Small Ponderings - May, 2022

I feel I should start by apologising to all for my late responses to comments and tardy visits to your blogs. Lindsay and I have been away for eleven days, visiting the Outer Hebrides. Unfortunately Lindsay started showing Covid symtoms on the way home and tested positive. It might, therefore, mean that output and visits from me might be further interrupted, particularly as the odds are that I'll catch it too!

 

Since becoming greatly interested in dragonflies, I had yearned for a garden pond. There was, however, one major problem to overcome, and that was Lindsay's phobia of frogs. Even without a pond, frogs and toads were occasionally turning up in the garden and causing problems for Lindsay.

Three years ago, I stumbled across a possible  solution, and that was a UK company (www.gardenparadise.net) that were offering self-assembly wooden-sided rectangular ponds that could either be sunk into the ground or placed on a flat surface, so that the height of  the walls would even be beyond the ability of an olympic high-jump champion frog. And just to add to the impenetrability, there was an overhanging lip to the the wooden capping.

Lindsay, very generously, agreed to me having a small one of these for a birthday present. There was quite a long lead time, but it just arrived in time for my birthday in June, 2020. It was quickly erected and filled with water. Four pond plants were ordered - three ornamental and one oxygenating - and installed at the appropriate height with regard to water level.

Although the pond was described as 1m x 1m x 429mm the actual water volume is about 0.8m x 0.8m x 0.38m. It is, therefore, rather small, and I had no confidence that it would attract wildlife.

In its first year, it did seem to attract a number of water beetles. More notable, however, was finding the Rat-tailed Maggot larva of a Helophilus pendulus hoverfly, and the first visit by a damselfly - a male Large Red Damselfly - in mid July.

Rat-tailed Maggot (Helophilus pendulus) (hoverfly larva) - garden pond on 21st July, 2020

hoverfly (Helophilus pendulus) (female) - garden pond on 17th July, 2020

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (male) - garden pond on 17th July, 2020

In 2021 there seemed to be little activity at the pond and no damsels or dragons were noted visiting the pond. However, we did return from holiday at the end of May to frustratingly find three exuviae in the 'fibre optic plant' in the pond . In spite of having a field guide which covers damselfly exuviae, I am not sufficiently skilled to positively ID these. They all looked to be similar and I suspect that, given the timing of the emergence, they were Large Red Damselfly, but the caudal lamellae do not look quite right to my mind. I didn't manage very good photos.

damselfly exuvia - from pond on 31st May, 2021

caudal lamellae from exuvia from pond on 31st May, 2021

Saturday, 7th May

 

We now come to 2022, and I had regularly been peering into the pond and thinking that other than the plants, which this year were not behaving as vigorously as they had in the previous year, there was no sign of life whatsoever. I was, therefore, surprised when, during breakfast on this day, Lindsay exclaimed "there's something climbing out of the pond". 

Given that I'd been making frequent visits to local ponds, hoping to find my first damsel or dragon of the year, it was doubly exciting that my first was from my own pond!

Sure enough, there was a Large Red Damselfly nymph. Sadly, this one was doomed to be a failure. It had emerged on the side of the pond, rather than on a plant stem and failed to disentangle its wings from its abdomen. You may be able to see in the image below that there seems to be a blob of liquid holding the wings wrapped round the abdomen.

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (emergent female) - garden pond on 7th May, 2022

When the second one, another female, emerged that morning it was more successful.

 

Large Red Damselfly #2 (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (female) - garden pond on 7th May, 2022

The third one, again a female, emerged, and flew quite some time before the second one did.

 

Large Red Damselfly #3 (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (teneral female) - garden pond on 7th May, 2022

I observed two more Large Red Damselflies emerge that day and there may have been more that I missed. All but that first one emerged successfully. Three were female, one male, and the gender of the fifth one was not determined.

 

Sunday, 8th May

 

I observed five more Large Red Damselflies emerge this day and again we had one of them fail. The problem seemed to be that the nymphs were tending to emerge onto the sides of the pond for which the capping overhangs the inside and outside of the pond. This means that it is difficult for the nymphs to place themselves into a vertical position, split backwards out of their casing, and then straighten up and grasp above the exuvia in order to get themselves into a suitable position to dry out and pump up their wings and abdomen. This next one was lucky.

