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A Suffolk Lane

~ A diary of my life in rural north Suffolk.

A Suffolk Lane

Tag Archives: moths

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

09 Sun Aug 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in family, Insects, plants, Rural Diary, trees

≈ 31 Comments

Tags

'The Company', beetles, clouds, cream tea, Fruit, harvesting, insects, Lilium longiflorum, moths, purple beans, Sheffield, Suffolk, sunset, The Man in the Iron Mask, trees, wild flowers

I haven’t published a diary post lately so this is a short resumé of my activities over the past month or so.

To start things off I have a photo of a cream tea that Elinor and I enjoyed while out shopping in Bungay before our holiday.

IMG_4905Cream tea (640x480)

A very brightly-coloured café called ‘Jesters’ at the entrance to Bungay castle. We were going to walk round what is left of the castle when I remembered in time that I had only allowed myself an hour’s parking . The cream and jam scones were yummy!

Elinor and I went by train to Sheffield on the 2nd of July to visit my elder daughter, Alice.  The day was hot and the journey quite uncomfortable as the carriage we were in on the train from Norwich to Sheffield had faulty air-conditioning.  The ticket collector handed out bottles of water to anyone who wanted some.  We had noticed large quantities of water bottles in the waiting room at Diss Station as well, with a notice saying any customer could help themselves to water if they needed it.

We were travelling to Sheffield in order to watch Alice perform in ‘The Man in the Iron Mask’ by Alexandre Dumas.  We then stayed the night with her in her single room.  It was snug to say the least, but lovely to be all together again.

These are some photos of her that I have ‘borrowed’ from her drama group’s Facebook page.

11258095_10204761757547885_1220536374365931542_o (640x427)

Alice (in the green dress) played the part of Constance, D’Artagnan’s wife. She is watching D’Artagnan (on the right) fighting his foe.

The man on the left is an expert in weapons and fighting and has an armoury at his home.  He taught all the cast how to fence and fight.  It all looked very real.

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I thought Alice did very well especially as she had to wear a costume which gave her a terrible rash for which she needed medical treatment.

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‘All for one and one for all!’

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Dumas will be spinning in his grave at their version of his very sad and doom-laden book. It was a brilliant, funny, well-acted and well-choreographed play with a happy ending.

As we were waiting for our train back home the next morning I saw and heard the piano in the concourse being played.  The piano is there for anyone’s use at any time.

IMG_4906Pianist on Sheffield station (640x477)

This young man played well.

Unluckily for me and Elinor, the carriage we were in on our return journey also had no air-conditioning.  This time there was no free water but we were able to leave the carriage at Nottingham (I think) and get into another carriage with AC that they had attached to the train.

The following week was busy with preparations for our holiday.  Elinor’s laptop stopped working and had to be taken in for repair.  She worried that it might not be repaired in time for her to use on holiday.  She used my lap-top all week.  We were able to collect her’s on Friday :).  I shopped with Mum on Tuesday and made sure she’d be alright for food and other necessaries while we were away.  My friend Heather came to lunch on Wednesday and we had an enjoyable time chatting about friends and family.  She gave me a book – Janet Marsh’s ‘Nature Diary’.  Such a thoughtful present.  I had an appointment at Norfolk and Norwich Hospital for a rheumatoid arthritis check-up on Friday – the day before going away.

We were surprised to find on our return from holiday on the 18th July that the field of barley behind our house had still not been harvested.  The weather at home had been warm and quite dry while we had dripped and shivered on holiday.  We did get a superb sunset to welcome us back.

