Author Archives: JDO

I went for a walk in the village this afternoon, primarily looking for grasshoppers and crickets, and hit lucky in Tilly’s field. Not with the Orthoptera – there were a few grasshoppers around, but most of them had faster reactions … Continued

It rained for much of the day, giving me plenty of time to deal with a backlog of administrative tasks that had been building up. In the latter part of the afternoon the rain stopped and I wandered outside with … Continued

I went to Shropshire today, in search of Black Darters. Cardinal error: in checking the weather forecast, I neglected to look at the wind speed. After nearly two hours in the car, as I made the final, stomach-lurching ascent of … Continued

The hedge woundwort is going over and looking increasingly shabby, and on the principle that if it wasn’t providing nectar for the bees there wasn’t much point in keeping it, I’d been gearing myself up towards pulling it out and … Continued

The burdock is out along the bank of the Avon at Stratford, and this afternoon it was swarming with butterflies, most of which were Commas. I didn’t know before today that Commas find burdock nectar irresistible, but it must be … Continued

R and I were in Cardiff again today, where Baby B (nearly seven months old now!) was his best self for us. We had a wonderful day. While B was taking his late morning nap at home, we went off … Continued

The third day of the Alternative Olympic Games came to a  thrilling climax this afternoon, with the finals of the 1m Speed Feed (Bees, solitary) competition. As had been predicted by most pundits, this came down to a head-to-head between … Continued

While I knew in theory that butterflies will go into trees to take shelter when bad weather is on its way, this was the first time I’ve ever watched one actually do it. I was snapping a record shot of … Continued

Another day, another National Trust walk: because I’ve been feeling distinctly sub-prime this week, R (who has plenty of projects of his own to be getting on with) is taking care of me and getting me out of the house … Continued

As she’s known in the Biz. I’ve seen more female Black-tailed Skimmers in the past month than in the whole of the previous three years put together. Usually, while the blue and black males are highly visible, whizzing around over … Continued