Ten Things I Did Today

 

1. Got up ridiculously early thanks to Big Fat Fred who has worked out that if he races up and down the attic stairs, scratches all the bedroom doors and mee-yows piteously, that I will then rise raging and shouty from my bed to feed him/let him out and that he, caring not a damn about my noise and fury, gets everything he wants.

2. Returned to bed with coffee and finished  Muriel Spark: The Complete Short Stories which was mostly wonderful. I'd read lots of them before but it was a long time ago and I'd forgotten. Also, some things read in one's teens and twenties aren't properly appreciated. This is great because then they can be re-read and relished in one's later years. If this offends younger readers, too bad, you'll realise I'm right some time in the future. 

3. Checked the moth trap. Realised that I love beetles as much as moths and butterflies.

I believe this one is Nicrophorus Investigator. It eats dead things which makes it very useful.

4. Went to town with the aim of perusing the charity shops for something new to wear. The only pretty things I found would have pleased Miss Emily more than her Granny. Returned with four plates and two books.

5. Sorted seeds and sowed wallflowers and Sweet William - far too late but why not? They are seeding themselves at this time of the year anyway.

6. Received the illegal garlic cloves I ordered from eBay. They look alright. 

7. Ripped asunder my horribly rootbound monstera deliciosa, took cuttings and may well end up with eight new monsters. At least I can now sit on the upstairs bog without being smothered in big holey leaves.

8. Helped Bert make a pizza. All he did was top it and put it in the oven. OK, he picked and cooked beans and served too.

9. Watched the first episode of Vigil and liked it. Suranne Jones is incredibly real and beautiful. No wonder all the girls think she's so fine.

10. Remembered I hadn't closed in the hens. Did that thing, gazed at the stars and peed outside. Goodnight.

A Lucky Escape

 

I set the trap out last night, the first time this year. The catch was paltry, three moths, none remarkable.

For fear of rain I had it in the open doorway of the shepherd’s hut. A fat grey squirrel ran off as I went out to switch off the light. Perhaps squirrels eat moths? I am always fearful of finding a blue tit inside the trap for, apparently, this is not unknown. No tit in the trap but feathers on the sunroom floor. I am in the habit of leaving a door open when it gets light so dogs and cats can access the outdoors and not be bothering me as I lie in bed, drinking coffee and finishing Shuggie Bain. I think a bird came indoors and would have been an easy catch for Fred. And to think he had the cheek to miaow for his breakfast.

POSTSCRIPT

Some hours later Bert heard a floofing noise behind the sofa. He pulled it out and up flew a great tit. Caught it and released it to the garden. The poor thing was exhausted and sat perched on the witch hazel long enough for me to capture a few shots. The tit, maybe a juvenile, had outwitted the cat and lives to fly another day. This made me happy.

Blackbird Singing

This is the blackbird which sits every evening in an ash tree and sings his heart out. It's not a good picture and I would dearly love to get a better one. I've tried using a long lens on a tripod and that didn't work for me so do I need a better camera or a better vantage point? Why not see if I can get a better picture from the treehouse?

I haven't been up there for more than a year. Bert was working on it last week, making the stairs safer. Ben stood on the platform to secure the swing. Evie was there too. I took photographs.

I was planning to use the rail to steady the camera and stepped on to the exact spot where Ben is standing in that picture. One foot on, then the second and the floor collapsed and I fell through landing on my back more than 10 feet below. The floor, actually a trapdoor where, when the treehouse was being built, was used to haul up furniture and a pot-bellied stove. The supporting frame had rotted away.

Well! Time seems to slow down when one knows one is going to hit the ground with a big thump. And maybe die. My life did not flash before my eyes but there was enough time in that split second to be hugely concerned about my camera. Which isn't even that great.

I landed. There was gasping and wailing. I wasn't sure if I would be able to get up but eventually, I did. I had a horrible headache. I got on to my knees, so slowly and first thing started looking for the camera. And couldn't find it. Then I pulled myself up and found I could walk. Very slowly.

I made it to the house just as Bert was leaving it. Called him back,

Bert, I've had an accident. I fell out of the treehouse. I can't find my camera. Can you get it for me?

