Saturday 23rd July 2022 - Invaders, Sid Gets Oiled and A Walk Repeated

We always get spiders in our home; I guess it is the construction materials which attracts them, but this year they have been like an invasion with spiders both outside and indoors. They are mainly false widows and the daddy longlegs type. The exterior of our home has been draped with webs, like something from a Hammer horror film. Periodically we go out and remove the webs, so if you see us going round the exterior of our home either with a brush or microfibre equivalent of a feather duster, then be assured, it’s webs we are removing and that we don’t have a compulsive cleaning disorder! The ‘icing on the cake’ was the other day when more hatched in our conservatory (I am assuming that spiders hatch from eggs) and wasted no time in starting to spin webs. It’s not just the webs; they drop excrement, blood from their victims and some make little packages when they have finished their meals and drop these. To say I am fed up with flippin’ spiders is an understatement!

I keep a pot on the work surface in our kitchen for tea bags and excess cooking oil, keeping these separate from the vegetable waste. I picked the pot up the other day but the sides must have been oily as it slipped through my fingers and fell on the floor near where Sid, our cat, was munching his breakfast. I grabbed the pot quickly but not before some of the tea bags and oil spilled onto the floor and splashing on Sid’s fur. We decided to leave him to clean himself rather than interfere but for about three days he walked around with very distinct greasy patches on one side. Poor Sid, I wonder what his feline friends had to say.

We enjoyed a walk through the village yesterday afternoon before crossing the golf course and returning along the cliff top path. Up early this morning, we decided to repeat the walk, in reverse. The path is very overgrown in places on the cliff top and really needs cutting back; with so many brambles it poses a hazard and Peter said one almost caught him in his eye the previous afternoon. Now we are in the main holiday season we were both of the opinion the brambles should be dealt with, sooner rather than later. This is a task which we consider should be undertaken by the owners of the land, this section of permissive path crosses. This morning, I stopped where there was a gap in the vegetation, providing me with a view across the calm sea towards the sun’s rays breaking through the cloud bank. This is the first of today’s photos, followed by one taken yesterday of a gatekeeper butterfly. I may not like spiders but butterflies, which are insects too, are welcomed in our garden, that is, apart from the whites whose caterpillars do so much damage to brassicas.