nightjars and glowworms

We went on a bit of an expedition last night. Under the auspices of the Tamar valley AONB (the man in the picture on the link is Furgus Parsons, who owns Spot's grandmother, lurcher Bracken, and Cassie's brother Byron, and he made our wonderful walnut dining room table), we went for a trip to the site of the Devon Great Consuls mine, once the largest copper and arsenic mine in the world (and probably the galaxy).



The site is like something from Mars, a great arsenical spoil heap in a barren landscape.


The ravaging of the landscape by the aristocracy has had the one serendipitous effect of creating a heathland habitat suitable for the elusive and mysterious nightjar. And even the toxic spoil tip has been used by sand martins as a nesting site. It was too dark to capture the martins as they flew in and out of the small holes in the side of the tip.

floral butteflies

the yellow flower at the top is meadow vetchling, the lower and rather exotic picture is of a poppy (not wild as far as I can tell).

lack of punctuation

the air is full of butterflies especially ringlets and meadow browns, possibly because grasses have grown exceptionally well this year. This colourful specimen is a comma, showing only its upper wings (the eponymous mark is on the other side).

down at Downderry 2

Spot and Max under the soft cliffs at Downderry that are fast eroding into the sea, watching the gulls body surf, dreaming of being Jonathan Livingston SG himself. These days most gulls seem to hang out on farmland or close to take-away fast food outlets. I guess these are the nostalgic ones who like the occasional dip by the shore, the lonely sea and the sky.... and a star to steer them by.

down at Downderry

the red flower at the heart of the head of a wild carrot. It is not always very easy to see with a casual glance.

woodpecker lunchbar

one of our favourite garden visitors. This one looks like a juvenile, and there may well be a woodpecker nest in one of the larger trees in the garden. He was pecking away happily for some time at insects in the wood It is one reason why we like to keep dead wood in the garden. As I type (Spot's paws are too big for him to do his own typing) the sun is breaking through the clouds and we are set for another lovely sunny day ... apologies to all our faraway cousins for harping on about the good weather but it is very unusual down here in the South Wet.