insects – Page 31 – My Photo Blog

Coffee and a walk in the Toon – 5 May 2016

Posted on May 5, 2016May 5, 2016 by Zogman

Coffee at lunch time with Val and Fred P. Quite enjoyed the cut and thrust of another “frank exchange of views”. Never one to allow the grass to grow under his feet, Fred held court on a variety of political issues of the day while Val attempted in vain to pour oil on troubled waters. Me? I threw in the occasional match to see if the oil would burn. Topics for discussion today were the cost of upgrading your central heating, In or Out of Europe and the poor selection of guests in Jools Holland’s programme. Sketches and paintings were critiqued and the world was set to rights. Thankfully the word ‘ANTISEMITISM’ was not used by any of the participants.

After the scintillating discussion, I headed in to Glasgow to get some masking fluid to try some different watercolour techniques. While I was in Cass Art, I wandered round their botanical watercolours exhibition and was really, really impressed with the quality and detail in the pictures. My favourite had to be the sweet peas. Such delicacy I can only dream of. Walking back to the car, I grabbed a shot of the elegant security grilles at the Buchanan Galleries carpark.

When I got home, after a great walk round Glasgow bathed in sunshine, Scamp reminded me that we hadn’t voted, so it was off again to do our constitutional duty. On the way back, we walked over to Condorrat to get a fish suppers for our dinner to celebrate the end of this boring baby kissing round of canvassing. On the way I spotted the little yellow ball shaped flower and took its photo, along with its resident fly. I wonder how many flies there are in, say, a cubic meter of bushes. Probably incalculable, but as we are talking about a finite volume, there must be a finite number. Multiply that by the number of cubic metres of bushes in Cumbersheugh and you have a very large number. Now, if all those flies voted for the Greens, would the SNP still get in? Probably. A little bit too much politics for this time of an evening.

Our plans for tomorrow were to go to Perth tomorrow (Friday), but they had to be changed at the last minute and we’ll probably go next week.

A couple of lucky ones – 1 May 2016

Posted on May 1, 2016 by Zogman

Today was wet from first thing this morning. Not heavy rain, but persistent. We took advantage of this to a certain extent by planting our potatoes in their bags. At least we didn’t need to water them once they had been planted. Scamp potted up her sweet peas and they are outside for their first overnight. She also planted out my rocket which I kept meaning to do, but just never got round to. Anyway, they are planted now. It doesn’t matter who did it.

Photographically, there wasn’t very much decent light with grey overcast skies, but I went for a walk along the railway to see what was worth taking. I liked the little branch with the blossom on it and I did see the fly, but I was impressed with the sharpness and the clarity and the fact that it was a colourful little hoverfly. The second shot was another lucky with another little fly hanging below the white flower (it’s a common mouse ear by the way – the flower, not the fly). Not as sharp as the blossom or the hoverfly, but still a decent shot. Check them out on my Flickr page. To think I drove about 10 miles and walked about 3 miles in the rain to get these shots. That’s what a 365 makes you do.

Today’s word was ANTISEMITISM. It has been bandied about on radio and tv since Ken Livingstone made his ill timed or cleverly calculated remark. It was while Scamp and I were watching the Andrew Marr program this morning that I thought is there such a thing as SEMITISM or is there only a negative version of the noun? It seems that everybody seems to have an opinion on this topic and everyone is desperate to have their opinion heard. It’s probably true that those who speak loudest have the least to say. I will say no more.

Went Out, Did Something – 29 March 2016

Posted on March 29, 2016 by Zogman

Yesterday was a bit of a wasted day and we were determined not to do the same today. I’d like to say we got up early and went out for a walk or a run or even to the gym, but we had breakfast in bed, then read for an hour or so, this after waking up about 9.15. However, after that we DID go out.

We couldn’t decide where to go at first with both of us making half-hearted suggestions. We finally settled on Hamilton, intending to walk through the Palace grounds to the Mausoleum. Hamilton is such an awful place to drive through, always has been with a convoluted one way system and stringent parking regulations, so rather that face that, I decided to take the Motherwell turn off and park in Strathclyde Park. From there we could walk to the Mausoleum if we wanted or walk part of the way around Strathclyde Loch. We chose the latter.

We started walking anticlockwise round this soulless man made sailing venue. It’s never been my favourite place to walk. At weekends it’s usually crowded with dog walkers, joggers and cyclists, oh, and hundreds of weans. At night it has a totally different reputation. It used to be a boy racers’ paradise, but the council speed bumps every 20 feet or so has put paid to that. Now it’s the secluded carparks that are venues for other sporting pursuits – or so I’m told 😉

I remember it when it was simply Motherwell Pond, away back in the ’60s. Then it was just a big pond in the middle of a field. It had the reputation then for holding the biggest pike in Scotland and I remember seeing some big fish taken there. Not by me though. If I was lucky I’d get a small perch or two. Now it’s just a big sterile expanse of water used by small boat sailors, the occasional windsurfer and canoeist. It also has an Olympic rowing course. Enough of the adverts, it’s a rich person’s playground. Proles like us just get to walk round it.

