Butterflies, Danger, Foraging, Insects, Tramp's Bestiary, Tramp's Herbal, Wild Flowers

Old Man Dancing

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Dances with Wolves

I am so sorry that I have been away from the blog this month. There was a wolf at my door and you know how much I like wolves, I got distracted.

He has  gone now. I gave him a little dog that I found in the garden and that seemed to fill his tummy nicely,

(I have not really fed Fizz to a wolf)

Anyway Wolfie has gone and we would like to get back to nature. I will try to post every day for a while, to make up for my recent absence.

So much has been happening and there is a lot to blog about.

I am glad to find that I have not lost my touch with the Faeries.

Orange Tip

Orange Tip

Orange TipTomorrow we could go up and look at the Bluebell woods.

BluebellOr we could video Fizz searching for her yellow ball amongst the Dandelions.

The WinnerThe world has turned beautiful.

Let me put this little animal down….

Orange Tip

Whoa! Hold on! I’ll get a ladder.Orange TipThat plant that I am putting him on is Garlic Mustard.

Garlic MustardNext to Wild Garlic it is one of the tastiest herbs around at the moment. This is one of the very best reasons to get into foraging. Picked fresh it is better than anything that you could buy in the supermarket. Foraging is not just about nettles and Dandelions, some of it is Caviar (without the fishy taste) and you just can’t buy it in the shops.

It is growing in abundance in my neck of the woods and deserves a post of it’s own.

Garlic MustardOh lookit! A brown Faerie.

Speckled WoodThat would be a Speckled Wood.

Speckled WoodIt is so nice to have them back.

I am going to cut this post short because I want to post it tonight.

Sometimes Fizz and I get ourselves into some pretty dangerous situations.

DangerI tend to shut other people out in case they get hurt by the terrible dangers that we have to face.

Terrible DangerSo I haven’t been reading my email or attending to anything just recently and I am sorry if I seemed to be ignoring you. I will be back on top of everything tomorrow.

I had a stroke of luck and came out on top. I don’t have to leave the farm or Fizz, or do anything that I don’t want to do. So it goes.

All right, Cutie Pie?

Cutie PieI did not fail to notice that you played a good game back there and that you are a reasonable companion animal 🙂

Tonto

88 thoughts on “Old Man Dancing”

    1. Thank you so much 🙂 I felt very guilty about being away for so long and I thought about just starting again, just because my life has changed and I am safe now. Glad I didn’t 🙂

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  3. I’m hoping that ‘Bendy Peg Leg’ was your stroke of luck! Super to have you back Colin, and Fizz of course. I’ll get cracking on that limerick…!

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    1. Thank you BB 🙂 Bendy Peg Leg may not have sounded like a great name for a racehorse but she beat Two Short Stilts by fourteen lengths. It’s a good job she wasn’t up against L’Esgargot. (I don’t know who gives these animals such stupid names)

      You win some and you lose some, the little dog is quite winsome 🙂

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    1. Thank you Clare 🙂 I was a bit worried too but it turned out okay and that will do for me.

      I don’t have a religious background. About fifteen years ago my then wife got cancer and I started to pray. Uneducated, my prayers were either deals (Please do it to me, don’t do it to her) or threats (Take your hands off my wife) God didn’t strike me down and my wife survived. This went on for about three years and I had quit a management job and taken a night shift, I prayed constantly all night. When it was over I had to wonder what I had been doing. I am a clever man and I don’t believe in God. It doesn’t matter what you believe, there are circumstances when anybody will pray, not for your own life but for somebody else. I had to invent my own God and I decided that he was everything that was good in Humanity, without any of the negatives (No burning other religions in eternal hell fire or any of that nonsense, children born into another faith receive no punishment from the giant invisible bear) I am not mocking religion, there is something that walks beside me. He is not afraid of me and I am not afraid of him, we love each other. He created everything that I photograph. That is why my photographs are free to download. I don’t feel that this is my work. When you get old you lose your marbles.

      I am happy to have misplaced my marbles. I have a deep love of the Bear beside me, just exactly as he loves me. I don’t understand it but it is not important to understand it.

      That is why you like my photographs. I didn’t create this stuff. I just point my stick at it. I am not asking for credit 🙂

      Something very beautiful is going on but I am not the artist.

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      1. I am so glad you have your bear. 🙂 My God is a good God who loves us all even the silly people who make up things about him. This world is a most beautiful place and I am so pleased you are in it to show us all its wonders. Take care ❤

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      3. Colin, your God concept is absolutely beautiful. I always thought God was part of me, but after my heart surgery, I believe I’m part of God. Let’s take organized religion out of it.

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    1. Thank you Sarasin 🙂 I nearly called this post “The Joy of Tax” because yesterday I was able to pay my local taxes for the year ahead. I know where I am going to be living for the next twelve months and that is a good feeling 🙂

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    1. Thank you my good friend 🙂 I expect that you have written a lot while I have been away. That is something to look forward to and I will be round to visit just as soon as I can. I have a lot of catching up to do but fortunately it is raining here this morning 🙂

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  13. You’ve been missed. I already started worrying and scrolling up and down the reader looking for Fizz. I’m glad she wasn’t food for the wolf 😀 welcome back!

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    1. Thank you Becky 🙂 Fizz has been a good friend for the last eighteen months. She is so selfish, she doesn’t care what else is going on she just wants to play and it is good to be made to play every day. Plus, a Wolf in Sheep’s clothing could not get past her.

