far away from home.

Are there crossbills in England itself? I thought that crossbills were only to be found in Scotland!

Kingfisher

There are several different types of crossbill: the common crossbill is widely distributed across Europe including the UK. The Scottish crossbill is confined to Scotland. The parrot crossbill tends to be more northern and eastern Europe, but has been known to breed in Britain.

I didn't realise there were parrot crossbills around in England. Have you ever seen one Richard?

No, I've only seen common.