We walked round the south end of the loch and on past the man made beach. Just before that, I spotted a buzzard through a fence. It was sitting on a post in a timber yard just outside the park. I managed a few shots of it and it seemed quite happy to let me get near. Then a couple of seagulls started mobbing it and it flew off. When we were walking near the water and under some trees we were joined by clouds of wee black flies. I don’t know what they were, but as they only appeared when we were near the water, I assume they were water borne and had just hatched. Maybe spring is near after all. We walked as far as the Roman bath house which, if you read the description on the plaque is not original, but a reconstruction using modern materials. That’s a bit of a con I think, but what do you expect in North Lanarkshire? The South Calder Water runs in to the park at this point and just around a bend in it is the old Roman bridge. This is part reconstructed too, but there are no signs to tell you what it is and it’s fenced off so you can’t get across. Well, you could get on to it quite easily, but I suppose by fencing it off NLC exonerate themselves from any injury caused from falling from it. YOU WERE WARNED etc.

Walked back the same way we’d come and almost managed to get back to the car before the clouds opened and although we got wet, we didn’t get the soaking that we might had got if we’d caught the full downpour that arrived a couple of minutes later.

Tomorrow? Who knows. Hopefully we’ll GO OUT AND DAE SOMETHING again.

Sitting in the Sun – 19 March 2016

Posted on March 19, 2016March 19, 2016 by Zogman

Sitting in the sun for a couple of hours at Loch Lubnaig. Taking foties, doing sketches and being amazed at the difference a day makes. Yesterday, all was grey, but today there’s blue sky all around.

We couldn’t decide where to go today and last night had almost settled on a trip round the shops in Stirling. This morning when we saw the bright blue sky, we re-evaluated our options. Finally we settled on Callander with the option of travelling on to Lubnaig if the weather permitted. The weather did permit and we did take the Lubnaig option. We drew in at the first of the new parking places which are so much better maintained than the old ones where the dobbers would overnight camp from Friday to Sunday. Buckfast bottles and who knows what else left behind. The only good thing about it was that it was free, but you didn’t wander far from your car in case it was propped up on bricks when you came back. Those days are gone now, so are the dobbers and the Buckfast. Now you’ve got to pay to park, but £1 for two hours is worthwhile for peace of mind.

I had hoped to see the seaplane land on the loch, but I think that company has now moved to Loch Lomond. What we did see were mountain climbers on a ridge, canoeists on the loch and a beastie on my painting. First time for a long while I’ve painted in public. It wasn’t the best effort, but it was a sketch and it was in the open air – I won’t use that arty-farty French expression, but it was fun.

A lazier day – 22 August 2015

Posted on August 22, 2015August 23, 2015 by Zogman

Today was not a day at the gym, or the pool, or on the bike. Today was Saturday and a lazier day. We went to visit a friend down in Ayrshire and had a pleasant hour or so with her and her son. It’s a long time since we’ve seen them and it was really good to catch up. On the way back, we decided to visit Waitrose and spent a fortune. I think it must have been my jar of peanut butter and my slice of cheese that tipped us over the ‘expensive’ level. Anyway, as we hadn’t had a lunch and neither us could be bothered cooking, we decided to hand the expense and get a Chinese carry-out tonight. It was quite delicious. I had carried a camera with me all day and hadn’t used it once, so I decided to get the ‘weemen’ to pose for me tonight. Unfortunately I pressed the wrong button when choosing the correct mode on the camera and did a sort of ‘return to factory settings’ sort of thing and it took me over an hour to get it back working the way I had it. I won’t be making that mistake again.

I’m running a virus checker just now on my Mac. It’s been going for almost four hours now and has found seven pieces of malware of various kinds, every one a PC virus. Say what you like about Macs, but they don’t pick up as much malware and stuff as PCs. It’s amazing the number of invoices I’ve been sent and CVs I’ve been asked to read by kind people who only want me to open the attachments on their emails. I’ve got a friend who obviously did open one, because someone in Japan is now spoofing his email address. One last thing, Windoze 10 is no longer lounging around on the netbook. It got the bum’s rush today. Thankfully it didn’t take long to restore normal service, only about 15 minutes. Now the netbook looks as if it’s flying by comparison. It’s all relative in the end.

Long Live the Mac.

