Category: insects

A change in the weather – 24 July 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Much cooler today and it rained overnight. That will save us lugging watering cans around the garden! More forecast for tomorrow.

Scamp was out in the morning for coffee with Shona. I stayed home trying to make some sort of organisation into Lightroom Classic. It seems that as the catalog gets busier and busier, more errors creep in to Lightroom. Yes, it’s a really clever application, but it can be a pain in the backside sometimes. Probably a lot of the problems are human error, but not all.

While I was walking round the garden looking for some subjects to photograph I caught a glimpse of something zipping past the Buddleia bush. It stopped once and I realised it was a Humming Bird Hawk Moth. I’ve never, and I mean NEVER seen one in Scotland. My daughter in law got some photos of one in deepest England a year or so ago, but I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d see one in Scotland. By the time I got my phone camera out of my pocket it was gone. Amazing! I’ll be watching that bush for the next month until I get another chance like that!

When Scamp returned and I told her about the amazing visitor, I don’t think she believed me at first. Then when I laid siege to the buddleia bush she knew I wasn’t joking.

Not a lot other than that to speak of. Dinner was Fish ’n’ Chips from the chippy. PoD was a Japanese Anemone and I did eventually manage to get Lightroom Classic to do what it was meant to do.

I think an early bed tonight will be good. I’ve not been sleeping well, and maybe I just need an early night for once.

Just a bit cooler today – 23 July 2026

Posted on by Zogman

I think the days of the hot heat are numbered. It does feel a little bit cooler today.

I think I might have had too much of that hot Paisley sun yesterday. While Scamp wandered round the back garden rearranging things, I went to my bed for an hour or so in the afternoon. I felt a lot better when I woke up. Not entirely sure what caused it, but Alex and I had been walking around Paisley for a while, yesterday. It might have been that.

After I woke, I took a camera out for a walk in St Mo’s and almost immediately a Common Darter dragonfly flew over my shoulder and landed neatly right in front of me. I got that ‘dragonfly feeling’ again. The feeling that the insect was watching me even more intently than I was watching it. We both stayed in that pose, each one of us keeping a weather eye on the other and neither wanting to be the one who made the first move. It was a bit like an old spaghetti western. Eventually I blinked and walked past the insect. I’m sure it sniggered as I walked round the pond.

After the impasse I walked down to the shops and brought back some strawberries, some raspberries and a melon. The fruit was for tonight’s dinner once it was mixed with chopped up baby potatoes and little gem lettuce, beetroot and a boiled egg with some mozzarella and a few other veg. It turned into a filling meal.

Scamp and I had watered the dry looking plants in the garden with a watering can when I came back from St Mo’s and we gave it another sprinkle tonight because a lot of the plants were looking quite dry, especially the ones that are clipped to the top of our fence (not the new one). The wind tends to dry these poor plants.

Tomorrow, Scamp is intending to meet Shona for coffee and a blether. I’ve got other things to do. The dragonfly got PoD.

 

Up and out early – 20 July 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Well, fairly early, let’s not get too excited.

Scamp and I drove over to Larky in the morning where I picked up my new distance vision glasses. These ones are going to stay in the case until I lose the last pairs. It’s not a case of “If” I lose a pair, more a case of “When”. Scamp is threatening to make me a pair that I can dangle round my neck! I don’t think so. I may be getting on in years, but I’m not quite over the hill yet.

With the new glasses in my pocket we drove over to Chatelherault for coffee and a cake each. It’s ages since I’ve been there, and even longer since Scamp has been. It was such a beautiful morning with a blue sky and a few fluffy white clouds. I hadn’t bothered to bring a camera, partly because I tend to go into Photographer mode when I bring a camera and spoil the day by whipping the camera out at every opportunity, and partly because I’ve seen Chatelherault in almost every weather condition.
Anyway we did go to the cafe and had a cafe and cake. Then we had a leisurely walk around the park, admiring the panorama of the central belt in all its glory. After our walk we drove home. It was a bit strange to go for a short walk instead of a ramble through the trees. Quite refreshing for a change.

Back home and after lunch we noted that a load of wood was covering the garden next door. It looked like the construction of the fence had begun in earnest.

