Hello and Welcome Fellow Ramblers: Badgers and Bees!

Badgers and Bees

Well, so much for cats fighting! We have now accumulated evidence which points to something much worse and larger than cats in the garden! It seemed strange at the time that the nocturnal brawling cats didn’t flee after being shouted at, and the caterwauling was particularly fierce and blood curdling!

After finding a ‘run’ through the corner of the garden hedge, and the underneath of the garden shed had been excavated, we suspected badgers were on the prowl! Then, when the ‘red bummed’ bumblebees’ underground nest had been scraped out we were even more convinced that Brock (Old English word) was the culprit! Although a few bees appear to have survived, the nest is absolute devastation! (Above photo!) The little bees (they are a miniature variety) have been in residence for years and were a joy to watch as they hovered above the almost invisible hole in the lawn before popping in out of sight. (I have researched badger ‘noises’ and apparently they chitter and kecker , amongst other things! Neither of which describes accurately the noise which woke me up in a panic!!)

In this age of badger conservation, what of bees’ rights?!

Another UFO!

Thursday night, the sky again revealed another UFO! This time it was a dull orange constant light travelling at speed horizontally from east to west! It was there and gone before I had time to get out of bed for closer inspection! Obviously in a hurry to get back for breakfast, or the aliens equivalent! As seems usual with strange lights in the sky, there was no accompanying noise!

St Swithun

July 15^th is St Swithun’s (or Swithin) day! Folklore has it that if it rains on that day it will rain for forty days and forty nights. Records have it that it doesn’t appear to make much difference whether it rains or not, as the wettest ’40 days and nights’ in the mid 19^th cent. were in years when the 15^th of July was a dry one!

St Swithun was the Bishop of Winchester in the 9^th cent. He died in 862 and was buried according to his wishes ‘where passers-by might tread on his grave, and rain from the eaves might fall on it’.

A century later he was canonised. On the 15^th July 971 his bones were exhumed and reburied, by the monks, in a shrine inside the cathedral. Heavy rains caused massive flooding, several drownings and famine!

Local Weather

Talking of rain... Weather-wise, this week, we have actually had a couple of sunny days! (Short lived, as today it is back to rain and cool winds!) But, we did manage humid conditions, what my dear old dad would have called ‘down on ya’ or ‘clammy’! I would describe it as a sponge being squeezed of all its liquid! It did drizzle intermittently on the 15^th, so watch this space for watery updates!

Buddleias and Butterflies

The buddleias (butterfly bush) are in full bloom, but as yet I haven’t been treated to the usual abundance of colourful butterflies, only the occasional ‘small tortoiseshell’! I hope the severe winter weather hasn’t killed them all off!

Thanks for your time! Speak soon!

The Bumpkin Rambler xx