#florals like carrion birds

[woundgallery]

Jenny Holzer, Black Garden, 1994

[dansnaturepictures]

24th February 2023: Lakeside and home 

Flora and fauna pictures I took today in this set: 1. The beautiful crocuses seen from the northern path again. 2. A delightful Wren at Lakeside it was an honour to spend a few minutes of my lunch break getting cracking views of this iconic bird and feeling the power of hearing it so well hearing and seeing Long-tailed Tits before and in these moments at the Monks Brook Holt steam railway platform seeing a Wren elsewhere on the walk well too. 3. Tufted Duck at Lakeside a key bird on my lunch time and evening walks today. 4, 5 and 6. Ring-necked Parakeets in trees in the south western corner of Lakeside, I was captivated to hear their high-pitched calls and see these exotic emerald beauties at lunch time. They do polarize opinion but I have enjoyed these beautiful birds being added to the birds we can see immediately locally the last few years and this is the first time I’ve ever photographed any at Lakeside which felt good. They appeared to be potentially prospecting for nest sites in the trees which is interesting. 7. Collared Doves out the back. 8 and 9. Great Crested Grebes at Lakeside. Between the lunch time and evening walks I got brilliant views of these and saw two pairs and a solo bird across Concorde and beach lakes. It feels amazing having so many here and like it’s been ages since there has been that many around, this excites me for the breeding season and I saw two had made a nest tonight which was amazing to see. 10. Spider at home tonight possibly a Noble False widow. 

On a packed and crazy day for Lakeside bird sightings on the two walks especially the lunch time one other highlights were an enigmatic roving Cormorant seen flying over the lakes and on beach lake, stunning views of a calling Great Tit, Robin singing nicely, Carrion Crow on a bench which always looks interesting and Moorhens with Starlings seen well at home. Mini daffodils the other side of the railway track by the platform were another floral delight on the walk at lunch time as was forsythia out the front. 

[normalcei]

I think this is one of my favourite thematic looks for the gala, there's something compelling about it.

For a start, the gala theme is Garden of Time and the exhibition is Sleeping Beauty: Reawakening Fashion. Obviously the execution of the theme is open to interpretation, but as OP said in another post about the gala, we're thinking death and rebirth, the cyclic nature of fashion, the reuse and reimagining of pieces as well as the more literal interpretations.

So my first thought was very simply "00s." The super low cut on the skirt, the hip jewellery, it's dipping into the early 00s and the boa is... It comes and goes really. I'm NOT a fashion expert btw I'm an artist and a designer, but I've got interest in fashion design and I remember boas being A Thing when I was wee at the very end of the 90s.

ANYWAYS. The black feather boa is such a heavy contrast to the thin fabrics. Obviously they're evoking corvid feathers, crows and ravens, carrion birds. Crows are death, the cleaners of battlefields. It's a large, imposing piece that Dua Lipa is carrying along with her, almost a memento mori. And to come back to the lace and mesh that makes up most of the rest of the outfit, it's very shroud-like. Floral designs in the lace tie into the literal theme, but ultimately it's a final dressing for the grave.

With that interpretation of the black lace, the white corset (another blast from the past) is like jutting bone, the remnants of death. But black and white, death and life, it's tying into the cycle. It's an incredibly well designed outfit that's engaged well with the themes, not shying from the literal while embracing the figurative.

Dua Lipa attends The 2024 Met Gala if you want to support this blog consider donating to:ko-fi.com/fashionrunways

[ligbi]

A2N 9 10 11

Start  Previous

Chapter 9- Again the Criss-Cross Man

Characters

Candy

Malingo

Otto Houlihan

Methis

Legitimate Eddie*

Betty Thunder*

Clyde*

Slug*

Porcupine-woman*

Hybrid Boy*

Mrs. Scattamun*

Mr. Scattamun*

Mentioned

Kud

Christopher Carrion

The Kid

Rojo Pixler

Kasper Wolfswinkle

Locations:

-Babilonium

-Scattamun’s Emporium of the Malformed*

Candy and Malingo part ways to escape Houlihan who chases Candy into a freak show

-Legitimate Eddie: Actor, portrays Jaspar Codswaddle, loves his fans, short and green

-Betty Thunder: Eddie’s companion, muscular woman with a taste for florals

-Clyde: Eddie’s playwright, five foot ape in carpet slippers

-Slug:Pony sized, eyes on fleshy horns, can talk and mew

-Porcupine-woman: Four hundred pounds

-Hybrid Boy: Highly advertised, scarley with a pointed tail

-Mrs. Scattamun: Wears a hat with a dead chitterbee in it, a drunk with too much makeup who runs a freakshow

-Mr. Scattamun: Married to Mrs Scattermun, tall and bony, wears an unknown dead thing in his hat

- Scattamun’s Emporium of the Malformed: A freak show on Babilonium, has an eye in a box

Vadu ha- Old Abaratian wish for parting

Freak show- Six Zem to look at the freaks, encourages being awful to them

Fetteree- Large beast, rubbery, cries like a baby

Elephant sized fish- buldging eyes that trail the scent of old smoke

Humming bird sized monkeys- blue

Voiced balloons- chased by needles and let loose voices when popped

Masks- paper mache, painted wood, or cloth, some familiar faces, some not

Chapter 10- “The Freaks Are Out! The Freaks Are Out!

Characters

Candy

Houlihan

Methis

Mr. Scattamun 

Mrs. Scattamun 

Malingo

Locations:

-Babilonium

- Scattamun’s Emporium of the Malformed

-Larval Lil’s Beer and Sweet Potato stand*

Mentioned:

-Wolfswinkle’s House

Candy escapes the island with Methis, Malingo says good bye for now

- Larval Lil’s Beer and Sweet Potato stand: Sells red ale and pilgrim pie

Part Two: Things Neglected, Things Forgotten

~Song of the Totemix 

Chapter 11- Traveling North

Characters

Candy

Methis

Locations:

-Scoriae*

Mentioned:

- Babilonium’s Infinite Carnival

-Babilonium’s farm country

-Gosh, Mycassius, Divinium

-Mount Galigali

Candy is dropped off at Scoriae by Methis

-Scoriae: 7pm, contains a dormant volcano, quite chilly in the mist

Gilleyant- large water creature, like a rabid walrus, snaggle-toothed 

Next

[songofthemeadow]

  The sound of shattering glass could be heard down the hallway of the Kobai Goten apartments on Valentione’s Day.

