…..THE MOTH TRAP
There was once a lowly moth trap and upon peering inside this mysterious story started to unfold!
There were two young ladies one named ELDER PEARL (because she was the oldest!)
and the other called DOT MOTH.
One day they decided to go for a walk with their two dogs, a GREY PUG
called LITTLE GREY
and a BRINDLED PUG
who went by the name of SNOUT… “because it’s got a cute nose”.
Standing in the doorway watching them leave was an OLD LADY,
the MOTHER OF PEARL.
She saw them off by waving long pieces of material, an old custom known as the RIBAND WAVE.
After walking for some time they eventually came upon a garden. On entering, through a set of BEAUTIFUL ARCHES
which were made entirely from BARRED MARBLE…
…they were a thing of MARBLED BEAUTY,
they noticed that the garden was covered in a type of matting…a GARDEN CARPET!
part of which sported a DOUBLE SQUARE SPOT design
with the rest being of the more COMMON MARBLED CARPET
pattern.
After walking on for a short while they arrived at, what appeared to be, an outdoor pub called the SILVER Y.
It had a SHADED BROAD BAR
courtesy of some trees, which included a SCALLOPED OAK,
a BEADED CHESTNUT
and a WILLOW BEAUTY.
Propping up one end of the bar was an UNCERTAIN
looking CHINESE CHARACTER
who had a DUSKY SALLOW
type complexion. After a short while he was joined by a much younger lad who was adorned with a long flowing cape with FLAME SHOULDER
stripes. On the the back in large letters were the words LACKY
the CLOAKED MINOR
After striking up a conversation with Dot and Pearl Lacky and his friend suggested that it would be a good idea if they were to accompany the two girls on the rest of their journey and, not quite sure of where they were, the girls reluctantly agreed.
So off they set, all four together. After what seemed like an age of walking, all the time being assured by the ‘boys’ that they were on the right path, they came to a large edifice fronted by a grand entrance made up of an imposing set of DARK ARCHES
and hanging precariously, on a thin rope, above the centre of the only open arch was a large DARK DAGGER.
Would they chance that the dagger was secure enough for them to walk under and safely go through the arch or………………To be continued.
Maybe!
*Well…….I said at the top it was an epic, so well done if you stuck with it and I hope you enjoyed this little bit of fun?
The idea for this post came to me while I was sorting through some of the photos of the moths that were caught in the moth trap I bought earlier in the year. Although starting late in the season I’ve had 77 different species of moth in the trap so far (most of which I had no idea even existed..and as they are mostly nocturnal would probably have never seen!) and it’s been a very interesting experience IDing and photographing them all. I can’t explain the anticipation and excitement that builds when, first thing in the morning, it’s time to open the trap and see what’s been caught overnight.
Buying the moth trap has definitely been my best purchase of this year and I can’t wait for next year’s ‘mothing season’ (and some warmer weather) to come around!
Wednesday 13th. November 2013
Another early start on what was going to be a very enjoyable day of idle banter and relaxed bird watching in the company of two like minded friends.
It was dark and cold, with a clear sky and a touch of frost, when I arrived at Keith’s at just past 5am. We soon packed all the gear into his car and set off on our two hour journey to meet up with Adrian at the RSPB’s Freiston Shore reserve near Boston in Lincolnshire, where the Pilgrim Fathers set sail from…so the sign said!! Adrian was already there to meet us when we arrived at just past 7am. After a cup of tea and a chinwag while watching the sun rise, over the bird filled lagoon, into a cloudless blue sky we were ready to go and explore the reserve.
A Mute Swan, bathed in the early morning sunshine, takes it’s first flight of the day.
Unfortunately as we walked around the side of the lagoon to the hide the majority of the birds decided that the best place to be was over on the side that was furthest away from us! There were large flocks of Dark-Bellied Brent Geese noisily flying overhead on their way to feed out in the meadows and on the salt marsh. There was also very large flocks of Golden Plover that frequently took to the air and gave a golden shimmering display as they whirled around in the sunshine, sometimes completely obscuring the view.
We were soon up onto the sea bank and the start of our 3 mile circular walk around the ‘wetland trail’ with an excursion (a good mile round trip!) to the Cut End bird hide.
Adrian was all trussed up and loaded down with Bertha while Keith was contemplating a visit to the local supermarket to do his weekly shop!!
This was the first outing for Keith’s (shopping)trolley but he took all the ribbing and less than flattering remarks in good faith and we were more than grateful for it in the end, well up to a point!…more later.
Not many mountains around here!
Greylag Geese practicing their formation flying.
They tried to drag us in, but we managed to keep our freedom…just!
Eventually our destination is in sight…Cut End Hide.
Adrian decided to use the ungainly method of entry…we just used the gate!
Now this is where Keith’s trolley came into it’s own as he started to unpack coffee, soup and cheese rolls. It was a good idea after all….well maybe?…more later!
As we sat for a well earned rest and refreshment we took in the (flat!) view over The Wash.
Whilst sitting and taking in the pleasant sunshine I suddenly heard a melancholy sort of wailing sound, my first thought when I looked up and saw the long flowing locks was…mermaid!…but no! it was only Keith, who had been exploring and was just cursing the fact that he had stepped into some rather deep and smelly mud!
Mermaid?
Alf kept a keen eye out for any rarities that might have put in an appearance.
With well over half the distance of our walk completed it was now that Keith’s trolley, or it could just have been Keith, had a bit of a poor showing!
“Would anyone like an apple?” was the question, as we sat on a bench for another short rest…after much rummaging, muttering and a partial unloading of the said trolley the next refrain to greet our ears was “o f*** it, I’ve left them in the car”….It was a good job that both me and Adrian had turned down the offer of an apple….we weren’t too disappointed!
There were a lot of ‘watchers’ along the route.
I wonder if I could get a fringe like that?
As I mentioned earlier there were a lot of Dark-Bellied Brent Geese around but uncannily they seemed always to be on the furthest side of the reserve to us…apart from this one, who we called Billy no mates!
Our trek was now coming to and end and we were soon back at the car park where Adrian again did the honours with the tea and coffee. As luck would have it amongst the Mallard the Wigeon and the sheep that were feeding on the grass in front of the lagoon there was a good number of Redshank and Black-Tailed Godwits, with possibly a few Bar-Tailed Godwits mixed in!
Black-Tailed Godwit
Grey Plover.
Is this a Barwit or a Blackwit?
It was soon time to make tracks for home and after a brief reflection on how good the day had been we said farewell to Adrian and wished him all the best until the next we meet up, most probably, in the new year.
It was a great day with good company…we put the world to rights, had a few laughs, a nice walk in pleasant weather and plenty of birds to see. What better way to spend a day?
Before we left we gave this fella instructions to keep an eye on things until our next visit!
