THE RAMBLINGS OF A STRUGGLING ARTIST ON LIFE WITH TWO TERRIERS, A PONY WITH ISSUES AND OTHER WILDLIFE AND BIRDS THAT CROSS OUR PATH

18 July 2013

BITS AND PIECES 4

                                      

The heat is getting a bit oppressive if I'm honest. Poor Snippet sat at the garden gate yesterday at walk time with pleading eyes and I was quite happy to oblige. We stayed at home. Out walking, I haven't  been able to face carrying the big camera and a bag for lead, treats, phone and, as a type 1 diabetic, something sugary in case of a post lunchtime injection induced hypo! As a result, I haven't been snapping very much. So, here are some left over bits and pieces from the last few weeks. The top photo is the lovely red Astrantia/Masterwort that my mum gave me a few months ago.


I think this is a Keeled Skimmer - female. Taken with the zoom so not brilliant.


A Golden Ringed Dragonfly eating another damselfly or smaller dragonfly. These are everywhere at the moment, feeding voraciously. 


The Greater Spotted Woodpeckers are back but the peanut feeder is disappearing behind a fern. This is the female.


Siskin parent and child. The parent has spotted an incoming Sparrow....


......the child sees it off.


Lone Siskin parent


Foals still changing colour


Green everywhere at last


Enchanter's Nightshade. Unfortunately, I've discovered it popping up in the garden as well as up the track and I'll never forget the 'Gardener's Question Time' team suggesting someone move house when they asked what to do about it. Such a lovely name though.


Beautiful white Foxglove 


Woundwort. I have a rather bigger patch of this in the garden than I would like...


A very unexpected Californian Poppy which came up in my Viola tub. I think the seed has been lying dormant for years in some compost from my mum's and it's sprung to life in this hot spell.


I think this is a Green Veined White Butterfly


A Wood Speckled Butterfly

These next three are from Widemouth Bay that I somehow missed out from the last post:




Snippet, sheltering in the shade of a parked car on the beach


Clapper bridge over Wallabrook

This weekend is looking like it's going to be equally hot, so we're planning on going back to the beach. I swam in our local outdoor pool today with Origami Boy after school. It is fed by the same River Teign that we swim in out on the moor, just further downstream, and is usually freezing. Today it could have done with being cooler than it was. What is happening to me? I used not get into any kind of water unless it was bath heat! 

I forgot to mention I saw an Adder at last on Monday. So beautiful but no chance of photographing it as Snippet had to be held back from jumping in. It just slithered away into the long grass. 

Until next time, have a great weekend and here he is in that adder ridden grass.


42 comments:

  1. Love the photo of the seaweed draped pointy rocks! Looks like a landscape of mountains in miniature.

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    1. Hi Robin - lovely to hear from you. They do look like mountains don't they....with green snow!

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  2. That woodpecker has her beady eye on you, fern or no.

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    1. Your'e so right. She was off a few seconds later!

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  3. Another eclectic and fascinating post, Em! Your Golden-ringed Dragonfly photo is stunning. I have only seen these a handful of times. Glad you managed to protect Snippet from the Adder. Will you add to one of the reptile record schemes, I wonder? As for the Californian Poppy, I'm jealous ... my carefully tended seedlings are 2" high and they don't like being watered ... and they don't like being dry!

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    1. I get the feeling this will be the only year I ever get them to grow up here. I would never have thought it possible. My mum has them everywhere and they're coming out in some beautiful colours this year, despite her only ever planting the yellow ones. Some are a very delicate pale pink with a darker pink middle.

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  4. Good to find this blog via Elizabeth in New York! Love your photos and your dog Snippet!

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    1. Hi Cait - lovely to hear from you too. I'm off to have a look at your blogs. I'm a huge fan of Elizabeth's!

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  5. You always have the best photos on your blog !
    Snippet as such a cutie pie.

    cheers, parsnip

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    1. Thank you Parsnip - I'm very flattered you think so!

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  6. Lovely photos as always Em - adore the first one of Widemouth Bay. Glad you managed to prevent Snippet getting too close to the adder. Too hot here too!! Went out with a friend yesterday and we ended up spending most of the time sitting in the shade in a summer house - it took me all my time to be bothered to get a few photos!!

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    1. It's really too hot to do anything isn't it? My attempts at filling sacks with wood off-cuts for the fire resulted in having to have a little lie down on the sofa!

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  7. Sensible Snip. Ted went running with his pa at 5am today to avoid the heat! The bees will thank you for leaving the woundwort if they are anything like ours

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    1. That's interesting about the Woundwort - the bees haven't been too interested yet. I adore it but it's starting to pop up everywhere. I won't pull it out - I'll just snip it back before it seeds. Running at 5.00am? I'm impressed.

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  8. Too hot for me yet. I have a soft spot for the Woundwort too and when it's in the border, I try to pretend it is an Herbaceous plant!!

    Wonderful photos as always, and the dragonfly ones very interesting. Nice to see some grass on the moor at long last - hope it doesn't soon get burned to a frazzle . . . Loved the last seaside ones too, including the Green Mountains!

