Category: insects

Rain, Sun and Wind – 2 July 2023

Posted on by Zogman

Three words to sum up today as far as weather goes. There was rain. Sometimes heavy sometimes light, but always there on the horizon. Then there were occasions sunbursts, sometimes while the rain was falling, but welcome when they appeared. Lastly there was wind for the third day recently. Gusty wind blowing in from the west. Very unseasonable weather after a Flaming June.

Scamp was out planting her new flowers. They are a white Salvia and a white Penstemon. Both in the new pot she bought (but didn’t wear) yesterday. They are now ensconced in the front garden to strengthen the barrier and hopefully prevent the Scottish Terrier from round the corner from crapping in our front grass. If that doesn’t work, then we’ll have to resort to digging pits with sharpened spikes at the bottom, between the pots or the ‘nuclear option’ – Land Mines. Anyway, for now the flower pots are doing a good job of keeping Hamish at bay. In the afternoon I swear I saw Scamp out in the front garden watering the plants while the rain was tipping it down. I now have seriously concerns about her sanity.

Later in the afternoon I put my boots on and went for a walk in St Mo’s, hoping to get some photos of some yellow Flag Irises, but was disappointed to find that they were long gone. That spell of hot weather had forced the flowering of these elegant plants way ahead of their usual blooming time. What I did find was a couple of Batman hoverflies, so called because they have what looks like the Batman symbol on their thorax. Then a Five Spot Burnet moth feeding on its favourite knapweed flower. After some discussion with myself, the Burnet moth got PoD.

Watched a crazy Austrian GP with almost half the field succumbing to five second penalties for exceeding ’Track Limits’. For once, Charles Leclerc didn’t find the wall!

We don’t have any plans for tomorrow.

 

The Lawnmower Man – 5 June 2023

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Scamp was out this morning to meet June for coffee. I thought I’d cut the grass.

It’s a long job, cutting the grass. Not as bad as some folk who have enormous lawns that need a petrol driven mower, but who secretly hanker for a ride-on mower! Ours is just a wee pocket hankie by comparison, but there’s a bit of preparation needed before you get started, pots to shift and then shift back once the first cut is taken. Squirting WD40 into the squeaky rear wheel, that screeching was putting my teeth on edge.

After I’d done our wee square, I thought it would be the right thing to do to cut Bobby Flavel’s grass too. I know my method is very rough and ready compared to Bobby’s straight lines, but at least it’s done and tidy. I hope you were sitting up there watching me struggle with the mower at the end of its lead, Bobby, just managing to get the furthest edge cut. Angela was the first person to cut Bobby’s grass after he passed away and we all agreed that we should take it in turns to cut his grass. For that reason and also because she doesn’t have much free time to mow her own grass, I cut Angela’s pocket hankie too. My good deeds for the day.

If the preparations before starting are a pain, the cleaning of that mower are even more of a drag. However, Scamp maintains it well and I think my cleaning routine was almost as good as her’s. I gave the blade a squirt of WD40 and then gave the squeaky wheel the grease it wanted. Done!

I’d just finished when Scamp arrived home. Piece ’n’ Cheese for her lunch and a slice of buttered bread covered in the remains of yesterday’s stew for mine. By then the sun had made an appearance and after some dithering, I took the A7 and the big heavy macro lens out to St Mo’s looking for damselflies, only to find that the dragonflies had taken over the ponds. There were dozens of them fighting and gatecrashing each other’s parties. Just like the unruly teenagers we get in the same neck of the woods with their ghetto blasters later in the summer. At least the dragonflies were just “doing the what comes naturally” and weren’t hyped up on Buckfast!

I couldn’t get as close as I wanted to the dragonflies, so I got as good a shot as was possible and enlarged it in ON1 software at home and produces what you see here. It’s a four spot chaser.

On the way home I had to check out the work being done by the council road repairers. They’d closed off part of our street to repair a section of the road. It has been crumbling away for years and a month or so ago they patched the bits that were easy to do. This, though, was a major bit of work with the tarmac being scraped back to the hardcore base and fresh tarmac replacing it. It was supposed to take two days, but it looks like it’s finished tonight.

