The big one.

We had the pleasure of going on a free local butterfly walk last Sunday. Twenty plus years ago a group of volunteers in a nearby village were given permission by the landowner to restore the wildlife in a couple of scrubby unused fields. This is an ongoing project and they have now recorded 33 species of butterflies amongst many other insects. This in turn has brought back red listed birds including nightingales. We were there when they saw their first Spotted Flycatcher which caused great excitement. I was further back in the group, but was already happy with a Blood Veined moth sighting.

The walk leader warned us that with climate change we were well past the butterfly peak and that we shouldn't expect to see many varieties. That prediction seemed to be borne out by there mainly being Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns on the wing with a Purple Hairstreak flitting about high above our heads. The Purple Emperor is our biggest native butterfly and the big hitter. They aren't that common though and require a special habitat to thrive. The males like to hang around the tops of oaks.and the females lay their eggs in willows. They must be special as the Knepp Rewilding Project up the road from here leads three hour long Purple Emperor safaris costing £75. The season is over by now or so we thought until one lady with us thought she saw one flying up in the branches. Again I missed it which seemed to becoming the theme of the afternoon for me. Imagine my surprise then when I saw a whopping great butterfly pass by me at head level and land on a hedge. My hopes were fulfilled as it was a female. When you factor in that these usually stay above the tree line and aren't attracted to nectar we were incredibly lucky. They will land to feed, but despite their magnificence, their eating habits are revolting....this lot like to feast on dog faeces and rotting carcases. Thankfully this one was just resting. Photo quality not the best as she didn't stay long, but what a glimmer eh💜

Arilx

Reflections

 A moment captured on a Monday morning...sunlight streaming through the open door and catching my iridescent glass lamp. For a few seconds it looked like a comet, before it disappeared.

Here's to a beautiful day. Am going to do a glimmer a day this week to kickstart a much needed personal reset💗💙💚💜💛

Arilx

Floral Friday

We dropped into the parish church yesterday as we were passing to see their annual flower show. The theme this year is  'For the joy of music'. There were some wonderfully creative pieces on display. This one is Swan Lake.

Hope you have a good weekend.

Arilx 

Tales from the abbey part 1

I have been a bit remiss in keeping up to date on here, but this one is from earlier this week. After a toasty and hectic fabulous weekend of dancing in Tewkesbury for this year's medieval festival, it was a great relief to break our homeward journey in Malmesbury and enjoy an hour or so of peace in the abbey. These are the tales it had to tell.

Hannah Twynnoy is believed to be the first person killed by a tiger in England. She was either a servant or a barmaid at the White Lion Inn [now a private house] and for reasons that aren't apparent there was a wild menagerie being kept on the premises. Despite several warnings from its keeper to not antagonise the tiger Hannah wouldn't leave it alone. Eventually she managed to provoke the poor beast so much so that it broke free from where it was being held and attacked her. Little is known about the victim, but the circumstances of her demise live on.

This fellow is King Athelestan [grandson of King Alfred] and in 937AD he became the first king of England. He was known to be a deeply religious man aswell as a successful diplomat. Following his death in Gloucester, his body was brought to Malmesbury to be buried as were his wishes. Many came to visit his remains and venerate him. The tomb you see is not contemporary. Instead it's a 15th century one built to commemorate him. Not only that, but it's also empty as his bones have been lost. It seems likely that they went missing after the dissolution of the monasteries, but may well still be buried there in a forgotten place.

That chap holding a pair of wings is Elmer who was one of the Benedictine monks from the original abbey which stood here. He was said to have seen Halley's Comet and have written about astrology. It's not clear why he climbed to the top of the abbey tower with wings attached to his arms and legs, but he did just that in about 1005AD and then jumped off the top. He managed to fly for several metres before crash landing and breaking both legs which left him lame for the rest of his life.

The abbey remains a large church, but it's easy to see where bits have been demolished. Whilst it has the most stunning Romanesque details around the doors, it's quite a plain white washed affair inside. It was so calm with a welcoming cafe. Just a few details this time. There are several old medieval books in display cabinets and I felt the need to capture and share the maginalia which made me smile.

Although we didn't have time to do the town justice, I can see that it will be worth stopping again when we are next over that way.

Arilx

 

If you're a carpet fitter

 

When you're a carpet fitter by trade and even the van reg is on brand.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Arilx

The Badlands

If I said that I had been to the Badlands over the weekend you might imagine that I had been hanging out in an arid and rocky terrain....I am sorry to disappoint you, but the West Sussex version is a verdant meadow full of butterflies and dotted with the yellow and purple spires of Common Agrimony and Betony.

It was David's birthday and when I quizzed him about how he might like to celebrate his suggestion was somewhere in the countryside and not too far away. That foxed me initially, but then I remembered The Mens [from the Anglo-Saxon ge-maennes meaning common ground] nature reserve which is only a few miles from here and one we've never visited. A gentle 5k walk meandering along by streams and under the canopy of ancient woodland was perfect. It's owned by Sussex Wildlife Trust who monitor the site yet operate a non intervention policy. When a big tree falls it is left in situ and over time it becomes another habitat for a whole host of plants and creatures. It has over 600 fungi species and I can't tell you how much I'm dying to come across the ones with names such as Jellybabies, Sulpher Knights or Powdery Pigbacks. I don't expect to find much that's new at this time of year, but it was a pleasure to meet the ever so teeny blue Water Pimpernel growing in a damp area of the wood and discover the long fronds of the Beech flowers.

Although we are very much in the middle of summer here, the signs of the Autumn are beginning to show themselves. There will be ripe blackberries ready in a few weeks and the other berries are putting in an appearance. At the moment the Lords and Ladies looks for all the world like a set of traffic lights with its different stages of ripening all on the one stalk.

One never knows what one might happen across when wandering. Old tumble down buildings are not such a great surprise, but a ruined bridge turned out to be one that was built by the Canadian soldiers stationed nearby in WWII. It was never finished and it seems might have been put up for training purposes.

The perfect walk ended with a fabulous cup of coffee and shared slice of cake in the independently run cafe just up the road. Husband tells me it was just how he wanted to spend his special day.

Arilx

 

Rosy

 

This stunning moth is one of my latest finds. It's called a Rosy Footman and that is its true colour. All I have done is to crop the picture. It looks for all the world like someone has drawn on that black wavy line and dots as an afterthought with a fine nibbed black pen.

Arilx