IMG_2389Sunset 18 - 07 (640x427)
IMG_2390Sunset (640x427)
IMG_2391Sunset (640x427)

We had another busy week catching up on household and gardening chores and I had two weeks’ worth of washing and ironing to do.  On the Monday I had to take Mum to the hospital for her regular eye check which went very well.  I collected her shopping list as I would be doing her shopping for her that week.  When I got home I started to make a loaf of bread and discovered I hadn’t enough yeast so had to go out again.  I bought some other groceries as well as the yeast and was on my way home when I got a flat tyre.  I managed to get the car into the town central carpark and got the spare tyre out but couldn’t work out how to remove the jack from the car!  Shameful!  I’m also not strong enough to take the wheel off anyway so had to phone Richard who had just sat down with a drink.  While I was waiting for Richard to come and rescue me I got two offers of help from kind gentlemen who saw my pancake-flat tyre.  The age of chivalry is not dead!  The tyre had a rip in it and a couple of nails too.

The next day they began harvesting the barley field.

IMG_2392Barley harvest (640x427)

This combine had just off-loaded its grain into the waiting tractor trailer.

IMG_2394Barley harvest (640x427)

The harvesting wasn’t started until late in the day and continued until quite late in the evening.

The countryside at harvest-time is a very noisy, dusty, dirty place to be.  It proves at this time of year to be very industrial.  Our houses and cars get covered in a thick pall of dust and bits of straw.  We all start wheezing and coughing and anyone with allergies or asthma has problems with their health.  There is a constant roaring and whining of engines as the combines trawl up and down the fields all day and most of the night too and the tractors with full trailers of grain are driven at break-neck speed along our narrow lanes to the silos and barns at the farms.  Woe betide anyone or any creature who gets in their way!

IMG_2395Barley harvest (640x427)

The barley field was only half finished that evening and the combine went off to another field to work on that. Both fields were left with strips of uncut grain.

I am not sure why they left both fields like this.  Bad weather was forecast and duly arrived a couple of days later.  Perhaps less damage is caused by wind and rain when the crop is in strips.

IMG_5290View across field (640x476)

This is a photo of the other field our local farmer cut in strips. We took this picture while on a walk nearly two weeks ago.  The fields were both finished last week – almost a month since they had begun.

This was the first walk we had taken from home in months.

IMG_5294Bee and hoverfly on Spear Thistle (640x480)

A bee and a hoverfly enjoying the nectar of a Spear Thistle (Cirsium vulgare)

IMG_5295Moth Shaded Broad Bar perhaps (640x480)

I disturbed this moth as I walked through the long grass. I think it may be a Shaded Broad Bar moth (Scotopteryx chenopodiata)

IMG_5297Common Fleabane (640x480)

I remembered seeing a large patch of Common Fleabane (Pulicaria dysenterica) in the corner of a field last year. It was still there though a large heap of prunings had been left there earlier in the year

IMG_5296Common Fleabane with pollen beetles (640x480)

Fleabane with Pollen Beetles (Meligethes aeneus)

IMG_5298Field Maple (640x480)

The Field Maple(Acer campestre) was looking bright, not only with its new ruby-coloured winged-fruits and leaf stalks but also with the crimson galls on many of its leaves. These galls are small red pustules probably produced by the mite Aceria myriadium.

IMG_5300New oak leaves (640x480)

New Pedunculate (or English) Oak leaves (Quercus robur) shining in the afternoon sun. There are also tiny acorns on long stalks to be seen.

IMG_5303Clouds (640x480)

Interesting cloud formation.

IMG_5307Hoverfly on bramble flowers (640x480)

A hoverfly on Bramble (Rubus fruticosus agg. ) flowers

IMG_5309Bramble (640x480)

Bramble flowers are very attractive and blackberries go so well in pies and crumbles!

IMG_5308Dewberry (640x480)

I saw my first Dewberry (Rubus caesius) last year and was worried I wouldn’t find one this year because of all the hedging and ditching that was done in the spring. I eventually found a small plant under a hedge.

IMG_5310Field view (640x479)

Richard and I like this view across a field

IMG_5312Field view photo-bombed by fly (640x480)

This is another view we like and I’m sure my regular readers recognise it.

When I checked my photos on my return home I was dismayed to see the spot just above the trees at the centre of the photo.  However, when I cropped the photo…

IMG_5312Field view photo-bombed by fly (2) (640x374)

Cheeky!