(Warning: This gets a bit dark. Proceed with caution.)

  Cadence had returned to her home after a trip to Kugane for supplies to find her door hadn’t been locked--a peculiar discovery, as the keeper wasn’t typically so careless. So, glancing once down the hall toward Saint’s room, she freed one of her wands from the pouch where it nested, shifting the weight of the vase she’d obtained for the mysterious carnations she’d been receiving over the course of the week, and slowly made her way inside.

  The smell greeted her first, assaulting her keen senses with an unsettling blend of floral perfume and the distinct pungent sting of rot. With watering eyes and a furrowed brow, Cadence pressed on, pressing her sleeve against her nose as she searched for the source, a process that was woefully longer than she’d have liked; whatever had died had permeated for a good long while before her return.

 Finally, as she opened the door to her bedroom, she beheld a curious sight. Upon her bed was another collection of those carnations. Unassuming. Harmless. A flower that during this time of year was oft associated with love, affection, admiration. However it seemed that this was the epicenter for the concerning smell. Carefully---ever so carefully, Cadence reached out with the tip of her wand and brushed aside some of the pedals, revealing to her an omen of gruesome proportions. 

Her legs grew weak at the sight of the carrion bird staring back at her, and as she stumbled backward she was careless with her vase, which became a pile of powder and shards as it hit the ground. The vulture’s corpse, by her rational judgement (which came much later, after packing her things and heading down the hall to call upon her friend), had been dead for days, and whatever the intention of the message it was sent to deliver, it meant that she was no longer safe in her home.

(Drabble in response to @mothervvoid​‘s ask, presented below.)

[windlion]

Transmigrator Pile-Up (Pt 4)

Some small sads, progress, and a monster encounter!  I cannot and will not ever give Jay any dignity whatsoever.  None.

"Are you. . . are you all right?"

"No." Jay stood slowly, wiping a hand over his face and trying not to snuffle noisily.  God, he was disgusting.  Boss Feng would probably die before losing face like this.  Hell, he was Feng now, wasn't he? Jay was just the ghost possessing him or something.  Time to buck up and stop scaring the locals.  This was fine.

He rubbed his eyes clear, staring down at the bird.  Nothing like a bridle on the head, but he remembered that detail; the heads were free for maneuverability.  Down the neck. . .  He skimmed his hand along the feathers as he spoke, "There should be a harness. Gear.  Whatever can be salvaged, we should bring back."  

It took stepping directly on to the crumpled wing with a whispered apology before he could actually see the saddle. The spear went straight through the goddamn thing, so it wasn't like it was going anywhere.  The jagged edge stabbing up was stained dark, and he didn't want to look too closely at it.  So the saddle itself was a loss.  Jay grimaced to himself and steeled himself to keep going, climbing up and running his hands along the harness looking for packs and anything useful.  

Not everything survived the crash: the right hand side had taken a lashing from branches on the way down then been thoroughly redistributed by the carrion feeders. He swiped the string from the shattered remains of a bow stave with not an arrow in sight.  What may have been a water skin was burst, nothing left but limp tatters, and a bag within easy reach of the seat had been ripped open. Probably food in there, and the animals were welcome to it, given the dark stains that marked it.  Hell, he should be grateful it rained.

What was intact looked . . . remarkably fine, despite being left to the elements for a week.  Oil, wax, something, sealed the leather and fabric so that water still beaded and ran off it without signs of mildew.  He unbuckled the bags and straps that he could, cut off the ones he couldn't, and tossed piece by piece back over his shoulder to Xu Jin like he was lobbing cargo off a jetplane.

He wasn't sure what was in them, but this wasn't the time and place to check.  Anything was better than the nothing he had before.  And if it wasn't useful for him, it might be for the family.  

After a few minutes, he was fairly sure he'd gotten all the salvageable gear. There were a few things he didn't toss back but instead stowed on himself; even he knew better than to handle weapons like that.   One of the first things he'd found was a very utilitarian dagger fastened to the underside of the saddle.  Also ready at hand was an equally practical dao sword.  He didn't think they were spiritual weapons-- he couldn't remember Boss Feng having any in the books.  If anything, it would have been the bow. . .  or Taifun himself.  

That gave him a thought that made him hesitate, standing at the front of the saddle.   He wasn't really sure how the bandits mourned their birds, but he thought he remembered something about feathers.  Before he could second-guess himself into oblivion, Jay whispered a quiet apology and neatly harvested a bundle of feathers: from the golden nape, the darker brown ruff below the neck, and a few coverts and secondaries from the extended wing.  The shorter feathers he tied together with the bow-string into a strange sort of sheaf, and the secondaries he slid into the waterproof roll beside the dao.  They were even longer than the blade; he probably could have used the primaries as oars, as some of them were taller than he was.   He smoothed the feathers down with a gentle hand before stepping back, bowing one last time to Taifun.  

"You will be remembered."

Xu Jing waited for him to finish paying his respects, then gestured at the pile of bags built up beside him with some obvious trepidation. "How are you planning on carrying this back?"

Like asking how all those bags were going to fit in the trunk.  Or gear in the backpack.   Jay cast a Tetris expert's eye across it.  "Oh ye of little faith."

Together they relocated the pile to a relatively clear spot, and Jay set to with the salvaged straps. Bags that could fit inside other bags did so.  Most of the gear had been designed to be buckled on and off the harness as separate units, so. . . doable.  He was just gonna look like a Liefeld character when he was done.  Ehhh. He'd done worse hauling gear out and back, especially when they were doing releases.  (Yeah, you try carrying two hard kennels worth of disgruntled raptor that vomit and shit when cranky up a mountain and see how you do.  There was no honor, no dignity, just yelling over your shoulder like a frazzled soccer mom, "Kids, don't make me turn this car around!")  

The end result was some unholy hybrid of harness and bags that kept catching his long hair, but it worked.  Xu Jing schlepped his much smaller bandolier/messengerbag without enthusiasm, eyes continuing to glance up at the sky.  Jay could translate that easily enough, giving himself a shake to make sure everything stayed put.  "Time to go."

"Yes." Xu Jing had a furrow between his eyebrows that had been growing more pronounced.  "We'll need to hurry to make it back by dark."

Right. Night in the Arrays of Heaven outside said arrays was . . . uh, not for the faint of heart.  Jay winced, turning and sighting his way back along their trail.  "Don't have to tell me twice.  Let's go."

