fridays, feathers, babies.

Magpie Feathers

Happy Friday all.  And it does feel like a happy Friday.  During the week my days are fairly indistinguishable from one another but come Friday I know that James is heading back and we get a whole weekend together.  Fairylights arrived in the post this morning, the sofa is covered in blankets and, listening to the rain outside, I feel pretty snugly!  A good start to the weekend.
In other news, we found out that the first of the couples from our NCT group have had their baby.  It is the start of the strangest countdown of my life; which couple will be next?  And is it wrong to place bets?  I have a feeling as more babies appear, this waiting malarkey will get harder!

Buzzard Feather

Woodpecker Feather

An unidentifiable feather (any ideas)?

Anyhoo, these photos are of the feathers currently residing in a wine glass on the dresser.  I am trying to figure out how best to display them in the house; maybe a narrow top vase or a box frame?  Either way, how wonderful are those woodpecker feathers?  Polka dot feathers have to be the neatest thing ever.

the entomologist: part four (moving into Autumn).

Things are starting to slow down on the insect front now as Autumn rapidly approaches but there are still a few showing their little antennas! 

Rose Chafer beetle Cetonia aurata 

Apparently these beetles are usually seen on sunny days feeding on the petals of flowers (especially roses) but I found him on the pavement whilst walking home.  I actually thought he was a shiny button and had a small heart attack when my magpie instincts lead me to investigate and the shiny button moved.
Apparently the larvae are the insect equivalent of earthworms and make awesome compost if found in large numbers - but the flower-munching adults are obviously seen as a bit of a pest.

The pictures aren't as clear as I would like them; I carried him the last stretch to the front door to put my bags down and tried to take a couple snaps.  Between him crawling all over my fingers and our new neighbours picking that moment to introduce themselves (hence the blue jacket in the background) the pictures ended up being a little fuzzy round the edges.  As first impressions go I think being red in the face, huffing and puffing, gawping at an insect, was at least an honest representation!



Hawthorne Shieldbug Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale

This chap was chilling in the garden, he is a common shieldbug that eats primarily haws, the fruit of the hawthorn tree.  I don't know what he was eating in our garden but he is going to have to get a move on - not long till he needs to think about hibernating.

spangle galls.

So on my previously mentioned Autumn explore I spotted a lot of these little UFO like shapes on the underside of the oak leaves.  Hundreds and hundreds of tiny little UFOs.  James and I stared at them for a while and figured they might be some sort of insect or moth egg.  
The reality is so much more exciting than just some dumb bug egg - these little discs are Spangle Galls!  
Spangle Galls contain the larvae of a type of Gall Wasp (aka cynipid wasps); these wasps, either whilst an egg or as a larvae depending on the breed, secrete a substance which causes the leaf to reorganise its cells and develop this weird growth which is the perfect environment for the larvae to develop in, all snugly enclosed.
The larvae can then even get the plant to direct more nutrients towards the cells surrounding its moist bedroom - the plant literally delivers food to its door.



How neat is that?!  Some people (cecidologists) spend their lives studying these phenomena and still, very little is known about them!  I am going to have to go gall hunting again some time. 

why chickens make the best pets.

Whilst I am busy unpacking boxes in the new house I thought I would share a small thought for the day on...

why chickens make the best pets

(seriously)

They are pets that provide you with breakfast food.  As our chickens tend towards the 'well f***ing free range' (as my mother's partner refers to their inability to stay cooped up) the mornings are a daily egg hunt but ultimately, for sour dough bread and poached eggs, it is worth it!  (Pictured is Bunty's current nest in the sage plant).



Believe it or not, chickens are actually pretty cuddly.  Whilst our chucks put the Chicken Run chickens to shame with their escapology-abilities, should a human of any size go outside they cannot resist running up for a smooch and bit of attention.  Even the initially anti-social chickens become cuddlers within a couple weeks of moving in.



Chickens are hilarious looking. End of.



Living with chickens is like have a personal, low budget version of Tom and Jerry on your doorstep - here Bunty (the white) is stalking Feathers (the charcoal).  It may not involve anvils and catapults but it is still pretty entertaining.  Spoiler: it usually ends anticlimactically with Bunty realising that Feathers doesn't actually have anything tasty to eat and pottering off to bother a different chicken.



Sticky burrs, flecks of food or anonymous dust and dirt on your clothes?  The chicken will peck you clean.  Drawback - there is no magic word to get them to stop and they are not discerning of toes or tights and will leave holes.



Chickens have a deep and profound interest in anything that you might be doing.  If you don't pay them attention, they will develop a deep and profound desire to attempt to eat whatever it is you might be doing.


(Apologies for the immediate re-use of this picture but it cracks me up so bad)!  Chickens have a knack of photobombing and ruining pictures.  Here I was setting up to take a picture of a caterpillar which, after she had finished investigating (and pecking) my camera, Feathers artfully ate.



Quiet companionship is often provided.



Chickens really are the best pets.

The Entomologist: Part Three.

This post wasn't due to make an appearance till September but as I am still without a computer and this was the only post lurking in my drafts folder, early entomology it is!  August in the UK has been incredible for us bug-hunting types (less incredible for the kale and chard my mother has been trying to grow) as the weather has bought the butterflies out by the thousands.

This butterfly is called the Comma because he has a white comma marking on the underside of his wings.  He landed on me and hitched a ride for about half a mile; my friend believes that butterflies signify pregnancy so perhaps he was attracted to bump?



This small tortoiseshell butterfly (Aglais urticae) is one of hundreds that have been enjoying the sunshine and the buddleia outside our house.