Another end of day seat in the sun with Scamp. Both of us reading with a glass of something to keep us from drying out in this sunshine!

No plans for tomorrow, at least not at present.

 

Driving everywhere – 3 June 2023

Posted on by Zogman

The dance class for today was cancelled due to too few numbers, so we used the daw wisely by tidying up loose ends.

We drove to The Fort in about 23ºc of heat with the intention of getting a pair of Crocs for me and a pair of shorts for Scamp. Neither of us achieved our goals and we went for lunch at Wagamama to console ourselves. Prawn raisukaree for Scamp and Chicken raisukaree for me (raisukaree = curry) with Ebi Katsu to share (butterflied prawns coated in panko and deep fried)

Fed and watered we next drove to B&Q to get an adapter that would allow the hose to be used from the kitchen tap without the use of a great deal of swearing and fountains of water. I think we got the right adapter this time, but I believe we may be testing tomorrow.

I fancied getting a hat (Hazy, similar to Neil’s) and that meant a trip further into darkest Coatbridge, but with the satnav to help us, we found Go Outdoors. There they had the hat I wanted in a size that fitted but at a price that was a little more than I’d intended paying. However, if you bought a discount card for £5 we got roughly £15 off the price and a further 20% off the remainder. That brought it down to what I’d call a reasonable price!! Pity they didn’t have Crocs!

We drove back to Cumbersheugh, trusting the satnav to get us back to ‘civilisation’ and I finally snagged myself a pair of Crocs to replace my ancient and crumbling pair I bought in Fuerteventura many, many years ago. Just a bit annoyed that I had to pay full price for them! Scamp also managed to get herself a pair of shorts and we drove home slightly emptier of pocket, but with new purchases.

Back home it was still hot, so to cool down I changed into shorts and went for a walk in St Mo’s. Managed to capture my first damselfly of the year, an Emerald. Also photographed a wee fly, looking a bit like a robber fly sitting on a buttercup. The robber fly got PoD. On the way back home I dropped in at the chip shop in Condorrat for a Special Fish Supper to share with Scamp. Sat for a while in the garden reading, watching the birds queue up to get some water from the birdbath.

We watched a fairly interesting Spanish GP tonight, with a few drivers demonstrating their off-road skills, but thankfully no crashes.

Got a message from Jamie to say their new boiler has been installed. Hot and cold running water is a great thing, isn’t it. That and a real shower! We know how you pair feel.

No plans for tomorrow, although we may water the garden, hopefully without flooding the kitchen!

Another hot day – 30 May 2023

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Temperatures around 25ºc expected again today.

Scamp was supposed to be going for coffee with June, but she called off this morning with a dodgy stomach. I know how she feels.

That left us with a different shaped day. We did consider going for walk, but decided it was too hot for that today. Instead, Scamp went out to do some weeding and pruning. I was checking the roses and found a sticky residue on one of the buds, in fact, on more than one of them. I suspected aphids and was about to grab the bug killer spray when I noticed a little blob of orange on one of the rose leaves. It was a little sixteen spot ladybird, Halyzia sedecimguttata, orange with white spots. I put away the bug spray. The ladybird will hopefully deal with the aphids and get lunch along the way. Of course I took a fair amount of photos of the little orange killer. One of them got PoD.

We went to Tesco to do some shopping. We also had a fair load of stuff to go on the skips, so we split up. Scamp went to Tesco and I drove over to the skips to dump the old carpet tiles, the broken carpet sweeper and yet more Wii controllers. Hopefully they were the last of the Wii. While I was there I managed to grab a few shots of a Teddybear’s Tea Party.
Back at Tesco we met up just as Scamp was finishing the shopping and drove home to have a roll ’n’ banana for lunch.

In the afternoon, Scamp was going to do some more trimming and I was taking the A7 for a walk and to check out the graffiti on the Luggie because I’d promised Alex a walk there tomorrow. Unfortunately they hadn’t been improved since last time. Then I went for a walk in Fannyside, hoping to get another photo of the caterpillar I saw last week, but there was nothing interesting to be seen. I drove home and had a beer in the garden while Scamp had a Pimms.