"You know where you are headed?"

"Uh, the way we came?"  Jay blinked over his shoulder, pointing the way back northeast to the steading. "Might be faster to cut through the valley and up instead of going along the ridge. . ."

Xu Jing flinched a little at that suggestion.  "No, higher is safer."

Jay tilted his head in acknowledgment.  Always listen to the locals. "Right.  I start going off course, you let me know."

He took the lead, setting a quick pace.  The good thing about being Feng Mahti; he had a long stride, and even the weight of the new gear and weapons didn't feel like much of anything.  It should: he knew it was probably about the same amount of crap as a frame backpack, without the added benefit of being constructed of lightweight materials, and . . .  nope, didn't make a difference.

Boss Feng really was a musclehead.  

On the route back, he had more of a chance to appreciate the sights and sounds of the new world, now that he wasn't keeping his eyes peeled for roadkill.   While the local flora didn't look particularly changed, the fauna was. . . different.  

From the valley to their left came the sound of what he thought were frogs, just way deeper than any spring peeper he'd ever heard.   Small mammals scuttled through the underbrush away from them, and he thought there might be smaller birds in the conifers, hidden among the pine needles.  Most things seemed shy, or else they were just making too damned much noise.

Huh. Actually.  

Xu Jing was making enough noise for both of them.  Something about Feng Mahti's leather boots or Jay's familiarity with hiking all over creation was keeping his own steps almost silent.   That was either really cool or really bullshit.

Xu Jing gave him a dirty look when he caught Jay waiting with his head tilted.  "Not all of us are cultivators of the wild."

Okay, so probably ranger stealth bonus bullshit. Jay flashed him his best guide's grin, "You're doing great. We're making good time."

"Not good enough."  Xu Jing was sweating, his sleeves rolled back. Jay wondered if it was the exertion or the stress more than the temperature; there was a gusts of gentle breeze from the west, carrying the floral smell of the budding bushes.  (Rhododendron?  It looked like it to him, but was that even native in Asia???  Eh fuck it it's post apocalypse, anything can happen.  If he tried to worry about native and invasive species here he'd be crazy before the second week.)  

Speaking of post-apocalypse, he hadn't seen any signs of previous civilization between the steading and where Taifun fell.  He asked Xu Jing casually if there were any ruins around.

"In the valley," Xu Jing panted, keeping his words short. "That's part of why it's dangerous."

Duly noted.

About two hours later, as they were making their way along beside a stream bed, something started to bug Jay.  Like an itch on the back of his neck, the sound of a mosquito.  He couldn't identify what or why, just that. . . something was up.  

He looked back at Xu Jing to see if the other man noticed, and the farmer gave him a serious look and a nod, murmuring, "Danger."

Great. About time for his first monster encounter!  He wasn't sure he counted the vulture with the glowing neon red eyes, as that could have just been some really freaktacular near-death hallucinations.  . . . What the hell even lived out this way?  He couldn't remember all the monsters from the books, but there were supposed to be quite a lot of nasties in the mountains that the bandits frequented.  Bears. Tigers.  Giant bugs.  A couple of really cool pangolin that he was actually kinda dying to see in person now that he thought about it.

So, what was contestant number one?

After a few minutes of the slowly growing creeps without any sign of an enemy, something rolled out of the stream bed on to the bank in front of them.  

Jay just stared for a long moment, incredulous.  "Seriously? That's it?!"

The thing that had been making his hair stand up on end wobbled closer.

Xu Jing hissed behind him, "Either fight, or run.  Choose now!"

His hand was already on the sword's hilt.  It felt natural to him, well-balanced and the grip broken in to his hand.   With a prosaic shrug, Jay drew the blade.  No time to find out his battle skills like the present, and it was such a level one monster, too.  Thank you, starting area!

Blade raised, he charged the blue-green slime.

It was not unlike hacking sorta sentient jello to bits.  Maybe it was some mutation off a slime mold.  Those were actually kinda terrifying in a cool way.  Or kinda cool in a terrifying way. Whatever.  They were smart!  This one tried to get in a few hits at Jay, but he ducked back too quickly for it to make contact.  He kept herding it away from Xu Jing, trying to avoid halving it into multiple entities while cutting it down.  Muscle memory knew this, the same way he used to know swimming.

After rendering the thing down into pieces small enough to fit in individual pudding cups, he looked at Xu Jing.  The man was staring with an expression somewhere between utmost disgust and bewilderment. Jay poked a jelly bit with his toe.  It wiggled.  "All right, I'm going to bet those will reform into a colony if they're given long enough.  Think there's going to be more in the stream bed?"

Xu Jing took a moment before he answered faintly, "Not likely enough to be an issue."

"Cool. Onward, then.  Let's get you home for dinner."

[post-itpenny]

2.) honey :3

Headcannon Time!: Maggie is very sensitive to taste and because of this, she can be a bit of an…. odd eater.

“And just why do you need to go to this thing?” Jelly groaned.

“One, because I can’t stand the stuff in supermarkets that are all pumped up with junk. I can literally taste the chemicals.” Maggie answered, adjusting her tote bag.

“Then buy the organic stuff at the store!”

“Well that’s reason two: it’s expensive! Besides this is all local. I know where it’s coming from and it’s all nice and community building and stuff like that.”

Maggie had brought Jelly, Ula, and Pepper to the local farmer’s market. Pepper, of course, was excited, moving from stall to stall to admire all the veggies and fruits while Jelly….. complained.

“Maggie! This is all the wrong kinds of green.” Jelly whined as she pointed at one table. “Just look at this! What is it?”

“That’s kale honey.”

Jelly grimaced. Ula sniffed the offending leaves and stuck her tongue out in disgust.

Eventually, Maggie was fed up with the two and left them with Pepper at a stand selling local honey. The three licking spoons of free samples.”

“Why does it taste floral?” Jelly asked.

“Because whatever flower pollen the bees use affects the flavor. I was talking to the stand owner and she said theirs use wildflowers.” Pepper answered with a smile, eyeing the rest of the sample tray on the stand.

“So one good thing that comes from eating plants.” Jelly shrugged. Slapping Pepper’s hand away. “I don’t get why you and Maggie actually like the stuff.”

Pepper frowned as he rubbed his hand. “Um, well first of all the bees don’t eat the pollen. But I eat veggies because even I know I can’t have just sugar all the time. I think Maggie does because…. bird?”

Jelly frowned, “What do ravens actually eat?”

