On the Buddleia

 If you want a plant that attracts pollinators and requires very little maintenance indeed, then buddleia is the one. A lot of the time it will grow whether you want one or not, and can be cut back to stumps each year and still come back bigger and stronger in no time.

Its sweet smelling flowers are a magnet for insects, and if you come across one on your travels, be sure to look at the flower heads to see who is visiting. It could be anything. 

Our small one at work seems to have some butterfly or other on it every time I walked past it. On this occasion it was a beautiful peacock, in A1 condition, that I somehow managed to get decent photos of despite the breeze. 

A small tortoiseshell proved more problematic, and sadly these photos aren't as good. But, they'll do. They are colourful, at any rate!

There's even a first shot for the year of a common blue on pennyroyal as a bonus.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 14.08.21

New Spots for the Year

 Up on the Sconce Fort, it seems to be small copper season, flittering around amongst the harebells that are up there. They seem to like drier, sandier soil areas, and are surprisingly numerous up there where in 1646 Royalist soldiers defended the town from General Poyntz and his Scottish allies. 

My stepfather's garden is not a Royalist stronghold, but I did manage to find a holly blue skulking around when I went around for a cup of tea. 

Maybe holly blues are Roundheads?

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 12.08.21

Look at this Super Chonker!

 Cricket got rained off today after only three overs, so nothing of note to report there, other than the player's laughter laughing at my emergency poncho I rode home in. So instead, let us take a look at the walk to the park I had on Saturday, and what I found on the way.

At the island in the river, I went to have a look at a raggedy buddleia that was growing through a fence. And upon one of the flower heads, I found the mightiest beast in the hoverfly world, the hornet mimic hoverly. 

Normally these big beasties are, like most of their kin, very twitchy about being photographed, but it was a cool day and this one was obviously getting stuck into the nectar to make sure it had enough energy to flit about. Thus, it was co-operative about having its picture taken although the breezy conditions made it rather tricky and I only got two usable photos. 

Still, two was enough.

Later on, I was walking to the cricket ground to watch the first team, and in a garden came across what I can only describe as a giant thistle tree, and the bumblebees were really loving it. 

Pleased to have had some decent nature encounters this weekend. 

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 08.08.21

The Bees of Winthorpe Village

 On one of the nicer days earlier in the week I was able to walk into Winthorpe for a look around, it's not far and there are various nice ways of getting there from here. 

As it happened, pleasant stroll though it was, there wasn't a massive amount to see - it feels like life is already starting to ebb away as we enter the last month of summer. 

However, the rudenkia are out in one garden, rather a lot of them, and here the bees were making merry, making the day feel more alive as the dread dead months of October and November begin to loom large in my mind.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 06.08.21

I Think that was the Nadir

 We played Sneinton at the weekend, top of the league against us, nailed to the bottom despite our good bowling attack, and even though I was full of hope after a decent net on Thursday, it all turned to a steaming pile of crap in the match as usual.

As the opposition gleefully told us, no team had made more than 95 against them this season, so they should bat first to make more of a game of it. However, we soon felt we were making them eat their cocky words as our captain, who has been taking wickets for fun this year, soon got stuck into their batting order despite our father and son combo dropping five catches between them, a couple of which I think I might have held on a good day.

Which this wasn't. Luckily we had one of our lads having a great day in the field and he took two great catches. 

They were already 5 or 6 down when I came on to bowl my spell of left arm swingers, and things started pretty well to be honest - I beat the outside edge, was getting good carry through to the keeper despite the soggy pitch, and felt decent.

Things started to go wrong in my second over, when I had the batsman stone dead lbw, the ball hitting him on his shins in front of middle stump. According to the opposition umpire however, the ball was going over the stumps, which was interesting as this would have meant the stumps were about 12 inches high. 

It only got worse, as next over I bowled the batsman with a slower ball, only to hear a call of no ball go out very late, after the ball had hit the stumps. It's the first time this has happened to me and I wanted a big eagle to soar out of the sky and put its talons through my head.

Now, I don't bowl many front foot no balls these days, I think I've only bowled about 3 or 4 in the last 3 seasons. We won't mention the wides. However, this umpire decided that I was going to bowl 4 no-balls today, all of which were very late calls on balls that either beat the bat or looked like they were going close to the stumps. 

The spike marks from my foot were also in a completely different place from where he was indicating, and when I put my run up back a foot or two, I now found I was straining to reach the batting crease, and my balance and rhythm had gone completely, I was nearly falling over in delivery.

I won't say I wasn't bowling no balls, but something very strange was happening out there. I only went for four an over so it was hardly disastrous, but I felt terrible, 

We bowled them out for 138, which looked very like game on. However, their bowling attack was comfortably the best we've come across this year, better even than Eastwood's, and they went through us like the proverbial dose of salts. At number 11, and desperate to bat, I went out there thinking I could score a few runs against the spinner, but as soon as the first ball was bowled at me, which I kept out ok, I realised I had no idea of what I was doing out there at all; my balance was so bad I felt like I was going to fall over all the time. 

Second ball I couldn't even see and I sort of fell over while swiping across the line. This moment was the utter nadir of the season so far, I've never felt so ghastly on a cricket field as at that moment. 

Why do so many players make it look so bloody easy?

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 03.08.21

Moar Butterflies

 I've not really seen much to photograph this week, work is picking up the pace big time, and the weather has been a little bit too meh really.

However, I did get an enjoyable walk in through the park to Hawton, and then into Farndon to see what was happening in Cottage Lane reserve.

Walking and listening to the radio is such a delight to me, although my increasing middle aged-ness means I listen to Radio 4 more than 6 Music these days; I rather lost interest after Radcliffe and Maconie lost the afternoon show. I like being spoken to when out on my long walks without the hassle of having to say anything in return. It keeps me calm, and the spoken word means I can still pick out interesting sounds to investigate further.

I also like to see how many of the contestants I can beat on "Brain of Britain". I reckon I would have come second in the final once. Or rather my ego does. 

So, butterflies. To say it is the longest flying of all our UK species in my experience, I'm amazed I haven't been able to to get a decent photograph of a speckled wood until now, in its classic pose settled on a leaf waiting for another speckled wood to come close to attack it. 

Other butterflies fed off clustertop verbena in Farndon, while Cottage Lane reserve is full of purple and yellow loostrife, patrolled by brown hawker dragonflies. 

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 29.07.21

Many Many Butterflies

 No cricket match for me today, due to lack of ability and a sore shoulder, so I took myself out for a walk along the river this afternoon to watch the second team at Winthorpe.

The weather has cooled a little bit, and indeed got rather chilly later on when the wind veered to the north. But this didn't seem to deter the butterflies, that were about in large numbers on the riverside flowers, especially the ragwort. 

The dominant species out and about seemed to be the vivid orange gatekeepers, a meadow brown that their creators decided to neaten up and give a nicer paint job. But there were commas, skippers and the various white species too, although I was surprised not to see any small tortoiseshells around. 

Over the river, swallows, sand martins and house martins were busy feeding themselves up for their migration. It seems that the swifts, bless them, have started to leave.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 24.07.21