Things are Starting to Fall into Place!

Right well not sure where to start! Had a busy hectic few days and some good news!

I'll start with the weekend. I actually finished a knitting project - quite an accomplishment for moi! I volunteered myself to knit a tea cosy for the teapot we use for our teas on our Monday tasks. Below are a few nearly finished photos and the finished article!

The last row...

Blue butterfly (adonis blue) representing the KWT logo

The teapot ready to be dressed

A quick break for a dog walk....

Then taaaadaaaaaa....

I wanted to finish it before volling on Monday. Everyone was impressed and I must say I am fairly impressed too!

Everyone working hard - probably in need of a nice hot cup of tea!

Tea cosy in a more natural setting!

Everyone said how much hotter the tea stayed - in my eyes that is a success!

Anyone know what this is??? Edit: Cobalt Crust (Terana caerulea) a saprobic crust fungi

After the task, we went to check on Oare Marshes after the tidal surge last week. I didn't see the damage on the day but it is still very much under water compared to how it usually looks.

Evidence of the debris washed into the marsh from the creek. Water was flowing so quickly it dragged reeds as well

Water pouring from the ditches

Excess water gushing from the marshes back into the creek via the sluice

A beautiful calm day

On Tuesday I went on an Emergency First Aid at Work Training day. A really handy qualification to have when applying for jobs etc. It was a very informative and hands on day. I feel confident that I may one day be able to help someone if they were in trouble.

Yesterday We had our first proper frost. It still wasn't a proper proper one but the heaviest we've had yet.

Not too sure about that ice...

Give it a little sniff...

Then eat it!

I took Bracken down to the marshes with my camera and tripod slung over my shoulder. I needed an hour or so to clear my head because later on in the day I had an interview. The interview was for a trainee post with KWT and I was told to prepare a 3 minute presentation about a habitat or species group. I decided to talk about falcons! What better way to learn a presentation than go and give it to a falcon! We always see kestrels down at the marshes so that is what I did. A nice hovering kezzie listened very well to me rambling on about him!  I really wanted a nice photo of me and Bracken down there in the lovely morning light, hence why I took my tripod. I got a couple of shots that I quite like...

Anyway I went for my interview, it went okay but I was quite nervous. It obviously went better than I thought because I received a phone call when I got home and they offered me the job!! Truly ecstatic! The position involves working on the water vole project which I have already been doing for a while. I am just happy to be able to have a more formal role in the project!

This morning we went on another lovely walk. Well a normal kind of walk apart from the fact I saw my first little owl!! I wish wish wish I'd had my camera because it was no more than 2 metres away from me and looking directly at me!! I'm sure most birders see lots of these stunning little birds and I'm not quite sure why it has taken me so long to see one. It was well worth the wait though! I will always remember my first sighting of this smart little owl!

Right now I must apologise again for taking so long to catch up on blogs, that is my task for the next few days! I hope you are all having a great week! I couldn't wait to share my good news with you all!

Caterpillars, Big Fat Spiders , Volunteering and Dog Walks

October has arrived and I can't believe there are only 3 months left of this year!

Last week I went for lunch with my Dad to a farm café up the road from me. They are pretty self sufficient and grow all their own veg, use locally sourced cheese and have many a hen, so use and sell their eggs. We chose a nice day and sat outside. A view that stretched for miles and a couple of alpacas munching on the grass next to our little picnic table. I think they have such character!

I really thought the shadows and highlighted areas on this old leafless tree looked amazing. I don't usually do monochrome photos but thought this subject was enhanced by the monochrome format.

We were out water vole surveying again last Thursday and came across hundreds of these caterpillars. After a little bit of research I have come to the conclusion that they will one day turn into a reed dagger moth. Considering they were all over the reeds... makes sense!

Reed dagger moth caterpillar

We didn't have much luck on the water vole front but these sheep were very abundant and awfully inquisitive. We had already come a bit close to a herd of big pregnant cows with some smaller bullocks on a very narrow path which wasn't particularly easy to get through.

Lots of these vibrantly coloured migrant hawkers are still around. This male is hoping he might be able to break up this partnership and get some dragon action.

Migrant hawkers

Big fat female 4 spot orb weaver spider. Lots of these around.

After lunch we still hadn't come across many ratty signs. Chloe noticed this grass snake curled up on top of some dried out reeds. Sun baking to warm its cool blood. Migrant hawkers were hovering about 2 metres away from it. I was begging it to get closer as that would have made for an interesting photo. I got each in a separate shot which will have to do for now. The snake heard us nattering, raised its head and slithered off into a crack in a concrete block. A snake sized crack.

Grass snake

Migrant Hawker. Shame it's flying away from me

I took Bracken down to Oare and met my lovely friend Bess and her dog Bo. We walked along the seawall to Conyer and had lunch at the pub there. Great weather and wonderful catch up. Brack and Bo enjoyed chasing each other around, jumping in the mud and rolling down the slopes. Safe to say they were both knackered for the rest of the day. Bird sightings included a couple of cormorants, a few shelduck, 5 or so oystercatchers and a curlew just to name a few.

Brack giving Bo a kiss

Racing off

Anyone know what this is? I can't find it in my books! Edit: I asked Kevin (warden I volunteer with) and he suggested Salsify from my description and upon researching I agree. It is a Mediterranean plant.

Looking very happy with themselves!

The weekend arrived and mum and I drove to Victory wood which I have written about before. Lots of sheep around so we had to walk a route avoiding them. We noticed this amazing caterpillar!! Mum kept Brack away because I think he would have tried to eat it. It was about 6 or 7cm long! After flicking through the books we thought it was probably either oak eggar or fox moth. A little bit more internet research confirmed it was a fox moth caterpillar! Along the rest of our walk we saw many more of these and also a few other buggy, insecty things.