“Dead meat,” Maggie said over Jelly’s shoulder.

The clown jumped in surprise turning to look at her friend. Maggie stood there with her bags full of different produce and a single bundle of forget-me-nots.

“It’s called carrion, scavenger birds. But that’s just a preference. Ravens are omnivores, here take these.” Maggie said as she handed the flowers to Jelly before walking out of the market with an annoyed huff.

Jelly clutched the flowers with a sad smile, ‘and here she had been complaining the whole time.’ She thought to herself before another thought came into her head.

Wait a minute….

“Maggie!” She shouted as she ran after her friend.

“Are you meaning to tell me that you can eat rotting meat just fine but not normal food at a supermarket?”

Maggie grimaced, “it’s not the same!”

[tharakoekenbiergraduation]

Rafflesia Arnoldii  Flower

THE LARGEST FLOWER in the world, Rafflesia arnoldii, is more than three feet across. With no roots, shoots, stems, or leaves, this parasitic plant is stealthy, visually undetectable until it prepares to bloom. Buds erupt without warning from an infected host vine and swell slowly over months to the size of cabbages. In full bloom, each bud’s central floral chamber—orb-shaped, with a circular opening at the top—resembles a planetarium or astronomical observatory with a mottled roof partially opened to the sky. Within lies a disk covered with spiked structures. Botanists have named the spikes “processes,” but have no clear idea what they do. In the largest flowers, the chamber is almost big enough for an infant to crawl inside and fall asleep. But R. arnoldii’s spectacular flower is the least of its appeal to scientists, because the genus to which it belongs also holds a gigantic genetic mystery.

All members of the genus Rafflesia produce huge flowers. (Even the smallest are roughly the size of dinner plates.) In the Philippines, on the Malay Peninsula, and on the islands of Java, Sumatra, and Borneo, where these plants grow from vines trailing across the rainforest floor, Rafflesia are celebrated. The distinctive five-petaled flowers appear on stamps, currency, and even bags of rice in Malaysia. Rafflesia is one of three national flowers in Indonesia. The buds and blooms are considered a delicacy in Thailand, while in other parts of southeast Asia, the plant is thought to have medicinal powers. Drinking a Rafflesia tea after childbirth, indigenous peoples of northern Borneo believe, will flush the placenta and restore the figure.

As fascinating as these mysterious blooms are to people, the flower is designed to attract a much smaller visitor. Carrion flies swarm to Rafflesia, attracted by the scent of rotting meat—reportedly strongest around noon on the third or fourth day of the bloom, which lasts little more than a week. The pungent bouquet, which varies in intensity from one species to another, has led to the names “corpse lily” and “carrion flower” in English. In fact, Westerners frequently confuse this rarity with another “corpse flower,” Titan arum, a large, stinking inflorescence (actually thousands of tiny flowers), often grown in greenhouses, that resembles a jack-in-the-pulpit and is related to calla lilies. Rafflesia, on the other hand, have never been successfully cultivated. 

The carrion flies are the plants’ pollinators. “The flower is like a bar for these insects,” says professor of organismic and evolutionary biology Charles Davis, who first encountered the genus in a small village in northern Borneo while studying the region’s spectacular plant diversity. Where the landscape rises from coastal low-land tropics to Mount Kinabalu, which peaks above 13,000 feet, “across that gradient, in a tiny area, live more than 10,000 species” says the director of the Harvard University Herbaria and curator of vascular plants. And yet even among the gems—such as pitcher plants and orchids that grow nowhere else—Rafflesia stands out. “It’s hard for me to describe what it is like to see one of these flowers for the first time,” he continues, “because they are so out of proportion from what we normally think of as a flower. And they have a coloration—reddish to brownish, mottled with white—that is off most people’s radar for what a flower should look like.” That checker-board patterning, though, “is ideal for attracting the flies.” As is the fragrance, which he has captured using vacuum pumps in the field and sent to a colleague at Cornell for analysis using mass spectrometry. The chemical profiles are a remarkable match to rotting meat.  

THE MIASMA emanating from the blooms places them in a category with other large-flowered carrion mimics that are pollinated by small-bodied insects, like the Stapelias of South Africa and skunk cabbage of the wetlands around New England. Although plants that imitate the colors and fragrances of dung or urine can also be large, those that masquerade as carrion are bigger. “There seems to be an association,” says Davis, between gigantism and plants that reek of rotten flesh.Rafflesia flowers also generate heat. This thermogenesis, as it is called, is rare in plants, but shared with a few other species that evolved in the tropics, such as skunk cabbages, which can raise their temperature nearly 30 degrees. Once thought to be an adaptation for enabling early-bloomers to melt snow in temperate climates, the ability to generate heat probably first evolved to help plants like Rafflesia and skunk cabbage volatilize the foul odors they produce to attract pollinators. The heat—which in skunk cabbages requires a metabolic rate akin to that seen in animals like mice or birds—also creates a cozy microenvironment that allows visiting pollinators to operate at a lower metabolic cost. In Rafflesia, the combination of mottled red and white coloring and olfactory cues, Davis explains, draws gravid female carrion flies “to these darkened orifices where the reproductive parts of the flower reside. And unknowingly, each fly gets a blob of pollen deposited on her back. 

https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2017/03/colossal-blossom 

[bonegrenade-archive]

Dobis System Aesthetics

Miles: Vaporwave and Opened up Tech (when I can get my Aesthetic Shit Together)

Blaire: Knives, Gore Art, Carrion Birds, occasional Cute Lamb Surprise

The Walrider: Glitches, CRTs projecting Static, Shadowy Figures, Smoke

Armin: Teeth, Fire, Mild Gore, TEETH

Stag: Starry Nights, Owls, Pretty processions of words, would probably like Dark Mori Fashion

Palace: White on Gold, Bridal, Floral, Feathery-Soft

Feli: Space, Pastels, colourful bugs

JoJo: Dog (Dog is an aesthetic now)

(No one else has a Cohesive Aesthetic really)

[kathleenseiber]

Being an omnivore is actually quite odd

The first animal likely was a carnivore, new research finds. Humans, along with other omnivores, belong to a rare breed.

What an animal eats is a fundamental aspect of its biology, but surprisingly, the evolution of diet had not been studied across the animal kingdom until now.

The study is a deep dive into the evolutionary history of more than one million animal species going back 800 million years.