Dinner was a Scamp speciality, Potatoes and Cabbage with an addition of fried bacon for me. Then I washed the dishes while Scamp grabbed a few more minutes in the sun in the garden.

Today’s prompt asked for A Guitar. This is my Spanish guitar It’s a fairly old instrument now and is a bit battered and bruised, but it’s had a hard life and still sounds good. It’s nylon strung and therefore it’s a bit easier to fret than a steel strung acoustic guitar.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to meet my brother for a walk around Glasgow and the chance of a coffee and a blether.

Grass Cutting and Water Drops – 24 May 2023

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Not me, Scamp was doing the grass cutting today.

I was the hired help who moved the plant pots for the gardener to cut right to the edge of the path. Then once the cutting had been done, I moved them all back again. It wasn’t an onerous task and I’m much rather do the lifting than the cutting.

Today’s prompt was A Water Drop. It seemed such a simple task, but even with a few photos in front of me, I just couldn’t get anything like a drip to grace the paper. After three attempts, I gave up and had a “Piece ’n’ Sausage” for my lunch. I really needed to clear my head of water drops, so I drove up to Fannyside Moor and went for a walk with the A7. I’d two lenses with me. One wide angle and one macro. I reckoned I could use both today and I did. I took a few landscapes with the wide angle, the best of which is on Flickr. It’s a view from my parking place, across the moor to the Campsie on a beautiful spring day. Changed to the macro and caught a little ladybird, a Striped Ladybird to be precise. Red with white spots and stripes. I also saw a strange beetle which Mr Google says is a Two Banded Longhorn Beetl, quite a mouthful, and a host of slow flying Hawthorn Flies.

The best of the wildlife was still to come and it was the PoD. It’s a Drinker Moth Caterpillar, about as long as my middle finger and it was walking along a barbed wire fence. It was walking because these caterpillars have feet, not all do. I remember seeing one before, but I can’t remember where. Will have a look through my records.

Back home Scamp was reading in the garden and I encouraged her to have a glass of wine while I had a beer. Well, it’s ‘hump day’ (the middle of the week) so we were allowed. Scamp made stir-fry for dinner and it was really good, better than mine. After dinner I returned to the painting of the water drop and went back to basics. No fancy backgrounds, just the water drop. It worked, but I’m still not happy with it. Could do better is the expression I’m thinking sums it up.

No real plans for tomorrow. It all depends on the weather.

Was that summer? – 13 May 2023

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A quite beautiful day of sunshine.

We drove to Brookside in the morning through the 40mph zone that wasn’t quite as bad as last week, although some folk were mistaking 40mph with 20mph, it seemed. We got to the class just in time. Just four couples including a decidedly pregnant Jasmine who, with her partner made light work of just about everything.

Started off with a couple of Mayfair Quickstep tracks to warm us up. The hall had a curtained off section today for some undisclosed reason, so we were dancing on what was virtually a square. After that, and after an explanation for those who hadn’t been there last week, the teachers launched into Joy’s Waltz. I thought we’d found a sneaky shortcut to get us through the Overturned Spin Turn, but was quickly shot down in flames by Jane who explained that although it did speed up the OST, it meant that when we came out of it we’d find our feet were tangled. Back to the drawing board then! I still can’t get the hang of the OST and I think I’ll resort to Scamp’s suggestion that we just fake that step and concentrate on getting the rest working.

Next we did the Sweetheart Cha-Cha with a few new adaptations just to make it more difficult, I think. Most of that went quite smoothly, even the new steps that they’d squeezed in. Thankfully Jasmine had filmed the new improved Sweetheart Cha-Cha and posted it to the group tonight.

Final dance steps were the Jive with American Spins, Alternative Stop & Go and Cha-Cha Walks. These words mean very little to me and will be forgotten by the time I finish the blog!

One last wee sequence dance, Rumba One to finish and that was us released to face the traffic going home. Overall, it was a good class, although the lady that Scamp has named Mrs Posh was being a bit of a know-all.

The drive home was easier than I expected, possibly because everyone was going to the seaside today to make the most of the sunshine. We just drove home and after lunch we worked in the garden. Scamp was chopping up a dying azalea and I was concentrating on potting up my sunflower seedlings and the wee rosemary bush we bought about a month ago.

