Graham,
One thing I have learned in my three score and ten+ is that you are never too old to learn and that one learns by ones mistakes.
A few years back the late Bill Tucker ran an article in the local paper asking for Volunteers to help record Ladybirds for the London an Essex Ladybird Survey in which I became involved.
This opened up a new world for me, as like you I am a birwatcher (not a birder or twitcher) and although had had a general interest in all things to do with natural history, now realise there is so much I did not see. Even our 'pocket handkerchief' sized garden and puddle that stands in for a pond, daily reveal something new. Only the other day while tending plants I noted the below moth on a trellis
I had never seen it before, researched it and found a account and picture of it in my old Oxford Book of Insects, the more modern ones did not include it. The web then confirmed the ident and although regarded as common in most of the country appearded to be missing from much of Essex, why?
Walks like one this evening turn into searches for anything to be found. It was noted that Woodlice were out along a wooden fence where they appeared to be tucking into lichen. I had never seen this before, so now I want to know do they feed on lichen. Each day leads to more questions.
One thing I have learned in my three score and ten+ is that you are never too old to learn and that one learns by ones mistakes.
A few years back the late Bill Tucker ran an article in the local paper asking for Volunteers to help record Ladybirds for the London an Essex Ladybird Survey in which I became involved.
This opened up a new world for me, as like you I am a birwatcher (not a birder or twitcher) and although had had a general interest in all things to do with natural history, now realise there is so much I did not see. Even our 'pocket handkerchief' sized garden and puddle that stands in for a pond, daily reveal something new. Only the other day while tending plants I noted the below moth on a trellis
I had never seen it before, researched it and found a account and picture of it in my old Oxford Book of Insects, the more modern ones did not include it. The web then confirmed the ident and although regarded as common in most of the country appearded to be missing from much of Essex, why?
Walks like one this evening turn into searches for anything to be found. It was noted that Woodlice were out along a wooden fence where they appeared to be tucking into lichen. I had never seen this before, so now I want to know do they feed on lichen. Each day leads to more questions.