One swallow does not a summer make.

[PDQ Mobile]

I saw our first Adder yesterday, must be the warmer weather as it was in the middle of the lane enjoying the sun.
It scarpered too quickly to take a photo.

One Swallow does not a summer snake!

Many years ago I walked though the Vosges with a backpack.
On a grass track a large snake reared up at me and waved about and hissed like a Cobra!
I gave it a wide berth.

Memorable though.

[the snail]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/0 ... pocalypse/

• "Environmentalists have got it wrong – we're not facing an insect apocalypse"

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/0 ... esnt-care/

• "the reality is that there’s a cocktail of causes for insect decline. No single one may be responsible by itself but, like trees, insects are weakened by the number of threats coming at them together. Admittedly, agriculture – the biggest land use in the countryside – is one of the key culprits"

I'm not mocking The Telegraph, they have a more robust and open-minded approach to others and will publish what they believe is newsworthy, but the data on insect population is fairly brutal - when there is no safe corridor between areas of non-toxic land and plant growth, insect populations decline. We'd do well to be recognising this as a canary in the mine, yet we continue to ignore so much clear evidence.

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/202 ... years.html

• "The impact of insect loss goes far beyond our food supplies, as animals such as birds which depend on them for food will also be hit.
  
  Meanwhile, the ecosystem services insects provide will also be struck. This could see dead plants and animals pile up if insects and their larvae aren't around to consume them, while piles of poo could become more prevalent if dung beetles aren't around to process it.
  
  The major causes of these declines are believed to be related to agriculture. The use of pesticides and fertilisers is killing insects"

Don't worry - another poster's garden is full to the brim with buzzers and crawlers so he can probably share them out.

On the other hand .......

...... we may all be doomed even more than was thought! And when we die from no-food (not even fud) there'll be no grubs to eat our many corpses! The stink will be bad but perhaps only the odd microbe will be around to smell it.

The times, they are a changin'. And how! Time to start hoarding the emergency bail-out fentanyl perhaps.

I think anyone who has been driving for decades will remember how many slatted insects you used to see on your windscreen. I hardly see any these days.

[Cugel]

I saw our first Adder yesterday, must be the warmer weather as it was in the middle of the lane enjoying the sun.
It scarpered too quickly to take a photo.

One Swallow does not a summer snake!

Many years ago I walked though the Vosges with a backpack.
On a grass track a large snake reared up at me and waved about and hissed like a Cobra!
I gave it a wide berth.

Memorable though.

A swallowing snake, rearing up with a hiss! Was it holding a fag and a pint? Did it accuse you of being an immigrant?

************
Here in the Teifi valley there are still numerous insects and birds, seemingly of a wide range. Last year saw many varieties of butterfly too, although only the odd cabbage white has appeared so far this year.

It's likely that insecticides are less prevalent out here as there isn't that much of the arable crop - more sheep and cattle. The Teifi itself has suffered increasing pollution, from dairy farms mostly but also from raw sewage the further down-river it is. The fishing is now poor whereas once it was a prime river for salmon and much else.

Sheep farming has degraded the land and the landscape for a long time now, as has commercial forestry. Species are slowly reducing numbers and dying out because of the shrunken range of environmental diversity and habitat degradation.

At the moment, there's a serious worry about the next long hot spell and extensive forest fires. Many are also vulnerable to increased local flooding as storms dump greater rates of rain and the various nants and afons spread their increased content into houses built in the shelter of various declivities next to the waterways.

**********
There are swifts and house martins still seen at the moment - but not so many as last year. The unseasonable earlier wet periods and now the cold-for-June might be doing-for some earlier nestlings.

[Manc33]

How come it's not "One swallow doesn't make a summer"?

Is it translated from French? Yoda?

Lower class: "Innit"
Upper class "Is it not"

[francovendee]

Twenty one years ago when we moved to France we bought a run down house and garden.
On summer evenings the kitchen window would attract dozens of moths, some unusual ones amongst them.
We loved to sit in the garden and see the bats feeding on them.
Sadly we see very few now .
Part of the problem has been farming becoming more efficient. Small farms absorbed into bigger ones. Hedges grubbed up and more chemicals used on the land. Of course it climate change may be part of it.
If the insects go other things will decline, I think it's why we see fewer lizards in the garden.
All very sad.

[Biospace]

Twenty one years ago when we moved to France we bought a run down house and garden.
On summer evenings the kitchen window would attract dozens of moths, some unusual ones amongst them.
We loved to sit in the garden and see the bats feeding on them.
Sadly we see very few now .
Part of the problem has been farming becoming more efficient. Small farms absorbed into bigger ones. Hedges grubbed up and more chemicals used on the land. Of course it climate change may be part of it.
If the insects go other things will decline, I think it's why we see fewer lizards in the garden.
All very sad.

Not a dig at you, but it's vexing how the term more efficient is so often used in agribusiness to describe the very opposite, in energy terms.

For thousands of years, fields had to produce more energy than their human energy demands - not too difficult given free sunshine, free rain, free insects, birds and healthy soil - but in the 20th century we reversed them into energy sinks, consuming more than they give.

[Biospace]

How come it's not "One swallow doesn't make a summer"?

Is it translated from French? Yoda?

Lower class: "Innit"
Upper class "Is it not"

Word crafts are combined to good effect as the rythmn and word order of the phrase place emphasis on the important words. It also makes the saying more memorable. The perception that old fashioned sentence construction lends gravitas, as if it has endured for centuries - which some have - is a further technique. Timeless wisdom, perhaps.