The study reveals several surprising key insights:

Many species living today that are carnivorous—those that eat other animals—can trace this diet back to a common ancestor more than 800 million years ago.

A plant-based, or herbivorous, diet is not the evolutionary driver for new species that scientists believed it to be.

Closely related animals tend to share the same dietary category—plant-eating, meat-eating, or both. This finding implies that switching between dietary lifestyles is not something that happens easily and often over the course of evolution.

The researchers scoured the literature for data on the dietary habits of more than a million animal species, from sponges to insects and spiders to house cats. They classified a species as carnivorous if it feeds on other animals, fungi, or protists (single-celled eukaryotic organisms, many of which live on bacteria). The researchers classified species as herbivorous if they depend on land plants, algae, or cyanobacteria for food, and omnivorous if they eat a mixture of carnivorous and herbivorous diets.

The scientists then mapped the vast dataset of animal species and their dietary preferences onto an evolutionary tree built from DNA-sequence data to untangle the evolutionary relationships between them.

Insects are a group in which feeding on plants increases rates of species proliferation, including among the butterflies and moths, which are almost all herbivorous. (Credit: Daniel Stolte/U. Arizona)

The whole animal kingdom’s menu

“Ours is the largest study conducted so far that examines the evolution of diet across the whole animal tree of life,” says lead author Cristian Román-Palacios, a doctoral student in the ecology and evolutionary biology department of at the University of Arizona. “We addressed three highly-debated and fundamental questions in evolutionary biology by analyzing a large-scale dataset using state-of-the-art methods.”

All species can be classified according to their evolutionary relationships, a concept that is known as phylogeny. Organisms are grouped into taxa, which define their interrelationships across several levels. For example, cats and dogs are different species but belong to the same order (carnivores). Similarly, horses and camels belong to a different order (ungulates.) Both orders, however, are part of the same class (mammals).

On the highest level, animals are classified in phyla. Examples of animal phyla are arthropods (insects, crustaceans, spiders, scorpions, and the like), mollusks (snails, clams, and squid fall into this phylum), and chordates, which include all animals with a backbone, including humans.

The survey suggests that across animals, carnivory is most common, including 63% of species. Another 32% are herbivorous, while humans belong to a small minority, just 3%, of omnivorous animals.

Unlike many of their land-dwelling kin, many so-called sea slugs such as this Spanish Shawl are carnivorous snails that prey on polyps, sponges or even each other. (Credit: Daniel Stolte/U. Arizona)

Tracing the evolution of eating meat

The researchers were surprised to find that many of today’s carnivorous species trace this diet back all the way to the base of the animal evolutionary tree, more than 800 million years, predating the oldest known fossils that paleontologists have been able to assign to animal origins with certainty.

“We don’t see that with herbivory,” says corresponding author John Wiens, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. “Herbivory seems to be much more recent, so in our evolutionary tree, it appears more frequently closer to the tips of the tree.”

So if the first animal was a carnivore, what did it prey on?

The authors suggest the answer might lie with protists, including choanoflagellates: tiny, single-celled organisms considered to be the closest living relatives of the animals. Living as plankton in marine and freshwater, choanoflagellates are vaguely reminiscent of miniature versions of the shuttlecock batted back and forth during a game of badminton.

A funnel-shaped collar of “hairs” surrounds a whip-like appendage called a flagellum whose rhythmic beating sucks a steady stream of water through the collar, filtering out bacteria and detritus that is then absorbed and digested. It is possible that the common ancestor of today’s animals was a creature very similar to a choanoflagellate.

“The ancient creature that is most closely related to all animals living today might have eaten bacteria and other protists rather than plants,” Wiens says.

Black vultures and Andean condors are carnivorous birds that specialize on consuming carrion. (Credit: Cristian Román-Palacios/University of Arizona)

Omnivores are super rare

Turning to a plant-based diet, on the other hand, happened much more frequently over the course of animal evolution.

Herbivory has traditionally been seen as a powerful catalyst for the origin of new species—an often-cited example is the insects, with an estimated 1.5 million described species the most diverse group among the arthropods. Many new species of flowering plants appeared during the Cretaceous period, about 130 million years ago, and the unprecedented diversity of flowers is widely thought to have coincided with an increase in insect species taking advantage of the newly available floral bounty.

“This tells us that what we see in insects doesn’t necessarily apply to other groups within the animal kingdom,” Wiens says. “Herbivory may go hand in hand with new species appearing in certain taxa, but it clearly is not a universal driver of new species.”

The study also revealed that omnivorous (“eating everything”) diets popped up rarely over the course of 800 million years of animal evolution, hinting at the possible explanation that evolution prefers specialists over generalists.

“You can be better at doing what you do if that is all you do,” Wiens says. “In terrestrial vertebrates, for example, eating a diet of leaves often requires highly modified teeth and a highly modified gut. The same goes for carnivory. Nature generally seems to avoid the dilemma of being a jack-of-all-trades and master of none, at least for diets.”

This need for specialization might explain why omnivores, such as humans, are rare, according to the authors. It might also explain why diets have often gone unchanged for so long.

“There is a big difference between eating leaves all the time and eating fruits every now and then,” Wiens says. “The specializations required to be an efficient herbivore or carnivore might explain why the two diets have been so conserved over hundreds of millions of years.”

The study appears in the journal Evolution Letters.

Source: University of Arizona

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25th July 2023: An evening walk at Lakeside and bits in Winchester

Photos taken in this set: 1, 7, 8, 9 and 10. Beautiful views including in bright sunshine on a tranquil and lovely evening walk at Lakeside. I am glad to fit this one in, it had that memorable summer evening walk vibe which it was great to be out in that I like. 2. Snail last night. 3. Black-headed Gull at Lakeside. 4. Great Crested Grebe chick at Lakeside, I got some splendid views of them and an adult with a fish in its mouth in some top moments watching them in the creamy evening sunlight. Seeing a big fish jump out of the water and almost awake the adult and young Great Crested Grebes which were sleepy at that point was entertaining. 5. Red Admiral along the northern path. I am addicted to seeing them in this run with so many about and I was up for a photo of one along this path in the sun if I got a chance. It was thrilling to see a few, with one seen on the way to the office in Winchester this morning and flitting around the railway station there tonight which was memorable. 6. Mallard at Lakeside.

