What have you noticed lately?
Help a girl out who forgot to write her newsletter...
I’ll be straight with you…. I forgot to write a newsletter this week. I completely failed to put my usual “NNB” note on my to-do list and amongst the Happy News-editing, shelf-building, allotment-weeding, dog-walking and frantic-emailing of the past few days, writing completely slipped my mind! So I’m calling on you to help me. PLEASE use the comments to share something you’ve noticed in nature recently. If you want to share a photo, perhaps you could share a Substack Note and tag me in? I’d truly LOVE to see what you’ve been spotting, or what you’ve been curious about lately.
I have, of course, still been noticing stuff in nature while out and about this week. Had I found the time, I’d probably have written about red soldier beetles, also aptly known as hogweed bonking beetles! I think you’ll see why in the below photo, taken this morning…
Maybe next week I’ll share some more about these brightly coloured mini beasts.
For now though, help a girl out… What have you noticed in nature lately?
Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count starts today (12th July) and runs until 4th August. All you have to do is sit and count butterflies for 15 minutes (what a luxury!), then report your findings back to the charity. Find out more at bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org
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Pineapple weed seems to be having a bumper year here in Kent, so I’m re-sharing this post from last year in case you missed it:
Forage & Feast: Garlic Mustard and Pineapple Weed
Elderflower season is officially here, but since a lot of you probably already know how to make elderflower cordial*, I thought I’d introduce you to a couple of lesser-known plants that tend to be thought of as weeds, but are among my favourite foraged foods…
White magnolia blooms , but leaves drop in the scotching heat that rises and fries the petal’s brown that quickly follow to the ground .
In Edmonton here all the rose bushes along my dog's preferred walking path have bloomed and they are so beautiful, and seeing them makes my heart happy! We've been having a heat wave tho so I'm hoping that they survive the heat.