Wednesday 29 April 2009

Clouds - over a Hundred

The Cornillo Hundred is a good place to watch clouds ("Hello clouds, hello sky") with big skies, few trees, flat expanses of prairie stretch for miles in all directions.

Hundreds were used to divide counties into more manageable administrative districts, and nominally each one encompassed land that could support 100 households. Although Kingsdown is in the smaller hundred of Ringwould, just inland is the extensive hundred of Cornillo.

The map was found on this site for which many thanks. If anyone knows where the Cornillo name comes from, I'd be interested to know.
Spring is a good time to watch clouds, as they seem to change constantly. I won't try to identify all the cumulus, nimbus, stratovarious types, but refer any interested parties to the Cloud Appreciation Society.
In this picture, aircraft contrails are casting shadows on the lower layer of clouds over the channel.
Another good place for big skyscapes is Dungeness - which (stop press!) has just attracted a crested lark across the water from France - just the third recorded in Kent. Considering that these larks seem happiest wandering around the roads of Calais port, Dungeness is a step up for it. It's about time that they moved north, as I'm sure our dour coastline is perfect for the species.

Other news - butterflies are starting to appear - common blue, small heath and wall being seen this week.
Chalk downland plants are also being seen, like milkweed, horseshoe vetch and kidney vetch.

3 comments:

Greenie said...

Steve ,
Interesting post as usual .
Have wondered in the past about the derivation of 'hundreds'.
Amazing how many butterfly species are on the wing already , especially compared to the last two years .
Isn't that third type of cloud you mentioned a violin ?

Mary said...

My favorite shot is the one of the clouds with the white cliffs. I have not heard of hundreds, so this was interesting.

Warren Baker said...

Steve,
I'm always facinated by old worlde England, and the way it used to be.
Cornillo is an italian village, not sure wether that helps any.
(I didn't know that - I googled it!)