Day 90

Thursday 18 June

It’s going to be a shorter post this evening. I’m already late in writing this. It’s been a full day, and night.

Mabel has been at the vets again today but this time the appointment was a planned one. She has had her tubes done basically, so came home this evening reeling from the anaesthetic and imposition. She’s sporting a sleek navy blue baby-grow, which complements the emotional blues in her expression.

I have spent much of the afternoon and evening writing a policy document that will allow staff to teach students safely through remote methods. Teaching and learning away from the school building is now here to stay. Even when the pandemic has subsided we will still be complementing the hours we can provide face to face with additional time screen to screen. This policy will hopefully keep staff and students safer and clear about is allowed and what isn’t.

Professional football has returned and I took a couple of hours away from my laptop to watch Colchester United best Exeter United 1-0 in the first leg of the League 1 playoffs. It’s great to have it back but the game was behind closed doors. Me and Stan would have been there ordinarily. Just our luck that the U’s may get to Wembley and promotion and we won’t be there to share it together.

One little wonder I saw outside today. I’m leaving part of our lawn uncut just to see what happens. It’s only been just over a week and clover and daisies are flowering, which in turn is attracting insects. In particular, bumble bees. It’s quite incredible that these tiny little gestures can deliver so much. That bee would not have been there, on the lawn if I had cut the grass. But I didn’t cut it, and it was there with a few others. Very nice.

The Red-Tailed Bee (Bombus lapidarius) is one of the most common bees there is. Still, its a rare jewel when it chooses to visit your lawn that you have let grow rather than cut.

Day 89

Wednesday 17 June

So, if you put to one side the fact that, globally, we are in the grip of a viral epidemic and facing years of economic and social turmoil. And, that the earth is warming at an alarming rate whilst we also struggle to reverse the environmental impact of thousands of years of human interference. If you put that all to one side, the majority of today was pretty uneventful.

But after I left work. I mean literally as soon as I stepped outside of the building. Things started to happen.

I sometimes get a bout of occurrences that, on their own, might lead me to smile to myself. But when they come one after the other, in a fairly short period of time, and to the backdrop of a pretty ordinary day. Well, I can’t stop myself from thinking they’re a sign.

In the car park at work, whilst on a phone call, a kestrel flew casually across my view and perched on a tree no more than 70 meters from me and in full gaze. Her chestnut-brown chest was brilliant in the late afternoon sunshine.

I think everyone else must have had a close-encounter with a kestrel too because my drive home was a procession of courteous gestures from driver after driver. Even on the northbound strip of the A12 from Feering to Colchester (which is normally hellish).

The Stour Estuary before the clouds arrived.

Then we went for our evening walk in Mistley. The Stour estuary was doing it’s mad-tidal thing where you look away for five minutes and it has turned from bare silt to water. The sky was greying and the air was muggy and anticipating a storm. But you just knew a storm wasn’t quite going to materialise.

We walked past the Mistley Thorn restaurant and I read, for the first time, the wall-mounted information board that mentioned that Matthew Hopkins, the infamous witch-finder general had bought The Thorn Inn back in the 1640’s. I had enjoyed eating there (when we could of course) and never knew those floorboards and walls had once been walked on and touched by such history.

Then all of the happy, chatty groups of people that lounge about on the grassy verge overlooking the Stour very slowly shoe-horned themselves back home in their cars. It’s almost like a therapy for some to spend the evening there with a small picnic supper.

Finally, I watched the last three episodes of The Detectorists back-to-back. It’s set on the Essex and Suffolk border, and I decided a week or so ago to rewatch it all from the very start. I don’t mind admitting that I shed a tear at the end. Such a wonderful programme; the countryside, the history, the people. It’s so familiar to me. And the wistful love that the characters have for their sense of place is totally relatable.

When we moved to Essex twenty years ago I had no idea I would fall in love with East Anglia. But I have done. And I am in very good company.

East Anglia.

Day 88

Tuesday 16 June

The A12 is becoming noticeably busier each day. Lockdown really feels over, and now, with all of the shops open and schools going back…well…I can’t help but feel a little sad.

As I am sure I have already written, I am going to do my absolute best to hold on to this ‘better way’ of doing things. I can’t affect anything or anyone else, not directly. But I will keep writing my blog as my own daily reminder to notice what is in front of me, appreciate it, and understand it better.