It was great to see Gatekeeper, Brimstone and many Small Whites in Winchester, and blissful to get a view of a Purple Hairstreak flitting along the tree tops at Lakeside tonight late in their season what an amazing time I've had for being so lucky to see them here again this year over the last month or so with a Meadow Brown seen well on a tree cutting through Lakeside on the way home from the station. It was beautiful to see colourful House Martins coming down to hunt at the water and generally at Lakeside this evening, with Swift encountered in Winchester. Cheery Blue Tit, Long-tailed Tit and Chiffchaff seen and heard nicely alongside Carrion Crow, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Greylag and Canada Geese and Moorhens seen very well were other Lakeside bird highlights. It was great to see young Goldfinch and a Blue Tit in the garden this morning. Common Red Soldier beetle was nice to see at Lakeside again. Floral highlights today were ivy-leaved toadflax, hollyhock and bear's breeches in Winchester, agrimony, fleabane, wild carrot, broad-leaved and white clover, great willowherb and pretty bird vetch at Lakeside and purple loosestrife and hemp agrimony at both.

[birdcageguide-blog]

All about Parakeets and How to Take Care of Them

A parrot is a kind of bird that is also known as psittacines and they are most commonly found in subtropical and tropical regions. A parrot's characteristic and physical features include an upright stance, clawed zygodactyl feet, strong legs, and a strong, curved bill. Some parrots are multi-colored while some are vividly colored. The dietary components of parrots are fruit, floral nectar, buds, seeds, nuts, and any other plant materials, while some are eating animals and carrions. Parrots became very popular for they are recognized as one of the most intelligent birds for they have the ability to imitate the voices of humans. One of the most popular species of parrot is the parakeet, which is being spelled in the past as paraquet or paroquet. The term parakeet comes from perroquet, which is basically a French word. The parakeets are being made as pets by the people for they are lively in nature and attractive companions, for their happy chirping and bright plumage. One of the most common pet parakeet is the one that belongs in the family of Melopsittacus undulatus and they are small in size, long-tailed and seed-eating parrots. 

Even though the parakeets are the type of birds that can be easily cared for, they still need a proper diet, metal stimulation, social interactions and clean surroundings. Pet parakeets are usually being placed in a cage, and it is much better to choose a cage at https://www.parakeethome.com/cheap-decorative-bird-cages-review/ that is made from stainless steel or non-galvanized materials and designed with horizontal bars. There are also other important things that the owner should do with the cage and that includes lining the floor of the cage with copy paper or paper towels , a water drinker and a food bowl should be attached in the bars, furnishing it with a perch or branches of natural orchard wood, cleaning the entire cage in a regular manner, and providing toys inside the cage for the pet. 

The basic and daily needs of parakeets include food, water, treats, company, proper sleeping conditions, and proper temperature. The recommended diet of parakeets includes seeds, pellets, fresh fruit, vegetables, and millet sprays. The owner also needs to socialize with their parakeets, and that can be done by chatting with them or interacting with them, like singing together. Parakeets also need a time out of the cage at https://www.parakeethome.com/parakeet-lifespan-how-long-do-parakeets-live/, for a free flight, but the owner should ensure that the windows or doors are close and be alert for any hazards. 

Grab some more information through https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parrot.

[dansnaturepictures]

27/09/2022-Lakeside and home 

It was great to enjoy water birds at Lakeside again this lunch time with an intimate view of a beautiful Mute Swan on Concorde lake, I took the fifth, sixth and seventh pictures in this photoset of this bird looking bright in an overcast spell as it swam near to a jetty. I have enjoyed having swans around more frequently at Lakeside of late after a fair absence for a bird I have historically seen here a lot. I saw Mallards well by beach lake too with one which I took the third picture in this photoset of sat on an elevation in the lake like I saw the other side of the lake yesterday. I am having a strong run for seeing and photographing Mallards at Lakeside. I enjoyed Black-headed Gulls too taking the fourth picture in this photoset of one and liked seeing a Moorhen on the fishing platform scuttling across, Greylag Goose in the water of beach lake close to the shore and the Great Crested Grebe again on Concorde Lake. A Wren and a possible Robin seen were other highlights at Lakeside. 

Today I also enjoyed seeing; Carrion Crow, Starling, Woodpigeon and Collared Dove with both of these seen well at Lakeside and Woodpigeon seen well at home. I seem to recall seeing Feral Pigeon at Lakeside too. I believe I heard Ring-necked Parakeet at home again today hearing Starlings nicely as I worked too. I got another good view of a Grey Squirrel in the woods at Lakeside at lunch time and it was nice to see the cows walking across the southern fenced off area. By way of insects I got a wholesome view of a Speckled Wood along the northern path at Lakeside a great reminder of bustling butterfly days gone by as I carry on seeing these here into the autumn, and saw a wasp at Lakeside and had a fly join me in my room for much of the day. 

Wood avens at Lakeside the first I’d seen for a bit and the lovely dandelions on the green out the front brought special splashes of yellow colour to the lunch time walk at Lakeside, as did high leaves on the turn on a tree going back along the northern path. The also yellow St. John’s-wort, a short bit of in flower agrimony and shadows of ragwort as well as shadows of dock standing out in the landscape looking over the fenced off areas were other floral highlights. Orange firethorn berries and other berries including rose hips shone like Christmas lights at Lakeside at lunch time, I took the eighth picture in this photoset of the firethorn. It was nice to see the hints of autumnal colour alongside the green in the landscape again today. I took the first two and ninth pictures in this photoset of views at Lakeside at lunch time. With the showers it was a good day for admiring raindrops, coming down with sunlight too beside bright bits of purple buddleia this evening and in high concentrations on the window allowing to try for a shot of this I like to do. After the attractive early sun, the sun did poke through this evening too, it was a day of moody sky scenes which was great to enjoy. There were some really nice creamy sky scenes this evening. I took the tenth and final picture in this photoset of the sky tonight out the back.

[dansnaturepictures]

19/12/2021-Whitefield Moor in the New Forest and home 

Yesterday's trip made me feel quite nostalgic of last year and festive as it was so reminiscent of the Saturday before Christmas for us last year, being at the sea under amazing looking winter skies seeing two incredible diver species and other amazing seabirds including one of my favourite birds the Guillemot. The whole weekend in fact before Christmas last year was a rather jolly one that was a standout moment of my wildlife/photography and general December/festive period looking back, and the Sunday of that one a year ago was a brilliant New Forest trip. Today after admiring moody misty scenes out the back early on at home it hiding much of a scene I see a lot from my room which I got a photo of touched by a bit of sun and clearly visible on Friday so it shall be interesting to compare them and masses of Collared Doves in and around the garden again the first picture I took in this photoset of three on some garden furniture next door shows this with Blue Tit and many House Sparrows again making nice sights in the garden among other birds, we headed to the New Forest again.

