One of my favourite on-line Odonata communities is UK Dragonflies. They seem a particularly friendly bunch of enthusiasts, so much so that I made a trip to meet some of them by the river Thames in search of the Common…
Category: Wildlife
Burnham Beeches in Autumn
Following our autumn colours trip to meet a friend at Westonbirt Arboretum recently, Carol had arranged a follow-up trip to meet the same friend at Burnham Beeches intent on yet more autumnal colour. It was fortunate that, having a pre-arranged…
A Whizz to Wicken Fen
What’s been going on this week – yet more sun? Having rejected Wicken Fen on Tuesday for fear of being surrounded by rugrats pond-dipping, Wednesday looked perfect to give it a try – sunny, hot and no organized events. I’d…
JaM25 to Thursley Common
Given the appalling spring and early summer, this week’s rare spell of wall to wall sunshine couldn’t be wasted so I was anxious to go somewhere on a nature hunt. Cornmill Meadows near Waltham Abbey sprang to mind but, given…
Aristocratic Quarry
Some while ago we spotted a guided butterfly walk around a local reserve, Totternhoe Quarry. The main quarry in the quarry would be the Duke of Burgundy (Hamearis lucina) butterfly. Since neither quarry was familiar to us, we applied to…
Clearly a Common Blue
An unusual day this so-called spring is one in which it doesn’t rain. My 94-year old mother uses a Dial-a-Ride scheme to get into town and the driver on her last trip observed, rather wittily I thought, that this was…
End of my Duck
I’m beginning to despair of the BBC; my guardians of proper English are relaxing their standards. Yesterday I spotted a headline proclaiming, “April [2012] is the wettest month for 100 years”. The very first paragraph began, “It has been the…
First Usage
In Nouvelle Année, Nouveau Guide des Papillons, I introduced my speculative purchase of a French field guide to butterflies. I had wanted to replace my aging Collins Field Guide to the Butterflies of Britain and Europe for some time and…
A Spot of Moth Intrigue
I can never think about moths without thinking of Jethro Tull – track 4 on Heavy Horses: Moths, which has a line including, “… the first moths of summer…”. I’ve put it on now. 🙂 One of these characters certainly…
Variable Weather
The weather forecast spoke of sunny spells breaking out on Sunday and, as one of the things on my “to do” list this Odonata season was “visit Wicken Fen”, down came the Mazda’s roof and off we sped. The cloud…
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