Life on the Curry Plant

 Many many years ago we tried to dig out and plant a wildflower herb garden for pollinators at the entrance to our work campus. 

It failed. The soil is terrible, we weren't given time to maintain it, and anything we have tried to plant in it recently has died, with two main exceptions. 

One is a rather nice smelling sage plant. The other is a rampant curry plant, that is currently in full flower with its little bright yellow flowers, and also smells - to my poor nose - awful, especially in hot weather. 

Plants are not supposed to smell like curry! It's just plain wrong. 

It does attract pollinators, but more flies, than bees and butterflies. However, today, it did have some very fast moving tiny bees that never settled, and I captured entirely by accident on the wing. A possible clover blunthorn bee, a species utterly unknown to me until today. I'm going on the pale patch on the face, and, er, what iNaturalist says. 

Most of the other denizens are beetles, hoverflies. flies and various less glamorous, but still important, little pollinators. 

They all have their uses. 

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 18.06.25

Tiny Moths and Tiny Hoverflies

 A few days of very pleasant weather this week, which has brought out various insects to the remaining flowers in parks and gardens around town.

One such specimen, a tiny pepper type moth, found its way to random groundsel growing in one of my planters, while an equally tiny glodetail hoverfly visited cranesbill in a church planter. 

In the park, there's been shield bugs reading my book, and ladybirds watching me drink shandy.

It has been a rare good week for nature this week, I'd say. 

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 19.09.24

Autumn is Here

 It's October, one of what I think of as my two "doom" months, where wildlife and flora declines and everything goes green and brown, until December where the first snowdrops appear indicating that spring is on the way. 

I've restarted running now the cricket season is over. It was a painful and slow start, by golly gee I get so stiff now after a run compared to my younger days. But after a few weeks, I'm back under 30 minutes for 5km, so I've still got a bit of fitness left. 

It really helps with my mental health too, burning up some of that Tourette's and ADHD energy that would be otherwise used in highly constructive pursuits like waving my arms around, or hurting my already tic destroyed neck that is waking me up every morning with painful little spasms. 

The odd hirundid makes its way over the workplace, where the kestrel has resumed hunting after breeding season, and buzzards try and find thermals on the brighter days. Hopefully with the warm weekend forecast they will be able to do that.

But as thing stand now, rain is falling on the washing on my line. First world problems eh?

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 05.10.23

Autumn Views

 We never had much of a summer did we, and now it's September and it's seemingly starting after it has ended. 

There's very few flowers in bloom at work, with bristly ox tongue being the main food plant for pollinators at work. 

It is berry and seed season, and now the goldfinches are flocking again, ransacking the teasel heads and making a heck of a racket while they are at it. 

I'm enjoying whatever colour is left.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 03.09.23

Pints and Run Outs

 I wasn't captain, for our home Sunday game against West Bridgford Legion, but as I arrived at the ground an hour before the match and spent time giving myself rope burns sorting out the entire boundary, I sure felt like I was. 

As I did when finding the scorebook, rooting around for a match ball, and wondering anxiously if eleven players would actually show up after a major club drinking session the night before. 

But, they did, albeit very hungover, and rather more interested in watching Ben Stokes bat in the test match than our own lads as we batted first against a very friendly opposition side, one of whom was enjoying the bar facilities liberally while he fielded at deep square leg with pints hidden behind the scoreboard. 

We had a strange sort of innings, with fast scoring but regular wickets falling as the pitch proved be a bit two paced. A deluge of extras courtesy of a pace bowler with a distinctly suspect action helped move things along, but every so often a ball would keep low and castle the stumps. Thankfully one of our bats stuck it out brilliantly and helped us to a competitive total of 161.

I got a rare go with the bat at number 10, and failed to score by trying out a ridiculous slog sweep third ball to a dead straight one that knocked my middle stump out of the ground, while the third team captain stood there essentially telling me how rubbish I was. Well, it was, and I was. 

Not batting for long did give me a chance to explore the thistles growing at one end of the ground, finding another bee mimic hoverfly while a small tortoiseshell mooched around in the long grass. The local buzzards were aloft too. 

With the test match now over, and hangovers eased, our team seemed a bit more interested in fielding. When our young and rather too fast for the occasion fast bowler ripped the stumps apart of a couple of their batters, before we decided to rest him and let other bowlers have a go. One of those being myself.