…I realised a bee had photobombed my picture!

IMG_5317Oedemeridae beetle perhaps Ischnomera sanguinicollis (640x480)

An Oedemeridae beetle, perhaps Ischnomera sanguinicollis on a Spear Thistle flower with lots more Pollen Beetles.

IMG_5322Purple beans (640x480)

We have had our first harvest of purple beans.

These beans sadly lose their purple colour when cooked and end up a rather dull green.  They taste very nice and they have appreciated growing in the cooler summer.

IMG_5321Purple beans and spring greens (480x640)

French beans are so quick and easy to prepare and taste wonderful straight from the garden.

IMG_5330White lilies (640x480)

My white lilies (Lilium longiflorum) are flowering in the garden. This photo was taken at dusk.

IMG_5323Rain at sunset (640x480)

Another sunset – this time with an added rain shower

The rain soon cleared away and as I turned back toward the house I saw the sky to the East was lovely too.

IMG_5335Pink clouds at sunset (640x480)

Pretty pink clouds!

Thanks for visiting!

 

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July (mainly) in Suffolk

30 Thu Jul 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in Gardening, Insects, plants, Rural Diary, wild birds

≈ 35 Comments

Tags

birds, butterflies, caterpillar, danselfly, dragonflies, flies, garden, garden flowers, green woodpecker, herbs, hoverflies, insects, moths, Suffolk, wild flowers

This post is made up of photos of things I’ve seen in my garden during the last month.  The first few shots were taken during the last two days in June (I did say ‘mainly’!), when the weather suddenly got much warmer and the sun appeared.  Summer arrived and we all felt much better!

IMG_2329Painted Lady on scabious (2) (640x416)

Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui) on a scabious flower

IMG_2333Dog Rose (2) (640x434)

Dog Rose flowers (Rosa canina) next to the big pond

IMG_2335Common Blue Damselfly (640x423)

Male Common Blue damselfly (Enallagma cyathigerum)

IMG_2341Four-spotted chaser (640x427)

Four-spotted Chaser dragonfly (Libellula quadrimaculata)

IMG_2340Small Tortoiseshell on pond (2) (640x428)

Small Tortoiseshell butterfly (Aglais urticae) on big pond

IMG_2348Female Emperor Dragonfly (640x408)

Female Emperor dragonfly (Anax imperator) laying eggs on the big pond

We have Ground Elder in our garden.  I wish we didn’t but there is little chance of us ever getting rid of it here so we will have to try to weaken it and stop it from spreading further.  It is in the ditch between us and the school house next door and also in the ditches at the front of the house and under the hedge.  It is trying to spread into the lawn at the front but we strim and mow as much as possible and try to stop it from flowering.  We often fail in this.

IMG_2350Ground Elder (640x427)

Ground Elder flower! As you see it is a pretty umbellifer with slightly pink buds.

I eradicated it from a former garden by digging it out over a period of a few years.  It was in a flower bed so therefore easier to deal with.

IMG_2351 (2).jpgCommon Backswimmers (640x424)

Common Backswimmers (Notonecta glauca) in the front pond. This pond completely dried up while we were away on holiday but is starting to fill again because of the torrents of rain we’ve had during the past week or two.

IMG_2359Insects on lavender (640x427)

Insects on Lavender ‘Hidcote’. There haven’t been as many insects this year as last, but the lavender attracted quite few while it flowered. It is a fabulous insect magnet!

IMG_2354Lavender (640x427)

Lavender growing at the front of our house

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My herb garden

IMG_4908Bronze Fennel flower bud (640x480)

Bronze Fennel flower bud. When we returned form our week away all the leaves on the fennel had died and the flowers were drooping. I watered the herbs and then the rains and cool weather returned; the fennel is still alive (it has an enormous tap root) but no leaves at all for now. The flowers are fine and are being enjoyed by wasps and hoverflies.  A neighbour came in to water the plants in the greenhouse while we were away (tomatoes mainly) but we couldn’t expect him to water all our plants – that would be asking much too much!