Scamp chose to sit in the front garden away from the saws, hammers and digging that was going on and I went for a walk in St Mo’s. I had thought it was supposed to cool down today, but if anything, it felt warmer. I’d forgotten to bring water with me so I curtailed my walk, but I did get some photos of butterflies over by the football park. PoD and my favourite was a Meadow Brown. It was a bit battered and bruised, but was still flying.

Scamp suggested Pasta Carbonara for dinner. It’s ages since I’d made it and it took me a while to get the recipe right, but Val must have been watching me over my shoulder and making sure I was getting it done properly.

Spoke to Jamie tonight, a bit out of sync because they had been late getting home from a barbecue. It seems that they are still having problems with water. Hopefully once we get our predicted rain, it will fall on their garden too.

The wood that had been lying in the garden next door is now looking like a real fence. They are making good progress with it. I’m impressed with what is really just one day’s work.

We may need to get some ‘messages’ in tomorrow.

Another glorious warm day – 12 July 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Today started with some corrections to be made to my data.

It was just a couple of tweaks, but fairly important ones. With a great deal of help from Scamp I managed to get it done quite quickly in the morning. That left the remainder of the day for less serious stuff.

As usual on a Sunday morning, Scamp watched Laura Kuenssberg tearing into a couple of politicians. I often wonder if she is quite as aggressive at home, or if she’s really a ‘pussy cat’ when she’s at home. I don’t think I really want to know the answer. Sorry Laura if you’ve been reading this!

The main task today was to tidy up the garden. Scamp is always moving things around and occasionally chopping things too. I understand what she’s doing half the time, but sometimes I just don’t see the logic or the need in some of her plans. As long as she has it planned in her head, I’m happy to go along with it … most days. I’d noticed there was a long, empty trough had been emptied and replenished with fresh (ish) compost. Something was afoot. The plan was to refill the trough with some colourful annuals. How many, what type and when were not revealed, but I’m sure they will be soon.

I went for a walk in St Mo’s in the afternoon and got a few photos of insects doing their business. They were mostly Soldier Beetles happily producing more Soldier Beetles. Some of them were sitting on white tufted thistles. Google thought they might be Creeping Thistles. I’d never heard of them, but I was willing to believe Mr G. Soldier beetles were PoD today.

I had a Rump Steak for dinner with half a dozen Padron Peppers and some of our home grown potatoes, the second batch we’ve grown this year. Scamp had Sea Bass with fried onions and mushrooms. Dessert was ice cream and blackcurrant jelly. Very fitting for a summer’s day.

Spoke to Jamie in the evening, halfway through watering the garden and heard that they now have a hose pipe ban. Oh dear, and here was us saying that we were watering the garden! However, they are still allowed to use watering cans, although that would take a while with a big garden.

Tomorrow we may go shopping.

Dancin’ – 11 July 2026

Posted on by Zogman

The first ‘real’ dancing day this morning.

Lots of folk out today hoping to improve their dancing technique. I wasn’t one of them. I was just happy to not make a mess when I was treading water!

The dance class started with the Electric Smooth. I’d never danced it before and a few folk were in the same boat. It was similar to The House of Bamboo which I started off hating, but ended up accepting it as just another set of dance steps. The E.S. is similar and will have the same effect on me I think.

The first ‘actual dance’ was the American Smooth Waltz which we’d done before in one of the Perth classes. Bits of it fitted together like a badly made jigsaw puzzle, but by the end of the class it was filtering in to my head.

Rumba was next and we started off just copying an old rumba we kind of knew, but then decided we’d better stick to the teachers’ plan and dance it properly. There were similarities between ‘our’ version and the teacher’s version.

Tango Serida was and it took me a while to work out what was happening and when it was happening, but we managed to struggle round the floor. With a bit of help from Jane, I managed to sort out the routine.

Balmoral Blues was the last real sequence dance. I didn’t like it and struggled to make sense of it, but Scamp had it sorted right away. She has this innate ability to walk through a dance once or twice and immediately afterwards, know how to dance it. Me? I struggle and let’s leave it at that.

