Menoturals; Season Shift

Once again joining up with the LLB gang for Nature Friday. I managed to get a quick shot of the local Swan family having a Sunday swim by the promenade. They were coming in with the tide, moving at quite some pace - by the time I got out of the van to try and improve on the photographic efforts, they were a long way off. I didn't want to subject the passing public to the sight of me attempting a run...

As I was out of the vehicle, I took the chance to snap the changing leaves... These are Maple trees, but not the sugar variety. You can see the wind in them... and how they gather moss.

Menoturals; Flower For Rosy

Joining in with the LLB gang for Nature Friday... and due to being static for so long, fresh nature pics and info are a tad lacking. Therefore, I'm diving into the floral archives to use up some from the past year that have been waiting their turn!

The plant in the image is Kenilworth Ivy (Cymbalaria muralis), which is also commonly called Ivy-leaved Toadflax. It grows all over the walls here in Dunoon (and many other walls and gardens in Scotland/UK). 

Menoturals; First Friday Filmclub

Sometimes, the state of the world just now can have us drooping a bit, wondering what the...? When something comes along that shines a light of hope, that shows how action can engender hope and manifest a physical representation of it, one cannot help but be moved and uplifted. This little film shows how one movement is becoming a major force in shaping the future of Scotland's natural landscape and affecting the communities within it. One likes to imagine this becoming global... You can read more in depth on this website.

Menoturals; Eider This, or Eider That

It's that wonderful one day of the month when the LLB Gang's Nature Friday coincides with my own Final Friday Feature!

Today I want to share a little about the Common Eider, the world's second-largest duck. (The Muscovy takes the overall title.)

For anyone who has seen and experienced the presence of the Eiders, it's hard to forget them! I adore them, and here on the Clyde, they are permanent residents, although it is only now, as we build up to breeding season, that the flocks start to gather on the shore and display behaviours emerge. I captured this short video a few days back, as three females (the darker ones) drew the attention of a larger group of males. I missed the really big diving session, but the females (literally) ducked under, and the males, in synchronous fabulosity, followed them. They all emerged just before I got the camera working, so you are seeing the aftermath of that spectacle, but still a little of the fluttering and muttering...

That's a relatively small group; what you cannot see here is the much greater number that were in the bay. The almost constant flapping of the wings is less about males seeking to impress females and more about showing prowess to other males as they compare and compete for the right to mate.

Eiders tend to live their entire lives hugging the coastline, occasionally extending into more pelagic regions, and can fly up to 50 mph. The courtship display indicated in the video is actually quite early, as the season generally begins in November and goes on all the way through to spring... but hey, who puts boundaries on flirtation, eh?!

Nests are made on the ground and lined with down feathers, plucked from the female’s own breast.  The clutch can be anything up to eight eggs. A month passes before the chicks hatch. The female doesn’t feed while on the nest and may lose 30% of her body weight in this time. Note: the males take no part in rearing or caring for the offspring... The Gulls have one over them on that score!!! Ducklings take to the water within 48 hours of hatching. They are at their most vulnerable at this time, and they group together in creches supervised by mother ducks. Other females (called aunties) join the creches to help warn and protect them against predators. The ducklings learn to feed themselves pretty quickly.

Their large feet and strong muscles allow eiders to dive or swim to a depth of 10 metres. Their main food source is shellfish, particularly mussels, which occasionally causes issues where mussels are farmed.

One thing I adore when watching the eider flotillas is listening to their chatter. A lot of their calls are like hearing human voices from the other shore...

(If you enjoyed listening to that, you can hear a whole range of different Eider sounds on this page...)

Many of you may be familiar with the traditional bedding material eiderdown and may even call your duvets by that name, even if they aren't actually filled with feathers. It may interest you to know that, unlike common goose or duck down—which is historically and currently obtained as a byproduct of the meat industry—true eiderdown relies on a unique, ancient relationship between humans and wild Common Eider. During the nesting season, female Eider naturally experience hormonal changes that loosen the feathers on their breasts. They pluck this ultra-soft down themselves to line their nests and keep their eggs warm. For over a thousand years in places like Iceland and Norway, coastal farmers have built sanctuaries and shelters to protect the wild ducks from predators like foxes and gulls. As the birds return to the same human-guarded spots every year, farmers can gently swap out some of the down with dry hay while the duck is incubating, or wait until the end of the season, when the ducks abandon the nests to head back to sea. Because the birds are never captured, plucked alive, or slaughtered for their feathers, eiderdown remains one of the world's oldest entirely sustainable and ethical wildlife harvests.

I hope you enjoyed that little tale of a fantastic duck... and to end this post, I will link to this delightful photo essay of Alpine Alpacas - go on, it'll make you smile!

