ernie f

[David M]

Today I took this picture from just outside my house....

That's fabulous, ernie. I'm not sure I've ever seen a rainbow so broad.

[ernie f]

Wurzel

I didn't know the answer to your question re the Chestnut Tree but assumed hanging branches touched the ground at some point and set out new shoots, like I have seen yew trees of age do. Wikipedia has this to say which seems to concur with my assumption...

The Tortworth Chestnut is an ancient sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa) tree in Tortworth, South Gloucestershire. The exact age of the tree is unknown, but various sources provide estimates. Two accounts in 1664 and 1712 record the tree growing in, respectively, the 12th and 13th century, dating it at over 800 years old.[1] The tree was known as "the Old Chestnut of Tortworth" in 1150, suggesting it is over 1,000 years old.[2] More romantically, a legend recounts that the tree sprang from a nut planted in 800 AD during the reign of King Egbert.[1]

The tree can be accessed via a lane next to the churchyard of St Leonard's in Tortworth. The original trunk has little live growth but over centuries new trunks have formed where branches have developed, subsided and re-rooted, and continued to flourish. This method of growth, and the space afforded by the estate in which to achieve it, has ensured the chestnut's longevity[3] but hinders simple measurement of the tree's size. In 1791 the tree was measured at 44 feet (13 metres) at its widest part.[2] More recently, its girth measured at a height of 1 metre was 11 metres in 1988, and 12 metres in 2013.[4] The tree produced fruits as recently as 1788.[2]

The tree is one of 50 Great British Trees across the United Kingdom that were selected by The Tree Council in 2002 to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II.

[ernie f]

David

The reason why the rainbow is so broad is because I used telephoto feature on my camera to get a close-up from a distance. I did it like that because the actual bow was fading fast by the time I got my camera from the house and this was pretty much the last remnant of it that could be seen.

[Wurzel]

Brilliant - thanks for doing the digging to find those answers Ernie - seems like the most reasonable explanation

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[ernie f]

Hi all

I saw this moth on my garage yesterday. I managed to get a few shots before if flew off. Try as I might I cannot ID it even though there can't be that many moths that fly in March on a cold morning (4 degrees).

Does anyone have any ideas?

Thanks.

[Allan.W.]

Not a Moth Ernie looks like a Caddis fly sp;...............or similar .
Allan.W.

[Neil Freeman]

Not a Moth Ernie looks like a Caddis fly sp;...............or similar .
Allan.W.

Yep, a Caddis Fly. I get a lot of these in my moth trap but haven't got around to identifying any of them yet, the moths take enough time as it is.

Cheers,

Neil.

[David M]

I didn't know what it was, ernie, but I knew what it wasn't. Those antennae don't belong to a moth.

[ernie f]

Ah, that explains it then. Thanks guys.

[ernie f]

We have been living in Gloucestershire for a year now. It really doesn't seem that long - time sure does fly.

Last year I caught the tail-end of the PBF flight period. It was great to see some flying at Siccaridge Woods but they were getting a bit tatty at that time. Not so yesterday when I visited this year but a bit earlier in the season. Three, perhaps four were pretty much pristine and flying in the same place as before. During my walk through the woods I wondered about their habitat. There seemed to be plenty of places that appeared at first glance to be the correct environment for them, ferny glades and sunny open spaces - perhaps a bit scrubby, but they preferred this one spot. Why? I found out when they started to nectar. Despite there being masses of bluebells everywhere and yellow archangel, wild strawberry in bloom and other plants which I will get onto later in this post, they favoured the bugle above all else. They congregated at this one spot because of the bugle. Their caterpillar food plant is the dog-violet but these were scattered liberally around the woodlands too. No, it was definitely the bugle that attracted them here. There wasn't very much bugle anywhere else that I could see.

It was a warm, sunny morning so they basked a lot leading to some good photo opportunities.

But when they weren't just kicking their heels or nectaring they were active searching for mates and battling other males. Life as usual in the butterfly world.

Now more about the plants. Siccaridge Woods is known at this time of year for its Lily-of-the-valley. Last year I was too late to see them at their best but this year it was approaching peak. They were not all out fully yet but many were. It is the only location I have ever visited where this plant grows wild and here it is in abundance. I guess there must be many thousands of them.

It is difficult to see but it is true that in this general shot just about every bit of the open woodland here is covered with this plant. Amazing.

In the darker recesses of the woods one comes across wood ants, teeming in their thousands. Their nests open to the elements can be vast compared with the size of an individual ant. One nest in particular attracted my attention when I saw an ant carrying a piece of moss more than double his size onto the surface of the nest. I had seen leaf-cutting ants do this on TV and in a zoo but this was the first time I witnessed a British ant carrying a piece of greenery.

The woodland was still awash with bluebells but I recently had an encounter with this plant that defies all logic. I always considered them to be woodland plants. Sure you may see a few along roadside verges from time to time, but basically it's a woodland plant. So imagine my surprise when I discovered Cam Long Down on the Cotswold Escarpment not a 30 minute drive from where I live. Tens of thousands of bluebells blooming in the open, I mean the wide open spaces on the down.

It has become a bit of a local tourist destination because of it. One person we spoke to as we walked the paths likened it to the lavender fields of southern France.

Finally, we have a new addition to our home. Meet Jasper the Cat, a friendly but boisterous 4-year old ginger moggy. He is great fun and has settled quickly into his new home.

[trevor]

Well done with the Pearls, Ernie. Never seen Lily of the Valley growing wild before.
And you have a very fine ginger mog, exactly my kind of cat.