I’d just finished doing my gardening and was putting the compost away when I felt a familiar sting on the back of my leg. I’d picked up a tick somewhere, possibly yesterday. First this year. Let’s hope it’s the last.

Dinner was a roast chicken and salad with a bottle of Prosecco to brighten it up even more.

PoD went to a purple aquilegia flower in the front garden.

Today’s prompt was An Elephant.
We don’t get many elephants roaming the hills in Scotland, and the only ones I’d photographed were either made from cast iron or paintings on billboards. However, Mr Google kindly supplied me with a model that fitted neatly on my A5 page.

I think the sky is clouding over as I write this and we’re expecting rain tomorrow. Let’s hope today wasn’t Summer! The weather will determine what we do tomorrow.

The gardens needed it – 8 May 2023

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Today was wet. It went from drizzle to full on downpour, but it was wet all day!

We weren’t going far today anyway. I might have gone in to Glasgow to get myself a new suit, a dark suit, both my other suits are light grey and a dark one would be a change. Also, only one of my suits actually fits me, the other one fits like a sugar bag. Not a good look. Anyway, that decision was taken away from me with one look at the weather. The furthest we were going today was Tesco.

Just a normal Monday shopping trip. Nothing exciting unless you class short dated tomatoes, carrots and onions as exciting. Three bags full it was today, all bundled into the boot and drove home.

What we did do was give our plants a bit of a soaking in the rainwater. My two chilli plants seemed to come to no harm in it and Scamp’s Cerinthe seedlings seemed to grow even taller after being in the downpours.

After lunch I gave in, put on my boots and my walking trousers and went out looking for a photo that would become PoD. It was really wet wherever I went and after about half an hour I was sure I could feel that squidgy sensation that you only get when you’ve got a leaky boot. But I was out in the middle of the park when it made itself known and I still hadn’t got that magic PoD. Then it appeared. It was a water droplet hanging from a larch needle. I took my time and eventually shot half a dozen frames of it. One of which I deemed sharp enough to become the PoD for today. Then, and only then, I squidged my way home. The sock on my right foot told the tale. There was a leak and it looks like there is a crack in the tread of my boot and that’s where the water is getting in. It might be a cut, not a crack, but the result is the same. I wouldn’t think it’s repairable, although someone on YouTube will know different, I’m sure. I might need to shell out for a new pair of boots now.

Today’s EDiM asked for An Ant. I originally thought of drawing a couple of Leaf Cutter Ants, but couldn’t find a clear enough photo to draw them from. I finally settled for a Flying Ant. There were a lot of these scary looking beasties flying around last year, I seem to remember. Apparently there is an actual Flying Ant Day. In the UK it seems to be around the 17th July. It all depends on the temperature and windspeed. There, I bet you didn’t know that!

Tomorrow we’re booked for lunch with Shona. Not sure yet where we’ll be going. Like the Flying Ants, it depends on the weather!

Rain – 30 April 2023

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It was hard to decide if it was just starting to rain, or just finishing a spell of raining when we woke. In actual fact it was just trying out the different textures of rain to see which it liked the best. That too was a difficult decision for the weather, and one it toyed with for a good few hours before finally choosing to stay dry and allow the sun to shine.

There were things to do today. There was milk to buy and a sensible plain loaf, a cake wouldn’t go amiss either, cakes never do. There were people to bump into. People I hadn’t spoken to for years. The people, or person in question was Mary Jane Hunter, ex of Cumby High. She and Scamp had a lot in common apart from height. They had both had cataracts removed and corrective lenses inserted that took away their shortsightedness and gave them a totally new view on life. It’s nice to meet folk you got on with years ago and who you still admire.

Back home Scamp had covered the draining board in the kitchen with an off cut from a waterproof table cover and was potting up her ten Cerinthe seedlings to separate them and to give them a chance to develop better roots. I liked the idea and planted out some Acer seeds my brother had given me last autumn. They had been in plastic bags in the little greenhouse to keep them dry while they ‘conditioned’. Apparently the exposure to sub zero temperatures is needed for them to germinate once they are planted out in soil.