Menoturals; Shore Stories

Sharing with the LLB gang on Nature Friday. 

As I've been static for a few weeks, gathering nature shots has been a bit curtailed. I did rather like the solitary Heron, though...

I was equally enamoured of spotting a Great Black-backed Gull on the shores of Holy Loch... these are the largest of the gull species, and are distinguished from their more populous Lesser Black-backed cousins by their fully black wings, pinkish-blue leg colouring, and overall size. There was nothing here to show the size in context, but trust me, this fellow was standing tall. Sadly, I didn't get a shot in before he decided to collapse his legs and start swimming, so you can't see that bit of him...

... I take that back... if you look to the lower left of the image, you can just see an out-of-focus Redshank. They are not particularly small birds (about the size of a Bantam), but as it is splitting the distance between the Gull and me, you do start to get an inkling of that bird's size! 

Since we are on Gulls (again), here are a pair of Black-headed Gulls who performed a little preening dance in front of the van. These are about two-thirds the size of a Herring Gull and, for most of the year, in fact, only have the black patch behind the eye that you see here. The full hood only flourishes during mating season.

For those who are interested, Gulls are protected by law in the UK - particularly as the Herring Gull is now on the Red (endangered) List, and the Lesser Black-backed is starting to show signs of threat, too. 

Now here's a beauty shot just to round the post off... oh, and a reminder that next week is final Friday already!!!

Menoturals; Clyde Riviera!

NB; Blogger is now not delivering posts at all to my reading list, so if I am missing any of your posts, please forgive the absence! I checked on my blogroll from the blog page itself, but that is also not updating. I will keep up as best as I can.... is anyone else having this issue? (lack of comments would suggest yes...)

Joining in with the LLB gang for their regular Nature Friday meme. Today, a few more shots of this lovely shoreline in and around the town I call home. Hettie the Heilan' Coo, who guards The Grey and ensures we are on the right road, took charge of these, so they are not always the clearest shots - and they show a variety of weather conditions, but that's part and parcel of living here!

Menoturals; First Friday Filmclub

The LLB gang provide us with a link-up for Nature Friday every week, and sometimes I stretch the connection with nature in my posts. Particularly when it comes to these First Friday offerings! However, as the connection is farming, I think this is okay. The video is less than half an hour in total, but if you wish to jump straight to the section relating to Loch Arthur Community (remember I visited there and was super impressed), then skip to minute ten:fifty. However, I think most of you will enjoy the first section, which has some archaeological discovery when a farmer ploughed up what he thought was an old tree. A lot of these historical discoveries in Scotland occur because of ploughing... one wonders how many are noticed and not just ploughed all the way back in and broken down.

Menoturals; Full-feather Feature

Joining with the LLB Gang for our once-a-month shared meme day, Nature Friday and Final Friday Feature.

Last Friday and yesterday's posts introduced you to the Lochwinnoch bird population. Permanent residents. They have learned it is a place of safety and plentiful food. I admit I am a bit conflicted at the level of over-feeding that may be occurring, particularly with inappropriate stuff such as loaves of supermarket bread and potato chips, but there is no denying the joy this avian community brings to the human one. What is more, the birds themselves all seemed to be pretty content with the state of play.

Of the Gulls present, there were Lesser Black-backed, Herring, and Black-headed represented. I want to focus on them a bit today because there were also examples of each juvenile stage. ...oh, and can I just emphasise that there are no such things as 'seagulls'. Gulls can be found a very long way from the coast, right into the country and farmland, in fact. Yes, they favour waterways, but they are opportunists and are actually adept foragers/scavengers, as much as they are fishers.

Most of the Gull species will form lasting mating bonds, and Herring Gulls and Greater Black-backed Gulls in particular are known to be life-long monogamous (bar the occasional 'amicable divorce' that occurs if they prove ill-matched for breeding purposes). Breeding occurs once a year in or around April (Northern Hemisphere; antipodean Gulls can vary from late August to early November). The majority of layings are between two and three eggs, and for most clutches, at least two of the hatchlings will survive. Parent birds will take turns to tend the nest in the first few weeks, with the other going to gather food. As fledging takes place, the young will continue to beg for food, and may do so for quite some time even after taking flight. It is that piping sound you hear most in the video. "Feeed meee"! The vast majority will be weaned and self-feeding by the end of three months, but occasionally a parent will continue feeding for another few weeks. The chicks are most vulnerable during this transition from nest to self-care, because quite often they just stand around in the most inappropriate places (like roads or pavements) and this can result in injury or death. 

While there are some subtle differences between the different species of Gull, overall the first four seasons produce roughly similar feathering. Maturity is only attained in the fourth or fifth season, depending on species.

