A surprise feast

Yesterday we went to the Building Society in town to deposit some cheques, and yesterday was a UK charity coffee morning for Macmillan cancer research.  It's been an annual fund-raising event for several years now and the staff members of the Building Society had joined in enthusiastically providing a variety of cakes to go with the coffee.  

Chocolate Cake, Carrot Cake, Lemon Drizzle Cake,Banana Loaf, Ginger Cake, assorted cupcakes.... all homemade.

Of course, we joined in and chose the chocolate cake to go with our coffee.  We even took a plate of cakes home to share with the rest of the family. 

Today, we had a visitor

One sunny day earlier this summer I was chatting with a neighbour in her front garden when we were disturbed by the sound of cats getting ready to fight.  I walked along the road till I found the site of the battle. A large black and white cat was facing a small black cat and looked ready to establish that this was her territory.  I have often seen the small black cat, but the larger cat was new to me, and it looked like she would win if she started a fight.  So I intervened from a distance and the black cat was able to run for cover while the larger cat was distracted.
Now, when I see the small cat she stops and miaows and has taken to visiting our back garden.  Today, while I was working in the kitchen I spotted her sitting patiently close to the large bay tree where there is plenty of cover for mice and birds.  I think she was probably hoping to catch a meal, but her owners have placed a bell on her collar so I don't know how successful she is at hunting.  She certainly doesn't look hungry.

She seems to have a few grey hairs

                                                                           

Does she remind you of anyone?  

 

Signs of Autumn

Early on Saturday morning, the air felt very moist, but the sun was shining and there was a clear blue sky. When F went into the garden he found a large cobweb, glinting with moisture and barring the pathway to the garden gate. 

Not wanting to miss a good opportunity for taking a photo, I joined him in the garden and there were dozens of spiders' webs around the garden, all glinting in the early morning sun.

 











                                                                              


By Saturday lunchtime, the webs had dried out and were not as noticeable.  F and I set off for a couple of days in Wales, about a hundred and twenty miles away from home and enjoyed a pleasant journey through mainly rural areas, the trees along the route beginning to show the first signs of autumn.

Travelling back late Sunday evening we arrived at home round about midnight.  The next morning looking through the kitchen window onto the back garden I spotted masses of mushrooms(?) trailing across the grass near the stump of an apple tree. . They definitely were not there when we left home about thirty-six hours earlier and B says they weren't there on Sunday morning.  They certainly appeared as if by magic

F cut down the tree about three years ago.  It was very productive but was too close to the house so it had to go, and the tree was too large to transplant.   In the years since, the remaining stump has produced many shoots which have been removed so I think the tree has finally given up.  The fungi may well be helping to breakdown the woody roots.

I have no idea what sort of mushrooms they are so I have not picked and cooked them.  I am going to post a photo  on iSpot.org and see if any of the members can identify them.

On Monday morning they looked like glossy light brown domes but by Tuesday morning they had flattened and darkened.  Thoses with sharp eyes will note that grass is in short supply on the back 'lawn'.

An unusual sight

At the weekend F and I were in Mid Wales when we spotted this creature.

A very bright caterpillar, the size of my index finger, was crawling around in the grass on the wooded hillside.  I had no idea what sort of caterpillar it was,but I knew I had never seen anything like this before. 
When we got back home I searched on the internet but could not identify it so I tried the ISpot website.  Having put the picture on the site it didn't take long for the creature to be identified. 
It is the caterpillar of the goat moth.  The goat month lays its eggs on tree trunks and the caterpillar lives inside the tree trunk feeding on wood for five years then when it is ready to pupate it leaves the tree trunk and searches on the ground for a place to bury itself while it changes from caterpillar to moth.
The blurb on the website says that this caterpillar is quite rare and not seen very often as they leave their tree trunk nursery and find an underground home within twenty-four hours.  When it emerges next June or July as a moth, it has a very short life, not feeding but finding a mate and laying its eggs on a tree trunk, ready for the next five year cycle to start.