Fox moth caterpillar

Sloe bug

These young swallows kept landing in this tree/bush. Unfortunately we weren't closer and there was a bonfire in the background.
 

Swallows

Loved the colours amongst the newly planted trees and vegetation

The next two photos are quite similar. I prefer the composition of the first but the colours are brighter in the second. Annoying! I haven't edited either and just thought I would put both on here for comparison of results with different settings. That will teach me. Check settings before shoot!

f8, ISO 1000, 1/1000s

f10, ISO 360, 1/250s

On Monday we (the Swale area volunteers) returned to the land in Stalisfield where we cleared a large area of dock and thistle around the new(ish) ponds. Our task for the morning was to burn it. This appealed to the other volunteers (older men) more than me. Must be their hunter gatherer primitive instinct to build fire! I helped chop the branches and build it. There is actually a technique for creating a good stable bonfire. While we watched the matter burn, a buzzard soared above some nearby woodland, linnets chattered in the hedgerow and common darters laid their eggs in the ponds. Can't beat being out in the countryside!

Currently, on top of work at the pub and volunteering, I have a number of creative little projects on the go. I am also reading 3 different books and am in the process of turning the (too big for me) linen trousers below into some kind of skirt. My wonderful mum has been helping me design a pattern. If it weren't for her I would have just cut them up and sewed them up in any old fashion. Would have looked awful. Still might, but I just wanted to have a go at up-cycling some clothing :)
I also have 5 or 6 knitting projects in the pipeline. Some leg warmers, a practice rectangle of fair isle, a scarf which I will post a photo of once it is finished and other little odds and sods.

Knitting bible and some of the little projects

I hope everyone is having a good week so far! I watched The Great British Year last night. I thought there was some lovely filming and the sequences of hares was just magical. Not sure I like all the fast, sped up time lapse stuff though. What did all you lovely people think of it??? Oh and if any of you saw the wildlife revival programme on Sunday, the PhD student from Sussex who was talking about water voles and the trapping etc is the lady I go trapping with!


Also... as a bit of an after thought just came back to add this photo. Another caterpillar. Rubbish photo taken on my phone on a very wet water vole volunteering day...

Willowherb hawkmoth caterpillar! (I think) (13th Sept) Edit: Dark form of the elephant hawkmoth caterpillar. Unfortunately not the extremely rare migrant!! Thanks to Steve Ogden who corrected this for me.

Pretty clouds of yellow and other lovely natural things

Recently a fair proportion of my time has been spent down at Oare Marshes for one Kent Wildlife Trust volunteer task or another. On Monday 5th August I joined in with some water vole monitoring as part of the Water for Wildlife project. We met at 8am and The project officer, Chloe, informed me of all the signs we were looking for to ascertain whether there were indeed water voles present. We used a map of all the dykes and ditches on the West flood and worked our way along. During the morning I stayed with one of the others until I felt confident I knew what I was looking for. It was a productive day, recording over 250 signs that the WVs were present! The things we were monitoring included feeding signs, droppings, latrines and burrows. Obviously, we were keeping an eye out for the elusive little critters, but the closest we got was a few large plops into the water and a 90% sure view of one. 

In addition to actually looking for signs of wildlife, we were completely surrounded by nature. Walking through the long grass towards the reed beds, we came across the brightly coloured wasp spider shown below. It was feasting on a moth of a similar size to itself and it looked so exotic. The stabilimentum is the prominent zigzag pattern in the web and although its function isn't completely clear, but there are a few ideas which if you are interested can be found on this website... Spiders: Argiope Bruennichi

We also had the privilege of watching dragonflies (some variety of hawker) emerge from their exuviae and hundreds of blue tailed damsleflies floating through the air, occasionally coming across a blade of grass and settling momentarily. Fabulous!

Wasp spider (Argiope bruennichi)

 

In the same afternoon I spent a little time watching the multitude of butterflies which were feeding on our buddleia. Small tortoiseshells, red admirals, peacocks and large whites all dancing around the beautiful purple source of nectar.

 

Large White

Peacock and a white-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lucorum) sharing a buddleia flower

The lilies in our garden opened up on the morning of the 7th and looked glorious over the next week or so.

Perfect Lily

I once again spent the day volunteering with KWT at Oare on Thursday 8th. Our task for the day - more ragwort clearing. Before we had donned our gloves and got to work, one of the other volunteers noticed a yellow butterfly flit past. At first it was thought to be a brimstone but quickly this identification was corrected and it was indeed a CLOUDED YELLOW! I had never seen one before and was delighted to see this wonderful butterfly! I followed it around for a bit, but it was fairly reluctant to sit still for a photo shoot. Eventually it settled on a beautifully contrasting thistle flower and allowed a couple of snaps before it set off again. We were very happy to see there were actually quite a few of them around. Other wonderful things seen included a garden spider, a common or viviparous lizard, a garden pebble moth, several silver Y moths, yellow wags, common gulls, herons, little egrets, avocets and huge numbers of godwits on the East flood. All in all, another wonderful day in the great outdoors, pulling ragwort and observing insects, birds and reptiles on this diverse reserve.
  

Star of the show... Clouded Yellow

I realise this is quite out of focus, but I like it anyway! I love its face!

Araneus diadematus

Common lizard (Zootoca vivipara)

Garden Pebble moth I think... CT??

After pushing the muscles in my back to their limit, I spent the evening with a few of my friends, chilling at the beach and cooking yummy food on a home made barbecue (by Laura and Noah), composed of an old satellite dish and some hand chopped wood. Top marks for inventiveness!

The sun setting over the beach huts at Tankerton

Still so behind, thank you for reading and hopefully I will catch up soon! :)

Next post.... A day trip to France!