(How Much Is) That Snail in the Window?

Thanks to the rain, the slugs and the snails are out in force. What I didn't expect was to see a snail on the window:

I don't recall ever seeing a snail's underside before. Usually snails are low to the ground on a non-transparent surface but this one decided it would go climbing!

As for this post's title, it's a play on the name of this song.

The eye tree

On Sunday in Hucknall, I walked past this tree:

It looks as though it has an eye, as in that cut branch mark above the dark spots near the centre. It's an all-seeing tree!

This was the image I wanted to post last night; no issues tonight, fortunately!

Trillions of trees

I was pleased to read this article, which states that the number of trees on Earth could be as high as three trillion:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34134366

The article notes that this is a vastly higher estimate than the previously-thought figure of 400 billion trees, although it also notes the the actual number of them could be "...anything between the two [numbers] - or even 10 times higher."

This does not mean, however, that deforestation is not a problem. The article also states that fifteen billion trees are removed annually while only five billion are planted to replace them. On the bright side, this does mean that significantly less than 1% of trees globally are cut down each year and there are efforts to plant to more trees to offset those that humans use.

The unexplored path

When I was out on a walk yesterday evening, I explored this footpath:

It led to a neighbourhood that I hadn't visited before; when I emerged from the footpath, it took me a few minutes before I walked to a familiar area: the main road.

Over the Trent and enhanced

I took the following image a week ago:

It's of a view looking over the Trent and nearby farmland. As you can see, seven days ago it was bright and sunny, whereas today we've had nothing but rain.

Here's the picture again:

I used the HDR filter on the Snapseed phone app to enhance the image. What do you think?

Ducks in white water

My grandfather and I visited Holme Pierrepont this afternoon. We watched these two ducks - likely a mating pair - peck food from the bottom of the white water course area:

I didn't photograph the couple together; they were both too busy eating to move closer to each other.

Holme Pierrepont was busy today; there was a boating event taking place. The event was over before we finished our walk around the main water area.

Such a pleasant day

The weather today has been spectacular; see these views overlooking the Trent. I took these when out on a walk with my grandfather:

This beautiful weather isn't expected to last long, however; we're supposed to be receiving rain soon.

Two river scenes

Here are two pictures from the walk Dad, my brother and I went on yesterday:

Both pictures look towards a weir on the River Trent. For the first picture, we followed a path along the side of the river until we reached a part where the path was blocked; in the second, we were on the view point near the weir. We watched a water bottle and a log get washed over the weir and into the white water.

I was disappointed to see a lot of trash on the path. Some of it had been washed from upstream, like the aforementioned water bottle, but much had just been thrown on the spot by litter-happy people.

Peacock butterfly

A peacock butterfly somehow got itself trapped in our recycling bin; fortunately, my brother rescued the butterfly by fishing it out with a stick; he had to use a stick because butterflies are too delicate to be touched by human hands. Upon entering the sunlight, the butterfly spread its wings:

The butterfly remained perched on this stick for about five minutes while its wings warmed up. It then flew off the stick and landed on the ground:

By doing so, the butterfly allowed me to take a few more pictures of it, this time from above it rather than to its side. After this brief rest on the ground, the butterfly flew away.

My brother and I are fortunate to have had this chance to see such a beautiful butterfly up close; we are also glad that we were outside at the time it needed rescuing.

Red roses July 2014

In my last post about roses, I mentioned that it would be a while before I posted any more pictures of them. It's fortunate that more than two months have passed since I wrote that because these three pretty flowers appeared almost overnight in our front yard:

While the flower on the right appears shabby, it looks as pretty as the other two when viewed from its front. Honestly, these three were more like fungi than flowers: one moment, there are no roses; in the next, there are three!

The spider in the tub

I thought I'd take some pictures of the spider that currently lives in the bathtub:

Whoa...it's large and scary! Now for some perspective...

Here is the spider next to a disconnected shower head. As you can see, the spider isn't that big once the camera is no longer zoomed onto it. I used my main camera because I didn't want to annoy the spider by putting my phone close to it and because my camera takes higher quality zoomed shots.

As you can also see, the bathtub is dusty from disuse. I think it'll need to be cleaned once the spider has moved on or been evicted.

Sheep run

My family and I visited Rutland Water a few days ago. This was a sight to behold:

It's a group of sheep running back to their field after spending some time by the water. This paved path here crosses the dam segment of Rutland Water; the sheep climb over the dam's rocks to reach the water. The trails the sheep have made on the rocks reminded me of deer trails in Southern Oregon.