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (female) - garden pond on 8th May, 2022

Monday, 9th May

 

Just four damselflies (yes, all Large Red!) were seen to emerge this day. 

 

Tuesday, 10th May

 

Another four emerged this day. We were now wondering where and what the food source had been to sustain this number of damselfly nymphs, which are known for their voracious appetites! 

 

Wednesday, 11th May

 

This was a cold wet day, and if there were any emergences, we didn't see them.

 

Thursday, 12th May

 

As if to make up for the previous day, we had an astounding ten damselflies emerge, two of which failed. This nymph was working its way round the outside edge of the pond, trying to find a suitable place to emerge. It has a Rowan petal attached to its caudal lamellae

 

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (nymph) - garden pond on 12th May, 2022

Friday, 13th May

 

Lindsay and I were out for a chunk of the day, but we still witnessed the emergence of five damselflies, one of which failed.

 

Saturday, 14th May

 

I was out for the day from 09.30, but still managed to check five emergences, two of which failed, before I departed.

 

Sunday, 15th May

 

This day we had just four emergences, two of which failed.

Monday, 16th May

Numbers were up again this day, with seven emergences, three of which failed. In this shot, one of the nymphs is seen working its way around the top of the pond, trying to find somewhere to emerge - note, it has lost its caudal lamellae. It later moved to the side of the top and emerged successfully.

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (nymph) - garden pond on 16th May, 2022

Tuesday, 17th May

 

Just when we thought that all this must be drawing to a close, things got really silly with a tally for the day of twelve emergences, two of which failed.

 

Wednesday, 18th May

 

It was a little quieter this day with just six emergences, all of which were successful.

Thursday, 19th May

 

We departed to go on holiday at around 10.00 in the morning. However, before we set off, three more Large Red Damselflies had successfully emerged, brining the total tally for the season to 70 emerged Large Red Damselfly including 15 failures.

 

Sunday, 29th May

 

By the time of our return there was no evidence visible to indicate if any further damselflies had emerged, but I suspect that they had

This all goes to prove that my earlier assessment that the pond was lifeless, couldn't be further from the truth. However, with that number of damselfly nymphs on the prowl, I suspect that there's not much else left in there, so the prospects of there also being enough food to support any dragonfly nymphs are slim. Time will tell!

 

I will now be working on processing the thousands of photos that I took whilst in the Outer Hebrides, and hope to be able to produce a blog post on this adventure in the not too distant future. However, as mentioned above, I might be hampered by events. In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and Nature - - - Richard

The Orange-tip Butterfly

For many years, we have had self-seeded Garlic Mustard plants in our garden and for many years I used to weed them out, but never sufficientlyenough to stop their return. However, a couple of years ago, I read that Garlic Mustard is a favoured plant for the caterpillars of Orange-tip butterflies, as well as other crucifers, including Cuckooflower.

In 2021 I decided that I'd let a couple of small patches of Garlic Mustard grow. Sure enough, as the plants flowered, they started to attract a few Orange-tips. This first one, however, was on white Bluebell.

Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) (male) - garden on 12th May, 2021

Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) (female) - garden on 16th May, 2021

The female initially detects a suitable plant for ovipositing by sight, and once landed confirms the suitability through chemically sentive cells on the feet. Sadly, it seems that I omitted to take any photos of the tiny eggs that are deposited.

The eggs hatch in a week or two and intially the small larvae disappear into the flower. They then start to feed on the developing seed pods. It is said that, if food is in short supply, cannibalism can occur - something that I didn't realise until earlier this year. Some photos of caterpillars in varying stages of growth are shown below, the last one showing the typical eating style of this species.

Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) (larvae) - garden on 9th June, 2021

Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) (larva) - garden on 13th June, 2021

I was keeping a close eye on developments, although I failed to record how many larvae if found, but memory suggests it was around ten specimens. They then started disappearing and I was sure that they'd not reached sufficient maturity to pupate. It soon became apparent that they were being predated by Blue Tits. When it got to the stage that only two were left, I decided to take matters in hand and remove them from the garden.

I'd bought a folding rearing cage earlier in order to raise Vapourer Moths, and this seemed ideal, so I quickly acquired a couple more and put the two larvae on a cutting of food plant in one of the cages. All went well for a while and then one disappeared - and we now know why, don't we!

Eventually, the remaining one pupated. I have since discovered that usually the larvae leave the food plant in order to pupate, but I hadn't given this one the choice! It did however, find an acceptable spot and formed a pupa, attached to the stem by a silken thread. There pupae have two forms - brown and green - and this one was a beautifully marked brown one.

Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) (pupa) - 1st July, 2021

Initially, I kept the pupa in the cage in my study but, as autumn approached, I realised that keeping it in a warm dry atmosphere was probably not a sensible idea, so the cage was hung up in a roofed arbour in the garden wher it had some protection but would still experience ambient temperatures and humidity

There were no visible problems with the pupa over winter and, as spring drew nearer I started keeping a closer eye on things. By the beginning of April, I was starting to get a little worried as the pupa seemed to be getting darker and shrinking. I was checking it almost daily and had checked it in the morning of 14th April and still nothing seemed to be happening. However, Lindsay and I were sitting having a coffee in the conservatory in the early afternoon when Lindsay exclaimed "the Orange-tip's out!"

Not knowing how long it had been emerged for, I was keen to release it as soon as possible, so only grabbed a record shot through the cage before opening the cage up to give it its freedom. We'd reared a beautiful female!

Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) (female) - garden on 14th April, 2022

A couple of days later it occurred to me that maybe I should take a shot of the empty pupal case. I'm pleased I did as it shows that the beautiful markings are part of the case, and the silken thread is still holding strong. You can also see how the back of the case has peeled backwards to allow the emergence. The other thing that you can see in this shot is how the seeds are lined up in those pods.

Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) (pupal case) - garden on 16th April, 2022

We have rather a lot of Garlic Mustard this year, which is not necessarily a good thing as I have read that females favour isolated large plants on which they lay a single egg, thus maximising the food source and minimising cannibalism! Maybe I should thin out the patches ?

I'm not sure what my next blog post will feature, but it might be an account of my garden mini-pond which has yielded a surprise or two this year.

In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and Nature. Best wishes - - - Richard
 

Garden Observations in April, 2022

I am still in 'catch-up' mode and, with this post, I offer an account of some of my sightings in the garden during April of this year. Some of the winter visitors were still with us at the start of the month, but things soon started to change during the later part. Herewith, a few of the highlights.

Saturday, 2nd April

The Bramblings were still visiting, and on this day I photographed a male. This one was well into its breeding plumage.

Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla) (male) garden on 2nd April, 2022

Occasionally we get visits from Long-tailed Tits and are always delighted. Often it's small groups but sometimes, as on this occasion, we just have a single bird. When we do, we tend to refer to it as 'pathfinder' because, after such sightings, it is quite common for a group to arrive within an hour or two. Not on this occasion, however, as far as our observations were concerned. This one was outside my study window. It seemed to be collecting nesting material.

Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus) - garden on 2nd April, 2022

Sunday, 3rd April

The only remarkable thing this day was the small flock of 10 Goldfinch that visited. Goldfinch are daily visitors, but not usually in such numbers. This event was not, however, recorded on camera.

Magpie is a relatively reliable visitor these days, but I rarely photograph one. This day was an exception.

Magpie (Pica pica) - garden on 3rd April, 2022

Monday, 4th April

We had three Brambling visit this day. I did manage to get a record shot with all three in!

Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla) (2xmale, 1xfemale) garden on 4th April, 2022

Thursday, 8th April

Wanting to make the most of the continuing Brambling visits, I took this shot of a female of the species.

Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla) (female) garden on 8th April, 2022

A pair of Stock Dove have been regular visitors for a long while now, and I find them most agreeable.

