Dragonfly stuck

External skin of the dragonfly nymph stage

To complete today’s nature studies an old video from a previous garden of a dragonfly stuck in the skin from its nymph stage.

[wpvideo GJ0PaYCl]

P is for Pruning

Who does not love hacking away at some old trees? I know I do and my trusty pruning saw has been well used lately.

When we moved we inherited some gnarled aged fruit trees which we have gradually been cutting back into something, hopefully, resembling a healthier state. Tree 1

The general rule is that one should be able to throw one’s hat through the middle of the tree – the idea being that it is open to let light in and air circulate to enhance the fruit’s growth. We are getting there with some trees..Tree 2

But the large Bramley at the bottom of the garden is going to need a little more effort and/or a crane 🙁

Tree 3

Dragonfly: almost emerged

We spotted a dragonfly trying to emerge from its nymph skin but the nymph had not attached itself securely to a reed….

…and so it struggled to free itself…

Get the Flash Player to see this video.


Once freed it sat recuperating for a while; so I stopped filming and it immediately took off into the summer sky…. somedays nothing seems to go right.

Pond Life (part one)

In the murky depths beneath the lily pads lives all manner of creatures but an hour’s worth of video only revealed a newt (or possibly two) passing by momentarily…

Get the Flash Player to see this video.


The second visit was an hour after the first with the sun overhead hence the golden hue.

Dug

The patch of garden sometimes euphemistically known as the vegetable plot has been abandoned since the flood three years ago. Somewhat overgrown it was broken up and turned over and then cleared and levelled and is now returning to a usable state…

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The digging did turn up the usual bits of broken china, glass and slate; and a goddess of the earth appeared blinking in the sunlight….

They never turn up stuff like this on [W:Time Team].