Of blogs and stuff

There was a time when I would post with wild abandon on this blog, sometimes 200+ posts a year - admittedly, some of these posts would not pass a quality control filter but never the less it was an enjoyable process to come up with a subject matter, gather together a few words, select an image or two and send the whole package off into cyberspace. I was lucky enough to have a loyal band of visitors, many of whom would leave comments which sometimes created their own threads, some of these becoming a virtual game of tennis where words rather than balls would be metaphorically knocked back and forth over a net. Traffic to the blog was, as times, very healthy indeed, and although I was never in this blogging lark for the numbers game it was quite humbling to know that what was being created had an audience.

Things started to quieten down a couple of years ago. The first sign of my partial withdrawal was to close down of the ability for visitors to comment. This was a result of an increasing number of 'spam' postings within the comment section, sometimes affecting many posts. I got fed up with deleting them and for me they sullied the blog. Personal situations also led to my posting becoming less of a life choice and more of a chore. From being an almost daily event my posts became a virtual monthly one. The thought of completely stopping was never considered and deleting the whole thing was unthinkable - I find myself referring back to previous posts as it is often easier to do so than trawl through my written notes.

So, where am I now? Well, whisper it, but it feels as if I'm ready to embrace the blog again, give it a proper hug rather than the pat on the back it has been receiving from me over the recent months. For the first time in ages I took a look at the stats and was pleased to see that the traffic is very healthy indeed - perhaps less really is more? My posting content may vary. As much as ND&B has never been about 'been there, seen that' - and there is nothing wrong with that - I would like to experiment a bit with what is published. Maybe a bit of creative writing? This has been encouraged and inspired by my consuming of much published work over recent months. My efforts will not hit such heights as those that I have read, but then again I don't expect them to do so.

What has been happening in my natural history world recently? Not a lot. The local birding has been poor. The moth trap has chugged along. My time in the field cut short by far more pressing matters. But now there seems to be a bit more time and a willingness to roll up the sleeves, blow the dust off of the optics and thesaurus and get back on the saddle and ride! (That last sentence deserves a metaphor and analogy warning...)

Lastly, have a few pictures. All moths. Hopefully some birds soon.

Female Gypsy Moth, Berrylands, Surrey. It's normally the male that we see, so I was very happy when my attention was drawn to this fence-hugging individual by a group of children.

Being a good distance away from any proper wetland it is always a pleasure to find one of the more specialist wainscots in the garden MV. This Bulrush Wainscot is just the second that I have recorded here in Banstead, almost 17 years to the day since the first.

Banstead, Surrey: although this Lobster Moth was trapped back in the spring it hasn't appeared on the blog before. I was really pleased with the image, which, in a Twitter/X conversation, Mark Golley likened to 'roadkill' - a brilliant description!