First Year. All over brown colouring, almost duck-like. Beak is black.

Second Year. Mottling still very much present, but the chest and underparts start to whiten,
beak less black.

Third Year. Mottling remains marked on the wings, legs will change colour according to species, beak likely to change also, but may retain black. Head and chest distinctly white.

Fourth Year. Almost transformed to adult plumage.
Still mottling around head and shoulders, 
but legs and beak more or less complete.
Full maturity is reached when the gonydeal (red) beak spot appears.

You might gather from all this that I am a bit of a Larophile. All waterbirds are fascinating to me: well, all birds, but I do have a particular fondness for the shore and pelagic species. It is possibly something to do with having read Johnathon Livingston Seagull (guilty of misnaming for the sake of alliteration) back in my teens. Or, perhaps, that so many people seem to want to hate on them (same with Corvids, and you must know I also like those!) and I have always been one to support the underdog.

Anyhoo, hope you've enjoyed this little look at the life stages of Gulls, and might view them a little differently next time you meet one. 

Menoturals; Feathery Floaters

Joining in with the LLB gang for Nature Friday! I am only going to post this short vid clip and a teaser or two... There will be more info next week!

It's time to remind you, too, that next week is Final Friday - go on, dig a little deeper and bring us something just that little bit extra special! 

Menoturals; Of Gardens and Bugs

I could moan yet again about the 'bug' in the intermutts just now that is preventing some posts from reaching my reader in a timely fashion and then bringing them in batches, two, three, and sometimes more together. But no... this is about bugs of the insect type. True bugs, important ecological residents. 

Sharing with the LLB gang on Nature Friday, I bring you, first, the Common Blue Damselfly, aka as a Bluet...

This was as close as I could get with my phone camera zoom. The minute I moved a step closer it was off. There were lots of them around at Northumberlandia... but nowhere near the numbers of other insects. We were surrounded by the sound of grasshoppers, but I only laid eyes on one... and it was off before I could get focused on it. If you are interested, you can see a good photo and read about the Meadow Grasshopper at this link. It mentions the colour, and I can report that the one I did see had the purplish variance in colour, which is rather fun.

One insect of which there was an incredible number was the Six-spot Burnet Moth. We had fun trying to get any kind of decent shot of these flutteries! Constantly on the move and often shifting away from full-frontal, it was quite the challenge. First I had a go at a group of them on the Ragwort, but they all shifted into shade.... can you see the four of them?

That single one on the clover was the most successful of the 87 (well... maybe fifteen) photos I snapped. This is one of those occasions when I think back to my glory days of a camera bag with a full SLR and interchangeable lenses to fit the needs of the shoot! Still, I think I do okay with my phone camera these days.

The next shot is another subject in shade... can you see the male sparrow under the cabbages? The Cabbage White Butterflies were very busy laying their eggs, and this wee fellow appeared to be having a banquet!

To finish, a Cardoon flower... these are a vegetable plant and a great attractor for pollinators... if you enjoy vegetables such as celery and globe artichoke, you will most probably appreciate cardoons, too. Even if you don't, I think it would be a hard eye that didn't love seeing these structural, statuesque beauties in a garden border!

Menootering; Arvo Runs

I was having a lovely week at Aitch's place. In between a few outings, we enjoyed her garden, her village, quiet time together, and some social time. I arrived on Sunday, had an at-home on Monday, and then our biggest outing on Tuesday to Ford & Etal. Now, if you read Ducky 6939's report on Tuesday, you might have seen her mention trips out on Wednesday and Friday. She got it wrong! Duck time is clearly very different from human time. We needed Wednesday to recoup before undertaking any further major activity. It was on Thursday arvo (that's afternoon to all you non-Aussies) that we went to Wallington Hall (do read this link for a brief history). It's a pretty drive of about half an hour from the village - although we did find ourselves missing the entrance and having to travel a little longer than was necessary... for such a grand estate, the signage was very minimal! We flashed our NT membership cards to the entry attendant (who commented that the meters were merely garden furniture and parking was, in fact, free), then found our spot among the already very full car park. Something I noted was that, despite there being quite a crowd making the most of the incredible summer weather, it was only at the main cafe that one felt actually crowded. There was a wonderful sense of space and plenty of room for everybody.

The incredible trees provided welcome relief with their cooling canopies, and there was plentiful seating for those who needed it. Although a historical site, the farmland and gardens are still actively worked, with a view to conservation methodology and replacing non-native and invasive foliage with locale-specific plantings.