The story of my day yesterday is here: https://dansnaturepictures.tumblr.com/post/670942355012075520/18122021-black-throated-diver-cold-moon-and and here: https://dansnaturepictures.tumblr.com/post/670940870141460480/18122021-post-1-of-2-photos-and-sightings-at and the weekend before Christmas last year here: https://dansnaturepictures.tumblr.com/post/637974641808392192/191220-birds-and-interesting-weather-on-a-trip, here: https://dansnaturepictures.tumblr.com/post/637978574236860416/19122020-birds-and-interesting-weather and here: https://dansnaturepictures.tumblr.com/post/638068550830080000/20th-december-2020-marsh-harrier-lapwings

After seeing the sun appearing quite creamy as it drifted in front of the cloud for a bit as a bit of blue sky was revealed on the journey and taking in some beautiful flowers getting pictures in the back garden before leaving including chrysanthemum and bellflower shown in the second picture in this photoset which I liked seeing we arrived at Whitefield Moor and walked towards Holmhill Bog the other side of the road where we saw a Hen Harrier in late 2019 and early 2020 in case it was about again a bird we need to see this year still. We didn’t see one but it was an extremely tranquil walk seeing just two other people and due to the mood of it, as mist sat on the landscape, creating some great atmospheric heath and woodland scenes I liked seeing the stream too which I enjoyed taking in and photographing. I took the third-eighth pictures in this photoset of views of all these aspects today. 

Particularly by the trees where you can get a beautiful view of the lovely Rhinefield House which we hadn’t noticed much before after walking at this bit a few times since late 2019 when we first discovered this part of the walk I took the ninth picture in this photoset showing this grand house a key part of the landscape here, we saw a flurry of birds seeing them out in the landscape this overlooked too. Lots of one of my favourite birds the Jay flying about, Treecreeper and Goldcrest in the impressive tall trees and Robin down low with Stonechats on the heath as well. Woodpigeon flew high and in this area also was a mammal the Grey Squirrel scuttling about. Other wildlife I saw across the whole walk were some nice Redwings, fellow thrushes Song Thrush and Blackbird, Carrion Crow and a little insect on the wing too.

Gorse in beautiful yellow flower in considerably sized pockets a nice colourful sight on a winter’s day and little bits of heather with nice colour were floral highlights of the day a gorse picture was good to take with my macro lens to take part in #WildflowerHour on Twitter tonight which I don’t have pictures for every week lately. There seemed to be some pink blossom on a tree I saw on the way by Totton, possibly a deception in the misty light or maybe a quirk of an introduced species. Adding nicely to a daffodil seen on a verge recently.

In a strong weekend and few days for it I had an amazing wildlife moment at home this evening when I saw and photographed with my macro lens a tiny spider in my bedroom on the ceiling. A nice moment and after going off to do something else I came back in and it was suspended in mid air and I just got to the right angle to see the light shining from my en suite to reveal its web. A wonderful natural moment that added so well to something I mention in tomorrow’s highlights post, my brilliant year of spiders as we got into autumn and winter. I took the tenth and final picture in this photoset of this spider when on the ceiling. I hope you all have a great week.

[dansnaturepictures]

04/10/2021-Birds and flowers at Lakeside and home 

I took the first three pictures in this photoset of a Woodpigeon out the back, flower on the balcony and berries in the front garden. On the way to Lakeside at lunch time I enjoyed some viper’s-bugloss and yarrow alongside broad-leaved clovers and others still going strong looking lovely in snatches of sunshine in a largely more barren flower patch around the estate now. Given that it was being cut like the grass from early last autumn onwards it was nice to reflect on what a brilliant year it turned out to be for this patch again when the trimming ceased with many of the planted ones bringing a nice circus of colour in the summer months with more wild ones looking great there too. 

When I got into Lakeside and walked beside the steam railway track then to the area north of the station I was delighted to see two of the star birds of late here firstly a Kestrel being chased over into trees by Magpies a dramatic piece of behaviour to witness, and a sharp view of a bright Jay again the bird of the moment just now going into the autumnal times when they’ll be after those acorns. 

I took the views in the fourth and fifth pictures in this photoset and enjoyed seeing lots of nice autumnal red in the landscape. And I took the sixth picture in this photoset of a buddleia and bush and reedbed type area at the little garden by the visitor centre. Here I also liked seeing some last bits of bright floral colour especially the stunning pink vervain in the seventh picture I took today in this photoset. As a bit of rain came on at this point it was nice to see some red berries here. 

I then proceeded to look at Kornwestheim lake where I spotted the Great Crested Grebe pair. For a minute I thought they had some late chicks to add to the others on the adjoining Concorde lake as one had its wings puffed up in the air. The chicks in the early days sit on their backs. It turned out it was just have a shake it was having it seemed. Then I watched with great interest as it looked as though the pair of them were going to do the famous courtship dance or the beginnings of it as I really enjoyed and it was one of my highlights of the year to see in the spring. I was rather forgetting myself that it was October, I think with the other chicks still looking very much like chicks I thought I was still right in the summer for a moment. So I am not sure if they were courting and I think its too late in the season but I did then go on to get some amazing views of these stunning birds this lunch time. Seeing their sharp, neat and striking markings and colours, as they lit up the lake and commanded my fixation, it was as though I was back there as a ten year old boy stood at this very lake watching what I believe was one of these very birds in one of the most magical moments in my early birdwatching that excited me endlessly and kept me hooked at that crucial early stage in my life defining interest. Before I left I did notice them under an overhanging tree on the lake which go back a couple of months I would have wondered if they were building a nest there. I took the eighth and ninth pictures in this photoset of a sky and tree view above the lake and the lake, and the tenth and final picture in this photoset of one of the grebes. 

Walking out and the rain was characteristically for the day on and off. I enjoyed nice sky scenes and seeing Collared Dove and Starling together which I took and tweeted a photo of on Dans_Pictures on the roof visible from my room at home as the day went on and it was nice to see and photograph Magpie too seeing fellow crow Jackdaw out the back a lot today too in a strong day of crows with the four species with Jay too. 

