Clouded Yellow butterflies
In the summer of 2020, just after the first covid lockdown, I visited Waresley Wood, which is a few miles west of the city of Cambridge. The wood itself is good for Silver-washed Fritillary and the adjacent Brown’s Piece has plenty of Marbled White. That summer, there was a small patch of meadowland next to a maize crop where Common Blue and Brown Argus danced among clover, borage, viper’s bugloss and vetch.
Clouded Yellow butterfly Location: ///finalists.legend.exhaled
On that visit, I also spotted a couple of fast-moving and vivid butterflies chasing up and down this ad hoc meadow. They were Clouded Yellow bu...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - July 20, 2022 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Lepidoptera Source Type: blogs
The wildflower meadow myth
What could be more natural more evocative, more quintessentially English than a wildflower meadow nestled in the countryside, teeming with bees and butterflies, day-flying moths and countless other pollinators perhaps home to some ground-nesting birds and dozens of tiny mammals, a complete ecosystem when coupled with the natural reservoir in the neighbouring field?
And your wilding projects? Often the packs of seeds we scatter in our gardens to create a wild area or on roadside versions are cultivated mixes of cornflower, ox eye daisy, borage, (bizarrely) California poppy, and a few others. That said, I’ve tried to g...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - August 25, 2020 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Botany Source Type: blogs
Corn-cockle – Wilding an English country garden
UPDATE: The corn-cockle is yet to grow in our garden, the pictures are of another species entirely, something Borage like, apols.
Part of “wilding” involves scattering seeds from wildflowers…and hoping they’ll germinate and grow, flower, be pollinated, and set seed for next year. I borrowed some corn-cockle seed from a fellow #AllotmentLife person, and it’s now in bloom with invertebrates constantly in and out of the flowers.
This wildflower species, Agrostemma githago, was thought to be extinct in the British Isles until a specimen was spotted in Sunderland of all places by a National Trust a...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - May 21, 2020 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Sciencebase Source Type: blogs
Not corn-cockle – Wilding an English country garden
UPDATE: The corn-cockle is yet to grow in our garden, the pictures are of another species entirely, something Borage like, apols.
Part of “wilding” involves scattering seeds from wildflowers…and hoping they’ll germinate and grow, flower, be pollinated, and set seed for next year. I borrowed some corn-cockle seed from a fellow #AllotmentLife person, and it’s now in bloom with invertebrates constantly in and out of the flowers.
This wildflower species, Agrostemma githago, was thought to be extinct in the British Isles until a specimen was spotted in Sunderland of all places by a National Trust a...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - May 21, 2020 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Sciencebase Source Type: blogs
Bombus pratorum on Cynoglossum officinale
This is an “Early Bumblebee”, Bombus pratorum, feeding on a kind of borage (Boraginaceae) but with puce flowers, Cynoglossum officinale, on the flood plain of the Old West River, a couple of miles North of Cottenham. It’s growing wild and free and in abundance there.
The plant has several common, folk, or vernacular, names among them houndstongue, houndstooth, dog’s tongue, gypsy flower, and “rats and mice” due to its odour).
Also sighted there this morning, first Common Blue butterfly of the year for me, a male Polyommatus icarus. Lots of the white-flowered wildflower around, but not e...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - May 17, 2020 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Biology Source Type: blogs
Wilding our gardens with Seedball
A nice big package has arrived from the lovely people at Seedball. As I mentioned previously I am hoping to wild two patches of our front and back gardens to provide a couple of localised ecosystems for invertebrates, such as bees, butterflies, and moths and also to invest in those for the sake of the bats and birds.
Indeed, the various mixes that have arrived after discussions with Seedball are their bee mix, butterfly mix, shade mix, and a bat mix. Each has a wonderful mix wildflower seeds in their clay seed ball system that one simply spreads over the surface of a roughly prepared patch of soil (or in tubs). The balls h...
Source: David Bradley Sciencebase - Songs, Snaps, Science - January 27, 2020 Category: Science Authors: David Bradley Tags: Sciencebase Source Type: blogs
Is aloe vera lotion really good for skin? Episode 156
Is aloe lotion good for skin?
Gemma asks…I am a huge fan of Vaseline Intensive Care Aloe Fresh lotion. However, I have found another aloe lotion that is even cheaper: Perfect Purity. So I’m wondering can you tell me if the Perfect Purity will perform as well as my beloved Vaseline? Or should I just bite the bullet and save my dollars for a big bottle of the Vaseline Aloe Fresh?
Thanks to Gemma for taking the time to record her question. We can answer this pretty conclusively just based on reviewing the ingredients and we’ll cover that first. But then we we want to take this opportunity to talk more about aloe ver...
Source: thebeautybrains.com - October 25, 2016 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Randy Schueller Tags: Podcast Source Type: blogs
Unity Farm Journal - 4th week of June 2014
Last weekend, we had two days of clear, warm weather, perfect for harvesting vegetables, inoculating mushrooms, and caring for bees.We received 40 pounds of mushroom spawn from our supplier, Field and Forest, and we created two new mushroom areas - 4 raised beds of compost with Agaricus (almond mushroom) and 12 new stacks of logs with Oysters. The Golden Oysters are beginning to fruit in the warm humidity of summer afternoons.Eating on the farm can be as simple as taking a basket to the hoop house and gathering a potpourri of delectable vegetables. Sunday’s brunch was a bowl of fresh strawberrie...
Source: Life as a Healthcare CIO - June 26, 2014 Category: Technology Consultants Source Type: blogs
lovagemetender: Borage flowers on Martin Bournhonesque’s farm...
lovagemetender: Borage flowers on Martin Bournhonesque’s farm in Salinas, CA. Posted on infosnack. (Source: Kidney Notes)
Source: Kidney Notes - January 20, 2013 Category: Urologists and Nephrologists Authors: Joshua Schwimmer Source Type: blogs
