(no subject)
17 July 2010 00:30Three posts in two days? It's an LJ Frenzy!
A few pictures to accompany yesterday's mixed up rambling:

The shoulder as it looks now- much more normal, the bruising starting to clear, you can see where the scar will be in a while and just about make out the lump where the metal is on the bone. My skin feels really tight over that and it's a bit of an odd sensation but I guess I'll get used to it.

Six weeks and that is the best facial hair I can muster. Lame!

The Patient Wild play Clapsonbury last weekend. I don't know why my knee is mic'ed up. Perhaps I was trying to catch the sound of the intense glow from legs that have not seen the sun in years...

One of the few jobs I can do at the moment is pull up ragwort. For people who don't pay much attention to pasture, Ragwort is highly toxic, fast growing, invasive and a notifiable weed. I have noticed that there seems to be a symbiosis between the Ragwort plants and black ants. I don't know of any science to back this up, but my guess is that because they don't get grazed ( ragwort is not palatable so it mostly won't get eaten while alive- if it gets into hay it loses it's bitter taste but remains toxic so that's how it usually kills livestock ) they make a good place to put an ants nest that won't get knocked down by passing horses. Also the ants can farm blackfly on the flower heads, as is happening here, guarding the aphids in exchange for honeydew.

Cinnabar moths are an ally in the fight against ragwort and I try to always move their caterpillars onto other plants if I'm clearing an area of the field. These guys aren't kidding about that warning colouration- they store the toxins and bitter chemicals from the ragwort to make them highly unpalatable to birds. The adult moths are striking, a deep bronze-green with bright red bars and spots on the wings.
A few pictures to accompany yesterday's mixed up rambling:

The shoulder as it looks now- much more normal, the bruising starting to clear, you can see where the scar will be in a while and just about make out the lump where the metal is on the bone. My skin feels really tight over that and it's a bit of an odd sensation but I guess I'll get used to it.

Six weeks and that is the best facial hair I can muster. Lame!

The Patient Wild play Clapsonbury last weekend. I don't know why my knee is mic'ed up. Perhaps I was trying to catch the sound of the intense glow from legs that have not seen the sun in years...

One of the few jobs I can do at the moment is pull up ragwort. For people who don't pay much attention to pasture, Ragwort is highly toxic, fast growing, invasive and a notifiable weed. I have noticed that there seems to be a symbiosis between the Ragwort plants and black ants. I don't know of any science to back this up, but my guess is that because they don't get grazed ( ragwort is not palatable so it mostly won't get eaten while alive- if it gets into hay it loses it's bitter taste but remains toxic so that's how it usually kills livestock ) they make a good place to put an ants nest that won't get knocked down by passing horses. Also the ants can farm blackfly on the flower heads, as is happening here, guarding the aphids in exchange for honeydew.

Cinnabar moths are an ally in the fight against ragwort and I try to always move their caterpillars onto other plants if I'm clearing an area of the field. These guys aren't kidding about that warning colouration- they store the toxins and bitter chemicals from the ragwort to make them highly unpalatable to birds. The adult moths are striking, a deep bronze-green with bright red bars and spots on the wings.