A Splotchy Ladybird

Back to walking today, and a fairly standard Boris Walk route today, basically all the day to one end of town, and back up to the other along the river.

This seemed to be a popular choice of route today, quite a few folk out walking, in a socially distanced way, although having to vacate a pavement for a guy on one of those daft motorised single wheel devices was very annoying.

Nature-wise I still haven't seen any swifts; they are obviously snubbing this town, as they have now been reported virtually everywhere else in the county. Cheeky things!

Only insects I saw today were to 7 spotted lady birds within inches of each other on flowering nettle. Same species, but rather different as one of ladybirds had had a malfunction with its spot-maker, leaving it looking rather splotchy.

Like me after attempting to paint anything.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 03.05.20

Different Flavours of Crocus

So, I have found for you the four basic colours of crocus that are to be found in Newark Cemetery, opening up now in all their  glory but no early bees feeding off them in these winds.

Bees are a little late for me this year, I've usually seen the first brave buzzers around mid February the last couple of years. They are about the only things I've seen round here that appear to be late this spring.

I wonder what the flavour of a crocus really is. The squirrels certainly enjoy eating them; the shy little fellow in the below pictures I caught red handed in the act of nabbing a purple one and scooting up a tree.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 25.02.20

A Spot of Baby Squirrel Rescue

Well, it's been a bizarre sort of day, begun at 530am when the wasp I had left sleeping in my window sill last night decided during the night to make its way onto my duvet cover for a warm up and stung me on the arm before disappearing.

Bugger will end up stinging me again.

Anyway fast forward to 3pm, and I went off for a walk through the cemetery, where saxifrage and buttercups have now appeared, the last wave of spring flowers before everything will get cropped back at the beginning of June. I was hesitant as to how far out to walk, as we have had rumbles of thunder and squally showers all day.

I was just hesitating and faffing about by the sword cross, when I looked down and caught a glimpse of something furry in the grass. I quickly realised it was too small for a rat, went for a close up examination and saw it was a baby squirrel, still with eyes unopened and utterly helpless.

I had no idea what to do, as the heavy rain was just started to come down again and the youngster was in full view of any passing dog, cat or person. It was also rather cold.

So, I picked it up - its feet were comically huge - and put it in my fleece pocket to warm up while I headed out of the rain with my new friend, who gradually warmed up and got more active in their little zipped up cave.

I contacted a vet nurse that I knew, who advised to put it back out of sight near where I had found it. So, now nice and warm and active, and with the rain stopped, that's what I did so, looking for a tree with a drey in it as the most likely place it had fallen from.

So I hope my little furry friend will get found and looked after. I probably did the wrong thing, but I just didn't want to leave the little character out in torrential rain.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 25.04.19

Squirrels Eating Crocus!

The squirrels in the cemetery - and there are a lot of them with sometimes 6 or 7 of them in view at any one time - have been very active in the mild recent weather, looking for any opportunity to forage for food in between the cold snaps.

When they pause to feed, paws to mouth, I always try and work out what they are munching on which is tricky as squirrels being squirrels don't tend to let you get close enough to see without haring it up a tree trunk.

But the colour of what they were eating stood out plain. Flashes of purple, flashes of white. They were not eating nuts or  seeds, they were eating flowers! Specifically, crocuses.

This would explain why every now and then you'd come across a little patch of crocuses on the ground that looked like they'd been vandalised by pixies. It was not little folk who were the rioters, rather bushy tailed ruffians, grabbing the flowers and running up into the branches to eat them.

Cheeky sods!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 13.02.19

24 Hour Party Squirrels

Sorry for the lack of exciting (!) updates over the last couple of days, I've had a bit of a major event taking place, and I'm utterly exhausted.

We've now had the 24 Hour Static Bike Race at work.

We started at midday on Monday, with four intrepid riders sat on their noble, if immobile steeds, in two trailers supplied by our nominated charity, and ran right the way through until midday today.

I was there at the start, and I was there for the finish, with local media attending, after working a twelve hour stint from midnight this morning, during which time I rode two one hour stints myself.

The highlight was setting the greatest distance by a male in a one hour period (38.00km) although as an organiser I don't get to win a prize, the low point was having the trailer doors thrown open (at a very cold and windy 6am) in an attempt to clear the facility of the combined man-stink of me and another rider.

You'd have thought our combined pheromones would have been desirable.

I managed to stay awake for about 28-30 hours continually, apart from a sneaky 5 minute nap in the warm - gosh how I needed that - and was really ready for bed when I cycled home at 130pm.