IMG_2355Tumbelina Petunia (640x427)

A pretty Tumbelina Petunia in the window box.  It has a lovely gentle scent.

IMG_2356Verbena (640x427)

A very bright pink Verbena in the window box with the petunia. The hoverflies love it very much. I wish it was scented.

IMG_4917Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus on verbena (640x480)

Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus (I think!) on verbena

IMG_4926Hoverfly on Fuchsia (640x480)

A hoverfly on the Fuschia that is also in the window box. This photo was taken after we had begun to have rain at last after a long dry spell.

IMG_4923Spider on fuchsia (640x480)

A beautiful, tiny green spider on the fuschia. I think this is a Green Orb-weaver (Araniella curcurbitina).

IMG_4915Six-spot Burnet (480x640)

A Six-spot Burnet moth (Zygaena filipendulae) on lavender

IMG_2358Lily (640x427)

One of my unscented Asian lilies.

IMG_2369Sisyrinchium striatum (2) (640x427)

Sisyrinchium striatum. These put on a good show this year. Many years ago I had these growing in my garden and loved them as they seemed to go with all the flowers in the border. We moved to Somerset for 18 months and then moved here in 2006. Three years ago I found a seedling sisyrinchium in the garden which appeared from nowhere.  I potted it up and grew it on; it flowered the following year and I let it go to seed. I sprinkled the seed on my border and last year I found lots of plants growing which flowered beautifully this year. Free flowers!

IMG_2370Viola (2) (640x419)

A pretty Viola. These seed themselves all over the garden.

IMG_2376Rosa Mundi (640x427)

I have two Rosa Mundi bushes ( a gift from Richard) and they both flowered well this year. It is sad that they have such a short flowering period but it is worth having them for their pretty, painted petals.

IMG_2378Perennial Sweet Pea (640x427)

Perennial Sweet Pea

IMG_2379Scabious (640x427)

Scabious flower

IMG_2382Rose (640x427)

A pretty rose from Richard’s border

In a former post I posted a photo of a mullein flower infested with Mullein moth caterpillars.  Here is another photo taken a week or so later when the grubs were much bigger.

IMG_2380Mullein (640x427)

Mullein Moth caterpillar (Shargacucullia verbasci) on what was left of a Mullein flower spike

IMG_2386 (2)Meadow Brown (640x417)

A Meadow Brown butterfly (Maniola jurtina). Wonderful camouflage!

IMG_2387Fly on Amelanchier (2) (640x429)

A fly on the Amelanchier tree. I cannot identify this one properly though it looks a little like Empis digramma, a fly which hunts other flies in long grass and other lush vegetation and spears them with its proboscis.

IMG_2404Adult and fledgling Green Woodpeckers (2) (640x411)

I took this photo of the Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis) and its 2 fledglings this evening. The adult was trying to teach its young how to find ant’s eggs.

This last photo wasn’t taken in my garden but in the grounds of the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital where I had to go for a check-up on the day before we went on holiday.  I didn’t know what else to do with it!

IMG_4929Lady's Bedstraw (480x640)

Lady’s Bedstraw (Galium verum)

Thank’s for visiting!

 

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Garden Visitors

03 Tue Feb 2015

Posted by Clare Pooley in Insects, Rural Diary, wild animals

≈ 25 Comments

Tags

Brown Hawker dragonfly, butterfly, cuckoo bee, dragonflies, Field vole, Flesh Fly, flies, garden, ichneumon wasp, Large Yellow Underwing moth, micro moths, moths, Small Tortoiseshell butterfly, small white butterfly, Southern Hawker dragonfly, Tachina fera fly, wildlife

I will continue to post last year’s photos while this winter weather continues.  I am away from home for a good part of the day; certainly the part of the day with the best light for taking pictures.  We haven’t been out anywhere recently either, so nothing much to show or tell you.

IMG_3881Vole (640x480)

Rear end of a vole. I think this may be a Field Vole (Microtus agrestis) rather than a Bank Vole (Clethrionomys glareolus).