Dinner tonight was Potatoes with Carrot and Onion Mash. Protein was Hoggit Shoulder Steak for me, bought at the farmers market in Embra yesterday and Salmon for Scamp. Unfortunately for her, the salmon just didn’t taste ‘right’. So it was a vegetarian dinner for her. My hoggit was excellent soft and delicious. (2mins 30seconds per side and 5mins resting time). I couldn’t eat it all, so I’ve about a third of it sitting in the fridge for tomorrow or Tuesday. Bananas fried in Rum was requested was requested for pudding. It was excellent too. Hot, sweet, sticky orange flavoured rum coating bananas sliced long ways. Sounds messy and it was, also sounds a bit sickly and it was, but we both enjoyed it. Can’t remember exactly where I first saw it being made, but I think it was on a cruise, years ago.

Because of the rain, I couldn’t be bothered wandering around St Mo’s, getting wet and not finding anything worth photographing, so today’s PoD came from the garden. It’s an Aquilegia playing host to a family of greenfly. I think I might have to evict them soon. As usual with macros, I didn’t see the greenfly until the images had been loaded into the computer.

Spoke to Jamie and Scamp was delighted to hear that he has taken her advice and cleaned all the glazing panels in his greenhouse. They have had a few days of good weather and have almost all the flowers planted now.

We have no plans for tomorrow, and it looks like more rain.

Saying goodbye to Margie – 20 April 2023

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Today we said goodbye to an old friend.

It was a tough morning and I’m not going into details. She was a lovely lady, a singer in Scamp’s Gems singing group. She was also a painter who produced some beautiful artwork in all media types, but her favourites were ballet dancers in the style of Monet. We’ll both miss her greatly. May she rest in peace.

Back home it was a beautiful day, as long as you had shelter from that east wind again. It looks like spring, but it doesn’t feel like it. However, I went for a walk in St Mo’s with a macro lens doing all the work today on the A7. The first thing to do was to check up on the three little orange ladybirds. My first surprise was that three had become one. Where had the other two gone? The answer was waiting a couple of trees away. There had only been one orange ladybird there last week. Now there are three! So have two ladybirds moved from one tree to another or is it just a floating community in the woods? I reckon they are just fed up with me photographing them and are trying to mess with my head.

Not a lot else happened today. Potatoes, bacon and cabbage was dinner for me. Scamp replaced the bacon with more cabbage!
PoD was the new trio of ladybirds, but take a look at the pair of old leaded glass windows I captured on my phone last week in Glasgow.

Remember I was writing about Scamp and I being labourerers the other day?  Well, today Scott’s wife handed in a bunch of roses and a box of chocolates to say thanks for the help!  That was a brightener for the day!

Tomorrow we’re intending doing some planting in the garden.

 

Off to Larky – 12 April 2023

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A trip to Larky to see Mr Simpson, the optician for my annual checkup.

I drove us over to Larky on a bright sunny morning. While I was in the optician’s reciting his mixed up alphabets, Scamp was shopping in the Coop, and recoiling at the prices she was expected to pay. This wasn’t Tesco price, apparently. Once my eyes had been deemed fit and fairly healthy, I walked along to meet her. I had been sensible enough to remember to put a pair of sunglasses in my pocket because dilated pupils and bright sun don’t work well together. We sat for a while in the car waiting for my eyes to return to normal, but eventually we decided that Scamp should drive home, since I couldn’t focus properly. A terrible thing for a photographer to admit to.

On the way home we stopped at the health centre for me to book my six monthly PSA test. With that done, my tasks were completed for the day and I could concentrate on photography in Scotland for the first time in a week … once I could see again.

It didn’t take too long for my eyes to return to normal, well, in total it took about three hours, but who’s counting because I could see again! I took the A7 out for a walk in St Mo’s just to unwind and to work out some of the aches from yesterday’s rail journeys. I thought it would be a shot of my favourite trio of ladybirds who would make PoD, but it was the little fly who won. The first fly I’ve photographed this year. I hope it’s impressed with the accolade!

A wee drink before another early night.

Tomorrow I’m off to Glasgow to meet my brother for a visit to the Hunterian Gallery and maybe the Museum.