Rosemary Staples on Levin Down
August 2005
Blackberries Ripen!
You
should have seen the spider we found the other morning on Levin Down. It
was sitting in the middle of a wonderful web beaded with dew. This
spider had on a stripy footballers jersey in green and yellow and it had
on four pairs of legwarmers to match. It definitely had a big WOW
factor. We are used to seeing the lovely garden spiders with crosses on
their backs, but have never seen one of these before. I can't tell you
its name as I can't find it in my book.
It is well worth getting up early on these misty mornings in late summer
- you see so much more than you do later in the day. We have
photographed Common Blue and Brown Argus butterflies sleeping on Vervain
stems, spent daisy heads and tall grasses. They are so still you can get
very close and see the lovely patterns on their wings. Also a lot of
them have tiny red dots on them. I believe these are some sort of
butterfly parasite like a flea. You wouldn't think there would be
anything on a butterfly to attract them, would you? Anyway, these little
blues are a photographer's dream.
The blackberries are starting to ripen - just the odd one here and there
at the moment, but it won't be long. In fact, all the berries are
turning now - red ones like Woody Nightshade and Hawthorn, black as in
Privett and Elder, red and black like the Wayfarer and green and black
as in the Juniper. It only seems like last week they were all in bloom.
How time flies when you are enjoying yourself! How sad were the lambs in
the meadow in front of us this week? They took them away from their mums
and they cried all night - it was pitiful. I hardly slept a wink, but
they soon forgot and are now as happy as Larry [the lamb, geddit?!]. The
sheep on Levin are steadily chomping their way around. They seem quite
used to us now and only move at the last minute under protest if they
are lying in the path - then they look as if to say 'clear off, you are
a nuisance', and the little black lambs are getting rounder and rounder
- like little barrels on legs. Along the path where the badgers are,
there has been a cave in of the path where the little monkeys have
tunnelled underneath, so if it hasn't been repaired, do take care, I
know that the powers that be are on the case.
Must go now, or Tim will think I have absconded, as there is just one and a half hours to go before the deadline!
See you soon.