Wednesday, 3 July 2013

Let the pictures tell the story

The idea of this blog being a sort of Captain's Log of the farm and my daily activities is quite appealing to me. It lacks the rigour of a database structure so searching is perhaps more difficult but it enables me to check back over time and make comparisons, evoke memories and generally keep a handle on my passing days. So far so good. Like all bloggers I write articles in my head as I go about my tasks and often take pictures with an eye to displaying them here later, it's only when the moment comes to set it out that my strength fails me.


wood splitting

So today, pictures first and explanations a sorry second. Last week the man was here so we spent a lot of time doing lumberjack work, taking down the fallen tree mentioned before and cutting and splitting useful amounts of wood to stack. It's a bit mad doing this sort of work in the height of the sun but for various reasons during the cold months we didn't have the resources and we need that wood seasoning now or it will be a chilly winter next time.

sexton beetle

It's odd I've never seen one of these before, or at least I don't remember one. It's a sexton beetle which likes nothing better than to find some animal corpse and bury it underground.

burnet

Five spot or six spot Burnet moth? Take your pick because I can't tell which it is at all. It was a lovely fresh specimen though and I was pleased to see it. Butterflies and moths are still in very short supply around here. On the 26th June we saw a Painted Lady and a Clouded Yellow butterfly, both migrants, but they seem to have kept going and none of their friends have arrived. The Meadow Browns are just waking up, I've seen a Ringlet or two, some pretty Speckled Woods in the forest and a Skipper. Just one Red Admiral and nothing else much for the last month.

Back soon with gardening updates, I hope.
 
flowers of the lovage

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