Stock Dove (Columba oenas) - garden on 8th April, 2022

Saturday, 9th April

Excitement arrived this day in the form of a Lesser Redpoll. In recent years, garden sightings of this species have been very thin on the ground. Unfortunately, I only managed a 'feeder shot'

Lesser Redpoll (Acanthis cabaret) (female) - garden on 9th April, 2022

Sunday, 10th April

It was a fine sunny day and the Lesser Redpoll was back, but I didn't manage any photographic improvements. I was pleased, however, to get a few shots of an Orange-tip butterfly. The orange wing-tips denote this as a male - absent in the female of the species.

Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) (male) - garden on 10th April, 2022

Thursday, 14th April

The moth trap went out this night. It only resulted in 13 moths of 10 species. A couple of the more attractive ones are shown below. The Waved Umber was not in the trap, but on the wall next to the trap, and I nearly missed seeing it as it blended in with the wall so well. I have added a second image of it to show it more clearly.

Waved Umber (Menophra abruptaria) (male) - from garden on 14th April, 2022

Purple Thorn (Selenia tetralunaria) (male) - from garden on 14th April, 2022

The Purple Thorn shot was taken when the moth flew up from the piece of green card that I was trying to photograph it on, and landed on the glass of the conservatory window - I think it makes for a rather nice shot!?

Saturday, 16th April

A common, and not very colourful, butterfly, but I think that this was probably my first of this species for the year (I don't keep butterfly records).

Small White (Pieris rapae) (male) - garden on 16th April, 2022

Wednesday, 20th April

No particular highlights this day other than unphotographed Holy Blue and Orange-tip butterflies in the garden, but I did take some photos of a Jackdaw that has become a daily visitor.

Jackdaw (Coloeus monedula) - garden on 20th April, 2022

Thursday, 21st April

And a Jackdaw again the following day - a very smart-looking bird.

Jackdaw (Coloeus monedula) - garden on 21st April, 2022

Sunday, 21st April

On this day, I did manage to photograph a visiting Holly Blue butterfly. This one, with the extensive black on the outer edges of the forewings, was a female.

Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) (female) - garden on 24th April, 2022

Friday, 29th April

I'd been neglecting the garden observations for much of the last couple of weeks in April, partly because I was getting out more often and partly because I was rather busy in the garden with things like pruning and fence-painting. On this day, however, I did sucessfully rush out into the garden to photograph a visiting Orange-tip. This one was, again, a male. This photo allows you to just detect the wonderful pattern on the underside of the wings, showing through the slightly translucent rear wings.

Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) (male) - garden on 29th April, 2022

That night the moth trap went out, and only attracted five moths of three species, none of which were remarkble from a rarity point of view but I do find the Early Grey to be quite appealing, and the Brindled Beauty to be particularly attractive.
 

Early Grey (Xylocampa areola) - from garden on 29th April, 2022

Brindled Beauty (Lycia hirtaria) (male) - from garden on 29th April, 2022

Saturday, 30th April

The month ended on a high when we had our first visit from a Fox for a very long time. I'm not very knowledgeable on Foxes, but it seems to me that this may be a female that has recently given birth.

Thus ends my account of some of our garden highlights for April.

At this point in time, I'm not sure when my next blog post will be, or what subject matter it might feature. There's quite a lot going on at the moment - most of it good!

In the meantime, take good care of yourselves and Nature - - - Richard

April Local Visits - 2022

To give my reader(s?) a break from repetition of my garden birds (and other wildlife), I am offering an account of a few local places I visited during April. All my outings, for various reasons, were at the back end of the month, and partly inspired by wanting to check if any damselflies or dragonflies had emerged - if they had, I didn't see them!

Thursday, 21st April              Saltersford Valley Country Park

A morning hospital visit in Burton on Trent had me wanting to get out and stretch my legs in the afternoon, so I headed for Saltersford Valley CP. 

Soon after entering the site, I found my first Speckled Wood butterfly of the year.

Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) - Saltersford Valley CP

I saw several more of this species during the visit, and it was good to see them doing well.