Wildlife Sightings Summary: Two of my favourite birds the Great Crested Grebe and Jay, Moorhen, Mallard, Black-headed Gull, Kestrel, Magpie, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow well too, Blackbird well, Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Starling, Collared Dove, Feral Pigeon well in the garden again, Woodpigeon and Common Darter dragonfly well in the Lakeside garden area by the visitor centre. 

[dansnaturepictures]

26/06/2021-Deadman Hill-Part 2 of 2: The wildlife: Silver-studded Blues, Keeled Skimmers and more 

When understandably sad coming back off of holiday it’s always good to be immersed back into a normal routine, particularly where wildlife watching and photos are concerned. A good thing about doing our Anglesey holiday Saturday to Friday was that it gives us a whole normal weekend before getting back to work. On a week off where we don’t go away like the weeks we had in January and April this year, whilst maybe a bit more sombre in mood with the time off coming to an end the second Saturday and Sunday within the time off is a big part of it. And I’ve learned to really regard them as such for when we do go away too in recent years. Today we came to Deadman Hill in the afternoon one of my favourite New Forest places which had been a within-two-days-after-holiday trip before after coming back from Devon in 2015, albeit having just finished college this was at the start of my long summer holidays so I didn’t have the coming back off of leave situation looming. This is a proper weekend whilst reflecting on the fantastic time in Anglesey for me complete with a Friday night Lakeside walk last night when we got home which I often do after work that day. In which I saw my first Small Skipper and Marbled White butterflies of the year really taking me nicely into summer butterfly species and moving my butterfly year on. So New Forest specialty at this stronghold for them Silver-studded Blue butterfly was the target today.

And that we saw coming down the heather covered slopes of the big steep hill with some of this flowering sweetly purple now. It was lovely to watch this delicate and dainty butterfly flit around in the heather and settle, revealing its oceanic wings which I lust after. I had seen it, one of my favourite butterflies and one of the ones I’ve known longest a gem on these heaths. My milestone 30th butterfly species of the year which I am very pleased with, appearing after my first Marbled White of the year after it directly proceeded this one three years running beforehand which was interesting, and seen a day after my first Small Skipper of the year for a second year running. I took the first two pictures in this photoset of the first Silver-studded Blue.

Then it was astonishing as we went on to see dozens of them, potentially the most Silver-studded Blues I have seen together before. Not just the heathy hill slopes were teeming with them but the whole heath as we walked to near Turf Hill and back and even an extremely small one in the path too which I got nicely and safely close to. It was remarkable to see this rare little blue butterfly dance along the heather top. One of the best experiences of my butterfly year and another key part of 2021 this week off for me it has been a good week for butterflies too with lots of different species seen. I also got the fourth picture in this photoset of a female Silver-studded Blue, and third of some of that lovely heather.

We also kept it blue and stayed with one of my favourites as we saw sparkly Keeled Skimmer dragonflies our first of the year always an important one to see skimming over the wet boggy areas. We noticed two at the first such area we came to a male and female joined together about to a mate or during mating. This was a special sight also and made me really happy seeing these my first of the year in a stronghold for them in the New Forest. I took the seventh picture in this photoset of these dragonflies. 

It was another nice flower walk where I enjoyed seeing those in the fifth, sixth, eighth and tenth pictures I took today showing the first heath bedstraw I recall seeing, one I’m not sure of, tormentil and the main floral star of my week off foxgloves looking nice at a few places this week this one standing out in my mind as unique with it wrapped in the bright green bracken that painted the landscape nicely and seasonally. Fittingly for national insect week I saw some more of them, the delicate and beautiful cricket which I got the ninth picture in this photoset of this was great to see and some bold and bright Emperor dragonflies commanding a pool where Keeled Skimmers were around too which was lovely to see. Like the Silver-studded Blues good numbers of Small Heaths were on the wing today as butterflies generally are seeming much more numerous over these few days. 

I remember as a kid sort of learning what a dragonfly and a grasshopper were at the same time for some reason and carrying a light association of the two for a little bit of my childhood so seeing dragonflies and the cricket today made me look back fondly on that. 

There was a lovely Fallow Deer I just noticed around the Turf Hill area. Possibly second to birds for making the Anglesey holiday for me was mammals with the amount seen both the star species and ones around the cottage but this of course lacked deers so a familiar Fallow Deer in the forest and on this walk added nicely to my week off of mammals. Today was a special and classic New Forest trip which is always one of the biggest things for me to do in the early summer mostly for this butterfly. 

In this rich boggy and heath landscape with nice patches of woodland too it did feel quite summery and I was so pleased with the walk and how it made me feel. Walks like these are nostalgic too I find as I think in the spring and summer months other spots such as Bentley Wood, Martin Down and Stockbridge Down can dominate the walks I am on with my Mum, her partner and Missy with butterflies particularly in mind, but go back a decade the only place we would ever walk was the New Forest really. Working reduces the amount of New Forest trips I do as well as I may have touched upon before, go back a ten years and I was at school with all those holidays and half terms and I even got to the forest after school a lot for a few years when there was a Wednesday where we didn’t have a final lesson unlike the other days so I finished earlier. So its a case of packing the places to go and things to see other than immediately close to us in current circumstances especially in to weekends. In autumn and winter these days the New Forest can dominate the trips I’m on with fungi of which I saw some mushrooms today in fact, pannage and other typically autumnal sights in the forest followed by needing to spend a lot of time in the forest looking for birds such as Crossbill, Hawfinch, Dartford Warbler and Jack Snipe in the new year as well as autumn into winter too in some cases for my new bird year list. Added to all of this is the fact that more often than not we do this walk via parking at Turf Hill as its easier for my Mum’s partner with mobility considerations he didn’t come today and I can’t remember when we last parked at Deadman Hill. This beautiful and wild place shone today with its key wildlife seen so well. I hope you’ve had a nice day.

Wildlife Sightings Summary: My first of one of my favourite butterflies the Silver-studded Blue this year, my first of one of my favourite dragonflies the Keeled Skimmer this year, two more of my favourite dragonflies the Emperor and Broad-bodied Chaser, one of my favourite mammals the Fallow Deer, Small Heath, Goldfinch, Robin, Meadow Pipit, Carrion Crows well, nice moths, beetles and cricket. In the New Forest on the way in we got a cracking view of a Buzzard one of my favourite birds from the car and saw one over the motorway on the way back. At home tonight as well as seeing the yarrow growing from the back of our fence on the way out I enjoyed seeing a young Goldfinch on the balcony feeder.