Tag Archives: butterfly

Old cameras and other stories

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I’ve recently resurrected my old Lumix. At the time I bought it I thought it was (a) expensive (b) technically advanced and (c) going to last me for a while.

Well, I was correct in one respect; it was expensive. To be fair, it was technically advanced for the time but, as with all modern technology, its time didn’t last long. As for the rest, Julia bought an Olympus that was far better than the Lumix and within a year I’d saved up for a new Olympus (the model that had replaced Julia’s – such is the pace of change.

Ten days ago I decided to charge up the Lumix and give it a run. It’s a lot more solid to hold and the colour is probably better rendered but apart from that the Olympus wins hands down. The zoom is better, the focus is better and the shutter speed is better. Sometimes old can be classic, but other times it’s just outdated. It’s like wine and knees. Wine improves with age: knees don’t.

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The one at the top is taken with the Lumix, the lower one with the Olympus. I was standing within a few feet of the same spot both times, the Olympus shot was about twenty minutes later than the other, with light conditions being pretty much the same (as much as the human eye can tell).

The reason I couldn’t use the Olympus for the first shot was because Julia had mine to take pictures of the combine in the oilseed rape.

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That’s another plus for the Lumix, it’s always available for use (which was good as we don’t get many Commas in the butterfly garden) because nobody ever wants to borrow the old camera!

 

Feeling like a Naturalist!

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I’m feeling like a naturalist at the moment.

Sunday and Monday we had the Humming Bird Hawk Moth, which was a real lift after four years of trying to establish the sensory/butterfly garden. It has a long way to go yet but it now feels like we’ve made a start.

Yesterday morning we saw a buzzard, just a day after I said to Julia “It must be a month since we last saw a buzzard.” It was perching on a fence post by the side of the A 46 about a mile before we turned off, a rumpled looking darkish bird with strong white flecking. – I suppose you’d call it a dark form if you were being technical, and if you were to look up “disgruntled” in the dictionary I’m pretty sure you would find a picture of this bird if you were being anthropomorphic.

Then, as we drove down the lane, a stoat poured itself across the road less than 10 feet in front of the car. Compared to the buzzard it seemed very sleek and self-satisfied. It was the biggest one I’ve ever seen since 1961, though the one in 1961 probably looked larger because I was only three. I seem to recall that the sun always shone and that butterflies were as big as my hand in those days. Butterflies have shrunk considerably over the years and, to be honest, my disappointment with life has grown in inverse proportion.

In the afternoon, whilst watching the butterflies I managed to find two Commas – one on  a fence rail and one on a buddleia about 10 feet away. Couldn’t get a good shot, but the second one was a bit raggy, with a spot of damage on the left wing – I will probably recognise it if I see it again. Also got a good shot of a gatekeeper on a thistle in the polytunnel (a short one that escaped the cull). I’m getting better at little brown butterflies.

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As we watered at the end of the day we startled a Small Copper but couldn’t get a decent shot. We have a picture of one from last year but it it shows too much of my eczema, which doesn’t make for a great shot, unless you need it for a medical textbook.

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It keeps getting better!

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Well, there will be no more pictures of wildlife on the giant thistle because we’ve been ordered to cut it down.

Isaac Newton, who was born around here,stated that to every force there is an  equal and opposite reaction (I paraphrase slightly – what he actually said was A”ctioni contrariam semper et æqualem esse reactionem: sive corporum duorum actiones in se mutuo semper esse æquales et in partes contrarias dirigi.” but I’m close enough).

He never married but despite that seems to have given a fair summing up of what happens when a married man gets it in the neck from his beloved. The farmer’s torrid time on Saturday translated into a miserable Monday morning for us. The thistle must die and biodiversity must suffer.

In truth we were going to cut it down and use the space for winter veg anyway, but it’s the principle.

Otherwise we’ve had a productive day in the garden, preparing some of the raised beds for brassicas. It has to be the raised beds because they will be easier to net against pigeons.

We’ve also done a butterfly count – 11 small tortoiseshells, 3 Large  Whites, 3 Peacocks, 1 Comma and 1 Meadow Brown. It may have been the same Comma I spotted last time – it was on the same bush. The tortoiseshells were out in force, as you can see, and I’m fairly sure I undercounted them because they kept moving.. There were plenty of nice fresh specimens and a couple of really washed out pale examples. For some reason I identify with them.

