Encounters

Two young shield bugs have an encounter on a deadly nightshade leaf. Add your own dialogue. It looked like a stand-off to me, whereas Wifie thought romance was in the air. My intention had been to take a photo of the nightshade's black, shiny poisonous berries. But instead I was diverted by the bugs.

I had an encounter with someone who insisted on referring to himself as a local (if like me you weren't born here, you will always be an offcomer). He had two gun dogs with him, and he proudly told me how they catch at least two rabbits a week on Arnside Knott. I asked him about the hares, but he said they weren't quick enough for them. What about the deer? It's good for them, keeps them on their toes. He was a nice enough man, but herein lies the dilemma - we all love our pets, but they can have an impact on the environment in which we live. There are virtually no ground-nesting birds on Arnside Knott, and the woodcocks that used to rode over our house for the first nine years we lived here have been missing these last two. Working in the garden later today, the sound of barking and dog whistles coming from the woods was constant. There's no easy answer.

Non-botanists can look away now. In the patch where the woolly thistles and deadly nightshade are I had an encounter with another plant of interest today: a black mullein (Verbascum nigrum). This is a plant which according to the Cumbria Flora has not been recorded here since 1977. Further indirect evidence for me that all three species have been lurking in the seed bank waiting for their opportunity in the light. This came when the scrub was cleared to create butterfly habitat. Further evidence, then, that the woolly thistles are native here and not recent introductions.