Walking to Twechar – 11 August 2015

Posted on August 11, 2015August 12, 2015 by Zogman

Today I burned Ecto. It is no more. Spent almost an hour writing up this blog and when I published it, all that was published was the title. Back in Ecto, the page was also totally blank. Ecto is shite. Last updated 5 years ago, the author isn’t interested in progressing it, just interested in making money. I can’t believe I actually spent money on it. I would not recommend it to anyone. I’m now looking for another blog writer that actually works. The best one I’ve found is made by Microsoft and won’t work on the Mac. Such a pity.

The day started well. Not the brightest, but at least I got a painting done. Went for a walk to Twechar along the railway and got some photos of a common blue butterfly. Not much else worth photographing. Came home and had a look at the Strawberry Vodka. It will probably be ready to drink tomorrow. This is the synopsis of the day which was going well until now.

Tomorrow is another day.

Still Raining – 28 July 2015

Posted on July 28, 2015July 28, 2015 by Zogman

Another rainy day. Went to the gym and found that Windows was trying to shut down the computer at the gym. It looked remarkably like the shut down screen on Windows 95! Only 20 years out of date. Anyway, when Scamp went to the gym later in the morning, someone was trying to breathe some life into the old system and was hoping to get outside help to do so. Maybe the system will be running by the end of the year.

I felt like I was getting cabin fever today, so hitched the bike on to the carrier and drove to Auchinstarry for a wet, but warm run along the railway line past Dumbreck Marshes and on to the canal tow path. While I was there I watched some bees buzzing around the flowers. I thought it would be a good test of the high speed ‘motor drive’ on the E-PL5. I remember a few years ago I was in a group of photogs where there was a challenge among us to see who who would be the first to catch an insect on the wing. Lots of heavy duty technology was being used, but nobody got that shot. Today with a second hand Oly E-PL5 and a second hand Panasonic lens, I got the shot. I don’t suppose the wager still stands.

Cycling away from home – 20 July 2015

Posted on July 20, 2015July 20, 2015 by Zogman

Well, today was the big test day for the bike carrier and it passed with flying colours. More below. Not a long drive today, but enough to make sure the carrier carried! Drove to Auchinstarry and parked there and cycled along the Forth and Clyde canal to Kirkintilloch then back again via Dumbreck Marshes. On the way there, for the first time ever, I think, I saw the bascule bridge at Twechar working. It was raised to allow a longboat to pass through heading east. Three or four motorists were standing looking a bit bemused as I was. However, it was a good morning and a pleasant way to pass some time. The canal towpath was quite quiet this morning, with only a few dog walkers and the occasional cyclist to block my way. On the way back, I took the detour through Dumbreck Marshes and managed a shot of a soldier beetle. I know it’s not really sharp, but it’s the expression on it’s face I like. It’s like “Are you looking at me?”, but it’s hard to second guess a beetle as Christopher Robin will tell you.

Back to the carrier. It’s a Saris Solo and as you can imagine from the name, it’s for only one bike. Suits me fine as Scamp doesn’t cycle. The other novel feature of the Solo is that it’s made from plastic. Surprisingly, it’s really quite strong with lots of reinforcing fins inside the structure. Another innovation is that there are only four nylon bands that hold the rack on the car – two at the top and two at the bottom. They seem to hold it securely to the boot but it will need a little more testing to give it a longer test on a longer drive. So far, I’m impressed and willing to take it on that longer drive. I’ll keep you posted.

The Hottest Day of the year – 30 June 2015

Posted on June 30, 2015June 30, 2015 by Zogman

Today was hot. Not pleasantly hot, but sticky, clammy, close hot with the threat of rain in the air. Not a day for doing the washing, but needs must etc. So, I although I was up late this morning, I did get the washing into the washing machine and out on the line. When Scamp came in she stated her intention to attack the field of grass in the front garden. Being a non-gardener myself, I took the easier option and went out for a run on my bike. As I’ve said, today was hot, so it was cycling top and cycling shorts for today’s run. I went to the usual places and found very few damselflies and no dragonflies, so I started to look for the easier options of spiders. It was while looking for the spiders I came upon a lacewing dangling from a leaf. It took a bit of messing around before I found the right extension tube configuration for the image, but the result looked interesting. Too many flies and midges to allow for any more photography here, so I headed home. Just at the Barrs pond, I found lots of mating damselflies, but unfortunately they were all too far away. Tried for a few, but without much luck. The lacewing was the star performer of the day.

Today was hot. I think I’ve said that before, but it’s worth repeating. I am in Scotland after all. Tomorrow is to be hotter. Is that even possible? There is the caveat that there will probably be thundershowers, but we’ve survived that in Venice, so it should be a dawdle in Scotland.