Just for a bit of fun and to get back to simple stuff, we finished with the Midnight Jive. A sequence dance designed to get your heart pounding.

We drove home through a very quiet Glasgow and made it home only slightly longer that the drive to Brookfield in the morning.

Scamp was busy in the afternoon digging out plants, sieving out the lumps of soil and splitting larger plants to make at least two smaller ones. I went for a walk over to St Mo’s and got today’s PoD which was a Saw Fly. Scary looking beast, but apparently harmless.

No plans for tomorrow so far, but that may change.

 

Bleeding – 10 July 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Well, not exactly bleeding, but being bled by the vampires of Central Health Centre. All in a good cause I’m told.

Scamp was meeting Isobel for coffee and a blether and once my bloods had been drawn, I joined them for a blether and a coffee too. Isobel was showing off a few ancient photos of her family, one of which was quite familiar to Scamp and me. It was a photo of a large family group at a wedding many years ago and I think it was a scan I’d made of that same original and then I’d used Lightroom or Photoshop to add colour to it. The clue that it wasn’t my original was the lines that crossed the print. I’d never leave them if I was printing copies.

Despite the heat today, Scamp wanted to work in the garden. It was mainly weeding and I wanted nothing to do with it. Instead, I put on shorts and a shirt and walked over to St Mo’s to grab some photos, because it was lovely and warm. In addition to grabbing some photos, something grabbed me on the leg. It was a dirty big Cleg, also known as a Horsefly. I didn’t hesitate to give it a big slap, flattening it onto my leg. I don’t think it will be biting anyone again. It had managed to bite me and the swelling was there for everyone to see.

The Soldier Beetles were out in force. They don’t bite humans, but they do mate on flowers everywhere. A couple made PoD.

We sat in the garden later and watched the wee fountain in the back garden spurting water at random. After that it was time to go back to the house for dinner which was a Pizza Express pizza. Too sweet and not worth getting again if you ask me.

Tomorrow we’re due to go dancing at Brookfield.

 

Lacewing – 4 June 2026

Posted on by Zogman

A day of torrential showers then sunshine!

I was supposed to meet Alex for a photowalk in the morning, but he phoned to say he wasn’t feeling well and was calling off.

Scamp was out this morning for coffee with Shona. That left me all on my lonesome.

I used the time to weed out the losers in my May photos and to backup those that were left. Then I created a new folder for the new July photos. That left me half an hour to complete today’s puzzles.

Just as I was finishing, I got a call from Colin, an old friend to ask about timings for tomorrow’s trip to Falkirk for Val’s funeral. Once we were settled and just hanging up, Scamp returned and the rest of the morning was spent talking about how things were going in Darley Road.

After lunch I think I was getting under Scamp’s feet and she told me it would be a good idea for me to go for a walk. I agreed and did my usual circuit of the pond, then a walk across the football park. I got a few photos of bees of a variety of colours and sizes when a very light insect flew past. I immediately identified it as a Blue Lacewing. They used to be quite common, but I hadn’t seem one for a couple of years. They are good for keeping the aphids down on plants. They are such delicate insects, it looks like a gust of wind will blow them away. The Blue Lacewing got PoD.

We’re expecting Jamie and Simonne to arrive tomorrow, all being well. That must be why everything in the house is being polished tonight!!

Off to Brookfield for a dance class – 23May2026

Posted on by Zogman

This may possibly be the last dance class for a whole month. The teachers are off on two different cruises. I won’t say I am disappointed, but I’m not.

We got a great surprise when we headed over to Brookfield and were allowed to travel faster than 40mph. The 40mph ban had been lifted and we were driving at normal motorway speeds. Even better, the roads were only partly full. We usually watch for one of the big ‘out of town’ parking areas to whizz past on the left, only half full. Today it was almost totally full. Finally we reached Brookfield, about fifteen minutes quicker than usual. That’s the difference the 40mph ban makes.

Today was a high energy dance class. It started with the Electric Slide which only about fifty percent of of the class seemed comfortable with. I was just lost – thinking it was The House of Bamboo with different music. Then we were into the ‘meat’ of today’s class with “Celia’s American Smooth Waltz”. Every time I start this dance, I think I’ve got it sorted in my head, then it falls to pieces. Today if took me a couple of rounds of the floor before I managed to join all the units together correctly.

