Nature's Arch

We've seen a lot of rainbows from our house (yes, it's because we have a lot of rain showers followed by sunshine).

The latest arch of light had intense, deep color, was a perfect bow, and was doubled, too!

As you can see, our locust tree's fall cloak is beginning to show

Rosy Evening

We walked down to the pub last week for their fortnightly movie event, and were lucky enough to see this glorious sight on our way there - we thought it was going to make us late because we kept stopping for more photos!

We are so lucky to be in such a gorgeous spot

On our walk home, we had fantastic views of the Big Dipper, too - how lovely it is to be on foot!

Litter Picking

I've become involved in our local litter picking group, and now have my own equipment from the umbrella group BRACE (Building Resilience And Community Engagement) so I can collect litter any time, with the right supplies.

I'm really happy to report that I'm not finding much trash! It takes many hours to fill a bag, which is unusual. I shouldn't complain, because it takes me out to all parts of town, giving me new perspectives on familiar places, and the opportunity to explore new areas.

This is the stream known as Afon Abel not far from our home. It's fenced off and its banks and flow have been modified over time.

All the litter collected this week was displayed at the Public Institute last Sunday, sign courtesy of moi.

Autumn

We're experiencing familiar northern hemisphere cooling as autumn approaches, with temps dropping to 47° F overnight and warming to between 57° and 65° F during the day. Robins still bathe regularly in our mini 'lake'.

It's crisp and beautiful outdoors in the daylight hours. I especially love the smell of quinces ripening in the sunshine.

Quinces in June

Quinces in September

Quince paste and quince jelly is now on my 'to-do' list ... We don't have a functional heating system in the house yet - our heat pumps are scheduled for installation in the last weeks in October, but I'm expecting it will be later than that. We have a small woodstove, which we might be forced to use before then.

Quiz Answer

The beautiful pattern from yesterday is the abdomen of a European garden spider, Araneus diadematus, an orb weaver. 

The suggestions I got were fascinating, and could conceivably have been:

a cowrie shell

snake skin

mould

something Dale needs to have looked at by a professional

frog/toad skin

caterpillar

some kind of plant

two people suggested it might be part of an insect,

and one said

an arachnid! (which it is)

Every time I went back to re-photograph it, the little rascal would scurry off into the brush. Why? Because spiders have sensory hairs on the legs and bodies that alerts them to puffs of air and vibrations. These thin hairs on their legs and bodies are called trichobothria - so effective and sensitive.

Quiz Time

 What is this? Do you have any ideas?

I've had to keep it small so as not to lose definition ...

 Answer will be posted tomorrow ...

Count My Spots

The Seven-spot Ladybird beetle is an aphid hunter, and here's one honing in on its banquet of rose aphids (those little green guys on the stem, and under the furthest leaf - there are a lot of them).

The scientific name of this little native is Coccinella septempunctata, literally translating as the 'seven-spotted scarlet beetle, so apt!

Just look at this fierce face - it must be terrifying for an aphid to see this armored, dome-shaped tank approaching!

Darting Visitor

Common darter is a reddish dragonfly that's been coming to our pond, but never staying still long enough to get photographed. I stalked it this time, and waited patiently at a frequently used landing spot - success at last! And then I read on Wikipedia that its 'habit of repeatedly returning to a sunny spot allows you to easily predict where they are going to land, which is why it is one of the easiest dragonflies to photograph.' Harumph ... it has taken me a few weeks to nail this one down (shh, don't tell anybody).

Prickly Visitor

Our resident hedgehog has been partaking of the food we've been putting out almost daily, and certainly very regularly. Since they're nocturnal, we don't always get a chance to see them ourselves, but we got lucky one evening when it came earlier than usual - Dale took this pic from the living room window when the camera spotlight turned on. 

Our feed station has to be cat proof, otherwise they'd munch all the food before the hedgehog got there. So, we've made a maze of bricks inside an overturned tote bin, forcing the animal to weave and turn inside the tote in order to reach the food bowl.

and we've cut a small entranceway into the plastic tote. Though we've seen cats peek inside this entrance, they're nervous about the interior labyrinth that doesn't lend itself to a quick escape. This way, only the dim, adorable hedgehog gets to eat the food!

