Bamboo, more Insects and JJ.

I had promised more Junior pictures for Crow and Border Reiver, which I shall post on birding, I think, so in the meantime I can concentrate on two Moths, one of which landed on my windowsill last night, as soon as I had posted on this blog! My pictures worked out well; no surprise really, with a stunning orange body, it could not disappoint! I guess it was a female, the wings transparent, or very lightly tinted, I could not be certain and my little magnifier sat already in the pocket of my little sleeveless jacket, which offers me all I need when venturing outdoors.
The Publish Post button in my blog was supposed to be the last thing I’d do before shutting down and hopefully shutting down my eyes too, as it was already past midnight.

In bed I could not help but go through the first half of my Moth book, no success as of yet! In the porch I found this very large Spider, that it really made my skin crinkle and age years a second. When sitting beneath it, you are more vulnerable to catch it on yourself somewhere and shaking it off is blimey hard too. All you do is having it land within your wheels! And although I’m not squeamish about Arachnids, let’s just say I’m not fond of these eight-legged creatures either. And on the ceiling or high on the wall, they have one over me. Out of reach, I cannot get control over them. It is not that I need that control; it is the idea that I cannot have it, which bothers me. They can have the attic, I do not mind, they are already using the shed, I assume! This is there for any wildlife to use now that we managed to evict the wild Kittens. It would not surprise me if birds had bred in there! Mostly it is a wood store.

Here are still a few photos from my last walk. Near the dug up areas on the backroad, I also shot this large and broken stems of a Wild Umbellifer, Wild Carrot, perhaps, and as a maker of bamboo flutes myself, these stems looked oh so appealing to me! They were at least the size of a soprano flute, I guess. As a thirteen year old I was introduced to this anthropologist with a keen interest into the craft of certain musical instruments and taught this at a school for children with learning disabilities.

Teaching a kid with a physical disability was a challenge to him and soon I was off to his wonderful house after school. I hated these schooldays on Saturday morning till 12 or 1pm, this new prospect of learning this new craft worked wonders to keep me concentrating on those lessons.

A few more photos from my last walk to the bay.
Wild Carrot? A different kind of bambooI love these bits of Fluff; isn't Nature great in supplying us with something this cute?Ivy at its work on a Scots' PineI'm still expecting one on my head after riding this main road since 1987Pictures of those named Insects, all taken within the kitchen and the front porch:
Last night's beautiful orange MothIn contrast is this very worn MothBig Spider in the porchSome specie of Fly in the kitchenAnd a few shots from the garden, including the Big Star: Junior, aka JJ. My guess is that it is a confidence problem, now he is getting fame he wants a name without focus on his Juvenile status!
And yes, I will post more of him tomorrow in Birding! Really.

Insects and Diggers

Last Thursday I did manage a couple of hours on the road, less birds than I’d hoped to see, yet the Sun was nice and warm with a bit of a rough breeze. This meant that many Wild Flowers were moving their beautiful heads a little too fast. Yet all those I did manage to shoot had a squatter of some kin. Most were Bees and a few Wasps or Hoover-flies also.
Of course there did the usual numbers of tourists also, need directions to certain parts on the peninsula or wider area too. Most solo males are French and most females German. Brits favour walking in small family groups I’ve yet to encounter an American tourist walking.
I also came upon 4 dug up areas; along the high backroad, 4 holes were dug by an animal, among the Montbretia, Nettles and Wild Carrot (no, too big for a Rabbit!) and I think this was in an effort to get underneath an electric fence. Behind the fence? A very large field. It looked like the culprits would have been the size of a Badger or a Fox. The question is why are there four, with 100cm in-between the dug up areas. And very much near a house too. The one nearest had its occupant enjoying the Sun, my meowing wasn’t up to scratch that day, as my cat had told me in the morning!
For Crow and Border Reiver I was delighted to get a couple of images of Hooded Crows four of which were basking in the Sun on top of the pier. An incoming fishing trawler scared them off and also a pair of Pied Wagtails, walking the walking the wall protecting drivers from going for a swim in the bay. What amazed me though was that no Heron, Blackheaded or any of the other Gulls were following the boat. These Wagtails love the water too. I often meet them here and yet they are always teasing me in flying off as soon as I get my Lumix out. Two of the four Hooded Crows were looking down on me from the streetlight, they had flown when the trawler approached the pier, with the other pair allowing me just one or two pictures from quite a distance and although I kept the camera in my hand, so I would be able to take one as soon as I had closed in a little, it was all I was going to get.

As I rode up the hill home, I realised I had not seen a single Butterfly, nor a Moth. I’d seen these about in a much stronger Wind before, and it had not been dull either.


Apart from this, back home I found a Moth the next day and took some more pictures of the Garden Spider which had taken occupancy of my window in the kitchen. This was awkward as I needed to clean my window on the outside if I wanted to keep photographing the birds in my garden. It had woven its web from side to side and after the rain of the last few days, I already had trouble getting clear images of those hauling as much food as possible, now they did not need to pose for herself behind that window.
I really liked the Garden Spider a lot, yet I also wanted to take advantage of the dry weather to wash this piece of glass.
I really did not want to dislocate this beauty, and in the end I managed to open the window inwards and when my creepy crawly had not run off nor the web loosened, I decided just to wash the corner I use most. This might explain the speckled background in the images of the web threads. I am still experimenting with my Lumix and this Spider and web bode another opportunity to see how detailed the in-built macro features are.
See for yourself. The trouble is that I’d rather go for much more detailed images, yet the big challenge would be how well I would be able to cope with a DSLR with just the one hand. Living as remote as we do, trying out in a shop would have to wait for a year at least! So that is not an option at the moment. Besides, money is the biggest problem, of course.

A little view down the high back roadInsects seemed to sit on every Wild FlowerWho has been diging here?
four Hooded Crows, 2 flew offOnly one pair of Mute Swans near the church of ireland.GardenSpider back home