The North of England Horticultural Society hosted the Harrogate Flower Show this month. It is one of a good number of flower shows that are held up and down England every year. There was a very large crowd at the Harrogate Show and many people were trailing crates on wheels in which they put the plants they bought.

The English love plants and flowers and gardening. It is a pursuit that has a long history. Generations of the Tradescant family traveled the world in the 16th and 17th centuries, bringing exotic plants back to England for Royalty and the Great Houses of England.

Walking around the halls it was illuminating to hear the level of knowledge that plant breeders and visitors showed as they shared information about plants.
 

Chryanthemums

You can send distinctive ecards featuring our photographs by Joining Quillcards.

We’re changing the look of ecard communications.
Take A Look At Our Ecards.

In the 1930s a schoolteacher from Devon in England named David Lack researched the life of the British robin. The book he wrote – ‘The Life of the Robin’ – was published in 1943 and has become one of the iconic books on bird observation.

One thing that David Lack researched was what happened when a robin encroaches on the territory of other robins.

He observed that robins (both male and female) are so territorial that they would attack intruders without mercy until either the intruder or the home bird fled. The fights were ugly and sometimes the defeated bird left very battered.

Lack experimented with stuffed robins and found that the victorious robins would even attack the air where the defeated ‘robin’ had been.

In one experiment he observed that a robin continued to attack one of his dummy robins even after the dummy’s head had been knocked off.

That made him wonder exactly how little there had to be that was identifiably ‘robin-like’ for it to trigger a fight for territory.

A Bundle of Red Wool
What he found was that as long as there was enough to have the appearance of a red breast, a robin would see that as a competitor and beat and batter it until it was no more. His dummies didn’t need a head, tail, wings, or anything that was remotely like a robin – just a bundle of red wool was enough.

Almost Human
I remembered David Lack’s investigations when, in the course of photographing images for the Almost Human category at Quillcards, I wondered how much or how little one needs to create the impression of a person. Cartoonists will be well aware of what it takes.

I experimented with the back of a postcard laid above a black cloth background. Two false eyelashes and a couple of black dots marked in with a brush in Photoshop to suggest nostrils. And lips.

She reminds me of Twiggy or Jean Shrimpton – photographic models from the 1960s.
 

Viewing Ceremonial Cavalry in Modern-Day London
Walking in Whitehall in central London one day several months ago, we caught sight of a troop of Queen Elizabeth II’s Household Cavalry.

There in the midst of modern-day streets that were cordoned off and guarded by police officers, we saw lines of magnificent horses groomed to a T ridden by men who were resplendent in heavy coats crossed with sashes.

On their heads they wore high, polished helmets that reflected the cold winter sun, each one bearing thick plumes made from horse hair that cascaded to the bottom of their helmets.

From King Charles II to Today
According to the Household Cavalry Museum, the Household Cavalry was formed in 1661 under the direct order of King Charles II.

Today in 2009, it consists of the two senior regiments of the British Army – the Life Guards, and the Blues and Royals.

Each day they exchange duties and the regiment that is stationed at Buckingham Palace rides down the broad avenue called the Mall and ceremonially hands over its responsibilities to the other regiment which they rides back up the Mall to Buckingham Palace.

Gloved Hands and Shining Swords
That day we saw members of the Blues and Royals, dressed in their navy-blue capes with red collars and red plumes on their helmets. We also saw their fellow members from the Life Guards, and they were dressed in red capes with black collars and white plumes on their helmets.

All of these men of the cavalry also carried shining swords in their impeccably white-gloved hands.

You can see here in this photo when these two groups were ‘changing the Guard’, as it is called:
 

The Household Cavalry’s Two Roles
The cavalry has two roles: as a mounted regiment (on horseback), it guards Queen Elizabeth II on ceremonial occasions in London and across the United Kingdom. It’s also an essential element of the royal pageantry in England.

Its other role is as an operational regiment. There the regiment’s horses are replaced by armored fighting vehicles, and its men serve around the world, including units that are currently deployed on active service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Along with its members being deployed in active service, the Household Cavalry also prides itself on its mission to further international peace keeping and humanitarian operations.

The Daily Ceremonial Procession To Buckingham Palace
The regiment holds its ceremonial Changing of the Queen’s Guard daily on the Horse Guards Parade which is adjacent to St. James’s Park.

After the ceremony, spectators like us on that cold winter day can watch the regiment proceed in all its pomp up the Mall to Buckingham Palace.

A linguistic footnote:
The Mall – the avenue that leads up to Buckingham Palace – has a special pronunciation in British English that rhymes with the word ‘pal’.

You can send distinctive ecards featuring our photographs by Joining Quillcards.