IMG_3882Vole (640x480)

Front end of a vole.

This vole was hiding behind the wheel of the hose-pipe cart.  In fact, the shots were taken just a couple of weeks ago but I was unable to add them to the other posts I’ve published this year.  Field Voles are aggressive and noisy rodents and like to live in damp and tussocky grass.  Exactly!  Our garden is full of that at the moment.

008Bees on chive flowers (640x480)

Bees on Chive flowers

I let most of my herbs flower as I prefer to see the insects and flowers to having perfect tasting herbs.

009Cuckoo bee Psithyrus vestalis on chive flower (640x480)

I believe this is a Cuckoo Bee (Psithyrus vestalis) on Chives.

005Micro Moth (640x480)

A micro moth I found in grass. I haven’t yet discovered what it is called.

001Micro moth (640x497)

Another micro moth seen on a wall. I apologise for the shot being out of focus.

042Brown Hawker (640x488)

A Brown Hawker dragonfly. This is the only photo I managed to get of it and it blends in so well with the dead leaf it was perching on. This is our only Hawker with amber wings and has prominent yellow stripes on its thorax. These can just be seen above the wings. I believe this is a female.

047Tachina fera on marjoram (640x427)

Tachina fera on Marjoram.  The larvae of these flies are parasites of saw flies and other caterpillars.

048Small tortoiseshell on marjoram (640x427)

Small Tortoiseshell butterfly (Aglais urticae) on Marjoram

049Small tortoiseshell on marjoram (640x427)

Small Tortoiseshell butterfly on Marjoram.

050Small tortoiseshell on marjoram (640x427)

Small Tortoiseshell butterfly on Marjoram.

 

051Poss ichneumon wasp Amblyteles armatorius (640x485)

This is an Ichneumon wasp (possibly Amblyteles armatorius but I have my doubts about this ID). It is on Bronze Fennel.

053Flesh fly and ichneumon wasp (640x430)

Ichneumon Wasp and Flesh-fly (Sarcophaga carnaria) on Bronze Fennel.

011Moth (640x480)

Unknown moth.  Angle Shades moths (Phlogophora meticulosa) fold their wings like this but I am not sure that they are this dark in colour.

004Small white (640x427)

A rather chewed Small White butterfly (Pieris rapae).

012Large Yellow Underwing (640x480)

Large Yellow Underwing moth (Noctua pronuba)

011Female southern hawker (640x427)

Southern Hawker dragonfly (Aeshna cyanea) – female.

Best wishes to you all!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Here be Dragons!

24 Tue Jun 2014

Posted by Clare Pooley in churches, Insects, music, plants, Rural Diary, Uncategorized

≈ 19 Comments

Tags

Aldeburgh Festival, Banded Demoiselle, Black-tailed Skimmer, bouquet, Broad-bodied Chaser, butterflies, damselflies, dentist, dragonflies, Four-spotted Chaser, Greater Bindweed, Hedge Brown, Ian Bostridge, Large Skipper, lavender, moths, Schubert's 'Winterreise', Six-spot Burnet, Small Tortoiseshell, Snape Maltings, Suffolk Punch, The Man of Mode by George Etherege, Thomas Ades, wedding, wedding anniversary

 

Image

Four-spotted Chaser

Our garden is full of dragonflies and damselflies.

Most of the UK was basking in warm sunshine last week; Suffolk was one of the areas which wasn’t.  We spent most of the time under a thick pall of cloud.  There was a strong northerly breeze and some rain, though not much; certainly not enough.  The butterflies and dragonflies only flew when a watery sun appeared through a crack in the cloud, which wasn’t often.  The highest temperature I recorded was 16 degrees centigrade.  The weather started to improve towards the end of the week with the wind changing direction from northerly to a warmer south-westerly.  The clouds then began to disperse.  The weekend was really quite fine and Monday morning was too.  Unfortunately, we had a couple of heavy showers of rain in the afternoon and more of the same overnight.  Today started with thick mist and then it wasn’t too bad until this afternoon when we have had torrential rain and thunder storms.  At least today we have had a good amount of rain which has freshened things up nicely.