(That cycle home that tired wasn't very nice, I do not recommend it).

Going to bed however was delayed by the appearance of squirrel in my little oak tree, whom I noticed pick a substantial twig up from the ground before taking it up onto a bough to seemingly strip of something. Until it caught me watching it, at which point it dropped the twig and scarpered.

Sorry, nutkin!!! But it was a nice interlude before a bit of (not enough) sleep.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 05.12.17

Squirrel Funs

The bright weather has brought the squirrels out in abundance.

Paying no respect to the dead, the other day brought 7 squirrels within about ten metres of each other in the cemetery, feeding on the ground. In addition to that, another two provided more aerial entertainment, crashing about through the trees and chasing each other around like maniacs in a display of savage, Tufty murdering aggression.

Why those two were being so territorial - assuming it was two males - while the others were content to graze calmly around the bases of the trees, is beyond me.

I'm not sure what they were feeding off, but judging by the digging activity, it might have been that unused food caches from the mild winter might have been being dug up. I feel like joining them, with my current "nowt but fruit" diet for my lunchtimes at work.

When Mick Jagger wrote "I can't get no satisfaction" he must have been talking about having a banana for lunch.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 11.04.16

"Siiiiii-siiiiii-siiii" said the Tiny Bird

The weather is as nauseatic grey today as it was yesterday, but at least it has been far drier. The wind howled, but my feeders stayed on the tree, and I was able to cycle to the park without being blown to Doncaster, as it turned out.

Although it was still a struggle.

I've enjoyed walking around the park, camera at the ready, but I haven't really found anything much to photograph apart from the very fat squirrels that rampage around the trees of the old wood like furry vandals. Today was different. There were blackbirds ransacking berries from the bushes, plenty of gulls and magpies overhead, and great tits and robins teased the camera before defiantly deciding they weren't going to be photographed.

The treat, however, was heard before it was seen. I had divested my ears of Nicola Sturgeon on Desert Island Discs and was listening to a scolding robin somewhere in the undergrowth when superimposed was a much higher and persistent little "Siiiii-siii-siii" call coming from somewhere over my head.

At first I thought it was a long tailed tit, but when the culprits flitted into view it was clear that this was not the case. The culprits were a pair of goldcrests, the first I'd seen in a while, doing their hummingbird thing about three metres up.

They are too restless to be an easy target, but I got one good shot of these pretty little birds who charm me with their great fearlessness.

Mission accomplished! I was allowed my cup of tea now.

Si

All images and text copyright CreamCrackeredNature 15.11.15

Here's a drey. Wonder who lives there?

Probably this chap

Podgy little thing, isn't he?

GOALBALL! As US Soccer Guy on Twitter would say.

First winter blackbird??? Looks like a gape there.

Agreeably posing

Lots of berries to feed on!

Goldcrest!

Squirrey the Squirrel went "Neep neep neep"...

Well today was a far more productive day, although it didn't seem like it was going to be this morning. I was awake early, but I was faffing far too much, listening to the absurdly difficult literary quiz show on Radio 4 Extra and then making myself a decent breakfast for a change; eggs on toast with enoki mushrooms.

Why I had bought these enoki mushrooms is beyond me; they are expensive and tasted pretty much the same as any other mushroom I've ever eaten i.e. of not a whole lot. It was just a strange craving I had for unusual fungal matter. Perhaps I'm pregnant.

I went to the park on yet another photographic mission, and once again the weather was horrible. The rain pelted down driven by a strong southerly wind and the birds kept to the high branches, singing mockingly at me as they did so. Long tailed tits were about, but never settled long enough for a shot, and the normally tame enough pied wagtails kept a distance.

Luckily a chubby squirrel was on hand to provide a good, if obvious, photographic target.

The day wasn't done with me yet. As I walked through the market square, there was a tremendous commotion overhead, and two large echelons of geese came honking past low over the town. I was cursing not being able to get even my mobile phone camera ready in time, but I was amazed to see the geese loop round and come back over the market aqain.

I'm pretty sure they were canada geese - it was hard to tell in the dead grey light - but I've never seen them flying in such large formations, at that time of day; it was 1pm. I wonder if they had been spooked from a body of water somewhere.

Even later on, I got a solid ten mile run in as the light fell. Still not good enough in terms of marathon training - less than three weeks to go now - but a decent trip out nonetheless.

Hope the weather isn't stopping you from getting out.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 09.11.15