I can see yew*

This red admiral is basking in early October sunshine on a yew twig at Heathwaite. I have seen them around the yew trees on our morning walks up the Knott, but today I noticed for the first time what is attracting them. They were coming to feed on the sugary sweet juice of yew berries: the extra photo is not perfectly focussed but it does confirm the observation as the butterfly's proboscis is probing the pinkish flesh of the yew aril.

Eating yew berries is not generally recommended, but it is ok as long as you take care to either spit out the seed or swallow it whole when it will pass through the digestive system intact. It is said that as few as three seeds if chewed can be fatally toxic. On balance, then, perhaps best avoided! 

In a couple of weeks or so, hordes of Scandinavian visitors will descend on the Knott to gorge themselves on yew berries after their migration. The redwings when they arrive with us always spend their first couple of weeks in the yews which are numerous on the shallow limestone soils.  There appear to be fewer fruits than usual this year, so their stay on the Knott may be of shorter duration.

The second extra is of Gus on the foreshore at Blackstone Point. We had gone down to clean up the bottles and other debris left by a party who had had a bonfire close to the shore. It's always a mystery to me why people take the trouble to come to somewhere beautiful and peaceful and then desecrate it. Alas, we don't all share the same values.


*With apologies for the bad pun.