Image

Lavender covered in butterflies (mainly Small Tortoiseshells)

Monday 16th was cool and showery and I had to visit the dentist because of a painful tooth.  I had made the appointment a week before when my tooth had been aching for some days.  It continued to hurt until a couple of days before the appointment and then suddenly felt better.  I thought I’d better keep the appointment just in case there was really a problem.  My dentist did her best to find something wrong with my tooth – she x-rayed it and bruised my gum with the x-ray plate.  She poked and prodded it very hard a number of times with that sharp spiky thing dentists use.  She gripped it very hard between finger and thumb and tried to wriggle it and pull it out.  She hit it hard a few times with a blunt metal object but fortunately for me there didn’t appear to be anything wrong.  I left the surgery feeling as though someone had punched me in the face.

Tuesday 17th was a much better day – some sunshine and a strong breeze which dried my washing.

Wednesday 18th was another busy shopping day – firstly with Mum who hadn’t been feeling too well and then some shopping for us. I also collected a quantity of medication from the doctors’ surgery.  Wednesday was also our 20th wedding anniversary and R was due home from working in Gloucestershire that evening.  Quite often he is away from home on our anniversary but this year was nicely different.  He brought me home a bouquet of flowers which was very kind and thoughtful of him.

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In recent years we haven’t bought each other gifts but have gone somewhere nice together – a stately home, a beautiful garden – or we have bought something we both wanted – a garden bench, a favourite film to watch together.  This year R suggested we go out for a meal to the place we went to on our first date.  Of course I agreed.  We decided not to go out on the anniversary itself as R would have spent some hours driving and would be tired (as he was).  We booked a table for Friday evening and invited E to come with us.  She is the daughter of our marriage and should therefore be with us to celebrate.  She agreed to come too.

Thursday 19th, Corpus Christi, and though there was a service at church at 9.00a.m. I wasn’t able to go as E had an interview that morning at City College Norwich.  Surprisingly, E was fairly calm and even managed to eat some breakfast before we set off.  I parked in the city centre again and we walked to the college from there as before.  By the time we got to the college E was starting to feel very apprehensive and when I left her outside the interview room she was very frightened and extremely pale.

She re-appeared an hour and a half later having had an interview and done a short maths and English test.  I was so proud of her and pleased that she had been able to go through with the interview and test.

E has had many problems to deal with in her seventeen years.  She has scoliosis (curvature of the spine) and has had problems with her feet.  Both of these problems are now well under control but getting help initially was very difficult.  E had to contend with a lot of bullying at school too.  Always of a nervous disposition and insecure she developed chronic anxiety which brought on panic attacks.  She was helped extremely well in her Middle School but when she went up to High School the problem got so bad that eventually she was unable to attend school and wasn’t able to take her GCSE exams last summer.  Eventually we found a really good therapist who taught her how to control her anxiety.  She still has a long way to go but she has started to make a life for herself.  The City College has a course for young people who have had interrupted education and they know exactly how to treat these young people with kindness and understanding.  Their dignity is preserved and they are not made to feel guilty or odd.  You can understand now why I was so proud of my dear daughter.

R and I spent an hour or so cleaning the church again that evening.  There was to be a large wedding there on Saturday and the florist was coming to decorate the church on Friday so we had to do the cleaning first.  We decided to buy take-away fish and chips for our evening meal to save having to cook.  A real treat!

Friday 20th was a brighter day and got gradually warmer until the afternoon was quite summery.  I had a blood test in the morning then did yet more shopping.  The afternoon was spent doing housework – very tedious.  Our anniversary meal was very pleasant.  The inn looks very different from how it was when R and I went there in January 1993.  A large dining area with plenty of glass in the roof and large floor to ceiling glass windows has been added on at the back.

