Red Admirals and Peacocks

 On Sunday afternoon, in a bit of sunshine, the garden was full of butterflies. Mostly Red Admiral and Peacock.

I managed to get a few photos of them on a climbing rose and the Buddleias.

Peacock butterflies are named after their markings resembling the end of a Peacock feather and that's easy to guess at but I read in one place that Red Admiral butterflies were once called Red Admirable and over time this changed to today's name. So nothing to do with markings and a ships captain - which is what I had assumed.

Red Admiral and Peacock butterflies are probably two of the most recognisable of our butterflies, neither have anything similar to them. They both have a wingspan of 6cm and lay their eggs on common stinging nettles which the larva of both then feed on (luckily there are plenty of those this year over the road in the un-used part of the graveyard).

When their wings are folded both are well camouflaged. The Peacock underwing is marbled smoky brown and black and the Red Admiral is almost black underneath with its jagged edges making it look like a dead leaf.

This is a page from the book by Celia Lewis - An Illustrated Country Year

Looking at the label for butterflies I've found that I write a blog post about spotting them almost every summer - seems I'm getting rather predictable!

Bit short of blog post ideas so I'll be back Monday

Sue

The Shining Levels

 The Shining levels by John Wyatt was first published in 1973 and is the authors story of his time working as a forester in the Lake District.

My copy is a Little Toller Nature Classic reprint from 2012. The cover is from a detail from Lake Landscapes by L.S. Lowry.

John Wyatt was born in 1925 in among the factories and cotton mills of Lancashire but always felt like a country boy - escaping anytime he could to the fells and woods above the town. His first visit to the Lake District was with his Scout Group, where he found he loved the freedom and the closeness to nature. After leaving school aged 15 he spent a while working in a newspaper office, then as  telegraphist in the Navy during WWII. On leaving the navy he had a few jobs but  was desperate to get back to the countryside and took a job as a forest worker while doing a correspondence course on writing. He lived alone in a small hut working for the landowner and learning about the wildlife around his home. 

He became a campsite warden and then the first Park Ranger for the Lake District National Park in 1961 - working alone covering 866 square miles as the Park got busier with visitors. As more Rangers were hired he became Chief Ranger in 1973 and was awarded an M.B.E. for services to the National Park.

The Shining Levels is about the early days, before the National Park when he is working for one of the landowners at coppicing, hedging and ditching while living in a small rough hut - which comes with the job. 

I put my modest luggage on the bunk in the corner and leant my axe against the wall. I thought of tea. I followed the beaten path to the well, There was a frog in it , but it didn't bother me. If the water was good enough for him I would not object.........................

The only heat and way of cooking was from a wood fire which smoked terribly. Wyatt soon became an expert on wood-smoke and all the different fragrances. 

A lot of the story is about him taking in a tiny Roe Deer brought to him by some well meaning Scouts who had found it "abandoned". He manages to keep it alive and calls it Buck. Buck grows and thrives and follows him around - answering to his call.

My copy of the book has illustrations of wood engravings of the Lakes by Norman Ackroyd, which don't really add much to the book. I noticed on Amazon that the original had line drawings, which look much more relevant.

Stock Image

 

After retiring he wrote more books about The Lakes and wrote the first official guide to the national Park in 1987.

He died in 2006 and was buried in a green burial site in the Lake District  with a Yew tree planted over his grave.

A good read about a man who went back to nature before it became the in thing!

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Back Tomorrow

Sue

And Into August

 August was originally called Sextilis - the 6th month of the old calendar, and was re-named Augustus in honour of Augustus Caesar, the first Roman Emperor. The Anglo-Saxons named it Weodmonath, the month of weeds.

August 1st was Lammas, one of the Celts 'cross quarter' days. The dates that fall between the solstices and equinoxes that were used to mark the agricultural year. It was called Lughnasad Day after the Celtic God Lugh. According to ninth century Anglo-Saxon records Lammas or "hlaf-mass" meaning Loaf-Mass or Feast of Bread  was celebrated as the start of harvest.  The first loaf made from the years harvest was taken to church to be blessed and sacrificed so that all could be fed from the rest of the harvest.

It was an important day in the country, as land which had been harvested could be made available for village people to graze their animals. It was once a public holiday when fairs were held

 Many of the weather sayings for August are connected with the harvest. This year in many places the harvest is already almost finished.

Dry August and warm

Doth harvest no harm.

If weather be fair and tidy thy grain,

Make speedy carriage, for fear of rain.

A page of August flowers from the book 'An Illustrated Country Year' by Celia Lewis

What's happening in my small Suffolk world in August?

Eldest daughter and the two boys will be up from Surrey for a visit later in the month and Eldest Granddaughter has a couple more nights here too - I'm sure the local two grandchildren will visit as well.

I'll be baking things to enter the Flower and Produce show and on the financial front August is another month without any big extra expenses and I must spend less on second-hand books!

Back Tomorrow

Sue