A Beautiful Demoiselle Damselfly
Our freedoms have been curtailed so much recently, it’s easy to get freaked by the lack of control we have over our lives at the moment. However, rather than bemoan the things I can’t do, the places I can’t go and the people I can’t see, I have decided that sanity lies in taking joy from the small freedoms still left to me – to write, to walk in the fields behind and in front of us, and to enjoy, and photograph, whatever beauty is there. No, it’s not the same as hours wandering my beloved Somerset Levels, or sitting in a hide watching Great White Egret fishing, and certainly not sitting by a log fire in a country pub, but it’s all I’ve got right now, and I just have to make the most of it. I realise I am luckier than many, in that I have fields to walk in on our edge of town doorstep, but I would hope I would apply the same theory wherever I lived.
I’ve already done a couple of posts about my cautious post-operation expeditions to the fields, but now, four weeks afterwards, I’m able to walk further, albeit within the boundaries of the fields, and more importantly just about able to crouch or kneel down to photograph the numerous beasties that live down in the grass, and even in the mud. I’m still not able to walk the dogs on my own – they pull too much along the road, eager to get to the fields – although I have been on a dog walk with them, with my wife holding them. And here they are…
Riley running through the long grass in the front field…
…and Woody doing the same.
Anyway, this is a compilation of the last week or so’s photos – I hope they bring you some pleasure too, and I hope you too are finding joy in your own surroundings. Stay safe, and stay sane!
Common Crane Fly – they look so alien up close!
Common Banded Hoverfly
Large Red Damselfly
Peacock Butterlfy
A Small Wolf Spider – they love to hide in the cracks in the dried mud and pounce on passing prey. They’re also very wary, very fast, and it’s very difficult to get a decent photo of one!
The Red Campion is beginning to emerge along the riverbank
Mouse-Eared Chickweed in the back field, or ‘shirt buttons’ as my mother-in-law used to call them apparently.
Common Groundsel – this is one of my favourite photos for some reason. It looks like the flower heads are trying to race each other across the field.
Dandelions as far as the eye can see – or to the end of the field, anyway…
Another alien-like Crane Fly
A Harlequin Ladybird – no wonder the native Ladybirds are scared of them!
And finally, my favourite from today’s brief excursion, a Golden Dung Fly.
Alastair Swinnerton 