I am currently on day 3 of 10, may the lord have mercy on my soul.

It has hardly been the most uplifting of three days.  On Day1, Tuesday, I took out some of the volunteers to cut back vegetation from the viewpoints.  Enthusiasm is all well and good but having elderly volunteers holding on to the backs of each others trousers as they lean out over unstable cliff edges above the swirling waters of the fastest flowing waterfall in Britain is not good for my peace of mind.  On the plus side if you want to come and take a look at the waterfalls any time soon the views are clear and unobstructed.

On Day2, Wednesday, I had a few small patrolling tasks to do. Which was fine apart from the hammering.  I had to hammer 6 inch nails into the boardwalk for some health and safety reason I have no wish to understand.  The first 5 or so nails went in fine.  All was good.  And then I lost my mojo.  All the nails started bending while I was hammering... they don't go in when they are bent.  They don't like to come out either.  Eventually I came to a satisfactory conclusion after the addition of a set of pliers and a hacksaw to my tool kit.  I think the boardwalk was safer before I got started on it.  There was a silver lining though.  After wrestling for 10 minutes with a particularly difficult nail I was just looking around to make sure that there were no visitors about who might have heard my innapropriate exclamations when I saw a little blue thing flying down the river.  A kingfisher. 

Today was day 3.  Today I was banned from the office as they were conducting interviews in there.  I was condemned to wander the reserve without being able to do the important office tasks that are a vital part of my job... like checking the weather forecast and my emails.  I took the hammer and the nails but after the first nail decided on a different course of action.  Instead I wandered along the boardwalk looking at flowers.  I only took the book out so I could identify the possible Giant Bellflower but someone had already picked it.  Bastards.  I went onto the tree nursery where I planted some elm seeds and decided to weed.  My weed identification is as good as my flower identification so I only pulled out the ones I recognised: dandelion, creeping buttercup and grass.

But let us forget the troubles of the last few days and look back on happier times...

Moth trap in an evening glade

I have finally returned to work after illness required me to take this last weekend off.  But don't worry about my physical health... try to imagine instead the intense mental anguish caused by a lack of moth trapping in near perfect moth trapping conditions... horrific.  But it is amazing what the human mind can live through when it has to.  I also had encouragement from this one little moth which sat on the steps outside Tesco as I returned from a food gathering expedition:

Twin-spot Carpet

At one point in my delirium I decided that it would be a good idea to clip the guinea-pigs' nails.  Dougal underwent the procedure with minimal resistance but Strathpig whose nails I have never clipped before did not.  He survived with all toes intact so I think we can call it a success.  Here he is looking a bit traumetised:

Trauma Pig

On Sunday night I put out my moth trap and on Monday morning I had a nice restful time sitting in the sunshine examining my catch:

Barred Carpet

July Highflyer

Snout

The picture does not do it justice - Beautiful Golden Y

Minor - there are a few minors and the only way to really tell them apart is to kill them and fiddle about with their bits... needless to say I did not kill this charming little fellow

Well I have returned to work today after a few days of illness during which time the most exciting thing to happen was a wander around Tescos in my nightie.

Today I was hoping for a light and skivey sort of time and I didn't do too badly.  It was a nice sunny day, conducive to lazing around and taking your time.  Here is a Great Tit doing exactly that:

Sun bather

In the morning I took a long and pleasant stroll to the far side of the reserve with one of the volunteers to open the paths which had been blocked off for the protection of the Peregrine chickies.

I found this:

Dead common shrew

After another pleasant stroll back around to the Peregrine Site it was time for a sit down and lunch.  Then I put out my moth trap, hard work carrying that car battery up the hill, but for my moths: worth it.  Then I dawdled back dwelling on the beautiful sights of summer:

Ringlet

In the afternoon it was time for a leisurely butterfly transect (It is specifically in the instructions that you go slowly!) and then back for a pleasant half hour of "admin".  A lift home from The Boss made sure that I had plenty of energy left... so I went shopping and got a very attractive Peace Lily (cost: 99p) who I have named McKay and who will hopefully inspire my previous lily Carter to regrow a little more enthusiastically.

I do normally enjoy a nice quiet morning of contemplation before work, but it was RUINED this morning due to the actions of a guinea pig OUT OF CONTROL.  Dougal has been recovering well from his earlier dental difficulties.  After coming home from hospital he weighed a pitiful 913g, but with generous applications of food he has chunked up to the respectable figure of 970g.  And still rising. 

In fact Dougal has become rather too insistent on regular feedings.  For some time now he has shown increasing interest in cereal.  I have occassionally fed him little bran flakes from my bowl, which in light of this morning's occurences may have been a mistake. 

