Good Mud

I have been seeing some amazing posts from the US of the snowfall there. Here in the UK we will be lucky to get any snow this winter but we do get good mud.

This was going to be my "The Hunt For Red November" post and it was going to be an account of our search for Buddy and what we found whilst we were searching. However I now suspect that I have been duped and that the whole thing was a set up.

I have been leading the investigation into the abduction of the puppy and the first thing that I had to look at was who had the most to gain?

There was no ransom demand and for a while it seemed to me to be a motiveless crime.

In fact the only one who benefited from his imprisonment was Buddy's best friend and companion Fizz. She got to spend most of Sunday and many hours of Monday helping me to search for him.

She also had the opportunity, if anybody was going to be with Buddy on that fateful Sunday morning it would have been his constant companion. She could easily have nudged the door shut after Buddy was inside.

She doesn't have an alibi. It was Sunday morning, people were working in the yard and all of the gates were open, the dogs all had free run of the place.

Forensics didn't turn up anything. Her paw prints were all over the scene but she always has access so you would expect that.

Unfortunately my investigation has to end here. Buddy is not going to say anything. He spent the night in a warm barn and then got treble fussed over when he emerged and Fizz is just giving me Angel Face (How could I think such a thing?)

Could these two be conspirators? We will never know.

One thing that we do know is that Fizz had a lot of fun searching for Buddy and many extra hours of walks and Buddy is now out of intensive care and playing in the yard with his new toys. Plus the Humans have learned a valuable lesson that we must spend more time playing with the dogs and give them much more love and attention.

Here is Red November.

We targeted our search around the Beast's lair at the end of Badger Alley. For the puppy to disappear without trace like that he would have to have been eaten by something quite big, that was my reasoning.

I took this opportunity to revisit the Guelder Rose because following my recent post I had received a tip off to go and look at the seeds.

Who would know that inside the berries were these beautiful little heart shaped jewels?

I am told that when washed and allowed to dry they fade to a delightful pink. Many thanks to Mar'yana Svarnyk for that information.

Our next red was the Bramble.

This sign was just like a red rag to a puppy.

Who made Sign the boss?

Well, you know about Fizz and timber stacks.

In "other reds" there were some lovely Roses....

and in the depths of the Beast's lair Ivy was doing  it's bit for Red November.

It was too dark and wet to do the Ivy justice but I know where there is some very colourful Ivy growing on Aspens and we will look at that soon.

Oh and I forgot to tell you... Fizz got muddy :)

The Vanishing

There has been a slight interruption to our normal service. One of the farm dogs has gone missing.

He hasn't been seen since eleven o'clock on Sunday morning. He has the run of the farm and local footpaths but wears a collar that is supposed to deter him from straying out onto the road.

It is quite common for him to disappear for an hour or so as he has quite a bit of land to run around in but he always comes back and he knows his way home.

So we were out looking for him as it was getting dark yesterday and this morning Mighty Mouse and I will be doing some house to house enquiries. Obviously his owners are doing everything that they can to find him too.

His owner lost a new puppy just a couple of weeks ago in a horrible car accident and she can't be losing another one so soon. That would not be fair, so we have just got to find him.

Quite often if something happens on a Sunday it doesn't get reported till the Monday  morning and hopefully we will track him down quickly today. (he is microchipped)

We have good stuff to blog. One of my pet sticks has been baffling the boffins and I have found a truly beautiful Spindle tree. I know that we have only just done Spindle but this one still has dark green leaves and it is set off by a golden Oak just behind it. Also we still need to get the Honey Mushroom's bootlaces and other stuff. First we have to find Buddy.

Normal service will resume shortly.

12:30 Update: Buddy has been found safe and well. Fizz and I went out and searched in the mud for him. He wasn't  in the mud but we had some fun looking. He had got himself locked in a shed on one of the neighbouring farms. Silly Dog :)

Ring of Fire

Can you see the ring of fire that inspired my title?

This is my butterfly from a few days back, the first of November. It is a Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta. Not really a British butterfly at all it is a summer migrant, flying in from Southern Europe and North Africa in the spring and early summer and returning home in the autumn. Well that is how it used to be.