A few minutes after I took this picture, another group of four sheep crossed the dam, except this time they were going from the field to the water. The one who went up onto the rocks first had to wait for several minutes before her three followers joined her.

Moth vs. Spider

There is a spider that lives in the bathtub; last night, that spider was disturbed by a large moth that had flown into the bathroom. For some bizarre reason, the moth thought it would be a great idea to fly around and land on the spider's home in the tub, which annoyed the spider and caused it to attack the moth.

It was an interesting fight: until last night, I had never observed a spider engage in combat with another creature. The spider appeared to be defending itself rather than trying to eat the moth; in the end, I assume that the moth flew away from the spider and out of the bathroom, as there was no evidence of the moth in the morning.

As for why there is a spider living in the bathtub, we prefer to shower and there is no shower in the tub. The spider is not at risk of being washed away.

No more dog mess

One of the local primary schools has begun a canine crap clearing campaign:

There are about fifteen of these anti-dog mess posters hanging up and down the road that passes the school, each one created by a different student. All contain a drawing and a slogan along the lines of "clean up dog mess" or "no to dog poo" written on them.

I think they're both creative and environmentally aware! These posters gave the chance for the children to use their imaginations - and for a noble cause: if children can be encouraged to help clean up smaller messes like this, perhaps it'll also teach them to help address environmental problems when they're older.

There is a lot of dog mess in this town. To be fair, most dog owners do clear up after their canines, but the minority that don't are numerous enough to cause the dog mess to be perpetually visible.

Orange blossom

I went into our back yard in the early evening to photograph the blossom on our two orange trees:

Of the two trees, I photographed this one because it was receiving more sunlight.

However, when I took a close up picture of one of the flowers, I photographed the other tree's blossoms. The shade allowed my phone's camera to fully focus on the flowers.

Most of the blossoms are still on the trees but some of the petals have fallen, as can be seen here. Neither tree produces fruit, but their blossoms have a lovely scent.

Liveland History: 17 June 2011

When I began Air Nice-to-Livelands in May 2011, my early posts received little readership, which I expected; however, now that I have a greater readership than I did back then I'd like to highlight some of my old works in a segment that I have called Liveland History.

A Liveland History post will highlight a blog post of mine that is over three years old and will feature a summary of that old post. The Liveland History posts will be infrequent - no more than two of them per month - as I do not want my blog to become a recycling bin for my old posts. No, this segment is intended to provide the occasional trip to this blog's past. I know that my readers would be unhappy if I constantly brought back old material and, in all honesty, so would I.

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The first early post of mine that I would like to highlight is "Gopher snakes", which I wrote on 17 June 2011:

http://airnicetolivelands.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/gopher-snakes.html

In "Gopher snakes", I wrote about a type of wildlife in Oregon for which my brother and I had a strong fascination: gopher snakes. I explained about how to recognise gopher snakes and what to expect from them in regards to their behaviour towards humans. I also included a picture of a gopher snake in my hand and warned readers to seek additional advice and research before looking for wild snakes or catching them: better to leave animals alone rather than risk harm to them or yourself.

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The text in the dotted lines is how the average Liveland History post will be; however, I expect the length to vary based on how long or short the highlighted post is, and whether or not I have any additional comments to make about it.

Is Liveland History something that would interest you? Like I said, I wouldn't be writing the segment often but I would like to occasionally re-feature and write about some of my early posts. Please do let me know what you think.

Last rose picture...for now

This is my fourth rose-related post in two weeks; I can assure you that this will be my last one for some time (honestly!):

This rose has now secured the title of the finest rose in our yard. I know I've already said it, but Mum's cutting back of all the rose plants to cure them of the blackspot infection has caused them all to grow back with a vengeance. This has been our best rose year!

Dual roses

Another rose picture. This is another of the yellow rose with the fly:

A second flower has grown right next to the first flower, while a third flower is growing just above them both. These roses are the finest in our yard at the moment; most of the other roses have wilted significantly since I photographed them a few days ago.

Wet rose

The red rose in our front yard has produced this beautiful flower:

It rained this morning, hence the water. I am delighted that there is no trace left of the blackspot infection; this is a completely healthy rose plant now.

Turquoise and red

My brother pointed out this red poppy growing in a plant pot in our back yard:

I like how we have a turquoise plant pot, too. Usually its colour allows it to blend in with its surroundings, but in this picture its colour highlights it.