Skip to main content

Two new things

Yesterday morning, at 04.18, I was woken by the call of a cuckoo!!!!!!  This has never happened to me before, in my own home!  I was so astounded that I lay there with my mouth open in amazement and astonishment.  What excitement!  The call of the cuckoo is so evocative of springtime, so particular, and, sadly, increasingly rare.  When we were in Australia three years ago, my daughter told me she had heard the cuckoo here, in the wood, and I was slightly sceptical.  A misfiring pigeon can sometimes fool you into thinking you have heard half a cuck, without the ..oo. Last May there was no cuckoo.  And early this morning, from 4 am onwards there was no cuckoo - I was on alert - so maybe this one was just passing through.  But I am so happy that it did!  It made my day because I haven't heard one this year, and the sound always reminds me of my mother (for all the right reasons) and my childhood.

 Another new bit of wildlife, and a new bug to me, was this little beauty, which I spied on the terrace this morning.   

 It's colours are so amazing that although it is only 1 cm long, you couldn't very well miss it!  I can't identify it, so have emailed this photo to British Bugs, in the hope they can enlighten me!

 PS : I've heard back from British Bugs who tell me that this little beastie is a jewel wasp.  Well named!

Comments

  1. Sally27 May 2015 at 03:52

    A jewel wasp ...looks like a super hero costume!!!! ;) Probably got JW on the front...
    Oh I'm so hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NOT
    So good to hear a cuckoo. My mum saw one once here in Australia.... it was sitting as it does intruding in another bird's nest and the smaller bird was happily (well may be not so happily) feeding it.
    See you soon xxxx

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In a vase on Monday - colour

The intense colours in my vase this week come from nasturtiums, sweetpeas and a single glorious zinnia! Their beauty and love of life speak for themselves and need no further words from me! Enjoy!
8 comments
Read more

Coastal walk from Gullane to North Berwick

By the time I have walked about four miles, my toes are screaming at me - it's the arthritis, you see.  One of the joys of being that little bit older than I was.  However, for a long time, I have been keen to walk along the beaches, and follow the coastal path, between Gullane and North Berwick. So, having worked out the tide times, I decided today was the day, and off we went. Below is our starting point, the bay at Gullane.  It's a lovely beach, very popular with dog walkers. This is looking east, the direction Tilly and I were going to take. Looking back, up the Forth, the unmistakable bulk of Arthur's Seat, and Edinburgh's skyline, just clear enough to see. For most of the walk, there is the choice between wandering along a series of beaches, or following a path along the top of each. There's no denying it, at heart I am a shell-seeker.  I have loads of shells at home.  We lived on one of the out islands in the Bahamas for a just over a year, a lo
7 comments
Read more

Possibly the last post and a sizzlingly hot vase on Monday

The border in our tiny garden is in an in-between phase at the moment and not very colourful, but elsewhere there are pops of high summer colour and I have brought them together in my vase today. The running wave uses Blogger as it's vehicle and they are changing the way a post is created but unfortunately I cannot make the new format work. I can't progress beyond the title! I cannot navigate to the main body of the post to create text. The new template has no prompts for adding photos, weblinks, to format the text, change font etc. It may be my old MacBook that's as fault but I can't do anything about that!! Are any other IAVOM bloggers who use Blogger having the same problems? I have tried, three times, to contact Blogger through their 'Help' prompt and received no feedback or contact whatsoever. This post is using the old 'Legacy' format, which no longer permits any kind of formatting of text, and so after four attempts I have finally manage
15 comments
Read more