As I sit down to write this sun has shifted its arc so that it shines on the back of the house. So here it is a shade cooler, which is as good as it’s likely to get as the heatwave continues. Even with the temperature in the upper eighties I can hear two woodpigeons trying to beat one another into submission in the big lime tree in some argument over territory or maybe over a mate. Being birds of very small brain, perhaps they are only able to concentrate on one thing at a time? Trying to find somewhere to keep cool would be my main priority on a day such as this. These ferocious fights are very noisy affairs, and I have found blood on the grass as they seek to bludgeon each other with their wings.
The lime tree is now shedding honeydew in copious quantities, as I found out when I hung my washing out to dry a day or so ago. The line and the line prop had both to be washed beforehand to remove the worst of it. Many of us bemoan its effects on our car paintwork at this time of year, though there is little can be done about it, short of felling the tree, that is. One very slight bonus, if there is one, is that house and garden is filled with the most delicate perfume while it lasts. Honeydew is produced by countless numbers of greenflies which suck up enormous quantities of liquid from the leaves as they feed. This liquid passes through their systems in just a few minutes, and they excrete the surplus as a sugary syrup through two teat-like extension on their backs, towards their rear ends.
This process sparks off a feeding frenzy among many other insects, chief among them being ants. As ants caress the aphids with waving antennae, the aphids respond by producing a globule of this golden liquid through one of the ‘teats’. This manna is borne off by the ants as though it were some kind of trophy, but in truth the ants rely on it for food. In my garden I have watched red admiral, peacock, small tortoishell, painted lady, three species of cabbage whites, and speckled wood butterflies all feeding greedily on it. Sometimes I have been close enough to see their incredibly long proboscises flicking to and fro as they suck up the sticky liquid from the leaf surface.
On the farming front I have just learned that my neighbour has just taken delivery of a giant forage harvester that cuts the grass and blows into a trailer hauled by a tractor running at 9 mph alongside it. This monster is so large it has no diesel fuel tank, but instead drinks continually from a huge bowser that it tows. How long can a machine last which guzzles fossil fuel, or even biodiesel, at that rate. Even more importantly, can we survive it?
As you may guess, as a countryman who is also a book-lover, over the years I have acquired quite an extensive library. Not quite as large as the one owned by my naturalist hero, the great James Fisher and his wife, who had to move into a caravan in the grounds of their enormous former rectory home as their books had taken over every inch of the place.
So I have decided to offer a selection of them for sale to you and to all customers of Country-Eye at only £1 each, plus carriage at cost. As some of them are pretty heavy post may cost from £1-£5, but few should be more than this. Some are in as new condition, others are somewhat scruffy. Please ring or email to find out if a title is still available, and its condition. This is a one-off opportunity at the giveaway price of just £1.
My first selection is:
The Boy’s Own Book of Natural History by the Rev J G Wood (about 1909)
Inheritance and Natural History by R J Berry. New Naturalist (Bloomsbury Reprint) 1990
Electronic Flash Guide by Leonard Gaunt. Focal Press 1979
Reptiles and Amphibians in Britain, By Deryk Fraser. New Naturalist (Bloomsbury Reprint) 1989
Seabirds, by James Fisher and R M Lockley, New Naturalist (Bloomsbury Reprint) 1989
English Names of Wild Flowers, by J G Dony et al 1986 BSBI
Wildlife Sounds and their Recording, by Eric Simms. Paul Elek 1979
The Gardener’s Treasury of Plants, Trees, and Shrubs, by A J Macself. Amateur Gardening 1934
Civil Aircraft Recognition, by JWR Taylor. Ian Allan 1968
Allotment Gardening by Kevin Forbes. Abbeydale Press 2008