He went off, came back a few minutes later as white as a sheet and holding the camera which hadn't a scratch even though the lens cap was off.

I can't believe you walked away from that!

So, I took some painkillers and after a while went back outside and took a photograph of that bloody blackbird. Still singing, no idea he was nearly the death of me. And then I set up the moth trap and went back in the house, had a wee medicinal whiskey and Bert and I watched an episode of Ozark.

That happened yesterday. I woke up this morning, so sore and stiff but after a couple of painkillers and a coffee, I was able to have a look at the moths. And bagged, for the first time a Light Emerald and a male Ghost. Both beautiful. Though the photographs were crap.

Greedy

I am feeling greedy tonight. Two moth traps on the go, my Heath (thanks Rachael) and a top of the range and borrowed Robinson (thanks Rachael).

And, while all this is going on Bert and Les are playing Gypsy Jazz on clarinet and guitar because somebody has to and I am listening to Rory Gallagher on YouTube because somebody has to.

Earlier today one of Bert's friends came round to check out the state of the wood because there is an issue. Roger is also very interested in lepidopterology. He had a look at the moth traps as he is considering investing. I brought out the Heath that hasn't been used in several days and to my dismay discovered an overlooked Poplar Hawkmoth that must have been there since I last used it. I was confounded as to how a Poplar Hawkmoth could be overlooked but there it was.

Many hours later and there it still is. Sitting on a Buxus completely ignored by the spotted flycatcher family that are nesting (on their second brood) only yards from it. Lucky hawkmoth. I learned today that they don't feed as adults which is why it survived the overlooking. I must be more careful in future.

Hungry for bugs

The Natural World

The natural world is a great source of interest and comfort during the lockdown. Bert is growing vegetables and making compost, Hannah is studying the populations of birds and rodents that live in the wilderness outside her rooms and I am walking for at least an hour every day and taking an interest in everything around me. Like the huge plantation of hogweed growing at the top of our road.

In a matter of weeks that will be a jungle. I plan to document the progress.

Inspired by young naturalist Dara McAnulty I rose early to record the morning birdsong. Sadly, my efforts were marred by two noisy birds ruining everything, the two roosters, Fudge and The Other One. I don't mind the crowing of cockerels but it's not very musical. Next time I shall go to the woods.

I have the loan of Rachael's moth trap which is exciting. It was very cold last night so not very many, just nine moths and one very cross wasp. Most of the moths were Hebrew Character. This I know because of my photos and this excellent book.

Hebrew Character

I also collected a Common Quaker and an Early Grey and two unidentified. Hoping for more tomorrow morning.

But, by far, the most exciting encounter with the natural world was this evening. Hannah heard a thud on her window, checked it out and there was a sparrowhawk plucking and eating a wild dove. She called us over to see and it was an amazing sight, if not a little gruesome.

...nature, red in tooth and claw

I'd often seen those piles of feathers in the woods, evidence of a sparrowhawk kill, and now to see how it happens. Hannah said that after a while the sparrowhawk flew off with the remains of the dove, most likely to share with its nestlings.

In Praise Of The Master Electrical Engineer

Rachael loaned me a moth trap which is mine for an indefinite period, the only condition being that I must use it, record and report my findings.

I am notoriously afraid of new technology. I am the person who buys a new printer and keeps it unopened in the box for three months or more, before finding the courage to unpack it and try it out. This has happened more than once during my lifetime. A new phone? It will be weeks before I figure out all the amazing stuff it can do. Skype? A lovely idea but it frightens me. What's App calls? The stuff of nightmares. Eventually, I get there. When the stars are correctly aligned, when I can gather the necessary pluck. And so it was with the moth trap. I've had it for nearly two weeks and the only moth I've trapped was a little green and bronze one in the van yesterday. It has been photographed and has yet to be identified. Not even sure if it was a moth.

Rachael, not knowing the extent of my craven cowardice, did not help when she said,

Be careful how you move it, it's a bit delicate, hard to put together again if it falls apart - and the battery is a bit flaky. Might need a really good charge and then perhaps, another one.

