TV

Another belated missive; I should've posted this on Friday evening or yesterday but I've been distracted by televised snooker. How and why I've been distracted by televised snooker is a mystery to me as much as anyone else. I suppose a little bit of Leicester pride comes into it with willing Mark Selby into the final. Anyway this TV post is not really about television ....

On Friday afternoon I finally managed to drag myself back out. I had no plan other than to have a lengthy wander around the square looking at emergent vegetation and anything that has come into flower. Crucially, I had no nets or bins. Unlike many accomplished recorders and professional ecological consultants, I can't be doing with carrying around a range of nets, trays, sieves, beating sticks and possibly even vac blower. I can manage one net, or tray/sieve, or vac blower. I also find that once I'm armed with something, even bins, that becomes the primary focus of my attention and I quite probably miss stuff flying overhead or flowering down below. So wandering around 'naked' every now and then is actually quite productive in some ways, and certainly more relaxing. The only exception is that I do try and carry a camera of some sorts - always something to point it at whatever I'm doing.

As I walked around I did indeed find a number of plants that I'd either previously missed or could now identify, including Lilac, Elder, Winter-cress, Hedge Mustard, Silverweed, Meadowsweet and hybrid Bluebells. There are plenty of grasses not far off flowering, and I will certainly have to give them a go in May.

I could post photos of flowers or plants, but instead I'll post photos of a bonus tick leaf rust, Uromyces muscari (Bluebell Rust) - one I'd been alerted to earlier in the year by Graham Calow.

Of course there were a few inverts too, including another new one for me - the TV referenced in the post title. And for a fly it is one hell of a size, albeit a bit leggy and incorrectly structured for a proper fly ....

Tipula vittata - I found a number of these loafing on Red Currant leaves and a bridge wall immediately next to Whetstone Brook. I've quite probably seen this before and either ignored it or forgotten to list.

I managed to snap another weirdly structured fly in flight with the TG-6 - luck!

Baccha elongata

I also snapped a very compliant Orange-tip settled on a daffodil, a 10-Spot Ladybird nestled in oak buds and a Red-green Carpet roosting on a sycamore ....

I need to enter some records from the walk and update my square list for another post.

Yesterday was a bit cooler, and by later afternoon it was cloudy with the odd spot of rain. Not that we've had much - barely enough to make anything damp let alone the soaking we need. I found a very lethargic queen Common Wasp in the shed ....

When I said this post wasn't really about television, I lied as blatantly as a serving Prime Minister. My walks around the square inevitably reveal litter and fly tipped waste, because in a modern society being a selfish wanker is normal. I don't usually find tipped and trashed electrical goods though ....

I've probably posted this track before, but you know it fits and I like it so I'll be a selfish wanker. Sue me.