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It’s good to see the Comma around again – we’ve seen them in the lane before but never in the garden area. Now I just want to tempt some of the Common Blues down here.

Finally, we have completed one of the small wildlife ponds. It’s a washing up bowl with 2″ of washed gravel in the bottom (if you’ve seen pictures of the cafe area you’ll know where we got the gravel from!). There are two broken bricks inside to act as a step and some bits of stone, brick and concrete around the outside. It’s not pretty but it’s a start. We’ve been promised some plants so once we have them in place it should look less stark. Total outlay – £1.60. The next two will just be £1 each, which is even better.

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And just as I was going, we spotted the Hummingbird Hawk Moth. I’d seen one on Sunday, trapped in one of the polytunnels, but it had been very fast and frantic and I’d had very poor views. The more leisurely one tonight was browsing on buddleia and gave us much better views, so I’m now confident in claiming it. It was still too fast for the camera though.

Washing up and watching time pass by…

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Sorry everyone, I didn’t mean to disappear from view. By the time we’d cleared up after the last visit, washed dough off what seemed like every surface, done a favour for the farmer’s mum (which took longer than I thought – as these things do) and got ready for the Saturday morning cafe it was past 8 pm and so I went home, ate and fell asleep.

Note how, under the farm’s “broom and orifice” management policy, we have ended up with a steadily increasing work load.

On Saturday I did a few errands with Julia before dropping her off at work and checked in at the cafe to see that all was going well. It wasn’t. Someone had come in early and asked for seven breakfasts in one lot and we had been asked, without advance notice, to provide 30 burger and/or sausage cobs for an event in the village.

So instead of a quick look in, a cup of tea and some washing up I ended up tealess, washing up for over three hours and having to take all my stuff home out of the freezers. Yes, the farmer’s wife got involved and if there’s one thing she loves it’s reorganising things. And what’s not to love about it? You can order people round and you don’t need to improve things, just move them.

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Friday – happy school displaying “nature bling”. Look at the angle of the tree and the hair!

End of rant, but after three hours of that I didn’t bother doing the rest of the work I had planned, including blog and Twitter, I just went home.

Actually, I went to the book shop first, and left a message on my wife’s phone to tell her to meet me there after work.

“Bad day?” she asked as soon as she saw me. She knows me so well. Some men head for church ih time of trouble, some to their mothers. Me, I go straight to the nearest book shop or antique centre.

I now have a very good book on butterflies, a cheap book on wild flowers and a bag of recreational reading. With the judicious use of buy one get one half price , my Waterstone’s Card (plastic) and my Waterstone’s card (card) I managed to save about £17. I’m not sure how that stacks up against Amazon, but you can look before you buy, carry them away with you, don’t pay P&P and know that Waterstones pay their tax in the UK

Yes, I didn’t spend £53, I saved £17. That’s the way I roll…

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More lambs and visitors

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It was a busy day today, with people coming to see the lambs. We had about 30 people through, which isn’t bad when you consider the lack of advertising and the fact that we aren’t really a tourist destination.

I was a bit disheartened, on counting my surviving cuttings, to find that I don’t have many survivors. In the case of the periwinkle and cape gooseberry none have made it through the winter. In the case of the curry plant I have 100% survival. I only took them to see what would happen because, apart from smelling like curry, they are pretty useless. Even the mallow and buddleia have done badly, and they grow like weeds if you leave them alone. I’m beginning to suspect that I have the opposite of green fingers. I couldn’t have done worse if I’d replaced the rooting hormone with Agent Orange.

Things looked up a bit as we visited my dad in Peterborough with the first butterfly sighting of the year – a Small Tortoiseshell.

In the evening we took the longer way home and spotted a kite in a tree on top of the hill just before Elton, with it’s forked tail prominently displayed. There were two more wheeling over the edge of the village, and just before Corby, two more. One of the second pair obliged by formating on the car for a few moments – about ten feet away and a couple of feet above.

However, good as it was, it’s now time to start planning the 2015 cuttings campaign. An idiot, a knife and a pot of rooting compound…

…what could possibly go wrong?

The Last Butterfly of Summer?

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We were clearing up yesterday afternoon when Julia saw a Peacock flying past. It was a damp day with a temperature around 10 degrees Celsius, not classic butterfly weather. Peacocks do hibernate so I hope it managed to find a good place to shelter. I imagine this is the last butterfly we’ll see this year, but at least it gives me a chance to use one of the summer photos.