Bee on Scabious

Bee on Scabious

Preening Swans

Poole Harbour swan family preening at the bottom of the slip way next to the old lifeboat station.

Road Closure Latest

On Tuesday we had another letter from Southern Gas Network apologising for the confusion and clarifying the position regarding the road closure!

Between 21st September and 14th December Fernside Road will be closed to traffic travelling from The New Inn towards The Shah of Persia. Vehicles travelling in the opposite direction (Shah to New Inn) will be uanffected.

I'll check on Monday and if it's any different I will let you know!

Bournemouth Westcliff

Yesterday we went for a walk along the Westcliff. Although there was a cold wind it was a glorious day. The sun was shining and the sky was blue. The sea reflected the blue of the sky and the sunlight danced on the water. I was hopeful of seeing the northern bottlenose whale which is visiting Poole Bay but alas I am still waiting for my first sighting of a whale. We had gone up onto the cliffs because that is the best place to be able to spot Gilbert as the whale has been named. If you want to go and try a bit of whale spotting then go up onto the cliffs between Bournemouth pier and Branksome Chine. If you spot him from the cliffs and he is not too far out you can then run down to the beach for a closer look! Fortunately everyone has been sensible about not trying to go out with boats to see Gilbert which would cause the animal distress. Everyone is delighted that he's here and hope that he remains healthy and can find his way back to his pod in the Atlantic soon.


BBC news report on Gilbert

 

Viburnum fragrance

Sunshine filtered by green boughs -

A fallen conker!

Fernside Road closure - Latest

Eastbound, going South,

Travelling to the North-west.

Which way's closed? Who knows!

First of all they said Fernside Road would be closed eastbound from 21st September. Then last week the notices were changed to say closed southbound - which made no sense. And yesterday we had a letter saying the road would be closed for travel in a northwesterly direction. If you're coming this way the week after next just keep your eyes open and your wits about you!

The bee and the spider

Behind the curtain -

condensation on the glass,

brilliant blue sky

This morning I stopped to watch bees visiting the scabious and lavender flowers in the garden. There was a beautiful spider's web suspended between a lavender plant and the acer. It's builder was waiting patiently at it's centre. As I looked at the web a bee flew into it. My heart jumped into my mouth. Instantly the thought arose to rescue it followed immediately by the command 'Don't!'. I watched as the spider sprang forward and ran to it's victim. Immediately it sensed danger and returned to the centre of it's web as swiftly as it had charged out.

Not much effort was required on the part of the bee to free itself. It's movements and weight combined were too much for the fine threads which broke. The bee tumbled down, laddering the web on it's decent until it fell free and flew away.

Exquisite death trap!

Ensnared bee, nimble spider

who'll be the victim?