A couple of sequence dances came next to give us a bit of relaxation, then it was time for another of Stewart and Jane’s less complicated dances and we finally ended up with another exhausting sequence dance that left most of the senior dancers gasping for breath.

We walked out of the hall into sunshine. It was such a beautiful day. We drove home in very light traffic for a Saturday. We even had enough time to go to M&S for some messages.

After lunch, Scamp wanted to work in the garden and I wanted to go out to St Mo’s in the hope of finding a damselfly ,,, and there it was, a Common Blue damselfly. It was very agitated and kept flying away. Eventually it settled down and I got a clear, if distant, view of the insect. The first damselfly this year for me! That became the PoD.

Tomorrow I have no plans.

Finding my feet again – 3 January 2026

Posted on by Zogman

Today was more like ‘normal’ whatever that is.

In the morning we de-iced the car and drove to Tesco to get some food to put in the new freezer. Oops, I forgot to tell you about the new acquisition. Last Tuesday Scamp sat me down and together we went through all the different combinations of under-counter freezers. Although we have a fairly big fridge-freezer, it doesn’t hold as much as we’d hoped, so we’d each of us mumbled about needing more storage. That problem was solved today. We ordered a medium priced under-counter freezer from John Lewis. Everything done, sight unseen, online. It was delivered yesterday, Friday. It’s so hard to keep track of days, what with Christmas, New Year, Twelfth Night and stuff.

The freezer had to sit for four hours for the refrigerant to settle in the complex of pipes, then it had to be plugged in and told to freeze, as an afterthought, we could just have left it outside, it was plenty cold there!

Today Scamp gave it some fish, prawns and ice cream to work its subzero magic on them. It’s very quiet and fits in perfectly. Not a snore or a grunt from it at all. I think I have been allocated the bottom drawer for my meat and coffee beans.

I went for a walk in the afternoon. It was really cold, just above zero, but not by much. PoD was a Knapweed plant just about ready to release its seeds to the four winds. Also if you have good eyesight, you might catch a glimpse of the skin (or Shuck) of a damsel fly up close to the head of the main flower.

Dinner tonight was Fish Fingers, Egg and Spaghetti. A firm favourite at this time of year.

We have no plans for tomorrow.

Dancin’ – 8 November 2025

Posted on by Zogman

We were dancing again at Brookfield.

Thankfully the heating was on today. Not to warm us up, though, it was to heat up the discussion room for the bowlers who were having their AGM or some other get together. We just benefitted from their excess heat.

First dance was the inevitable House of Bamboo. Thankfully we only did one round of it. Personally I don’t see the fascination of this old song, originally by Andy Williams in 1958. Heavens! that was almost as old as me! With that put back in its box for another couple of weeks, our first ‘real’ dance was The Christmas Waltz, also know by its other names, The Spring Waltz, The Summer Waltz, etc. It took a while, but it did eventually work its way into my little grey cells, and by about an hour it was almost there. It is actually quite a comfortable dance.

Next was a couple of sequence dances to give us a break from Christmas dances before we plunged into the Foxtrot we’ve been learning for a while. We were completing it today, by adding the final section. It, too, is starting to gel in my head. Mainly because we really like the foxtrot and feel comfortable dancing it.

A couple of sequence dances finished off today’s class and we were allowed to leave. No dance class next Saturday, because the autumn class is in The Salutation in Perth and we’re not going. Too much other stuff going on.

Back home and after solving the puzzles, I chose to go for a walk in St Mo’s. The light was quite good, but nothing exceptional. However, I did get a PoD which is a Crane Fly hanging on to a reed in the wilderness area behind St Mo’s school. Some work was done on it and I’m happy with the result.

Chicken Cacciatore for dinner tonight then we watched Strictly which is becoming a bore. Some of the dances and dancers are quite good, but most are professional dancers. As the days drag on the real professionals will become installed as the ones to beat and the remainder, the amateurs will fall by the wayside. It’s becoming very formulaic.

No plans for tomorrow.