When I'm not Writing - Friday Woods - 1/7/2012

Friday Woods is a favorite haunt. There's a long walk over open grasslands that are left wild as a conservation area and due to the important Roman remains just below the surface. Then a private road down to a gateway, a walk through woodlands, and then Roman River flows through the middle of it. Today we were hunting dragonflies and damselflies, but the weather wasn't with us. It was very windy, something that made them more skittish than normal, and even when they were landing the waving grasses made it challenging to take photos. And the sun kept disappearing. Everytime it disappeared behind the clouds, so did the insects! But I still got a few shots to share.

Male stag beetle.

This stag beetle wasn't too grateful about being rescued from the middle of the road. Those 'antlers' at the front can give you a nasty nip, and he was all for trying it!

Damselfly

Now, there are an awful lot of damselflies in the UK, and I'm no good at identifying them. If you want to take a shot at this one, feel free. For me, it's catching the photo that's the bonus. And I got an extra surprise with this one. As I was kneeling with the camera to take shots, I heard a rustling. Out of the corner of my eye, a little brown mouse came scampering toward me, skipped across both my knees and carried on without the slightest fear at my presence. Maybe it's just because I was keeping still, but I've never had such a close encounter before. It put a smile on my face.

My littleist explorer

Crossing the bridge across Roman River, hubs spotted this toad

Demoiselle taking flight

Beautiful Demoiselle Male. No, that isn't just a compliment - that's its name!

We also had a close encounter with a couple of dogs, one called Pippa! Unfortunately (for me) Pip and Pippa are quite common pet names, but I don't mind - much. The canine Pippa was only 8 weeks old and kind of cute. :-P
So what do you do when you aren't writing/reading?

Inspiration - The London Aquarium.

Sea anemones. Just love the colours on these!

My youngest turned four on Saturday, so the whole family took a trip to the London Aquarium as his treat (although I can't deny we were all excited about it). Frankly I dislike London - it's too loud, too crowded and too expensive. But the children enjoyed the train journey up (apart from a long wait for the right Circle line train) and we arrived just before the aquarium opened to hear Big Ben strike ten o'clock (which impressed them). We've been to a couple of Sealife centres before and I didn't expect a huge amount different at the aquarium, but somehow we spent just over two hours inside.

The Houses of Parliment.

The London Eye

Most of my friends know I'm a fan of the weird and the wonderful, and this was too good an opportunity to miss for finding some odd inspiration among the tanks of rays, crabs and guppies (of all things! I can see those in my local pet shop any time). The first surprise when we went in was a glass floor looking down into a huge tank below. Sadly there isn't space to stop and enjoy the view as it's a narrow corridor and the only way in, which was a bit of a disappointment.

Brittlestars

I wish I'd recorded some video of these - their waving arms seemed rather sinister. However I DID record the pretty anemones doing their dance, and some baby fish wriggling inside their egg sacs - did I mention I'm a bit weird? :)

 

The biggest hit for my children was the shark tank and the big, open pool full of rays, flat fish and a mixture of other fish.

Ray tank.

Easter Island shark tank

We got to touch a starfish - for those interested, it feels rather soft and squidgy but the skin itself is kind of scaly/spiny. The underside with all the feet - well, I couldn't feel anything of the feet but the edges of the arms feel quite rough. Youngest got to hold a crab - which was very well behaved and didn't nip - but after weekends spent crabbing at Mersea he wasn't that impressed!

replica(?)whale bones

I do not have a thing for skeletons. Seriously! Although I'm finding it hard to deny considering the number I'm posting in various places. However, having a scifi story out called The Bones of the Sea, it seemed only fitting that I post this, from the largest tank at the aquarium.

Turtle

Cleaner shrimps

Bat stars. Seriously creepy-looking!

I could post pictures from the trip all day long, but that might turn this into a rather long post. So I'll leave you with one final video from the aquarium of Upside Down Jellyfish - yes, they really are called that and it isn't just a description. Enjoy!

Weird Wednesday #2

Dragon's Skull

Don't believe that's what it is? Then what do you think it is? My husband found this on the beach at Frinton-on-Sea and we were stumped. It looks, for all the world, like a dragon. I thought perhaps an eel or maybe a fish like a gunard. I posted it to my Facebook profile (so some of my friends now know the answer to this mystery) but snakes, rays, even dogs were suggested.

The wonderful about the internet is that the answer was relative easy to find. But shocking nonetheless. This, in fact, is the pelvis of a sea bird. Yes, really! You can go here and see for yourself - this is obviously from a different species to ours (and we haven't been able to pinpoint exactly which ours came from) but the draconian appearance of it is amazing!