We had a barbecue this evening, then went for our walk with Mabel. It was a quiet walk really. A few insects about including a number of lady bird lavae (see yesterday for ladybird stuff). The Song Thrush poet was still at it down the lane which makes me think he may not have been particularly successful this year. I may be doing him a disservice though so will read up.

The Gents Film and Leisure Club jas got a bit competitive as late entries for the insect photo competition from Sunday’s walk are submitted. On Day 86, I announced Richard’s picture of the Thick Legged Flower Beetle the winner but I overlooked this from Paul. Same species and what a cracker!

I want a pair of those metallic-look trousers. And the back drop of..not sure.. Cuckoo flower?

But now the others are feeling a little left out so let’s have one today and another tomorrow.

What an amazing animal. The Greenbottle (Lucilia Caesar).

Jim’s picture of this Greenbottle was taken whilst the fly and many others of it’s clan were feeding on the carcass of a dead hare. The likelihood was that these flies had burst out of the rotting carcass after the larvae had spent around 2 days feeding on the corpse, but this can vary depending on ambient temperatures.

The Greenbottle is a blowfly and is useful to humans, or rather it’s larvae is. The maggots can be used to clean out wounds that have become infected and they even secrete an enzyme that repairs tissue. Forensics use the very predictable egg-to-fly cycle to predict a time of death as these flies will often be the first to a corpse.

Day 87

Monday 15 June

I felt hungover for pretty much most of the day today. The walk yesterday took it out of me more than I anticipated. It must be just a coincidence that I turned fifty a few weeks ago, it can’t be an age thing, surely? Still it was a memorable walk and one that has given loads of things for me to share. More than I could possibly have crammed into the post yesterday, so I will pepper a few in over the coming days.

I took this picture on the walk yesterday. If you were a little aphid sitting on a leaf, and you looked over to see this Seven-Spot Ladybird (Coccinella 7-punctata)? Well, you’d probably do a little aphid poo in your little aphid pants.

I didn’t appreciate the mad world of the Ladybird. Firstly, there are around forty different types of Ladybird in the British Isles, some are native and some are alien invaders from other lands. They all feed on aphids, loads of aphids, around 5000 for the single year they are alive. The two most common are the Two-Spot and the Seven-Spot; the former can have over a dozen black or red spots, the latter is red and can have up to nine black spots. Uhh?

Their bright markings are there to remind predators that they taste disgusting and they excrete a bitter liquid from their knee joints when threatened. Not only that but they also pretend to be dead by lying on their backs and retracting their legs.

Evolution has given these winged wonders antenna that detect farnesene, the alarm call pheromone of the aphid. Which means that when the aphid detects threat, it tries to warn others with this pheromone; what it’s actually doing is screaming ‘Hey, I’m over here, ready to be eaten, and so are all my mates!’.

As regards Covid19? Thankfully, only 33 deaths were recorded in the previous 24 hours. The day I have been dreading has also happened today. The shops and department stores reopened. I know this means people can get back to work and get paid…but…too many people will be seduced by ‘sales’ and ‘bargains’. There were queues outside Primarks up and down the country. Meanwhile, my Seven-Spot Ladybird is up in that Norfolk hedgerow avoiding predators, eating aphids and getting on with it’s life. Hmm.

Day 86

Sunday 14 June

I went on another wonderful walk with the Gents Film & Leisure Club today. We drove to North Norfolk to complete the final leg of the Peddars Way. I’m writing this part of the blog sat drinking a beer, eating a chicken roll in the sunshine, and sat opposite my good friends of said ‘club’. The sun is shining and we are chatting jibberish. Bliss.

A break for lunch on the Peddars Way. This ancient Roman road gets it’s name from the Latin ‘pedester’ meaning ‘walker’.

Fast forward and I’m laying in bed having hauled myself upstairs with aching legs and a blister that is big enough to have it’s own name. I talked a fortnight ago about the ‘silence of satisfaction’ that occurs when you’re on the final stretch of a long walk. This usually starts when the end is in sight but today’s began around the tenth mile of the walk. We still had another four miles to go.

Loads of poppies growing around the fringes of the fields, some even right through the middle. It must be by design? Pollenation maybe?

