Wednesday
11th January 2017 A Great Life
Another
day at Stratford Upon Avon Butterfly Farm, meeting Pat at the door, a
feisty Brummie young at heart and lovely. Logged in, Tess, a young
girl from Bremen, Germany over here to work, shows me where the
equipment I will need today is and I am off into the Flight Area.
Bucket, dustpan and brush, bottle containing 10% sugar water and a
pipette in hand, the day is spent removing cobwebs, picking up dead
leaves, removing spiders and the occasional cockroach.
Butterflies abound, the weather outside is sunnier than Monday so butterflies are flying.
Of course
there is the interaction between volunteer and visitors that is so
enjoyable and a school party of superbly well school children from
Birmingham come through. Of the thirty or so youngsters three are
scared of the butterflies. Today there are literally hundreds of them
flying around, butterflies not children. One the scared threesome
seems to be pretending whilst giggling most of the time as she ducks.
Another child is clinging onto her teacher tightly but the last child
is crying. I see them all again later as Adam is showing them around
and all are settles and fascinated.
Going
around the platforms of artificial flower feeders, filling the small
tubes with the pseudo nectar shows how quickly the butterflies empty
them.
Watching them as they feed on both these platforms and on cut
fruit put out is fascinating, proboscis unfurled. With the fruit they
show a definite preference for the oranges and grapes. The apple
segments are ignored.
The
two large green Peruvian iguanas are in a bush looking down on
everyone who pass beneath.
Harriet
is lining butterfly pupae along hanging sticks ready to go into the
pupation chamber. The colours and shapes of these incredible packages
of reincarnation are so beautiful. Many are spangled with metallic
silver and gold.
Tess is holding a giant millipede to show it to some visitors and I get t hold the beautiful creature; a Mexican wave of leg movement as it crawls over my hands.
A
train ride to Birmingham and a phone call from George Gay, the
acting-assistant warden at North Ronaldsay Bird Observatory. George
is part of our team, SpokesFolks, that is competing at the Champions of The Flyways
(COTF) event in Eilat, Israel in March and is phoning about a well
known birding optics company being prepared to sponsor us!
http://www.champions-of-the-flyway.com/the-spokes-folks/
George
is talking excitedly about it all when a gentleman stops by me, looks
at me quizzically and then mouths, “Gary?” Ivan, for it is he,
knows of my Biking Birder adventures, explains who he is and passes
over a donation for the charities. Ivan is a fossil fish professor at
Birmingham University and what a fantastic man to be so kind.
from the left : Jason, Adam, Steve and Steve, Oracle Phil, Jules and I
I
am on the way to a curry night with fellow Midland Birders and a
train to Blake Street, north of Birmingham sees me picked up by The
Oracle, Phil Andrews and driven to the restaurant.
An
evening of uplifting frolic and cavortment with birding exploits and memories,
character assassination and food.
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