After a horrendously awful net session on Thursday, I thought I was going to be blasted all around the park, but it went ok, with me snaring their opening bat with a ball that turned and bounced on him, before the skipper caught it nonchalantly one handed. So, one wicket in my first spell with this sort of flightly style of not very off spin I've developed.

Wickets fell regularly, apart from one of the Legion's lads who scored a very decent 50, his first ever. I did get him caught out right at the end though as we done by 25 runs. 

Probably the most noteworthy thing that happened was that I registered my first ever credited run out, the fact that it was a terrible throw that the keeper was only just able to gather didn't matter to me, I felt rather pleased with myself. 

Another Sunday victory in the bag, five from five!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 03.07.23

Mimics and Skippers

 I am conscious of the fact I'm not posting the amount of nature content I'd like at the moment - being a cricket captain takes up a lot of time as trying to get a team of eleven together is the proverbial herding cats kind of experience. 

But believe me, I am still doing my bit. I've been promoting 30 Days Wild Wild, The Wildlife Trusts' annual campaign to get people going outside and taking some interest in what is around them. I always highlight the mental health benefits of it, because when I patrol our un-mowed verges for five minutes I am fully focussed on observing what is there, and all stresses to do with work, life, and the daily challenges caused by Tourettes and Autism disappear. 

There is, of course, the chance that you might find something new, although I didn't think I had when I saw what appeared to be perhaps a tree bumblebee settling to feed on bramble flowers. However, closer inspection revealed that the eyes were far too large to be that of a bee, and that this was actually a fly. 

A bee mimic hoverfly in fact! 

This is the first time I've seen such an insect, although I'm sure they are pretty much common as mud. Not as spectacular as the hornet mimic hoverfly, it is still a striking creature, 

Also making their first appearances of the young summer recently, are the warm weather grassland butterflies the meadow brown and ringlet, and also our numerous workplace small skippers. 

They are easier to photograph than the other species, although you have to be very careful in approaching them, and I managed to find an obliging specimen nectaring from creeping thistle.

I hope you enjoy the content!

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 22.06.23

Why are you Guys Still Out?

 Been off work for three days. Two of those have been misty, mizzley, cold and grey, weather to hide from. Get the TV on, pull the fleece blanket up round your neck on the sofa and stay as cozy as you can.

Saturday, however, was just glorious. Mid November, and it was shirt sleeves weather. I went to Rumbles cafe at the park, and watched a red admiral - always the last butterfly on the wing each autumn - flutter over my head as I sipped on my tea. 

Because of this warm November, there's still some flowers in bloom in the lovingly cultivated beds outside Rumbles, and unbelievably there's still some other pollinators on the wing. 

A hoverfly and a honeybee, still awake and feeding! 

It's an absolutely beautiful thing to see and a privilege to photograph it. But really, is this what we should be seeing so deep into the autumn? Flowers in bloom and insects feeding off them? 

I know that a lot of nature lovers are worried about this too. They wonder why there are trees in bud, orchids sprouting in meadows and other manifestations you would expect in March, not November. It feels wrong to them. It feels wrong to me. 

Something isn't right out there.

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 14.11.22

Look at this Super Chonker!

 Cricket got rained off today after only three overs, so nothing of note to report there, other than the player's laughter laughing at my emergency poncho I rode home in. So instead, let us take a look at the walk to the park I had on Saturday, and what I found on the way.

At the island in the river, I went to have a look at a raggedy buddleia that was growing through a fence. And upon one of the flower heads, I found the mightiest beast in the hoverfly world, the hornet mimic hoverly. 

Normally these big beasties are, like most of their kin, very twitchy about being photographed, but it was a cool day and this one was obviously getting stuck into the nectar to make sure it had enough energy to flit about. Thus, it was co-operative about having its picture taken although the breezy conditions made it rather tricky and I only got two usable photos. 

Still, two was enough.

Later on, I was walking to the cricket ground to watch the first team, and in a garden came across what I can only describe as a giant thistle tree, and the bumblebees were really loving it. 

Pleased to have had some decent nature encounters this weekend. 

Si

All text and images copyright CreamCrackeredNature 08.08.21