There I was sitting on the floor with my breakfast on my knee, when friendly little Dougal came to investigate.  I thought it was cute.  It was not so cute when he grabbed the end of my spoon in his mouth and flipped it up and out of my bowl, spraying oat milk everywhere.  Little bastard.  I told him as much as I was drying off my legs but he was entirely unrepentant.  He remained at the scene of the crime licking the milk from the carpet, like a starving dog desperately tearing the last scraps of meat from a carcass... 

And then afterwards, when I had eaten what was left they swarmed around the remains, Strathpig joining in with the ill-gotten bounty:

Exhibit A

And let's have a close up on that:

Note the crazed expression in the eyes

Just as well I had a happy morning of mothing with the Moth Man to calm me after this challenging start to the day.  And a nice calming walk to work:

View from the blue path

2 new species were caught today, along with 3 very beautiful Poplar Hawk-Moths:

Spot the moth: Green arches

Light Emerald

I then went on a very pleasant walk (aka litter patrol) during which I found this dead Water Shrew:

Water Shrew

And perhaps more scenically some pretty flowers:

Red Clover and Bumblebee

Stitchwort?

There were children... a lot of children.  I don't want to talk about the children.  Let's fast forward to the afternoon when I took my moth trap on one of our regular walks in the wheelbarrow.  It had been raining quite heavily in the morning but once the children had gone the sun came out and everything was nice.

It was even hot enough for this little Ringlet butterfly to come out and sunbathe on the tarmac road just above the power station:

I have been given explicit ORDERS by The Boss that I have to spend more time just wandering around with a plant book trying to identify plants.  Well it's a tough job but I do my best and was able to find some time to stroll slowly along in the sunshine and find some plants.  Actually I didn't take a flower book but using the plant knowledge which my Mammie has implanted into my subconscious I made the following guesses (preliminary googling supports my hypotheses):

Possible Hedge Woundwort.  It was very hairy

Possible St. John's Wort

It's a rose.  Possibly a Dog Rose

And then I returned to the visitor centre and got a lift home.  I must retire and rest now.  Even as I type my moth trap is sitting patiently in the woods by the dipping pond, drawing in all sorts of little goodies for me to discover tomorrow morning. I think that the most distressing thing about finishing my job here will be leaving the moth trap behind.  We spend a lot of time together and are getting quite attached.

A historic day today... My last of the season at the Peregrine Site.  Next Tuesday I will be back up there dismantling everything and saying a final goodbye to the chickies and adult birds.

The day started very happily with one of the most beautiful moths around:

Peach blossom - side view

Peach blossom - top view

I had long admired the picture of this little beauty in my moth and guide and today I was somewhat overexcited to meet it in person. If I had been on a little walk in the woods, totally unsuspecting of the wonder that awaited me I might have been overcome with feelings. Luckily I was ready for mothing. I made sure that everyone at the peregrine site, volunteers and visitors also enjoyed the spectacle.

Reactions from others were mixed and I have now changed my opinions of people accordingly:

People I like
Jack2: "Peach blossom is one of my alltime fave moths"
Willie: Something along the lines of it being a beauty
Peregrine volunteers: thought it was impressive and beautiful

People I don't like
The Boss:  "It looks sort of mouldy"
Schoolgirls:  "Ewwwww!!!!  It moved!!!!"

Of course there were other moths, 14 other moths including 5 new species for my list:

Clouded Magpie

Bright-line Brown-eye

Flame Shoulder

Heart and Dart

Peach blossom!

Having safely deposited all my moths at the point where I had gathered them I was ready to spend the rest of the day watching Peregrines.  They weren't around much and when they were they weren't in the mood for doing much:

Sleepy Chickie

My 7 hours of waiting were richly rewarded in the evening however, when one of the chicks flew up the gorge with the remains of a Woodpigeon carcass in its talons.  Dangling down behind the chick was a trail of intestines.  The chick circled round twice with the intestines trailing gracefully behind while Chick 2 followed in hot pursuit of the meaty goodness.  What a beautiful sight.

A very very wet day.  Fortunately this evening seems to have dried up and I was able to put the moth trap out again... it's so addictive.  Here are some pretty moths of the day:

White Ermine

Denisia similella

Common White Wave

Map-winged Swift

Just as well I had the moths to entertain me: the little Peregrines are spending more and more time away from the nesting site.  Coupled with the very wet weather this meant an uneventful day.  They did stop by for a short while though, one of them clutching a juvenile starling in its talons.  Juvenile peregrine ate the juvenile starling and then they flew off again.

Or at least they did after I chased them away.  It is part of my new job as Peregrine Bitch.  Because we are reopening the lower path next week we have to dissuade the chickies from perching on the trees there.  Dissuading means frightening them off.  This is a bit sad when staring at a beautiful peregrine would be just the thing to pass the time... but if it's for the good of the chickies it must be done.

White Foxglove in the rain