An occasional journal
wildlife
We Are Snailing
Jun 5th 2017
We had more rain today than in the whole of April, and it brought out all the molluscs, including this splendid red snail; another election portent.
Admin1 is reading I’m Travelling Alone by Samuel Bjork, which had a preposterous plot, a pointlessly suicidal detective and a hell of a lot of winking. Admin2 is reading Dragon’s Green by Scarlett Thomas, an enchanting book in a luminous jacket.
Critter of the Day: Red Admiral
Jun 4th 2017
Vanessa Atalanta, earlier in the year than we have spotted one previously, a change from the whites and speckled woods which are all we have seen earlier, and another red portent for the election.
We scored 7 on the Guardian Weekend quiz.
Buzzfeed
May 31st 2017
A bee arriving on thyme.
Admin1 is reading Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks by Christopher Brookmyre. Admin2 is reading Memo Random by Anders de la Motte; a forgettable book with an amnesiac protagonist.
Critter of the Day: Speckled Wood
Apr 24th 2017
Pararge aegeria on a hazel tree.
Admin1 is reading Hide and Seek by MJ Arlidge. Admin2 is reading Want You Gone by Chris Brookmyre.
Critter of the Day: C for Caterpillar
Apr 14th 2017
Good Friday, and our first shower this April.
Admin1 is reading Out of Bounds by Val McDermid (plotting-by-numbers, but leavened by some interesting and capable women and a fine selection of useless men). Admin2 is reading Luna: Wolf Moon by Ian McDonald, which is, as the jacket copy says, Game of Moons, with much plotting and mayhem.
Simply the Nest
Apr 9th 2017
Admin1 uncovered this bird’s nest while trimming an overgrown viburnum bush.
Admin1 is reading Malice by Keigo Higashino. Admin2 is reading A Midsummer’s Equation, also by Keigo Higashino; an engrossing murder mystery solved by physics.
Tit among the Plum Blossoms
Apr 4th 2017
Admin1 is reading The Obelisk Gate by NK Jemisin. Admin 2 is reading 334 by Thomas M Disch: the 1984 of the 2020s.
Spring Song
Mar 24th 2017
Shouting from the treetops that the sun is shining again and the solar panels have collected 8 kWh at the earliest date we have recorded. Admin2 is reading This Is Where I Am by Karen Campbell, which was like attending a course of lectures run by the Refugee Council and the Glasgow Tourist Board.
Critter of the Day: Dunnock
Mar 20th 2017
Prunella modularis hiding in the hedge.
Admin1 is reading The Drowned Boy by Karin Fossum. Admin2 is reading The Sweetness of Life by Paulus Hochgatterer, a whodunnit set in Austria that chopped between characters until the plot was completely lost.
Bit of a Tit
Mar 15th 2017
Cyanistes caeruleus peeping through the branches.
Admin1 is reading The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry (a charming and engrossing love story). Admin2 is reading Skippy Dies by Paul Murray, but abandoned it because it was not outrageously hilarious unless there is humour in humiliation.
Critter of the Day: Blackbird
Mar 13th 2017
Admin1 is reading The Wolf in the Attic by Paul Kearney (a fine pastoral fantasy in the vein of Keith Roberts and Robert Holdstock, all of whom are much concerned with the English landscape). Admin 2 is reading The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry.
Critter of the Day: Starling
Mar 12th 2017
Sturnus vulgaris singing in the trees on an unexpectedly sunny day (warmest day so far this year too: 18.4°C).
Admin1 is reading No Other Darkness by Sarah Hilary (melodramatic and almost laughably grim). Admin2 is reading Booked for Murder by VL McDermid.
And we unexpectedly scored 8 on the Guardian Weekend quiz, thanks to wild guesses or possibly unrecovered memories.
Critter of the Day: Robin
Mar 8th 2017
Wearing red in honour of International Women’s Day.
Admin1 is reading The Sword of Justice by Leif GW Persson. Admin2 is reading The Twilight Time by Karen Campbell
Critter of the Day: Goldfinch
Mar 7th 2017
Yellow bird, up high in horse chestnut tree.
Admin1 has been reading An Event in Autumn by Henning Mankell and is now watching the film. Admin2 is reading The Last Days of New Paris by China Mieville, which was surreally odd.
Spawn Again
Feb 23rd 2017
It’s Doris Day but the frogs were breeding regardless. Admin1 is reading The Dying Detective by Leif GW Persson, which was pretty good, and refreshingly free of Persson’s usual main character, who’s an unpleasant idiot. Admin2′s 500th book is a topical re-read of The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood.
The Birds in the Trees
Feb 4th 2017
All lined up to salute Admin1′s 500th book since we started keeping count: Heat Lightning by John Sandford. Admin2 is reading Their Lips Talk of Mischief by Alan Warner: a Scotsman, a Welshman and an Irishwoman on the dole in 1980s London. We scored 7 on the Guardian Weekend quiz.
Flying Squirrel
Dec 20th 2016
Admin1 is watching The Code series 2.
Admin2 is reading Another World by Pat Barker.
Gulls on Film
Nov 12th 2016
Hundreds of these birds were flying around today. Then they all descended in a pile on the ground, spread out and flew off in different directions. NB despite all appearances this is a colour picture of monochrome birds against a grey sky.
Admin1 is reading White Heat and Admin2 is reading The Bone Seeker, both by MJ McGrath.
We scored 7 on the Guardian Weekend quiz, which was better than we expected.
Cock Robin
Nov 1st 2016
Admin1 is reading The Night of Wenceslas by Lionel Davidson, a jolly spy romp written in 1960 and reminiscent of Kingsley Amis with its grumpy, misogynistic and accident-prone hero & Admin2 is reading Railsea by China Mieville; Moby-Dick retold as a mole hunt from a train & annoyingly full of &s.
Critter of the Day: Grey Squirrel…
Oct 9th 2016
…thieving our conkers.
Admin1 is reading I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh. Admin2 is reading No Place to Die by Clare Donoghue which was mediocre. We scored 6 on the Guardian Weekend quiz. Boo!