I managed to drive home safely and went straight for a shower. It was the kind of shower that someone has in a movie when something tragic or traumatic has happened. Face in hands, directly underneath the shower head. I stayed in that pose, under the water, so long that my hands and fingers became wrinkled.

However, we did what we went there for. To walk the final leg of the Peddars Way from Hapley to Holme-next-the-Sea. Two of the team, Richard and Paul, had already walked the whole thing except this final part. The rest of us joined them on the final push. So, it was celebration for R & P for completing the 46 mile walkway and joy for us as we had not perished en route.

Sweet success at the Norfolk end of the Peddars Way. I hope my smile doesn’t look to forced; my calves were on fire!

On the way, I saw and heard a host of birds. Chiffchaff started and ended our walk, Skylarks twittered from high above the fields and warblers galore did what their name suggests. Plus, a cuckoo, Greenfinches, a Bullfinch and a pair of Lesser-spotted Woodpeckers. Three particular highlights included a number of Red Kites that gracefully soared, swooped and even hovered above us. Another was a pair of Lapwings catching flying insects next to some bronze age burial mounds. They climb and dive like a double-page of monochrome broadsheet newspaper, tossed by the wind, all wings and feathers. Finally, whilst we sat eating lunch, I heard an unfamiliar call behind me; I looked around saw my first ever Yellowhammer. He was an adult male and I felt very privileged.

On the way we talked mostly bloke-nonsense, but we also had a competition. To take a photo of an insect which would then be judged by me. This is the winner, a male Thick Legged Flower Beetle (Oedemera nobilis), taken by Richard. Guess how it gets it’s name?

Day 85

Saturday 14 June

We love Saturday morning. A more lazy start to the day with croissant and coffee. It’s another beautiful sunny and warm day.

Me and Lisa went into Manningtree this afternoon, then on to the local garden centre. Apart from the occasional face mask you wouldn’t think there was anything different to normal. There maybe the odd polite apology if someone moves past you a little too closely, but even that seems simply to announce their presence. A bit like ringing the bell on your bike when you’re approaching pedestrians.

We invited the grandparents around for a barbecue then drove to Mistley for an evening walk. Whilst walking by the River Stour estuary, on a high tide, I watched a Water Vole chasing what I thought must be his mate, through the grass. Then a scuffle ensued and they both sped off in different directions.

It seemed that this was a territorial thing and often occurs when a male comes too close to a nesting. Especially when the female is brooding her young. Most males will have at least two active nests reasonably close to each other. I was quite surprised how big they were.

I wrote an email to my local MP this afternoon to support the RSPB’s campaign to improve the Environment Bill which is being reviewed and edited by a parliamentary select committee. It will be interesting to see what Mr Jenkins does. https://e-activist.com/page/61937/action/1?locale=en-GB

The south side of the River Stour this evening. Just behind the tall grass I watched two Water Voles get all territorial.

Day 84

Friday 12 June

Today has escaped me really.

Got up, went to work, came home, went food shopping, ate dinner, watched tv, went to bed.

Final preparations have been made for the Year 10 students coming in on Monday. I think my biggest worry is the staff, as many have not been on site since the lockdown started eighty-odd days ago. They will hopefully be partially prepared as we have videos and guidance to help them, but for everyone, the school is not how they left it.

We decided to do the food shopping whilst Stan took Mabel for her walk and Adora cooked curry. The roads were surprisingly quiet (traffic has been increasing of late), but it was raining and we are still technically in lockdown I suppose.

BBC Springwatch shared some amazing camera work and sound scapes. It’s right there in front of us if we look. Click the image.

Tonight saw the last Springwatch on TV for this year. It has been quite an emotional series. The presenters have all been in their home locations with minimal crew but the connection with nature has been magical. Although so many people are loving the time we have spent sharing the natural world with each other in our own household bubbles, I fear that it will be all too quickly forgotten as things return to ‘normal’. Let’s hope not. The natural world has given us so much in the past few months. It has helped us all get through this.

Day 83

Thursday 11 June

Worked from home today and despite getting much done the day felt quite flat. Largely, I feel, this was due to the all-day heavy cloud cover and the constant threat of rain, which never came.

