Nippy

After a couple of days watching the trees bend in the wind and struggle to hold on to their leaves, we awoke this morning to bright, blue skies and only a light breeze. The down-side to clear mornings, is the drop in temperature which has been so noticeable today. Our thermometer had dipped over night to 0.6°C - not far off a frost. All was clear and bright at the Straw's Bridge lakes too. Lots of parked cars at 'Swan Lake' indicated lots of crusts for the birds, among which was this pair of Pochards (Aythya ferina). The male Pochard was showing his gorgeous colouration and his glowing, red eye. His mate was - as is usual for water fowl - much more drab.

On another of the lakes, the family of Mute Swans (Cygnus olor) which have been in residence all year were swimming around. The cygnet, hatched back in June SEE HERE, is now almost as large as it's parents and beginning to lose it's grey-brown plumage.

It was a joy to walk around the lakes this morning with the sun shining on our backs and being out of the breeze. The lake which was the nursery for the Mute Swan above (although not today, as they occupied the lake next door), looked calm and beautiful.

Turning for home, we were treated to the sight of a beautiful Comma Butterfly (Polygonia c-album). It too was enjoying the sunshine, sitting on a nettle with wings open to catch every bit of warmth - necessary after such a cold night.

Storm Clouds

Last evening, just as the sun was going down, the storm clouds gathered lightning punctuated the darkening skies and thunder rumbled all around.  Anyone will tell you, I love a good thunder storm, so I grabbed my camera and snapped a few shots out of our windows.  Looking to the South-West, over the rooftops, the sun was still shining through the gathering storm turning everything golden.

But it was to the East where the best, most dramatic cloud formations were to be seen.  As always with these things, it is difficult to get the true scale of a scene from a photo, but you get the idea.

Soon, the rain began to pour down, turning the roads into rivers and our gutters into waterfalls - at least it cleared out the drains!

Beasties

It looks like rain this morning, so we have decided to wait a bit and see if things look better later.  So, in the absence of any pictures from out and about this morning, here are some more from our garden.  Firstly, my nemesis.....SPIDERS!
This is a male Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus).  It was attempting to approach a particularly large female in order to have his 'wicked way' with her, when he made a false move, attracted her attention in the wrong way and decided the best course of action was to cut his losses and drop from her web onto the ground.  By doing this, he avoided becoming her lunch but startled me enough to make me jump six inches in the air.  I caught him as he scuttled into the grass.

On the same subject, another, nasty-looking beastie was seen climbing up our house. This time, a Wolf Spider (Pardosa amentata). Now, I have mentioned these before - see here - These are common spiders in our gardens and get the name 'wolf' from their habit of chasing prey instead of spinning a web and waiting for something to stumble into it. On the head there are eight eyes arranged in three rows; the first row comprises four small eyes, the second contains two larger eyes and the third row has two medium-sized eyes. Very useful!

A strange little creature next, seen walking across our patio the other day. Looking like a small Rove Beetle, it is in fact a Staphylinid beetle. It has the unfortunate quality of liking dung and it is from this charming habit that it gets it's scientific name Coprophilus (from the Greek for 'dung-loving').

We have some nice visitors to our gardens don't we?

Garden

It was a chilly start this morning as we set out for our walk.  The forecast was for a sunny, warm day, so we decided on a longer walk around Mapperley village and the reservoir.  as we started off, we were greeted by the sight of hundreds (if not thousands) of spiders' webs in the grass, covered with morning dew and almost glowing in the early sun.

The reservoir at Mapperley was still and peaceful, apart from the ducks quacking and the Great Crested Grebes calling across the mill-pond-flat water.  Our walk was punctuated by the scolding of a Magpie in the tree overhead.  It was obviously very upset by our presence and showed it by it's chattering, machine-gun like shouts.  But what a beautiful bird when the sunlight catches the iridescence in it's feathers.

Back home and a look around the garden reveals more spiders.  Garden Spiders (Araneus diadematus) have taken over the garden.  Their webs seem to be strung between every branch, every leaf and fence.  Just walking down the garden to get to the shed has turned into an obstacle course and you have to keep your wits about you if you don't want to get a face full of web.  While looking around the garden yesterday, I spotted a rather colourful little caterpillar in the Pyracantha.  This is the larva of a Grey Dagger Moth (Acronicta psi), a plain, grey, easily overlooked moth of the family Noctuidae.  Before turning into the adult moth, the caterpillar is very attractive with it's red, yellow, black and white colouring - as well as the long hairs which help to deter bird attack.

Sunshine

What a difference a couple of days can make. Today turned out to be warm and sunny, so Malcolm and I walked through Shipley Park, up and round Shipley Hill before returning home. Everywhere, signs of Autumn are becoming more evident. Leaves are turning to the flame-colours associated with this time of year and beginning to fall. Among the trees and shrubs of the gardens of Shipley Hall, there are several species of Berberis. This one is Berberis thungergii, it's berries nestled amongst the sharp spines.

Walking back down the hill, we passed a couple of small, Lime Trees.  I think these are Common Lime (Tilia x europaea), a hybrid between Small-leaved and Large-leaved Limes.  Limes are well-known by car owners for dropping a sticky sap all over vehicles parked under them.  This sticky residue is actually honeydew, produced by aphids which love the young stems of Limes.

The boundary of Shipley Hall has been delineated by a large wall since the early years of the 20th century.  The wall - known as the Suffragette Wall - was built to keep militant women away from the hall.  Well, one wouldn't want a gang of marauding suffragettes spoiling one's morning kedgeree would one?

Lunch

Malcolm and I have just got back from a lovely lunch out with our good friend 'Winn'. We had popped round to take Winn' out to do some shopping, as we usually do on a Monday and were surprised by her invitation to join her for a carvery lunch. It was very kind of Winn and most unexpected.
So, no country walk this morning. Instead, a couple of pictures from the archive again. Firstly, a wonderful little creature, found going about it's slow business on our patio a few days ago. A Garden Snail (Helix aspersa).

 Native to all of Western Europe, North Africa, the Mediterranean and Asia Minor. It is more usually seen as a garden pest, but benefits from closer inspection. It is also an important part of the diet of several other animals. Thrushes are particularly fond of them as anyone who has ever seen a Song Thrush beating the living daylights out of a snail on the garden path, will confirm.

Sunny skies are at a premium at this time of year, but when you get them, they are all the more welcome. This picture was taken a few days ago as we walked around the old American Adventure Theme Park site.  In the distance (actually about 9 miles away) is the looming presence of the 2000 Megawatt power station at Ratcliffe-on-Soar.

Reds

Yesterday, I focused on the monochrome side of our locality. Today, following our walk around the area, the theme has to return to the reds. Two in particular were in brightly-coloured evidence as the sun struggled to peep through the clouds. Firstly and by far the most numerous, the Common Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna). I have mentioned these small trees on many occasions in the past, but their beauty will always withstand further scrutiny.

Yet another member of the Rose family, Hawthorns are very common in the British countryside and are in the forefront of necessity to our birds, enabling many of them to get through the winter by supplying millions of red fruits. Those growing along the banks of the Nutbrook canal are always well covered with fruits at this time of year, probably due to the constant availability of water. But a few trees have more than others.

The second red fruit today comes from the wild, Common Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum). Not so common as the Hawthorn, it can be seen scrambling among the other trees and bushes of the hedgerows. Also popular with the birds, it is well known in it's cultivated forms as a garden favourite, but the wild variety is every bit as spectacular. The flowers are just as colourful and heavily scented and the fruits are just as red and juicy - but mildly poisonous to humans.