After the Deluge .....

It was what my granny used to call "a clearing-up" shower. 

The ferocity of the rain hammering on the car roof drowned out our conversation, the road was awash and the windscreen wipers struggled to cope with the deluge. We were forced to pull over and park. We contemplated turning around and heading for home. 

But, as is often the way with the trailing clouds in a band of rain passing overhead during a depression, the short, intensive downpour suddenly slackened ....... and then stopped. Within a few minutes the sound of bird calls was added to the sound of water trickling down drains. A break in the clouds appeared, then a small patch of blue sky, then sunshine. 

We got out and walked.

The air was still cold and the vegetation was festooned with raindrops.

A few butterflies, sheltering in the undergrowth, cautiously opened their wings.

Somehow this skipper had survived unscathed, even though raindrops still clung to the harebell where it had taken refuge.

Bumblebees began to return to operating temperature in the sun, but this one was still so chilled that all it could do was raise a leg in self-defence ...

... but the butterflies were soon feeding on the devil's bit scabious flowers again ...

... in competition with hoverflies ......

... all seeking nectar supplies to restore their energy levels.

Within half an hour the breeze had shaken most of the water from the leaves and this caterpillar returned to feeding on nettle foliage ...

... where a cranefly sunbathed ......

.... and finally the bumblebees got busy again on the bramble blossom, which is very late after this soggy summer. They'd better get busy.......... 

........... because autumn is just around the corner, and the thistles are already releasing clouds of thistledown.

Arranging any kind of outdoor event in the British summer can be a nightmare, but our fast-changing weather patterns provide naturalists with some of their most memorable moments.

All pictures taken along the disused railway line between Romaldkirk and Cotherstone in Teesdale, last Wednesday, 29th. August.

Violent violets, with Seeds as Slippery as a Bar of Soap ....

Summer is over and it's time for plants to disperse their seeds. Some just release them on a feathery parachute, to drift away on the breeze. Others hook themselves into fur or feathers and let animals carry them passively. Others are enclosed in succulent fruits and pass through an animal's digestive system.

And then there are those with a violent tendency, with exploding seed pods and catapult mechanisms or, in the case of some members of the genus Viola (pansies and violets), a mechanism that's easier to demonstrate than describe. 

It works like this. Grip a wet bar of soap as tightly as you can, then watch the soap fly out from between your fingers. Much the same thing happens when a pansy disperses its seed. It's globular seed capsule splits into three boat-shaped sections that fold outwards and curl inwards at their edges, exerting ever-increasing pressure on the smooth-coated seeds that they enclose ..... until the seeds are violently shot outwards.

This'll Make Washing-up more Interesting ....

It's a sure sign that we're on the threshold of autumn when spiders become more conspicuous. The beautifully marked Araneus diadematus has spun her web outside our kitchen window, perhaps wise to the possibility that the kitchen light will attract prey to the window and into her web. 

Standing at the sink, washing the dushes, will be a bit more interesting now that I can monitor this predator's progress.

The colour of these garden spiders (also known as diadem spiders and cross spiders) is very varied and most in our garden are shades of brown - individuals with this attractive black, white and grey colour scheme are uncommon around here.

For more info on the biology of garden spiders click here

For more spider encounters, click here