Caterpillar & Cloud Spotting.

Recently, we all went for a walk with our dog Poppy. My reasons for going out were for fresh air, a change of scenery and to take photographs of interesting finds.

Along our walk we came across many interesting plants from purple grasses to the dying thistles. We were also fortunate enough to spot a few insects in front of my wheels. I wasn’t quick enough to capture them all, but here are a few photos from the walk we had that sparked my mind off.

We have seen a lot of these caterpillars over the years. With loving horses, there is inevitably a lot of ragwort to be moved out. The ragwort seems to be their favourite place. I had never thought about what they metamorphosed into before now. It turns out they are the cinnabar moth caterpillar. On our first visit to this same area, Miss A spotted a cinnabar moth hiding from the rain.

Lots of information can be found about their habitat, and the moth they become on the Wildlife trust website.

A little further along the path I was brought to a stop again. At first I had thought there was a twig on the path, but then it moved. As I got closer, I could clearly see it was a caterpillar wiggling its way across the path to safety. It was massive compared to the cinnabar caterpillar, and it turns out it is an elephant hawk moth caterpillar. I have never seen one of these moths, but they look very pretty in the photos here.

As we continued on, we reached the small waterfall area I had wanted to show the children. When I was last there it had been a sunny, warm day and there were children playing in the water. This was not a day to do that, but it was still beautiful.

The path is a circular walk around a mound with a viewing point on the peak. I have ventured up there once, but will not do so again. The paths are not made for a wheelchair, but the view from up there included this area with the waterfall, and the fishing lake it flows down to. This point is around a quarter of the walk. Continuing from there, slightly uphill the path continued with trees on each side. On the left of the path were lower plants with higher trees to our right. I was so surprised to see this sight, I called everyone over to see. I had never seen so many beetles in one spot before, and so much destruction to one plant. On looking them up I found they are Alder leaf beetles. Along the side of the path were plant after plant, all covered in these shiny blue beetles, munching away merrily, leaves peppered with holes all over. From looking this up on the RHS it seems that this doesn’t actually harm the plant.

Continuing from here, we rounded the corner to the last half of the walk which let us view the old colliery building, the path up to the viewing point and a landscaped area between the two.

As I waited for the others to return, I tried spotting more insects and flowers, but also remembered that several years ago, we took the children with us and camped over at a literature festival in the Welsh countryside. It was held at a national trust house and grounds, filled with tents housing authors, workshops and refreshments. One of the talks we attended was by a man who had started a cloud appreciation society for a bit of fun. He had been amazed at how popular it had become and was there to encourage us all to look up and notice what can be found above us (mouths firmly closed). Ever since, we have, as a family, looked to the skies and commented on the shapes, faces and animals we can spot up there in nature’s lava lamp. I think this looks like a stereotypical UFO with the ring in the centre as the light. Hubby thinks it looks more like a snail. What do you see?

I returned to the starting spot, waiting for the loud return of the four children, hubby and Poppy. Long grasses line the path and mark the start of the decline to a picturesque but inaccessible stream. These last two photos, I think are interesting, not only because they show the grasses as being huge, but also because they were taken in the same place, consecutively, yet look so different. It makes me think of the instagram photos you see of smiling children, all looking at the camera at the same timer with clean faces and no debris surrounding them, or the perfectly posed shots showing no fat, rolls or blemishes. That simply isn’t real life. Reality has its imperfections and that is what makes life. Which of the two do you think would make the instagram cut?

A day in pictures

This was how my 'relaxing day in the sun' began. I pass this area on my way down the ramp tothe back garden, so we have most of our potted plants together. I love it- they are so bright and smell amazing too. We already have bees visiting and a plethora of butterflies too. Our of shot are angel wings, roses, herbs and a selection of colourful flowers. We are also hoping the meadow flower mix will take but perhaps we left it a tad late this year.

The bark sesemed dry so I decided to top them up with water early on, givew them a fighting chance. The heat hit me as I left the house, like when you go on holiday and leave the aeroplane to a wall of warmth. I was so impressed with the strength of the rainbow it deserved to be captured in a photograph. If only it was that easy to create a pot of gold at the end too ...

Hubby arrived home with Miss G and her BFF just as Miss A was getting into mischief in the hot tub. I haad found myself a sunny area to relax in with my books, drinks and dogs and had even been able to drag a chair around again as a foot rest for my terribly swollen feet and legs (not heat related). The dogs had their campbed out in the shade (of course they didn't use it, preferring to lie in the sun and pant terribly (so Miss A soaked them a few times to help cool them down, especially our largest). We started off with two of these water cannons, ended up with just one, but the girls all had good fun soaking eachother, making it rain and cleaning the top floor windows. Strict rules over not soaking me or my chair were about it. The trampoline, garden and all who entered it were fair game.

Miss A and I had prepared for the day together as we left the house by collecting jars of water and adding mint. Apparently wasps don't like mint plants so it was something we had to try. I was ready with my Migralens overglasses on, two books to read, umbrella (it did rain later on a few times so I just carried on sitting there in the sticky heat, but in the shade of our beautiful inside out umbrella). 

I don't know how I managed it, but i finished reading How to be human, then moved on to this book pictured and have got to the point where the plot is becoming unravelled and it is getting more interesting. It seemed that I was being called every few seconds 'mummy...'.....'mummy....' with the oddest questions (actually fairly regular in our home). Between Miss A calling me, Miss G getting hot and bothered and not coping very well with it, then her BFF being left outside whilst Miss G calmed down again, I don't know how I managed to take in anything from the books or my surroundings. I felt like having bacon on the barbecue so did a quick amazon now order and we waited for our early evening delivery.

As soon as the delivery was made- Morrisons food in brown paper bags- the veg was chopped, sausages and bacon on a clean tray and out we went. The BBQ was heated (gas thank goodness or we would still be out there now waiting for it to heat up from our previous experiences), and on went our tea. We had sweet potato slices, courgette slices, onions, mixed vegetables, peppers (I love them when the skin is burnt and bubbles), gluten free chipolatas and, of course, bacon. 

We were umming and ahhing over whether to purchase a barbecue. Not being huge meat eaters we wondered whether it would be worth the money- would it be used enough? Since we have had it and found the patio gas we have had atleast four barbecues already. Vegetable kebabs, melted cheese on sausages...delicious. We were talking last night about whether we should have gone for the larger size- it never seems to be just our family here, we always have visitors....maybe next year 

After all the sun, reading, children, cooking, eating and drinking, a dip in thehot tub was in order. Not very dignified or graceful, but I got in and out safely