Yes, that's right folks, there is something exciting on my local river, the Rother. A couple of days this week I've had cause to walk into the cetnre of the village, which involves crossing the small road bridge over the river. I've paused for a few minutes to look at the river to see if there were any exciting flighted things down there and saw several of these: (not my photo!)
I described them in great detail last night to the man, who now owns a field guide on these interesting insects... Everything fitted, the flapping of the wings like a butterfly, the habitat, the appearance and the distribution... :-) Certain people should be able to see them for themselves next week!Also of note were a pair of Grey Wagtails on the same stretch of river, I'm getting to be more and more of a fan of this bird... Apparently they have the longest tail of all the Wagtails!
This weekend was spent 'dahn in Essix' with the man.I got extremely tiddly at the Crown on Friday night and felt rather groggy in the morning when the man woke me up with tea... Blame his father for buying me doubles...Saturday was the day of the man's concert, so whilst he was off warming up and practising the old vocal chords, I was with certain family members of his watching and groaning over the Lions v South Africa match... We lost, in case you didn't know... But the second half had some damn good rugby.
The concert itself was pretty good, two other music connoisseurs came too, and agreed that the half in which the man was performing (Mozart's Requiem) was far better than the purely orchestral half... At least one of the violinists was VERY off, and there was a rather cringe-worthy moment with a French horn... Apres the concert I lost my shoe on the wet pavement, and we adjourned to the Victoria to eat peanuts and drink ourselves merry, whilst avoiding the croonings of the awful 'singer' in the bar... Bread and cheese were then consumed in very generous quantity whilst I admired a very nice Streptocarpus.
Sunday was lie-in day :-)
(this deserves a line all to itself)
In the afternoon I stole the man's car and explored the Ingrebourne Valley, whilst he and these people were suffering in a very hot and stuffy rehearsal studio...
I absolutely fell in love with Ingrebourne. The wild flowers and butterflies were fantastic, as were the sheer variety of damsel flies. Birds of note which I identified were: Whitethroat, Reed Bunting, Blackcap, Chiffchaff and hundreds of Long-tailed Tits with some Blue Tits mixed in... Also got a great view of a Wren with a beak stuffed full of fluff :-) On the butterfly count I got: Painted Lady, Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown, Large White and Small Blue. Damsel flies were blue, green, red, black and white striped, and that one with the black splodges on the top wings - ask the people with the book... All very pretty though.
Rainham was done with this person, being a fellow scrounger off the state... Nothing hugely exciting was seen on the bird front, although we got some great views of Reed and Sedge Warblers and Reed Buntings. There was also an obliging female Blackcap and many Whitethroats. I also got a good view of what I'm certain was a Stonechat (having since conferred with the appropriate text). There was also one life and year tick for me - a Mediterranean Gull - which is so exciting it isn't even in my pocket-sized RSPB Guide to British Birds which covers 174 species - obviously not enough... The Little Egrets were on fine form, and there was one female mallard who had 10 quite large ducklings with her! - well done Missus!
I got excited over damsel flies and the wild flowers mainly though. I'd purchased prior to starting the circuit a proper field guide of wild flowers of Britain and Northern Europe, and it came in very useful! Many of the plants I knew, or if I did not know them, I could at least take an educated guess at their family - many pea family plants there! An exciting find was a Dark Mullein, with delicate yellow flowers with vibrant purple anthers... :-) I was able to have an erudite conversation with a nice old chap who chatted to us a couple of times, on this particular plant... :-) I think I came across like I knew what I was talking about (which I definitely didn't!).
A new butterfly sighting for the year was a Woodland Ringlet (see this person's blog for pikkies), which I don't recall ever having seen and identified before... Meadow Brown were out in strength, as were the Large and Small Whites. We also found ourselves a Peacock and a Cinnibar Moth.
However, in the whole of Rainham we never saw a Water Vole! :-( Heard one munching some reeds and one point, but no sighting at all... Pity, they're cute little things...
And now I am back in sunny Hampshire and awaiting some news on a potential job interview - Mental Health Paralegal in Guildford - I had a phone call about it whilst eating a sausage sandwich at Rainham yesterday... *crosses fingers*
Today is a good day...Because:1) I had a lie-in for the whole morning :-)
2) I went for a lovely long walk with my parents along the river and saw a Grey Wagtail and several bright blue damsel-flies
3) I wrote to a friend of a friend earlier this week who happens to be the senior partner of a local solicitors firm, asking for some work experience, and he replied today asking for my CV!