It's also incredibly light and fragile. How it survived at all, I don't know. I'm not really into bones and skeletons, but I can appreciate the beauty and delicacy in this, and the speculation over it's true identity.

So there you go. Dragon skulls on the beaches of the UK, there for the finding, to entertain your kids and friends. Weird enough for ya? :-P

It seems fitting with presenting this piece of weirdness to comment on the sad passing of the Dragonlady herself, Anne McCaffrey. As so many authors have said on the internet since the news was announced, a great loss and an inspiration to so many, myself included. Much sorrow.

Weird Wednesday #1

A few days ago, my good friend posted this to my Facebook profile, with the note 'this made me think of you. It is the you-est you that ever youed. And you will undoubtedly think it's devastatingly beautiful.'

That told me two things. One, that my friend knows me extremely well. Two, that I am indeed a fan of the weird and wonderful - not a bad thing for a writer. The weird and the wonderful are great inspiration, although the mundane works just as well for me as often.
I have no idea what this is - a type of praying mantis at a guess. But it reminded me of a post on Google+ (yes, I'm there as well) also posted by an author as a piece of inspiration.






So, over the next couple of weeks I'm going to post some of the weird and wonderful things that I've come across, and maybe you'll find some inspiration in them too. Or maybe, you'll just realize what a total weirdo I am and never come back. :-P

Monsters in Mersea.

 Mersea Island, on the coast of East Anglia, might be more famous for its oysters (one of the reasons the Romans invaded Britain way back when) but for us it's the best place to go crabbing. I don't know if it's something done anywhere else in the world, but I grew up with it as a child. I can remember my husband's scepticism when I told him about it, but the stunned look on his face the first time we went together and I repeatedly pulled crab after crab out of the water is something I'll always remember. :)

I don't know if it's the time of year, but normally we'll just catch dozens of little ones - our record is 120 crabs in one session. Today was a day for monsters - and I don't just mean my kids. :-P We caught about five that were the size of my palm if you didn't count the legs. Usually a local seal hangs around in the hope of being thrown the scraps of crab bait at the end of the day, but he wasn't there today. Most likely because the number of crabbers has dwindled with the drop of temperature - we're just insane.

The local crab bait recycler

It's probably the last chance we'll get for such escapades with winter creeping in. Already the temperature has dropped a couple of degrees over the last few days. Tomorrow my dining room is being half demolished to gut the rotten wooden windows letting in a gale, to be replaced with some nice french doors - something to enjoy when, and IF, we ever get a summer in the UK.

So I finish with a last glimpse of sun for probably a long time to come.

Mersea beach

The walkway over the Mersea mudbanks

A Visit to Jimmy's Farm

For those of you who haven't seen it, Jimmy's Farm was made famous as a series on the BBC. It was the story of one man's attempt to set up a farm with the rare breed Essex Pig, and has now become a tourist attraction. I was a little dubious about going as I've heard mixed reviews on the place even though I watched the series avidly, but I was pleasantly surprised. Of course, it had one magical thing that convinced me to go in the first place. It has a butterfly house .... :)

Clipper

I have to say, their butterfly house is one of the best I've been to! There were dozens flitting around the enclosure, and some amazing plants too. The ground was pretty wet and muddy underfoot, but it was worth it.

Bergamot

I'm not sure that there's enough on the farm to keep a family interested for an entire day, but it definitely took us the morning to look round it all and enjoy the butterflies. The entrance fee was less than I've paid for other attractions including a butterfly house alone.

Blue Moon Butterfly. The photo doesn't show it but those white patches with the indigo edging glow!

Blue Morpho.

But before I become completely obsessed and mislead you into thinking butterflies are the only thing there, they aren't. It's a pig farm so, yep, there are pigs! Mostly the Essex Pig which is pink with a black back and shoulders. But what about these little cuties?

Tamworth Pig

Peacock.

Rhea

Sheep

There are also goats, other varieties of sheep, ferrets, rabbits, chickens, ducks, turkeys, ponies and guinea pigs. There's a good playground, a couple of ponds that are pleasant to sit by and eat your lunch although the nearby railway track makes its presence known with the odd passing train. Then there are the woodland walks.

The walks are very nicely set out, and there are areas for the kids to do den building.

There's also a shop selling mainly whole and/or organic foods including meat from the farm itself. It's a tad on the expensive side for my budget but I did treat myself to a bottle of organic lime cordial that I haven't seen to buy anywhere else in years. There are a couple of craft shops, a restaurant and an outdoor cafe. You can buy animal food from the entrance although you're warned not to feed the pony as it bites, and there are signs telling you not to feed the pigs out on the farm.

All in all it made for a pleasant morning out, and my kids enjoyed themselves. And better still, all three fell asleep in the car on the way home. :)

Monarch

Ducklings on the pond