I love these little dudes! The Cinnabar moth caterpillars (Tyria jacobaeae) are apparently brightly coloured to warn of predators but I am of the opinion it just makes them easier for me to spot and bother!




Okay so I have literally no idea what this little fellow is; he looks like a ladybird but has none of the right colours or markings.  Google seems equally clueless - any ideas?



The Marbled white butterfly is just exquisite, apparently no other British butterfly shares its markings.  This one chilled out on the lawn with James and I as we drank our tea, I just love a lazy photo opportunity.



This little moth had made his home in the mop and was required to make a rather damp and disgruntled getaway when I attempted to clean the kitchen.  He sat on a holly leaf drying out in the sun for a half an hour before bimbling on his way again.



And finally a slightly grotesque photograph of one of the hundreds of shed spider exoskeletons that are hidden in the walls outside - I think the lack of rain means none of them are getting washed away.

I truly love British Summer Time. 

Farmyard fun; the Mid-Somerset Show and a new addition to the household.

Sunday was the big event where I come from - the Mid-Somerset Show (or locally just Shepton Show).  This is the attraction of the summer holidays.  Us South-West types flock from miles around to see award winning cows, pigs, chickens and even guinea pigs!


 

Or, more honestly, to sample the local cheeses and ciders (for the non-pregnant) and coo over the super cute piglets.

(those curly tails just make me melt)

There is even a dog show for the competitively inclined (little known fact - when I was about nine or ten, I took our dog, Nessie, in for one of the shows.  I came second place for the 'best bitch' award.  It took a long while for me to realise why my mother found that particular success so amusing).

This year just mum and I went (James is currently on his eighth 13 hour shift in a row - boo) and, whilst not usually one for impulse purchases, what with all the farmyard excitement we got a little carried away... please meet Feathers McGraw, the latest chicken to the flock!



Only slightly cruely, she was packaged up in a box that once contained chicken nuggets.  The box proudly proclaims 53% chicken on its side.



She is a gorgeous Blue Marran hybrid and, since being introduced to the other girls, is in a bit of a sulk.  She flew out this morning and has spent the day sitting on the wall between ours and the neighbours' garden, as though deciding which side will offer her the better future.  So I am off to bribe her with pasta and lettuce scraps...

Happy Monday! 

A morning with the (poultry) girls.

The animals have been having a funny morning.  Whilst these pictures of Ginger are a couple days old, this has sight is fast become part of morning routine.  Ginger literally comes and knocks/pecks on the back door until, still in my PJs, I give up on sleep and take her back up to her roost.  That top middle picture cracks me up - this is how she greets me as I swing open the door!

This morning, post-ginger-visitation, I clambered back into bed trying to recapture those last fleeting vestiges of sleep when the door went again.  I gave in, got dressed and headed to the back door.  To my surprise, not Ginger but Bunty was sat on the door step.  Clearly she was feeling left out of our special morning moment.

Ignoring my face of half-sleep, look at Bunty's face of concentration - this was shortly before she decided that indeed my fingers were a delicious looking snack (perhaps a little worm like?) and gave them a hefty peck.

We finally figured out how they escape (and I guess Bunty must have learnt from Ginger).  They are in an enclosure surrounding by netting on all four sides and on top.  They jump on top of their roost, hop from foot-to-foot in preparation then launch themselves, wings tight to their sides, through the holes in the netting.  Once through they then open their wings and glide, gently, to the ground.  Very smart for a little chicken huh?!

(all pictures taken on my phone, hence the grainy-ness).

The Entomologist: part two (the Italian edition).

As I am sure I've written on multiple occasions, as children, my brother and my two cousins used to spend the long school summers visiting my grandparents at the Mulinetta.  Everyday after lunch was siesta time.  Now in the heat, after food, I think of siesta time as the most luxurious time imaginable!  However as a child I hated it, two hours of boredom stuck in a room with the shutters closed, knowing the world outside was so much more fun.  

When I was nine, I discovered that if I waited till the adults were asleep I could open the shutters, climb out of the window and explore without interruption.  I found my best treasures then; porcupine quills, dead stag beetles and abandoned wasp nests.   Once my Nonno caught me (I doubt I was particularly subtle) and I thought it would be the end of my mini-adventures but instead we hunted for owl pellets and he showed me how you can soak them in water and pick out the bones of the owl's last meal.

This year was no exception, I found some wonderful critters.  As my bug book is for UK wildlife only, these insects will have to remain nameless, but they are wonderful nonetheless.  (A couple of these beasties are quite well hidden - think of it as a kind of 'Where's Wally?').

This yellow spider was hiding in the sunflowers; isn't he such an incredible colour?  

Ten for the weekend: the sea edition.

I spent the last week visiting James' family in Cornwall.  James' childhood was spent by the sea and the minute we drive past the Welcome to Cornwall sign, the conversation tends not to stray from rock pools, tide times and rip currents.  Once we arrive at his mother's house I barely have time to put the bags in the house before I get chivied back into the car and we are on our way to the coast.  
Whilst he spends hours in the water, I get time to potter up and down the beach or explore the headlands, collecting treasures and taking pictures.  If it is raining (this is the UK after all) I tend to try and find shelter in beach caves or (more commonly) small cafes and read my book whilst I wait for him to return.

1. reading Dr Zhivago on the sand 2. trying to figure out which black speck is James 3. the yellow headland 4. more yellow headland 5. a small companion made on a walk 6. small companion decides against new friendship 7. wild grasses 8. the biggest raven I have ever seen 9. hungry gulls (an older picture as I only had nine whilst compiling this post) 10. unreal wild flowers