Saturday 21st.  A lovely summers day at last.  We were so pleased for the couple getting married today.  I went to collect some supplies from the chemist and R did some gardening – mainly hedge-cutting – and then went off on his bike to perform his Church Warden duties at the wedding.   The bride had arrived in an open carriage drawn by two Suffolk Punch horses.

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The church had been beautifully decorated with flowers.

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Sunday 22nd was another fine day and R and I went to church at St. James’ church.  I cooked our main meal as soon as we got home instead of in the evening as we usually do.  This was because I was going with my mother to a concert at Snape Maltings in Aldeburgh.  The Aldeburgh Festival is taking place at the moment and this year is its 67th since it was started by the composer Benjamin Britten and his partner Peter Pears.

Snape

Snape Maltings. Photo courtesy of The Daily Telegraph

Tickets for concerts at Snape are not that expensive but it is almost impossible to get them.  If one has enough money to be able to afford to become a Friend of Snape,  and the cheapest annual payment to become a Friend is £300, one can buy tickets earlier by weeks than the hoi-polloi like me.  All the best tickets are snapped up very quickly and us poor commoners are left with the crumbs.  I have decided to pay £15 a year so that I am e-mailed the programme of concerts.  This means I get to see the list of concerts a day before the people who receive the programme by post.  £15 for an e-mail!!

The concert that Mum and I attended was very good and I feel very lucky to have been there.  Ian Bostridge, tenor, accompanied by Thomas Ades on the piano performed Schubert’s song cycle ‘Winterreise’.  We have been to hear both these wonderful musicians before so knew that we were going to have a good concert.  I studied ‘Winterreise at school and grew to love it then so was really looking forward to the evening.  The concert started at 8.00p.m. and the whole cycle was sung without an interval.  We set off for home just after sunset and were home before dark.

Monday23rd was a busy day with lots of washing and shopping.

I took Mum out shopping today instead of on Wednesday as I am going to see A in Sheffield tomorrow and will be staying there for two nights, coming back home on Friday.  A is performing in another play and I am looking forward to seeing her in it.  I decided it might be nice to stay in Sheffield a little longer than usual as I would like to see the Botanical Garden which A says is very pleasant.  I might also do a little shopping!  A is still trying to finish her PhD but everything seems to be conspiring against her.  She recently had a fall and broke one of her fingers which has not made her PhD typing marathon easy.  She is unemployed again and has no income which is very worrying for her.  The play she will be performing in is ‘The Man of Mode’, a Restoration comedy written by George Etherege.

275px-George_Etherege_The_Man_of_Mode_frontspiece_1676

As I said at the beginning of this post, the garden is full of dragonflies and damselflies.  The garden is also full of Small Tortoiseshell butterflies especially, and a few other butterflies and insects.

010Skipper

Skipper butterfly

I think this is a Large Skipper.

011Tortoiseshell

Small Tortoiseshell

070Tortoiseshell butterfly

Small Tortoiseshell

I have included two photos of these butterflies to show the difference between a newly emerged butterfly and one that has been flying for a few days.  The second one is so bright!

002Six-spot Burnet on lobelia

Six-spot Burnet moth on lobelia

050Dragonfly

Dragonfly

051Four-spotted chaser

Four-spotted Chaser

045LLavender with butterflies

Meadow Brown butterfly

056Female banded demoiselle

Female Banded Demoiselle

057Greater bindweed flower with pollen beetle and micro moth

Greater Bindweed flower with unidentified micro-moth and pollen beetle

The Greater Bindweed flower is the largest of our native flowers.

058Male broad-bodied chaser

Male Broad-bodied Chaser

060Male black-tailed skimmer

Male Black-tailed Skimmer

The last photos I am including are of Small Tortoiseshells again.

069Lavender with butterflies (cartoon) (2)

The reason I am including this photo is because…..

069Lavender with butterflies (cartoon)

….of this!!

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I talk about what it's like living in a quiet part of Suffolk. I am a wife, mother and daughter, a practising Christian and love the natural world that surrounds me. I enjoy my life - most of the time!

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