Claire Laila Dines
@freedomtodoubt
Ecologist fighting 4 nature; Watches Earth like hawk or Small Blue; South Downs wanderer; Wildlife photo-recorder; Hove plot holder 4 nature; Brit/Norwegian/European; Art, Science, Politics, Truth; Take bus or walk while I can ere I'm dust in the ground.
seem to notice beyond running or zooming through it .. always always this 20m wide "bit of nature" between agrarian fields & clipped golfing lawns, has the power to give joy back to me 😊. #chalkgrassland #tansy #knapweeds #fleabane #nativegrasses #insects #butterflies #life #naturetherapy
Maybe the softly shapely Downs are getting me down? Maybe I need that longed-for month on the Isle of Harris? However, the few patches of wildlife-rich grassland & the slim tracts .. like the one I'm in .. that often do not connect them 🙄 filled w so much life so few 5/6 #wildmarjoram #life
always hear running water & where other people never are nor feel need to shout from their speeding bikes: "Always great with a bit of nature ain't it!" OR "Take some pics of the Emu, you'll love Emu!" (an Emu raised from an egg lives in a garden near #dykeapproachpath) 4/6 #knapweeds #life
cultural landscape; so comforting as my lovely but late brother-in-law called it, so aesthetically pleasing as others have exclaimed to me many times? Had my genes jumped the last Ice age and the agrarian revolution leaving no ancestral memory nor love of landscapes so recently shaped by ice & 2/6
At one time I postulated deeply on an oddity in me & that maybe the genes I had received from my parents, had somehow 🙄 been frozen at the start of the last Ice age & then again somehow 🙄 popped up in my mum & dad to produce .. well odd me? How else to explain why I'm NOT drawn to this 👇 🧵 1/6
4 fairly large dragonflies were circling my small plot this morning, possibly Southern Hawker, hunting or eyeing up pond .. that needs a good clear-up of vegetation 2 open up more water .. but 🤞 Common Darter .. both male & female .. seemed totally unbothered 😊 #dragonflies at #allotment
Eat some .. leave some. The delights of sharing at the #allotment today. #growfornature #sharingisfun
Just look at the #hoverfly (Two-banded Wasp hoverfly) and other fly (?) lapping up what #CommonHogweed has on offer! Never underestimate power of our native plants to serve nature well! #Grownativeplatsfornature
Some like it hot. This #BrownArgus spent ages just loving this furry seed head in the #calkgrassland this very warm morning. Researchers suggest that liking it hot is one of 2 reasons this member of the Lycaenidae is spreading, ie climate change; the other is adapting 2 new larval foodplants.
The Darwin wasp is the Amblyjoppa fuscipennis which just loves tucking into the plentiful nectar served by the Common Hogweed. Other types of wasps also love this super plant. #GrowNativePlantsforNature
On walk in the #chalkgrassland this morning I focussed .. mainly 🙄 on what was going on on the white dinner plates of the #CommonHogweed & found insect parties all along the path. For any #wildlifegardener this magnet for #flies, #hoverflies, #beetles & #Darwinwasps should be a must grow! 🧵1/2
Good to share Blue & bumble on #GreaterKnapweed in the #chalkgrassland along #DykeApproachPath #Sussex
ops! that should have been *horizontal* leaves as here in the newly watered potato patch, a hoverfly is having a drink on a leaf .. sorry bad enough I don't my laft from my right at times .. but horizontal vs vertical 🙄
this from Peter Jukes yesterday & yes I do & suspect cause/causes go way back in both countries & deeply embedded in some weird views of entitlement/sense of superiority, bad education leading to big LACK of critical thinking, humility & meaning of service to others. I suspect other causes 🤔
The Hornet mimic hoverfly (Volucella zonaria) on Field Scabious (Knautia arvensis) #flyday on my #alltotment
wetted vertical leaves or from the cups that form between stems & leaves in plants such as Teasel & others. 4) Do not cut foliage or grass as this does not just provide vital larval food but also shade & coolness to many kinds of wildlife. 💧 🐝 🦋 🐜 🐣 🐾 🐸 🦊 🐞 🦗 💧 3/3 All images from my #allotment
bowls or ponds with clean water every day for all wildlife. All aquatic inverts, amphibians & the aquatic larvae of many flying insects need water at all times to survive. Birds need water to drink & to bathe. 3) Water foliage as insects & birds will readily drink from 💧 🐝 🦋 🐜 🐜🐞 🐸 🦊 🐥 🦗 💧 2/3
This hot weather is energy-zapping & moisture-draining not just for us but all wildlife. If you have access to balcony or green space, here are some tips to help all nature around us through this heat: 1) Provide variety of nectar sources for insects. 2)Top up water dishes, 🧵 💧🐾 🐝 🐜 🐞 🐸 🦊 🐥 🦗 1/3
This Yellow-striped Ichneumon wasp is a parasitoid of moth larva w female laying her eggs inside the moth pupae keeping leaf-eaters in check & nature in balance. Look for the sleek adults feeding on nectar on flat-topped flowers like Cow Parsley, Hogweed & wild Carrot. #natureinbalance
You may call me Small but I have mighty cuteness. #SmallSkipper #butterflies #chalkgrassland
Son of the landlord came by .. maybe to check on the quality of my watering .. then off he went again 🧡🦊 #allotmentwildlife
If the young #Blackbirds on my #allotment had lips those feathered connoisseurs on fruit of the vine would be licking them in anticipation 🤤 2nd photo of some vine fruit tasting late last September .. they nabbed the lot 😊
A rest day from carrying water 💪 today taking my cue from this faded #PaintedLady resting on the softly furry Artichoke leaf as it's not a day to be an ultra-active #Humming-birdHawkmoth .. perhaps some inactive tennis watching 🙄 #butterflies and #moths from the #allotment
This #SmallSkipper is trying to tell us something! Let grasses grow, especially my favourite, Yorkshire Fog (Holcus lanatus), although my larvae also like: Cock's-foot; Creeping Soft-grass; False Brome, Meadow foxtail and Timothy! #butterflies #foodplants #grasses #letgrassesgrow