A rambling break from the holiday

 Long-tailed Tits

Every Winter we get a few days when flocks of Long-tailed Tits pass through the garden.  They only stay briefly but they are a delight to watch.  Imagine our surprise when a flock suddenly appeared at the beginning of August.  We had never seen them in Summer before.  They included both adults and youngsters.

A Victorian Letter Box

Partner-who-loves-tea does all the driving nowadays as my eyesight and the loss of feeling in my legs makes me pretty unsafe on the roads (though a lot safer than some of the clowns we see around).   She is quite used to me shouting ‘Stop!’  Though I do try to add a ‘Please’ and, if there is enough warning, say ‘Are you being followed?’ before I yell.   I am usually sensible enough not to do so when circumstances are obviously against her stopping.   But she knows that when I do ask her to stop it is for one of two things – something natural history related or, that other love of mine, a letter box.

This Victorian wall letter box is of a type that I have photographed before but I couldn’t be sure of that as we passed it each time we drove through Gayton on The Wirral.  So, having worked out on a previous occasion where I could get P-w-l-t to stop, I photographed it the other day.  What does it matter that I have got photos of that type previously?  It gives me a chance to fill this post (if you’ll excuse the pun) with a pretty red letter box well over a hundred years old.

 Rules for a happy marriage... cont.

Here is Rule for a Happy Marriage #2.
At least once a day say one complimentary or kind thing to your partner.

Rule for a Happy Marriage #3.
Make your partner happy – when they are happy you will be happy and vice versa.

Rule for a Happy Marriage #4
To be happy with a man love him little and understand him a lot.  To be happy with a woman love her a lot and never ever ever try to understand her.

Grey Dagger

This beautiful moth, the Grey Dagger (Acronicta psi), is a moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found from Europe and North Africa to northern Iran, Central Asia, southern and central Siberia and Mongolia. In the Levant it is found in Lebanon and Israel.  It is also found in our garden and, during hot weather when all the windows are open, it comes in the house as well.   

This species has grey fore-wings with bold black dagger-shaped markings. (The scientific name also refers to these markings, as resembling the Greek letter psi ψ.) The hind-wings are dirty grey, generally paler in the male. The wingspan is 34–45 mm. This moth is very similar to the Dark Dagger (Acronicta tridens) and identification is generally only possible by minute examination of the genitalia. Needless to say I didn't get around to perusing its private parts and let it out of the window instead.

 Steven Gerrard (Warning - this paragraph is sport!!)

In the game against Spurs (Tottenham Hotspurs 0 - Liverpool 3) last night Steven Gerrard became the first Liverpool  FC player in history to score in 16 successive seasons - he previously held the record at 15 with my idol Billy Liddell.   

Gerrard also created a new outright club record of 43 successful penalties.  The legend continues....