What's Down There?

Weeding the flowerbeds shows up just how many snails there are hiding in the deep dark depths of the foliage.  I haven't spent a great deal of time watching them before but I did this evening and it is quite amazing how fast they can move and how they get from leaf to leaf and onto flowers.  I would not have expected that flower to hold the weight of the snail either.  I did move it on, but while I was watching it it had the decency not to eat the flowers.  It seemed to be searching for something lower to the ground... are snails afraid of heights?

Day 275: Reflective Pool

I was in town with my friend today.  It was rather dull and grey so not really the best day for photography (again...I'm getting sick of this), however this pool of water in St Andrews square provided a point of interest.  I like reflections and the colours made me think of Autumn too!  It's not a wonderful photo but oh well.  I was missing my SLR.

Day 252: A Day In The Garden

A lot happened in the garden today.  I think the picture above is a honey bee but in all honesty I'm not sure so if someone can tell me then please do!  I really like watching these guys go amongst all the flowers with the hover flies.  And I like the purple flowers too!  Although I've forgotten what mum called them as usual.  It annoys me that the wing closest is out of focus but it's a toss up between a nice macro shot or depth of field because of my cameras.  I also got this close up of a spider (above left) but the web doesn't show up too well because the sun wasn't catching it from the right angle and the web was swinging about in the wind so it was hard enough to get a sharp shot of it.

Earlier in the afternoon we spent some time poking about in the new vegetable plot to see if there was anything we could have with dinner and we got turnip, cabbage, potatoes, carrots and parsnip!  Not much of any of them except the turnips really which have done really well but it's the first year and I'm really impressed.  I did find the coolest thing whilst pulling carrots though (right).  Aren't they cool?  All twisted round each other like they're hugging, and even vaguely looking like a love heart :-D  And, finally, we have the great golden tomato thief!  So we knew Aaron really liked tomatoes but we didn't quite realise what lengths he'd go to get them, he is a labradog though so we should have known his stomach would get him to do almost anything.  He broke a pane in the cold frame earlier in the year when he got hold of a flower pot full of pebbles mum had dug out the garden and shook it.
No problem, it was cleaned up and we haven't bothered replacing the pane because we don't need it that badly.  Mum did put a couple of tomato plants we didn't have room for in the greenhouse in there though just for a wee bit of protection.  This evening we heard cries of "Get out of there!  You wee thief!" coming from the garden and (above left) this is the sight we were met with - Aaron managed to wriggle his way into the gap left by the missing pane and steal pretty much every tomato on the two plants.  I have to admit I found it all very funny :-D

Day 239: Snail's Pace

Snail safaris, venturing slowly into the undergrowth!  I now have a picture to illustrate me and my blogging!  Although you will note that I am actually posting this on time ;-)  Ever noticed how snails just appear out of nowhere when it is or has been raining?  I still don't know why this is but our front path can become an obstacle course.  Mum tries getting rid of them by sending them off in the brown bin to the place where all the garden waste goes (you'd think that would make them happy?) but either they make their way back (yes, it probably is miles but who's to say they don't... and it just takes them a very long time) or there are always new ones to replace them.  Well anyway - they presented a good opportunity this evening when I remembered I hadn't done anything except get lost on the internet and go to Rainbows today!