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      1. She’s a girl, that’s why she’s selfish LOL 🙂 it’s good to see the two of you are fine

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    1. Thank you Charlotte 🙂 It seems that my life has been so full of Wolves that I have become good at sidestepping them. People sometimes think that I am dancing, As ever, I just hope that was the last one. I am ready for “and Colin and Fizz lived Happily ever after.”

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    1. Thank you Maureen 🙂 The moths were an Orange Tip and a Speckled Wood, both butterflies. Last year I spent ages looking for a female Orange Tip and this year it looks like it is going to be the same story, I am not seeing any females. The search is on.

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  22. Been wondering about you, glad all turned out well. Can’t wait to read about the swallows and see the bluebells, more faeries and all the rest that you have in store for us! Good to have you back! 🙂

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    1. Thank you Eliza 🙂 The Swallows are back and the pair that I filmed last year have reclaimed their old nest. It is really wonderful to see them again and their song, just before dawn, wakes me every morning. It is brilliant.

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  24. Oh, I am so so very happy that you are back!! I have missed Fizz and your posts terribly!! 🙂 They always make me smile and feel that everything is so lovely! I am so much looking forward to reading more posts! Thank you! 🙂

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  26. I just love that speckled butterfly. Do you know what it is? I’ve never seen anything like it, but with that wing detail, no doubt it really blends in with its habitat.

    Glad to see you’re back and all’s well on your side of the forest/world.

    Always nice to take a break from blogging and the internet – it can creep up on you and take away too much time from the natural world (if you let it).

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    1. Thank you Vicki 🙂 I am trying to work fast because I have got so much to catch up on but I have got to tell you about the butterfly. It is a very old friend. The Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) Unlike many butterflies this one doesn’t feed on the nectar in flowers, it feeds on Aphid honeydew that it finds on the leaves of trees. It lives in the forest with me, in the little patches of sunlight that it finds between the trees and it likes ancient woodland.

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  27. So, so happy to see you back, Colin! (And adorable panting Fizz too of course.) You do have a way with the “faeries.” Beautiful photographs!

    I often think it is a shame that we buy greens from the shop when there are probably a great many “weeds” that are highly nutritious and probably quite tasty growing in the fields (and in my case, my own back yard.) I would like to know more about the edible plants here. That is another reason I enjoy your blog.

    I read your comment to Clare. My religious background as a child taught me to fear a god and feel constantly guilty. However, as life went on and various interesting things happened, I came to realise that those were more so rules made up by people. I have always felt a presence in my life. There were some times when quite remarkable things have happened. So I believe in a divine presence, just not all the rules made up by people about what it is. It is when I am out in nature that I feel closest to what is my God. There is much beauty, love and kindness in the world despite the evil we may see.

    I look forward to reading your wonderful humorous posts and enjoying the pictures of our beautiful world that you choose to share with us. Thank you. 🙂

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    1. Thank you 🙂 Fortunately I am not very afraid of Sheep but as a general rule I am much more nervous of domestic animals than those I find in the wild, they have lost their fear of man. Cows kill a lot of people here in the UK, more than people realise because accidents that occur at work (ie on the farm) are not included in the figures released for civilian casualties. I would be perfectly comfortable to be surrounded by Wild Boar in the middle of the night and in complete darkness but I would not like to walk through a field full of cows with calves 🙂

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  30. Pingback: My Article Read (4-28-2015) | My Daily Musing

  31. Happy news, Colin. You are meant to do this work, this play. Bear knows it. I am grateful.

    Now, about this garlic mustard. It is considered (by government bodies) a noxious weed in these parts, choking out great swaths of undergrowth in our woods. It’s a pity the deer don’t have a taste for it.

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    1. Thank you Maggie 🙂 This is a comment that I hear quite often and it always baffles me. In Australia they have too many Rabbits and while I don’t mean to be cruel to bunnies, have they never heard of Rabbit Pie? How can you have too much Garlic Mustard? It is free food. Even if you are totally sold on those bags of salad that they sell in supermarkets a few leaves of Garlic Mustard mixed in will turn your bag into a very delicious and expensive alternative. It is possible to eat your way out of trouble, I think 🙂

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  32. Some lovely butterfly photographs. I had never seen the underwing of an Orange tip before as I’d only seen them flying. Up here in the East Midlands there is supposedly a shortage of Specled Woods. We have had one in the garden so far. Good to see you back!

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    1. Thank you John 🙂 The Orange tip is a lovely butterfly but the females are so elusive. Every time I chase down a white butterfly it turns out to be a Green-veined white. I was beginning to think that male Orange tips must mate with Green-veined whites. I found just one last year. The female has the same intricate marking on the underwing but she lacks the orange tips to the wings.

      Orange tip

      Orange tip

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  33. Oh, Colin. I am so glad you are back with us. I’ve missed you and your side-kick, Fizz, and your photos and information! I was happy to see butterflies, Blue bells, etc., and to learn that you have a year’s reprieve. 🙂 I pray you may stay on the farm, with Fizz, and share your wonders with us for as long as YOU want. My days have been rather dull, for a lack of description, and now I have great reading in my e-mail once more. Welcome back and enjoy each day. Your return has made many, many of us happy.

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    1. Many thanks Ettel 🙂 You are definitely one of the reasons that I could not give up blogging. Fizz and I have been up to the Bluebell woods today and I will post about that in a little bit. (as long as a few of my photographs are half decent, the weather hasn’t been very good today)

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  38. You are certainly a friend to the faeries. Of course, they are a fickle bunch and you can never tell whether they will approve of you in advance, but looking in from the outside I can see that they should have nothing to complain about from Colin & Fizz. Well, Fizz maybe.

    Gorgeous markings on the butterfly. What dreadful conditions you must endure to get those nature shots.

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