The dry summer has really helped keep garden growth under control this year but on Saturday I could finally put off the inevitable no longer. It was time to cut the grass. I can hear your shrieks of despair from here but fear not for I had a cunning plan. Read more…
One thing we noticed this year on Mull were the sheer number and variety of moths flying both day and night, especially those which had a fascination with my head once I’d gone to bed. Most noticeable of course were the day flyers with Six-spot Burnets being far and away Read more…
There are now just two weeks left until our epic conquest of Snowdon, Cadair Idris and Pen y Fan (eek!), which probably explains my choice of destination on Saturday. Thus far our team training walks have all been in relatively cool, and often very damp, conditions meaning that my hot Read more…
A couple of hours running the moth trap last Saturday night delivered another new moth for the garden in the shape of this rather nice White Ermine. Unlike my previous catches this individual was found a short distance away from the trap instead of actually in it. I’m beginning to Read more…
I popped the moth trap out for a couple of hours on Friday evening which was about as long as I dared in its current non-weatherproof guise. Despite the short operation window though it still managed to catch one moth in the shape of this intricately patterned Small Phoenix (Ecliptopera Read more…
I’ve been waiting well over two years to write this post (mostly due to my own procrastination I’ll freely admit), but finally I’ve managed to run a moth trap in our garden. The trap in question is one of my own design, built on a budget with no fancy bulbs Read more…
On Saturday I woke to the calls of several Red Legged Partridge beneath our bedroom window, quickly followed by my sister screeching at frequencies normally only discernible to dogs. Oh yes it was wedding day and for the next few hours the cottage became a swarming mass of women fussing Read more…
Regular readers may recall that upon moving into our current house a couple of years ago, we discovered that the garden was already home to a small population of Cinnabar Moths. By small I mean no more than a couple of caterpillars and even fewer moths. Since then I have Read more…
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve featured our garden on this blog, but after a couple of significant events now seems like the appropriate time to do so once again. Firstly we’ve had some great visiting birds including a male Siskin, our first since the winter, and up to Read more…
It’s been a while since this blog has featured any moths, mainly due to the much promised but seldom progressed moth trap still being in pieces in my garage. That’s not to say they aren’t around though if the constant knocking against my windows each evening is anything to go Read more…