Stop, start

Recently, as I have looked at the blog, the time since the last posting becomes more daunting and off putting. Today, I have decided to cast caution to the wind and start writing and stop the gap. It will probably be a bit of  flit about like the dragonflies we saw on Sunday. They were not the iridescent blue ones we saw at Leighton Moss earlier in the year;  these ones seemed to have much more cumbersome bodies, possible Hawkers. Constantly on the move, it was impossible to take a photo of them as they dashed and dived among the reeds. Somehow, none of their wings seemed to beat in synchrony as they provided the action while the ducks and coots swam calmly about their business in the background. On our last visit the black headed gulls were in full nesting and breeding swing, raucous and noisy, Sunday's visit was much quieter.

Sunday was sunny, typical really, as it was the last day of our fortnight's holiday and the first full day's sun we had seen during that time. Wales, camping and current recent weather did not seem the ideal combo for a holiday idea so we had a change of plan and booked a converted Wesleyan Chapel in the Yorkshire Dales for a week. So, although it did rain, we didn't get too wet apart from getting spectacularly soaked at Bedale. The drenching was certainly more memorable than the place.

Stop start videos. I've been doing a bit of experimenting of late. Videos through the microscope, both time lapse and conventional, and then some playing around with a whizzy little app on the Ipad that will do time lapse/stop motion stuff..

Drops of water from the trays the sundew and pitcher plants sit in have shown there is a hive of activity going on in there with all manner of things whizzing and whirring around. The difficulty is in getting it all in focus, and  trying to follow them around is almost a none starter.

The ferns seem to be getting settled in the new raised bed and are beginning to spore. I brought some fronds in and managed to get some time lapse of sporangia exploding out their spores. Who can say plants are boring?

The stop motion app is providing plenty of displacement activity!