It begins with a knock on the door just over a month ago. It was my neighbour who had just shot some pigeons, did I want any? Of course. So he pulled them out of his rucksack, whole. I was suddenly faced with preparing these birds entirely from scratch. With thanks to this film on YouTube, I set about plucking the pigeons. Cutting off the wings, legs, emptying out the crop (they had eaten a lot greens that morning) and of course gutting them. What I hadn’t prepared for, or given much thought to was how warm they were. These pigeons really only had been dead for about an hour or so. I won’t lie, it wasn’t a lovely experience, but it was somehow very grounding, visceral and of course, a good lesson in pigeon anatomy! I felt like I had crossed a line in how I think about food.

Before…. 

 

I was actually surprised and very pleased with how they turned out. Although in hindsight, not all the prep was neccesary as I ended up just cutting the breast meat off and cooking that instead. But anyway, that’s beside the point.

…..After

So the pigeons went into the freezer until I knew what I wanted to do with them. Let’s move forwards a few weeks and I spied a tweet in my twitter feed mentioning wild garlic recipes which I had also spied in the Saturday Independent. I then spy a photo of a warm pigeon salad with a wild garlic pesto. Now I know what will become of these birds!
I know where there’s a decent patch of wild garlic growing around here, so I set off on a sunny Saturday morning and hit the trail that joins Mevagissey and Heligan Gardens. There in the tranquil woodland between the two, lies an abundance of wild garlic.

The Mevagissey – Heligan trail

I found it near the stream at Heligan Mill, sun dappled and gorgeous. No one else around, the air filled with bird song and rustling leaves. It was pretty perfect.

Wild Garlic

I took it home for a wash and began to prepare the wild garlic pesto. I don’t have a food processor so it was an old fashioned job in the pestle & mortar. I just finely chopped the leaves and mixed in to the bashed up toasted walnuts, pecorino (I could not find a suitable British cheese) and some rapeseed oil.

having a wash

wild garlic pesto

So I fried up the pigeon breast in a little more rapeseed oil so they were succulent and pink, I left them to rest for a while before slicing up and serving with salad leaves, wild garlic pesto and a little balsamic vinegar.

It was one of the most satisfying meals I have had in a very long time and much of it originated not far from the doorstep and cost nothing, just a little time and patience in preparing it. Not something that’s always practical, but when it is… it’s bloody well worth it.

warm pigeon salad

with thanks to Ellie Michell, Mark Hix and the occasionally wondrous Twitter timeline.

It’s fair to say we’ve had some stormy weather just recently. Sunday 10th March being no exception. Ice cold winds from the East blew in, kicking up the sea into a frenzy. I braved the winds and freezing temperatures to photograph the waves pounding in, fingers so cold on the shutter of the camera that it was hard to know if I’d pressed it or not! I took a little film of the wave which you can find here

So anyway, to kick things off here’s some photos from Kestle Farm after I stopped by this afternoon. The new lambs are out, the first calf has been born and perhaps most importanly, the mud is beginning to dry up after the endless months of rain. There’s been a cold dry Easterly for the last couple of weeks, quite a relief.

car windscreen view across Higher Kestle, still bleak and not feeling spring like at all yet…

Beautiful little lambs are out & about

one of the cows sticks his tongue out at me!

very lovely 2 day old calf

lambs whisper amongst themselves, I wonder what they’re planning…

I realised looking at the meta data on my SD card that I hadn’t used my SLR since 31st Dec ’12. A combination of a busy start to the new year at work and very dreary weather, I just hadn’t found the opportunity or inspiration to take some shots. And then today comes along, a crisp cold winter’s day in super duper widescreen and I’m out all day, soaking up the much needed rays. Starting off with a woodland walk through Heligan followed by an afternoon on Vault Beach, it’s been the perfect tonic.

above: this cut wood kind of reminds me of a map or a landscape…

above: Vault Beach on the South Cornish coast.

above: Walking home from Vault Beach, one of my favourite places on this planet.

No, no, no, not photo of the day. I’m not carrying on with that! It’s just a phone snap I took this afternoon as it was such a lovely calm and bright day. Such a relief after days and days of endless rain.
Camera: iPhone 5

Not a spectacular image to finish on, but it is fitting for year end. A whole year of photo of the day, I’m glad I managed to finish it. Not everyday yielded a brilliant image but some days produced a photo that I’m pleased with and that I know pushed me and my knowledge of my camera which can only be a good thing. I will continue to post images after this but not everyday. I’ll post pictures as and when they happen instead of forcing myself to find something for the sake of it. Who knows what things 2013 will throw up but I can’t wait to find out. All I know is I’d like a holiday, perhaps America, a place I’m strangely fond of already and always drawn to. That’s my only resolution, that and read a bit more which I know will be a challenge! So, on that note, Happy New Year and may 2013 bring everything you hoped for.

A colour photo taken on a winter’s day so colourless it could be black & white. These skeletal trees were snapped at Heligan. I’m impressed with the panoramic feature on the iPhone 5, it’s pretty cool. Just one more photo of the day to go….
Camera: iPhone 5

I suppose the only upside to this relentless rain is that when it does briefly clear, the skies look awesome. Huge billowing towers of clouds lit by a low winter sun, soundlessly shifting across the sky and out to sea on the brisk west wind. Watching all this from the hilltop, boots lodged in soggy earth, wind whipping around your ears, it certainly reminds you of your place on this planet. It also provides a little visual respite from the rain.
Camera: Nikon D90

A somewhat gloomy late December day. A tiny break in the clouds appeared before being quickly swallowed up again. There’s a southerly storm approaching with gales of wind and torrential rain on the cards for tonight, should be fun.
Camera: Nikon D90

Finally a day without (well, almost) rain. A walk with a good friend of mine, across farmland and the lovely old Rosteague estate on the Roseland to Towan beach. Merly enjoyed himself, chasing a ball on a rope. It was good to get some lungfuls of fresh air and a little bit of sunshine.
Camera: Nikon D90