Thursday 20 May 2010

Damp, Dank And Dark!

Well, that was yesterdays weather anyway: a day of low misty cloud that blocked out the view of the surrounding fields; the sort of weather that makes you feel you should be in bed rather than up and outside working.  It stayed that way all day, and by six o'clock the goats were queuing up to come in from the field. This is a view from my bedroom window, looking towards the east.  As you can see there isn't much to see other than mist.


This sort of weather always makes me want to watch Hound Of The Baskervilles with Basil Rathbone: one of my favourite films.  It is the sort of weather for traipsing across Exmoor on mysterious and dangerous escapades. 

Today the mist is so thick that I can barely see the hedgerow.  The heatwave is supposed to arrive tomorrow, but seeing is believing: I have been let down by the Met Office far too often in the past to trust them! :-)

The day before yesterday, while we had a little sunshine, I photographed the eggs of the Dock Beetle: Gastrophysa Viridula.  They are easily spotted on the undersides of Dock leaves.  No wonder the female was so bloated with eggs this size.


   The adults were still busying themselves mating. 


This is a beetle that they are using as a natural control of Dock on farm land: farmers are being encouraged to breed their own supplies and then release them where needed. If you are new to my blog there are more images and info on this beetle here: http://myworldinphotosandwords.blogspot.com/2010/05/good-year-for-insects.html

P.S. Many thanks for everyones visits and comments; they are much appreciated, as I get great pleasure out of photographing the world around me, and it is nice to know that others enjoy the photos. :-)

4 comments:

  1. I used to love days like this in your first photo, rainy days sometimes meant no work,
    often I would go and sit by the badger dens and wait for the badger to return early mornings from its nights foraging, they had the same disadvantage they could not see me until it was to late its just a shame I was not into photography in them days. I did it just too see them close up. sometimes a fox would have been in the den afraid of moving out cos I was there. then there would be a few yelps and out came the fox and leg it as fast as it could,
    badgers are not that afraid of humans its just they shy away from confrontation but if I was in the way of them getting to the den they would just shove past.

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  2. Unfortunately Tony I have only seen a live badger once from a distance as it disappeared into a field. You are so lucky to have seen them close up.

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  3. That mist and cloud look familiar Kelly :-) I wondered where it had gone! Sunshine and warm here today :-)

    Lovely looking hedgerow BTW

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  4. You weren`t kidding about the weather, Kerry. It looks awful there.
    Great shot of the beetle eggs.

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About Me

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I live in North Wales and spend my time caring for animals, walking in the countryside, photographing nature and reading. I hope to share, in photographs and words, some of the beauty that I see. If you enjoy the photographs on this blog then you might like to take a look at my Flickr photostream. View my complete profile for links to both of my blogs.