Saltersford Valley CP is centred on flashes caused by the subsidence of disused coal mines. One of the two lakes is fed by what, at first glance, appears to be a spring. However, it seems that it might be water being pushed up from flooded mines with some sort of polution, as the water emitted is stained a rusty orange colour and this permeates the major portion of the lake. It does not, however, appear to be detrimental to wildlife, as birds and insects seem to thrive here. My next image shows the colour of the water.

Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) - Saltersford Valley CP

Also on the lake were a pair of Coot with two young in tow, but I did not get any sensible photos.

The only other thing of interest photographed was a hoverfly species that I do not recall seeing before. You can tell it's a male because the eyes meet in the middle - in the female, they are well separated. 

hoverfly (Myathreopa florea) (male) - Saltersford Valley CP

Saturday, 23rd April                       Saltersford Valley Country Park ; Pastures Lane

I returned to Saltersford Valley CP on this day, but this time, rather than park in the Saltersford Valley CP car park, I parked in the Oakthorpe Colliery car park and took a public footpath to Saltersford Valley CP. This time there was rather more to see.

At the start of the boardwalk was this flower, which I believe to be Cuckooflower.

Cuckooflower (Cardamine pratensis) - Saltersford Valley CP

Along the boardwalk, I found a Canada Goose closely watching me as it lay on a nest incubating eggs.

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) - Saltersford Valley CP

Towards the far end of the site, my eye was taken by what I at first thought was a wasp species, but now believe to  be Nomada lathburiana - a cuckoo bee.

cuckoo bee (Nomada lathburiana) - Saltersford Valley CP

I saw a few more butterfly species, which was encouraging.

Peacock (Aglais io) - Saltersford Valley CP

Green-veined White (Pieris napi) (male) - Saltersford Valley CP

Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) - Saltersford Valley CP

I was pleased to see that the Coots still had their two young, one of which is shown in the second image below.

Coot (Fulica atra) - Saltersford Valley CP

I took a different return route to my car, passing along Pastures Lane, which is a roughly-surfaced road to Pastures Farm. At one point, a reasonably sized lake is about 150 metres to the north west of the lane. The head of a breeding-plumaged male Cormorant was just visible over the brow of the interevening pasture. I do like Cormorants in this statae of plumage!

Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) (male - breeding plumage) from Pastures Lane

Further along the lane, I photographed a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly. By its tattiness, I guess this is one that overwintered somewhere.

Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) - Pastures Lane

Monday, 25th April                 Heather Lake

Heather Lake is another of my favourite dragonfly spots, but is rarely interesting for birds, although I did once have the pleasure of encountering a Spotted Flycatcher here.

An Orange-tip butterfly, with the orange tips just detectable through the wings showing it to be a male, sat patiently while I photographed it.

Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) (male) - Heather Lake

At one point, where there is a narrow path between hedge and water, there were some noises on the path ahead of me. I waited and eventually was approached by a lady with push-chair and child, who informed me that there was a Moorhen nest with eggs in the water just beside the path. I continued gingerly and spotted the nest which appeared to have at least six eggs in it. The Moorhen was way out in the lake, presumably having been frightened off the nest by woman and noisy child.

Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) (nest + eggs) - Heather Lake

Further round the lake, a furry creature ran across the path just a metre or so in front of me and plopped into the lake. My immediate thought was Water Vole, but when I looked at the only shot I managed to grab, I came to the conclusion that it was a juvenile Brown Rat! Please tell me if I am wrong.

Brown Rat (Rattus norvegicus) (juvenile) - Heather Lake

Having passed once round the lake and seen little, I decided to cover totally new ground for me by continuing on the footpath beyond the lake, including taking a side branch too. Little of great interest was seen, although it was good to explore, but I did get a shot of a Small Totroiseshell in better condition.

Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) -beyond Heather Lake

I came back to the lake, keeping clear of the side which had the Moorhen nest, and found a Moorhen close to me, which beat a hasty retreat.

Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) - Heather Lake

Before reaching my car, I spotted a patch of Cowslips a couple of which had bright orange-red flowers, rather than the creamy yellow that is normal for this species. You can just see the colour of the yellow ones in the top right corner.