4) I'm doing some babysitting tomorrow morning and all day Wednesday next week, so will be adding to my little stock-pile of extra cash, and
5) I'm seeing the man again tomorrow afternoon! :-)
I haven't posted much over the last few days, I know, I'm a poor blogger, still, I'd rather write about interesting things, than bore you with my inane prattlings...
On Thursday I took the bike out... what an experience that was... I came back aching like mad and with several fresh bruises, but still smiling. I took it along the long and fairly straight riverside walk (which also counts as a 'cycle track' round here) and managed to stay on the whole time! Though I did almost run over a rather friendly nice-looking golden retriever, much to its owners concern (at the dog) and disgust (at me). The man has now taken the silly toe-hold thingys off the pedals now, so it should be easier to ride! I also have the promise of 'being found' a helmet and groovy fluorescent jacket, though I think that will mean an expedition into the shed...
On Friday I did laundry and prepared a nice evening meal for said man, who arrived in his little red car at just gone 9 o'clock... His second trip down to sunny Hampshire under his own steam... (or petrol).
Saturday saw us on our way (with packed lunch in tow) to the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum which features historic buildings like this (stolen from the website, more pikkies will follow from the man):
The museum covers quite a large site, on the edge of the South Downs, and incorporates deciduous woodland and traditional farmland. All the buildings have been rescued from destruction and re-erected at the museum, coming from Hampshire, Sussex, Surrey and Kent. Definitely a place to spend the best part of a day at. They've got a fantastic working watermill and pond, with some incredibly friendly mallards... :-) "quack". One of the females adopted us during our afternoon cup of tea/piece of cake, and actually ate bits of cake from our hands :-) - the funniest sight was seeing her waddle off with crumbs of chocolate cake around her bill...! Aww... :-)
Whilst we were at the museum we saw hundreds of Swallows - all nesting in the old buildings - perfect territory for them with the fields and meadows nearby. There was also an incredibly loud Chaffinch which we had some lovely views of. The Wrens were also very loud - we were serenaded by one as we sat under a tree munching our way through cheese and pickle sandwiches...
In my opinion though, the best were the proper 'cottage' gardens which had been planted up around some of the buildings... A fantastic mix of traditional vegetables, old-fashioned rambling roses, herbs and flowers... With chickens pecking around wandering freely... :-)
We also met Neville the Shire horse, but I'll let the man tell the funny story...
All in all a good day was had, with fantastic weather - the man even got a bit sun burned. It was all rounded off very nicely with an evening meal with my dad.
Sunday was the day of The Concert. Yes it was time for me to show off as one of the newest (and certainly the youngest) member of The Waverley Singers, in our concert of 'Music for a Summer Evening', and a summer evening it certainly was! Everything went to plan, and the sopranos actually managed to get a certain passage right, which had evaded us throughout the whole of the rehearsal that afternoon! The concert was a good mix of Elgar, Britten, Vaughan Williams and Percy Grainger. It seemed to go down very well, and the guest Tenor and Harpist were excellent. I also got complimented twice afterwards :-). After it finished we drank wine (or Orange juice if driving!) and ate W.I. style sandwiches whilst watching the amazing number of Swifts in and around the Churchyard.
Today the man went home... :-(
But on Friday I'm off up to his for a long weekend :-) - he's got his choir's concert on Saturday evening...
I have a loan of a bicycle! - a nice one too!-
I must remind the man to remember to bring down all his 'bicycle-related' accessories when he drives down on Friday (!)
However, the front mud-guard is a bit bent, so something needs doing about that, and the higher gear lever thingy doesn't work - so currently I can get from 1st to 3rd, but no further... The man and I shall visit a bicycle shop on the weekend hopefully and put right these minor problems... Yay!
I shall soon be the fluorescent queen - you ain't going to be able to miss me on the roads...
I described them in great detail last night to the man, who now owns a field guide on these interesting insects... Everything fitted, the flapping of the wings like a butterfly, the habitat, the appearance and the distribution... :-) Certain people should be able to see them for themselves next week!