If you Google for the UK Red Admiral you will learn that very rarely it will overwinter in the extreme south of England. Well that is also how it used to be.

You have got a little something on your nose there.

This might turn into a post about climate change. If I asked you for your childhood recollections of October 24th , say from the 1960's you probably would not remember anything specific but if I changed that date to November the 5th... People in the UK would have no trouble at all recalling that exact day, forty or fifty years ago. It is Bonfire Night.

I don't have any specific memories of my own childhood birthdays but I can recall the excitement of bonfire night fifty years ago. It was a night of duffle coats and scarves and woollen gloves. Sparklers,  red faces in the firelight and baked potatoes, it was cold.

I have just been reading on the RSPB website that Red Admirals can be seen until October and very rarely into November. When Fizz and I go out this afternoon if the sun is shining we will see Red Admirals. It isn't rare any more and they will overwinter here in Gloucestershire.

Times have changed and winter is warm.

The last few days the weather has been really fantastic here. Well, it has been cold, with lots of sunshine but we have also had sudden downpours of very heavy rain and then hailstones and then more sunshine. It is very lively and I am really enjoying it.

It is nice that it is cold enough to wear a coat out and that is useful when the rain comes over but I have not even thought about wearing gloves yet, it isn't that cold.

I have chosen my butterfly photographs today to focus on that ring of fire, I think that it is lovely :)

I am going to be keeping a close eye on the insects as we head toward winter. A friend has been asking about Dragonfly sightings. The Migrant Hawker is often seen well into November and I might do a post about that one soon. I would like to see one for myself.

There are some really good Dragonfly spots around here but we need a sunny day and I need Fizz to get a clean bill of health. I am pretty sure that she is not in season and a mistake has been made, that is good because I can take her to public places but I need her owner to confirm that and that she is happy for me to take her out.

The second dog in this video, Buddy, is a male. Can you see why I don't think she is in season?

There is just nothing in her behaviour to suggest such a thing.

So you sort yourself out and then we can go and look for insects. Okay?

I apologise for my absence over the last couple of days. A prolonged power cut meant that I lost most of yesterday but also I have had a lot to do getting the farm straightened out for my landlords return :)

I will be around to visit you shortly.

With Fizz.

Sweetness and Light

I thought that I had better give you an update.

Just in case anybody doesn't know what's going on with Fizz and myself let me explain.

Fizz's owner, Margaret, has gone away for the weekend and asked me to look after Fizz. Just as she was leaving, Margaret said to me, "Just  keep a close eye on her this time, I think she's coming into season."

Not being quite sure what that meant I looked it up on the internet and it said, "Your dog will be desperate for .. well, company. She will try and escape and other dogs will take an interest in her." Okay.

Actually I think that Margaret was mistaken, Fizz is being a little angel and not misbehaving at all. We are just avoiding public places where she might be led into temptation.

We had a lovely walk today. There was a cold wind but plenty of sunshine and Butterflies.

This  was nice to see in November. I chased this Red Admiral all over the place and took a lot of pictures. I will probably give it it's own post but for now here it is demonstrating it's perfect camouflage.

Now you see me...

OOh! Where's the butterfly gone?

Here is a pretty little mushroom. I don't know what it is. I know you are going to say Amethyst Deceiver but it is not. I am very familiar with that one. I think that this could be a Lilac Fibrecap but I didn't get the pictures that I wanted so I am going to leave it for now. I know where to find them and will pop back up there one morning after a bit of rain and see if I can get some more.

For now it is just pretty.

There were still plenty of flowers about. The wind made photographing them a bit difficult. I took lots of shots of the Herb Robert but it moved in most of them.

Herb Robert is one of those flowers that I expect to see pretty well all winter. You always get the odd flower that opens out of season and there is just so much of this around that I can almost guarantee to find at least one on any day of the year. Red Campion is the same, very prolific.

Now for another fungi. A lovely find but I don't know what this one is either. The difference is that I have a lot of good quality photographs of this one. If it is possible to ID it from a photograph then I should be able to do so and it will have it's own post. I am holding back for now.

Okay, let's get dirty. That is what we really came out for.

No, you can be muddier than that.

Isn't she sweet?

I think that we need deeper puddles :)