Cowslip - near Heather Lake

Thursday, 28th April              Hicks Lodge

On this day, I parked at Oakthorpe Colliery car park and walked into Hicks Lodge. Beside the path in, there was a Greylag Goose quite close but on the other side of a hedge. I managed to poke my lens between the branches and get a few shots.

Greylag Goose (Anser anser) - Hicks Lodge

Further on, a Greylag flew overhead.

Greylag Goose (Anser anser) - Hicks Lodge

There were Cowslips in flower here too, so I took some shots of ones in the usual colour!

Cowslip (Primula veris) - Hicks Lodge

As I started down the west side of the main lake, a Moorhen trundled across the grass in front of me.

Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) - Hicks Lodge

I noticed a small wader fly up from the edge of the lake and head off into the far distance, so I proceeded with stealthy caution. I then briefly spotted a Common Sandpiper of which I only managed to get a shot of its backside before it disappeared. I did, however, manage a shot of the Pied Wagtail that was with it.

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii) (male) - Hicks Lodge

I carried on past the end of the lake, and then turned left to gain a path that heads to a smaller lake which lies to the north west of the main lake.

The lake only seemed to hold a Coot and a Little Grebe. I spent nearly half an hour hiding behind a bush, hoping the Little Grebe would come closer, but it didn't.

Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) - Hicks Lodge

Coot (Fulica atra) -Hicks Lodge

Back at the main lake, I managed to focus on a Reed Bunting that was lurking in the back of a bush.

 

Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) (female) - Hicks Lodge

I first saw and photographed a Bar-headed Goose at Hicks Lodge in 2018. I have seen and photographed (presumably) the same bird every year since then except in 2021. I have no doubt that this bird is an escape from somewhere, although it is not ringed. I do, nevertheless, find it an attractive bird, and was delighted to see it on this day.

Bar-headed Goose (Anser indicus) - Hicks Lodge

After a session photographing the goose, I was delighted to manage a shot of a fly-past Common Sandpiper.

 

Common Sandpiper (Actitis hypoleucos) - Hicks Lodge

As I started heading back to my car, a group of Canada Geese flew over.

 

Canada Goose (Branta canadensis) - Hicks Lodge

Back at the car at Oakthorpe Colliery, while I sorted myself out, a female Common Pheasant hove into view. I couldn't help but think that this poor creature was here because someone bred it so that it could be shot at by some cretin with a gun! Such a beautiful bird!

 

Common Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) (female) - Oakthorpe Colliery

Friday, 29th April                  Saltersford Valley CP

 

A Quick visit to Saltersford Valley CP was not very productive, although I did have the good fortune to bump into an old friend, Mick Smith - it was great to have a chat. I did take some shots of a relatively common hoverfly. This one was a female - eyes well-separated.

 

hoverfly (Eristalis pertinax) (female) - Saltersford Valley CP

My greatest excitement was at finding a pair of mating Dark-edged Bee-fly. I am rather fond of this species, but have never seen them mating before. At first, I thought it was a rather long insect flying around. Fortunately they settled and I managed a few photos.

 

Dark-edged Bee-fly (Bombylius major) (male+female) - Saltersford Valley CP

Again, I found a Reed Bunting in a bush, but this one was a bit more visible.

 

Reed Bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) (male) -Saltersford Valley CP

Saturday, 30th April               Heather Lake

 

I had time for a brief late-morning return to Heather Lake on this day.  Sadly, I found the remains of the Moorhen nest abandoned, with no eggs visible. I suspect that someone had allowed their dog to enter the water here (a common practice at this location).

I only photographed a Moorhen and, on my way back to the car, a distant Wren.

Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) - Heather Lake

Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) - Heather Lake

That brings me to  the end of the month of April. May has got off to a slightly slower start, but my next blog post will almost certainly cover my April garden observations, and will appear in about a week's time from the date of this blog post. In the meantime, please take good care of yourselves and Nature.

 

Thank you for dropping by - - - Richard