Before the mass production and distribution of books, texts were memorised and the rythmn of words played an important part in helping us memorise the texts, as well as emphasising the important words.

[al_yrpal]

Twenty one years ago when we moved to France we bought a run down house and garden.
On summer evenings the kitchen window would attract dozens of moths, some unusual ones amongst them.
We loved to sit in the garden and see the bats feeding on them.
Sadly we see very few now .
Part of the problem has been farming becoming more efficient. Small farms absorbed into bigger ones. Hedges grubbed up and more chemicals used on the land. Of course it climate change may be part of it.
If the insects go other things will decline, I think it's why we see fewer lizards in the garden.
All very sad.

Dig a pond, scatter seed around it and you will attract lots more wildlife and give creatures a new home. We 'pond ered' filling ours in but cleaning out the overgrown rushes and accumulated silt, repairing leaks and splitting up the water lillies has been really worthwhile. Lots of tiny small fry have appeared and the algal bloom has suddenly disappeared. A pleasure to sit and watch the birds and insects....

Al

[Mike Sales]

Word crafts are combined to good effect as the rythmn and word order of the phrase place emphasis on the important words. It also makes the saying more memorable. The perception that old fashioned sentence construction lends gravitas, as if it has endured for centuries - which some have - is a further technique. Timeless wisdom, perhaps.

Before the mass production and distribution of books, texts were memorised and the rythmn of words played an important part in helping us memorise the texts, as well as emphasising the important words.

I keep hearing an echo of

Stone wall do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage

Lovelace.

[axel_knutt]

I saw our first Adder yesterday, must be the warmer weather as it was in the middle of the lane enjoying the sun.
It scarpered too quickly to take a photo.

One Swallow does not a summer snake!

Many years ago I walked though the Vosges with a backpack.
On a grass track a large snake reared up at me and waved about and hissed like a Cobra!
I gave it a wide berth.

Memorable though.

The first (live) adder I ever saw was the one on the coast path near Hallsands that I was about to tread on, I didn't notice until it suddenly withdrew from under my boot and reared up. We stood watching each other for a while, then when it realised I meant no harm it slithered off into the grass.

[Biospace]

I keep hearing an echo of

Stone wall do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage

Lovelace.

Yes, a beautiful poem. Thanks for reminding me of it.

[Mike Sales]

I keep hearing an echo of

Stone wall do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage

Lovelace.

Yes, a beautiful poem. Thanks for reminding me of it.

I'm pleased to hear that.
I got a head full of quotations that are driving me insane.

[reohn2]

I keep hearing an echo of


Lovelace.

Yes, a beautiful poem. Thanks for reminding me of it.

I'm pleased to hear that.
I got a head full of quotations that are driving me insane.

Nearly there,Bob Dylan's song Maggie's farm first verse:-

I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more

No, I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more

Well, I wake in the morning

Fold my hands and pray for rain

I got a head full of ideas

That are drivin’ me insane

It’s a shame the way she makes me scrub the floor

I ain’t gonna work on Maggie’s farm no more

[francovendee]

Twenty one years ago when we moved to France we bought a run down house and garden.
On summer evenings the kitchen window would attract dozens of moths, some unusual ones amongst them.
We loved to sit in the garden and see the bats feeding on them.
Sadly we see very few now .
Part of the problem has been farming becoming more efficient. Small farms absorbed into bigger ones. Hedges grubbed up and more chemicals used on the land. Of course it climate change may be part of it.
If the insects go other things will decline, I think it's why we see fewer lizards in the garden.
All very sad.

Dig a pond, scatter seed around it and you will attract lots more wildlife and give creatures a new home. We 'pond ered' filling ours in but cleaning out the overgrown rushes and accumulated silt, repairing leaks and splitting up the water lillies has been really worthwhile. Lots of tiny small fry have appeared and the algal bloom has suddenly disappeared. A pleasure to sit and watch the birds and insects....

Al

Sadly Al it wouldn't work. The idea of a setting up ponds was instigated by our loyal Mayor. He was very keen on nature and getting people involved. He organised a group of volunteers who dug ponds in wetter areas. This was done to encourage more amphibians, especially Salamanders. It did work for a year or two but the drier, hotter climate dried out most of them.
Our garden is on sandy soil and what shade we had has been reduced due to trees dying.
I'd love a pond and miss the one I had when I lived in Northwood. I dug it by hand and it was about 20' x 15'. It was a fish pond but insects were attracted to it.
On a nice day sitting by it and seeing the Golden Orfe take insects off the surface gave me much pleasure.

[francovendee]

Twenty one years ago when we moved to France we bought a run down house and garden.
On summer evenings the kitchen window would attract dozens of moths, some unusual ones amongst them.
We loved to sit in the garden and see the bats feeding on them.
Sadly we see very few now .
Part of the problem has been farming becoming more efficient. Small farms absorbed into bigger ones. Hedges grubbed up and more chemicals used on the land. Of course it climate change may be part of it.
If the insects go other things will decline, I think it's why we see fewer lizards in the garden.
All very sad.

Not a dig at you, but it's vexing how the term more efficient is so often used in agribusiness to describe the very opposite, in energy terms.

For thousands of years, fields had to produce more energy than their human energy demands - not too difficult given free sunshine, free rain, free insects, birds and healthy soil - but in the 20th century we reversed them into energy sinks, consuming more than they give.

I totally agree but didn't know what to call the drive for change.
This morning on a farming programme I heard a company that makes drones for use in farming being asked what were its uses. He mentioned spreading chemicals and slug pellets. All of course without deep tractor ruts on waterlogged land.