Way to put off a technophobe.

I don't actually understand batteries, I know it is something to do with electricity which I also don't understand. Despite this, I decided today to charge the hell out of that flaky battery and get that moth trap on the road. So I did and when I connected the possibly charged battery to the unit that lit the fluorescent light nothing happened. Was it the charger? The battery? The bulb? How was I supposed to know? I hit Google.

The charger retailed at around £150. The battery? How much might that be? How did it all work anyway? I didn't mind spending some money. But how much? And on what?

Then in walked a Master Electrical Engineer. He didn't even get to sit down. Come here, said I. Showed him the moth trap, All he said was,

Can I have a star screwdriver and your reading glasses?

And then,

You should have said. I could have brought my *magical special instrument that solves all electrical mysteries*.

It was amazing. With the aid of my star screwdriver and my reading glasses he took everything apart, showed me how it all worked, told me about the light sensor and transformers which I didn't even know existed and offered several solutions to my problem which will involve no spending on my part. This man couldn't tell a moth from a midge yet he was ablaze with ideas as to how to actually activate a camera to take pictures of moths as they entered the trap.

I really must introduce him to Rachael.

I wish there was a decent photograph of that greeny bronzey flying creature I trapped in the van but all my pictures were terrible. Instead, I offer a snap of the garlic I sorted for seed and that I planted yesterday.

Tumbledown

Garden tiger, 23/7/19

On Monday afternoon I tripped and fell. There were a lot of people around but it was Hannah who came to my aid. There was a bamboo cane lying on a garden path and the tip of it caught in my Birkenstock causing me to completely lose my balance and down I went on the rough flagged path. I used my hands to save myself and it was the hands that bore the brunt. An abrasion on the left wrist, another on the right and worst of all a badly torn thumbnail. I was very lucky. But the nail. Afterwards, I thought, if ever I was really injured, in A&E say, with fractures, internal injuries and a torn nail, it would be the nail that would annoy me most.

Poplar Hawk Moth, 22/7/19

Bert spotted me on my hands and knees, among the sidalcea and the geraniums with Hannah attending me and do you know what he thought? He thought I was looking at a moth!

Elephant Hawk Moth 24/7/19

It's true that since Rachael loaned us her moth trap I have been a bit obsessed with lepidopterology, so much so that I arranged a special sleepover for Martha and Evie so they could share the excitement. That was last night. This morning we all gathered round to examine the night's catch.

Martha's specimen box proved to be a great boon for looking at and photographing the elephant hawk moth...

...which, like all the other specimens briefly captured, was returned to the wild and will be flying again tonight.

Gratitudes

This pertains to a conversation I had earlier today about gratitude, giving thanks and fostering positivity. I'm grateful for this conversation, especially on a day like today when the UK has had foisted upon it, a leader who seems far from being fit for purpose.

Gratitude number two is twofold. I'm glad of a friend like Rachael who encourages me to enjoy the natural world, who loaned her moth trap and gave me the chance to look closely at the world of moths. It will be ages before I learn the names of the many varieties of native moths but I know at least five more today than I knew on Friday. That's a start. Checking the moth trap this morning I discovered this one, a poplar hawk moth. I'd seen pictures before but in real life, it's a lovely creature to behold. After the release, the moth found a resting spot on our monkey puzzle and was introduced in turn to Hannah, Richard and Brendan.

Thanks to the magic of digital photography my poplar hawk moth pictures were shared with Facebook friends and the wider online world. That is another gratitude, today's ease of recording images. Beats the olden days when film processing was expensive and took ages and the photographs were far too often a disappointment.

And every day I am glad that Bert is in my life. Today he said he was 95% happy. It must have been the full 100% yesterday.

My last gratitude is still to come. As I was telling Dave this morning I have, for the longest time, on the point of turning out my bedside light and getting ready to fall asleep, given thanks for my own comfortable bed, my own safe home. This comes from years of working in residential care homes and hostels and sleeping over in situations that were all too often unsafe and unpleasant. Now I get to sleep in my own bed almost every single night. What could be finer?