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    1. I planted the Woundwort deliberately so I can't exactly complain about it!

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  9. Hi Em, at first glance I thought the foal had been rolling in mud! Heat has driven me indoors again, although we do have a breeze today. Love the Speckled Wood photo and my favourite would have to be the grey and green rocks at Widemouth Bay. I'm really glad you posted about Woundwort as I've just found some in the flower bed and was going to look it up. I'll see if the bees like it as CT has said.

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    1. No walk for us today either - it's just too much and carrying water just makes me even hotter. I think the Woundwort looks great at the back of a border and it holds more delicate things up. However.....it has crept to the front of the border where it doesn't look so great! Keep cool if you can. We're off to Widemouth again on Sunday.

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  10. Your close-ups are excellent! Love the Foxglove and the gardeners answer had me ROFL. I'm type 2 diabetic but happy to say since changing what I eat I no longer have to take medicine. I do have to stay out of the heat as I also have lupus and lymphedema and the sun/heat makes me ill. Main culprit is the daily dose of prednisone. So I carry bird seed and deer food out trying to stay in the shade and not stay outdoors too long. Been in the mid 90's with the heat index in the 100's. Humidity is staggering especially after it rains (which has been daily).

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    1. I don't know how you manage in that kind of humidity Gail, you poor thing! Well done for sorting your diet out. Type 2 can be reversed by eating well but so few people actually do it. To be honest, I'm quite relieved to be type 1 as I can control it more easily, despite it being considered a more serious auto-immune condition. I got it at 31 which helps as I had done all my partying as was able to be pretty responsible about it!

      I do hope you're feeling okay today. xx

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  11. Loved your bits and pieces!
    It is disgustingly hot here too.
    Impossible to do anything except sit in char and then nap.

    Loved the 'woundwort'
    such a super name.

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    1. I hope you have some relief soon. Unbelievably, with the temperature still at 30 degrees centigrade, I'm about to light the fire or we won't have any hot water tomorrow. HELP!

      the Woundwort is also known as Allheal and is apparently genuinely good for healing wounds and all sorts of other things.

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  12. I always love your posts and every bit & piece you put up on them, Em. Stay cool. We are having quite the storm at the moment here, I am just hoping the hydro stays on. x

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    1. You keep safe too Cindy. I always worry about 'storms' on your side of the Atlantic!

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  13. I think rough haired dogs really suffer in this heat don't they? My Tess doesn't want to walk far. Tonight cloud has come down here and it is a little cooler - I hope it stays that way. Keep cool.

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    1. You too. No cloud here but the wind is picking up thank goodness. I may have to get the clippers out again for Snippet again.

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  14. As ever such beautiful pictures, a lovely start to my weekend, thank you! It's so hot, even here on Dartmoor which makes a change. The mules are in heaven, they have finally found the desert oasis of their ancestors, sadly I doubt it will last!

    Happy Weekend!

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    1. I'm beginning to wish I was a mule. Happy weekend to you too!

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  15. Wonderful photos - there are lots of dragonflies/damselflies here, too. As there doesn't look as though there's much shade out on the moor, I imagine the sun feels pretty powerful there at the moment. Harry is taking day-long siestas in the heatwave; only early morning and evening walks for him. I also have Woundwort cropping up here, there's plenty in the surrounding countryside so I expect it will start to spread everywhere as well.

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    1. I've just got back from an ill advised tennis ball session in the sun and the poor dog is flaked out on the floor inside. We're going to a barbecue tonight so, for once, he will be left at home. I don't think he'll complain too much!

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  16. Hi there - Hope you can cope with the heat - it took me years to get used to it here, and I still rank summer as my least favourite season!!!

    Cheers - Stewart M - Melbourne

    PS: keep an eye out for snakes!

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    1. I;m struggling to be honest and keep plunging into cold water in a way I haven't done for SO many years. I couldn't live somewhere really hot. I'm definitely scanning the ground very carefully at the moment!

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  17. All such beautiful photos. The very first one I think if my favorite. It's looks like jewels!

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    1. They do don't they? Astrantia is one of my absolute favourites and I've only managed to grow it successfully this year!

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  18. What great photos. How do you get your wildlife shots? Mine are nothing like them, however hard I try!

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    1. One in fifty I'd say.....thank goodness for digital cameras!

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  19. You have captured the golden ringed dragonfly brilliantly! I had a go at photographing dragons today but that is for a few posts time!

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  20. I just wish they'd let me get closer! The only reason that one was so still was because it was munching its cousin.

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  21. This was a nice share of photos Em. That California poppy is gorgeous. Of course I always revel in the pony photos :)

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    1. I love Californian Poppies but I doubt I'll have any next year....I'm making the most of them now.

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  22. As usual, I'm fascinated by the birds and butterflies which I've never seen in any place we've lived in the US. Squeamishly glad there's no photo of the adder!

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    1. They're so pretty though! I think that might be the only sighting this year so you're probably safe. If I do photograph one, I'll be sure to put it in the post title so you can avoid it.

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Thank you so much for leaving a comment. It's great to read them and I will always try to reply.