Bore Da

Good morning from Wales, or bor-eh dah!

This was earlier than my normal wake up, so took advantage of the opportunity

This appearance of the sun was a false promise though

It's became grey and colorless from 9AM, so I'm glad I got to see this.

Overnight Slime

 This slime mould appeared overnight on our new pond log

The next day it looked like this

and it became more pink as the hours went by (this is 2 hours later). This apparently happens as its reproductive structures mature.

Slime moulds! Phenomenal things - they can move as a creeping mass to hunt for food, consuming yeasts, bacteria, and fungal spores. They're not fungi, plant or animal - they're classified as protists.

Incy Wincy Spider

This helpful house spider does a good job of making itself look fearsome - total bluff, though, it's harmless. I love seeing the sparse hairs on its legs at (safe) close range. There are some beautiful markings on its abdomen too, and its arm-like mouthparts look like eyes on stalks.

Singing Praise

Yay! I have a working sewing machine again! And this modern one is for old people - it has an auto needle threader. I never knew there was such a thing, but man is it useful.

Torn towels have been strengthened, jeans have been patched and t-shirt holes fixed. Pity I had to do my curtains by hand, but never mind, it gave me something to do inside when it was raining back in May and June.

A Visit to Holyhead

Last week we took a scenic, rainy drive to 'kair-guh-bee,' (Caergybi, aka Cybi's fort), better known in the English-speaking world as Holyhead. In Roman times the town was called Sacrum Promentarium, which means ... Holyhead. It's perched off the Isle of Anglesey in the far northwest corner of Wales.

We didn't stop to do much sightseeing along the way because it looked like this:

The remains of the fort up on the hill

Typical Victorian era train station with a beautiful clock tower off to its left.

As you can see, it was a grey day

Ancient castellated wall

 

Modern castellated wall

The secret is out - I saw my Christmas presents on their way! 

Pheasants

We had great views of this beautiful non-native male game bird (originally from Asia), Phasianus colchicus or common pheasant, as it strutted atop our pergola, annoyed at a neighborhood cat's encroachment into our garden.

Photo: D.Schultz

These beautiful creatures replaced the native grouse which were decimated when game bird shooting became a popular sport in the 19th century. Pheasants were imported and raised specifically for the shoot. Young birds were kept en masse in enclosures on an estate by a gamekeeper until the shooting season began, at which point they were driven through the valleys, undergrowth and steep terrain by beaters and dogs to flush them into the air to be killed.

Those not shot got to live another day, this time unfenced and free to roam and breed. And so these birds have spread and multiplied in the wild, their numbers being supplemented each year with the next 'lucky' escapees.

Today Dale saw a flock of 13 land in the field above our house.

Outstanding Tree

Look at this outstanding tree that has been left on the hillside, and how different the vegetation is directly beneath and around it. It ... stands out!

Footbridge

This wooden footbridge over the River Banwy (Afon Banwy) in Llanfair-Caereinion is pretty impressive

It leads to the town center, where there is a stone monument to the Welsh bard Taliesin, so I'll be back to explore this legend further. The Banwy was full, yet many reservoirs are still showing a deficit from the recent drought.

The Pond Log

Here's more on what we're doing in our efforts to restore our pond - we sourced some logs 'with character' from a friend's fallen tree (foreground), and

packed them into the back of the car with the trunk unlatched (a saga of its own in a car full of electronic beeping sounds and ultra-safety concerns that involved an automated, unnecessary use of the emergency brake at a most inappropriate time).

We strapped them onto our 'dolly'/sack cart, and then Dale wheeled them around the house to the pond area.

 He expertly placed them exactly where they 'spoke' to him. Since then, we've been harvesting moss fragments wherever it's not wanted, and we're slowly disguising the edges of the pond liner with it.

And, of course, our wildlife visitor's book for the pond has grown since then too

Photo: D Schultz