Worms, Sheep and Creativity

Lovely sunny afternoon yesterday so managed to mow the grass. I wonder how many more times it will need cutting this year. Was someone laughing at me heaving the mower about.



All day there were three Crane Flies on the outside of the kitchen window. They hardly moved at all. I have always know these as Daddy Long Legs for obvious reasons. When a nipper I was terrified of them as dozens (so it seemed)  flitted round the bedroom light. I am assuming these are Crane Flies though they seemed smaller than those normally seen.




Jan of ShySongbird's Twitterings has come to the rescue again. Jan identified the insect as a Folded Wing Crane Fly (Limonia nubeculosa). Thanks Jan.


A regular job here is dropping any uncooked kitchen waste into the wormery. My worms exist on  potato peelings, tea bags and banana skins as their main diet with other bits as they come to hand. Citrous fruit cannot be used but they seem to like Papaya and Melon skins. Damp torn or shredded paper can also be put in, but not the shiny type.

Tiger Worms (Eisenia fetida) are used as they tend to live nearer  the surface and do a great job of turning waste food into a rich compost with the added benefit of producing a liquid which can be diluted to make a useful liquid fertiliser.

Tiger Worms get their name from the pale bands around their reddish bodies. They are smaller and sleeker than your average earthworm. They breed readily and can often be found in compost heaps.



 On our expeditions to the field at the end of the lane I see the sheep in the neighbouring field have been serviced so the Spring lamb production has started. Unfortunately I didn't manage a photo of the ram with his bag of dye tied round his chest but the patches of dye on the rumps of the ewes show that he has finished his part of the process. The ewes seem to look to the ram for protection. Normally if they sense danger they go though a gate into a further field but when the ram was there they gathered round him.



A few days ago Glo of Porcelain Rose left a link to this in a comment. Somebody's creative juices were working overtime again. I do admire people who can think up things like this.





Thank you Glo. Brilliant! Also Glo has left a link to a picture of a sleepy hedgehog HERE. There are many fabulous nature photos on the site.

Last night I got round to watching Autumn Watch and enjoyed the piece about Hedgehogs. Interesting that hibernating animals have to wake up every so often to get rid of waste products, then need a short normal sleep before going back into hibernation.