The Week on Sunday will be an attempt at regular posting about what I’ve done over the last week in the garden and in the field, as well as including a list of interesting links that I have come across. It will be more casual in tone (i.e. rambling and as boring as all get-out), but it will serve, hopefully to firm up the failing memory and provide succor to those who are bed-ridden and have no TV or PlayStation. Feel free to jump to the links at the end of this post, but I warn you, you will be missing out on some truly scintillating writing…
The title should actually read, “The Week(s) on Sunday”, as I was overwhelmed last week and did not manage to do the post…
I celebrated May 1 Worker’s Day by not working…
Instead I spent a lovely day at the Opal Natural Area, enjoying the blooming prairie pasque flowers (Pulsatilla patens), the birds calls, and of course , keeping my eyes peeled for bugs – all with the constant background chatter of frogs down in the pond. I found a cute little jumping spider hopping across the sand, my first for the year, with pic’s to follow. The most striking memory of that day was the amount of spider-hunting wasps that were active, on which I spent some hours trying to video the act of the wasp dragging the spider into the pre-dug nest. More on that later once the video has been edited.
Last week the garden began perking-up, with the first blooms of the marsh marigold coming in, joining the already blooming pasque flower and Siberian squill. One surprise is how quickly our ‘Haskap‘ berry bush (Lonicera caerulea edulis) is coming in, it is now the greenest shrub in the garden with blooms already opening. For myself and my customers, the first week of May is also the time I begin dividing and transplanting perennials, cutting back the remaining old stems and organizing the remaining mulch and leaves with a bit of rake-work.
This week I returned to the Opal Natural Area again.The frogs and toads were still at it, and I found two new spiders, the running crab spider I featured in the last post as well as a new jumping spider, who happened to be watching me while I exposed this wrinkled beetle (as yet unidentified) from under the bark of a fallen poplar…
Those new Salticid pic’s to follow shortly.
On the landscaping front, I have a few good customers this year, who respect my time (as well as a few good customers who respect my time so much they don’t call me…hmmmm?) and allow me to run in and occasionally, between field trips and working on my garden. I am working on renovating a raised pond on an acreage north of Sherwood Park, planting a perennial bed in one of the older neighborhoods in the city, and pulling my hair out over how to develop another old garden that has recently been left in shambles by a renovating crew.
Faced with these landscaping challenges, I pull up my socks, tighten my belt, gird my loins (whatever that means), stiffen the upper lip…then I plan to escape by doing a three or four-day trip to the mountains in search of the fabled grylloblattid ice-crawlers…
Links
Over the last few weeks of intermittent web-crawling I have found or rediscovered a few interesting websites and blogs. I must confess at this point that I have failed in my duty to regularly visit all the blogs on my list [see side-bar], something that is important to do for all of us who blog. I have tried to be methodical about this, visiting a few every day so that I visit everyone on the list at least once a week, but I have failed miserably. Just imagine all the interesting bug info and photography I have been missing!
For those bug lovers who don’t have the DVD set of Life in the Undergrowth (for shame!), you can now see the series on the Eden Channel. It starts tomorrow–don’t miss this–besides featuring David Attenborough (as narrator, not as bug…) it also features some of the best bug videography ever!
First, a site that I heard about through the blog, Arthropod Ecology. Called Working with Cerceris fumipennis, this webpage explores a very unique method of surveying wood-boring beetle populations. If you haven’t visited this site before, do so now – it is both brilliant and amazing.
Have you visited Scrubmuncher’s Blog? With a name like that, how can you resist? Scrubmuncher is Ross Piper, an zoologist and author who explores the diversity of life. He often features videos of microlife, something I would like to see more of. Amazing what he can do with a typewriter…
On the equipment front, a new compact camera from Olympus. I am on the look-out for a compact camera with good macro function, full HD video and GPS features. I need this mostly for macro videography, and finding the new Olympus Tough TG-1 iHS seems to be just perfect in its initial offering. Look at this preview to see what I mean — just the camera for getting down, dirty and wet…
BTW, did you notice my PayPal donation button?
I receive regular newsletters from Pixiq, a photography news magazine, and much to my delight they have been presenting regular articles by Heather Angel. Heather was one of my first nature photography mentors (by means of books only, I’m afraid) back in the days of film in the ’80s. She has a whole series of posts on nature photography, many concerning macro. Her latest is on preparing for rain-forest photography, something I can only dream of, for now. I have contacted Heather, and although she is quite busy, she has agreed to be a feature photographer on Splendour Awaits! This is a great honour for me, so stay tuned for more.
And finally, for all of you who love books as I do:
There is a unique second-hand book store in England called Savona Books. Savona specializes in microscopy and related subjects.There is an extensive on-line catalogue, and many treasures are found at reasonable prices. A real joy to visit for those interested in microscopy, the sciences and science history. It is a quaint little website well worth a visit.
Related articles
- Sunday Round-up 6 (bugs.adrianthysse.com)
- Adult male Hentzia palmarum jumping spider (beetlesinthebush.wordpress.com)
