July already. The hottest June on record (by a distance) followed one of the driest ever Mays. And, oh how the landscape responds. Cracked earth and stunted crops. Blackened nettles and trees already wearing their early autumn clothes. Insect numbers have improved from the cold spring, but such was the paucity then that the numberContinue reading “Too tired”
Tag Archives: marbled white
Butterfly Summer
Water drips from the gutter edges and streams down the bulge of the waterbutt. The ridge beyond the field just a vague blur behind a screen of rain. Its welcome, to some degree, although perhaps not in such instant quantity. The woods where I walked last evening were dusty and bare, a few withered chanterellesContinue reading “Butterfly Summer”
Butterflies and Thistles
My daily checks of the grass snake colony (8 individuals is my best count so far) now have an added distraction. The landowner has left an area of old paddock to it’s own devices and the grasses and wildflowers have flourished, growing deep and dense enough for a roebuck to mooch within. Prime spotContinue reading “Butterflies and Thistles”
Kevin Parr 