Mappleborough Green and garden stuff

For the last 14 years or so I have driven home from work past a substantial plantation of poplars which screens Winyates Green from the A435 at Mappleborough Green, and each year I say to myself "I could imagine a Golden Oriole there at the end of May".

So how many times have I tested this theory? Never. Until this morning, when I finally clambered out of bed at 06.00 and walked there. Spoiler alert: I didn't see any. In fact the odds are that if I had made this effort every May and June daily throughout those years, I still may not have found one. But I bet I'd have stood a chance.

Either way its a lovely spot.

If full lock down had still been on, the road noise would have been less and the experience even better.

Anyway back to the house. Yesterday after we had sat outside for much of the afternoon I found a Large Red Damselfly in our utility room.

Large Red Damselfly reflecting on how to get out

This morning I found two more Pugs in the bathroom. This is proving a more reliable source of Pugs than the moth trap. They were both Green Pugs new for the year, and demonstrating the variation in colour intensity shown by this species.

Very Green Pug

Not so Green Pug

My decision yesterday to protect the previous night's catch from birds by leaving them in the trap and putting that in the utility room during the day had the unintended consequence that several escaped and I spent a considerable time tracking and tracing the escapees in the utility room and kitchen.

At least it meant I was around when a Hedgehog crunched and crackled his way across the leaf litter in the back garden.