You can be forgiven for thinking that the lockdown is not in place at the moment. I went to the local Coop supermarket with Adora first thing and the roads were busy-ish. Then you reach the shop and there is an assistant on the door offering you hand gel and wiping down the handles of the baskets.

On the walk this evening I found this little smidge of colour on the fringes of the cultivated fields. Another thing that wasn’t apparent to me yesterday but grabbed my eye today.

The Common Fumitory (Fumaria Officianalis) has a long history in herbalism.

The Common Fumitory is part of the poppy family and in the 1600s was rubbed into the eyes to improve vision and resolve eye illness. Into the 20th century it was still being used as a herbal remedy to treat conjunctivitis. How did they know that it could help way back then?

Another Mabel moment this evening when I had to remove a piece of twig that had got lodged in her teeth. It was exactly a week ago that we had the fruit & nut incident.

Day 82

Wednesday 10 June

So, first a correction to Day 81. It was a Song Thrush not a Blackbird. I couldn’t see the bird clearly, and although I was pretty sure it was a thrush I couldn’t be certain. That’s quite embarrassing. Maybe, my growing fondness for Blackbirds means I am becoming obsessed with them and think every bird is or should be, one.

There’s a field near our house. We have a family consensus, that this is the most lovely field ever. It’s our favourite. Adora even declared that when you have to die this would not be a bad place to go.

I actually saw the Song Thrush this evening. Same tree, same lane, same time of day. Not far from our family favourite field (see video). They’re pretty territorial, like most birds, particularly in the nesting season. Like the Blackbird, they seek the highest vantage point at dusk and sing, loud and clear, through the calm, still air. And it’s beautiful.

These are often the last birds to retreat to their nests at the end of the day. Their large eyes enable them to ‘stay up’ much later than some of their smaller eye-balled compadres. They’re also some of the earliest risers for the same anatomical reason. The earliest bird catches, the worm. I guess the last to bed, sings the longest and delivers the encore.

It is pleasing to learn that the virus in the UK is receding. The daily figures of confirmed cases and deaths is, thankfully, dropping each week. The blot on this good news, however, is that the ‘R’ figure (the reproduction rate) is still somewhere between 0.7 and 0.9. If it is at 1.0 or higher it means that the virus is increasing. If that happens, lockdown restrictions will be reintroduced but maybe only in specific regions.

The government has introduced the idea that each household ‘bubble’ could link with a one-person household bubble. So, a single grandparent could spend time at their grandchild’s bubble. Confused? Try this…Zoos and drive-in cinemas can also reopen. Drive-in cinemas?! Really?! The PM is likely to announce tomorrow that the T-Birds bubble will be able to get together with the Pink Ladies bubble! Crazy times.

Day 81

Tuesday 09 June

Today the government have done an about turn on their ‘ambitions’ for all primary pupils to return to school this summer. It was the number one story on the radio when we some this morning but is far from a surprise. To safely follow social distancing guidance, schools would need to be double the size. The other major news item today was the burial of George Floyd in Houston, Texas – but the reverberations of his murder by a white policeman about ten days ago continue to be heard around the world through protests.

The wheat is ripening in the local fields.

We went on our family dog walk this evening just around the local lanes. We have become very familiar with the route but at this time of year every day seems a little different.

The layers of birdsong are still a real tonic which I am finding really easy to lose myself in even whilst walking. However, to be honest, I am regularly the tail-ender returning home after the others who leave the front door open for me. I can’t help but stop and see if I can pick out the differnet bird calls, and I am certainly getting better. On top of the stalwarts (blackbird, robin etc) I was able to identify a chaffinch, swallow, chiffchaf and reed warbler this evening.

We believe that the calls are from (largely) male birds and tend to either warn other birds to ‘keep-off’ their patch, or to advertise how much of a catch they are to the female of their species.

I decided to stand in the quiet down the lane leading to our house and record what I believe is a Song Thrush. Accidentally, I had the recorder on my phone at the ‘speech to text’ mode so, as it recorded the sounds, it converted them into english text. Here’s the recording and the ‘transcript’. I have really tried not to read too much into this but it is hard to shake the words from my head.

The lament of the Song Thrush

“Evie, Evie, Evie … … bury me even … … Mary, my dear … … Many read the movie EE… … See the seed … … Even by the sea … sea.”