When Did You Last See A Bluebottle?
I was on a train today and a big fly flew through.
But it wasn’t a bluebottle and I can’t remember seeing one for some time.
They were much more common, when I was growing up in the 1950s.
Chris Waddle And Terry Butcher Are Complaining About The Flies In Volgograd
Apparently, they’re something else!
A Walk In The Woods
The trip wasn’t always about Sweden’s mammals, as these pictures show.
We had gone for a walk in the woods and I was very surprised at the size of the ant hills.
They were one of the surprises of the holiday.
Play Interrupted By A Cockroach
I’m just watching the Murray-Federer tennis on the television.
the play was momentarily halted because of a cockroach or another large insect.
One commentator said it had escaped from their hotel or something like that!
A Loveliness of Ladybirds
This collective noun came up on BBC Breakfast this morning. It seems that it might be dubious, but after the hoards of Harlequin ladybirds this autumn, that the collective noun may stick.
But I’m not a lover of these Asian imports, which could wipe out a lot of our familiar species. Helen Roy, an expert on ladybirds said this.
“We believe that the negative impacts of the harlequin on Britain will be far-reaching and disruptive, with the potential to affect over a thousand of our native species,” she said. “It’s a big and voracious predator, it will eat lots of different insects, soft fruit and all kinds of things.”
It shows the danger of allowing alien species to be introduced into an environment. Grey squirrels being the worst example in the UK. There’s a full list here in Wikipedia.
I don’t like the name of loveliness for Harlequin ladybirds.
The Anonymous Widower 