The key purpose of our visit that day was to go to the walled garden and pond, leaving the house for a potential visit on another of my trips. The wander downhill through the delightful woodlands was taken at a leisurely pace. No hurry for we two ladies of a certain age! We came across an impressive chainsaw carving...

Before finding our way into the walled garden. There were lots of roses in full flower, but many other pretty blooms, too. Due to lots of steps, I didn't venture down into the centre of the garden, but this didn't detract from enjoyment.

There were lots of beautiful walkways and little hedge-pockets to sit and ponder... and at the very bottom is a little kiosk where one can partake of a refreshing beverage before working back up the hill.

We had been thinking of another stately home visit for the Friday outing; however, we both were a bit slow on things that morning and, with very little discussion, agreed there was no need to go rushing about, especially as that day there were some showers, and it was heavily overcast. We knitted, we read, we chatted... just hung out.

Saturday was much the same, although we did have a couple of hours with Aitch's neighbour coming over for tea and a natter. 

Monday was my last full day with Aitch, and it was on that arvo that we went down to Northumberlandia. Maintained by the Northumberland Wildlife Trust, this enormous piece of public art was created as part of the tailings recovery from local mining. To fully appreciate this land sculpture, one needs to be up in the air... lacking wings or a drone, I have therefore brought you an image from The Land Trust so you can get the idea.

image source

All the white markings are paths to be explored. The woodland you see at the top of the photograph is where Ducky and I enjoyed the shade of the trees. The visitor centre, cafe and car park are just to the other side of that wooded area. Aitch and I wandered along the path by the pond to her raised hand, up her arm, past her right breast, around the outermost of the head paths, back down to the main path, and closed the loop. The wildflowers were abundant and the insects even more so! Crickets, various bees and wasps, butterflies and moths. It was glorious.

A key reason for going to this place on that day was for Aitch to meet up with some fellow geogachers. The organisers turned out to be from Gardenstown, on the Moray Firth (halfway between Banff and Fraserburgh, one of my very favourite parts of the Scottish coast). It was a small and eclectic group, brought together by their mutual hobby of chasing down tiny things in sometimes very obscure places. All in all, it was a grand finale to my eight days with my old school buddy. 

Tuesday morning saw us saying farewells, and I was on the road again... but I have one more thing to share from that week which will wait for a bit as it's not to do with travel as such. Tomorrow's nature shots are from these two outings, though. Now I leave you with a collage of images Aitch took of me climbing one of the mounds so that I could take the slightly more elevated image that follows...

Menoturals; First Friday Filmclub

Linking to the LLB gang's Nature Friday blog hop... with something you might at first think is the biggest stretch of connection yet. However, I'd like you to note how, beyond the vans themselves, it is the environments that we travellers find ourselves in that bring us together, that it is a love of the wide open spaces and the nature in them that lures us and keeps us going, and that, for all of that, it is in the sharing and caring that life is Lived Lovingly... (and watch out for a very familiar face at around minute six...)

Snow and Curt were one of the first van channels I started watching way back when thoughts of van life were still seeding. I subbed to their channel in late 2019 - just as they were preparing to leave their USA tour and enter Mexico. They are amazing travellers, with their two darling cats, and if you enjoy National Geographic-style videos, then do go and check out any one of their series. 

Menoturals; Nature In Art

Welcome to the last day of July! It is also a Friday, so it is the day that my own Final Friday Feature meme joins up with the LLB gang's Nature Friday! FFF is about sharing something just that little bit extra special, or curious, or revealing... something a bit out of the usual.

On Monday, I teased you with some artwork made by a couple who specialise in showcasing nature through their art. Mostly their items are on the larger scale, but this year they went for the more dainty. Do check out their website. These images tell you more.

This was provided in the very neat little presentation box in which my brooch was delivered... Yes! I bought one of the four. I really liked the one with the barnacles, but so did a lot of folk, and someone got there before me. I had three still to choose from, though, and am very happy with it, now sitting on the lapel of my jacket beside my National Trust membership badge. 

To clarify for those who may have been a little confused from Monday's post, the Eagle's Foot was not these brooches. It was an actual foot from a bird that had been killed. It is illegal to kill birds of prey in Scotland, which is why it was important for the signage to confirm this death had been investigated and ruled accidental (i.e. non-human intervention). The design of the brooches does rather give the impression of a claw, admittedly! Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo of the whole exhibit, so that was a miss on my part. 

Menoturals; Some Pretties

A reminder that next week is Final Friday once again... and here I am sharing with the LLB gang on Nature Friday, with some glimpses of nature in Aitch's garden... The blue Felicia was a little gift from me. Next you see Clarkia, Begonia, and finally Teasle just starting to blossom. Then we were surprised by the arrival of a flurry of Little Tortoiseshell butterflies...