The Bluestocking Women's Pub: Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs

[AngleofRepose]

Croeso/Welcome to the Bluestocking Women's Pub, with our lovely gerbil staff, the icy Mojito foot-bath for those of you fed up with the heat, a Quilting/Craft Nook, lots of yummy food and drink with zero calories, gluten, or allergens, the Gerbil World Cup, and a brand new magic pool that becomes a babbling brook whenever you want it to!

Come on in! All women welcome! (Men welcome at The Staunch Ally pub down the road aways)

(security provided by the capybaras, lovely folk, but try not to get in their way)

(oh, and don't mention triangles, please. Gubbins gets very overexcited)

(did we mention the Gerbil World Cup?)

The Gerbil World Cup Semi-finals

• Magic Roundabout vs. Hanseatic League will play on Thursday
• Tunnel vs. Discworld will play on Friday

The Final will be played on Saturday or Sunday, depending on Griselda’s mood schedule.

We’re taking Bagpuss for a quick visit to the catnip patch.

You'll never believe what I have in my garden! A Jersey Tiger moth! Never before seen one, and never heard of them this far north. My British insect book pub. 2005 has them only in Avon (SW only), Dorset (W) and Devon. Apparently they have been slowly moving north, occasionally found in around London. This one must be from a migration at some point across the Bristol Channel, because I don't think they're found in Gloucestershire yet.

It's bright orange underneath the wings.

So excited!! Must be all the nettles in my wild garden, and the dry, hot weather 😎

Yes it is not the same thing at all. It is not an NSAID. Apologies for the riverine site link but it makes it very clear. It may be that it isn't available under that name outside the USA - honestly don't know about that. In case you can't open the link because of region, the text describes it as Synflex 1500mg Liquid Glucosamine & Chondroitin Supplement - HSA/FSA, High Concentration and Fast-Absorbing Joint Support Formula with White Willow Bark, Manganese, and Boswellin, 32-Day Supply. There are also formulations for cats and dogs.

I have e mailed MNHQ regarding my tunnel i think they may want to block it

Well, seems I'm not the first, but it's still exciting for me!

This from July 2025:

A decade ago, the Jersey Tiger was largely restricted to the Channel Islands and the south coast of England, as well as occurring throughout London and having established a toehold in south-east Wales. Today, these stunning moths are frequently spotted across southern England and are continuing to spread through East Anglia and into the Midlands.

These striking moths have been photographed in Cardiff, Birmingham, Cambridgeshire and Essex during this year’s Big Butterfly Count, and more than 20,000 people have visited the Jersey Tiger moth species page on Butterfly Conservation’s website in July.

https://butterfly-conservation.org/news-and-blog/have-you-seen-a-tiger-in-your-garden-yet

ooh Hedgie, what does that mean?

I've never given any thought to what I'd like as an epitaph, but I'm inspired by:
They didn’t win. But everything they touched was better mended than they found it.
It reminds me of the Jewish concept of tikkun olam, 'repair the world'.
On reflection, perhaps I am overthinking Bagpuss's Mice😁

Horti, we are with you and Hunter in spirit - very literally so in the case of Fuzzy - and hoping very much that he's on the way to making a good recovery.
He's lucky to have such a caring human, who is doing absolutely everything to make him feel better and get better
Pasta, sorry to hear about the arthritis playing up, I hope it's OK soon.

Well done for getting to this point in time, Magpie, enjoy as much downtime as you can manage!

I've spent pretty much the whole day down an internet rabbit hole which has turned into a holy well.
I was doing some research on Irish/Gaelic place-names in the Dublin area [just for myself, nothing formal] and found references to a forgotten holy well in the middle of a rather posh area.
Then references to a saint who was associated with it who gave his name to an area but the name hasn't survived in the modern English placename.
Then....
Suddenly it was tea-time....😃

Well they got back to me straight away and said not to worry they are gonna snooze one account, whatever that means but seemingly anyone can still do a tunnel.

@AngleofRepose I had a Jersey Tiger moth on the sitting room window last summer. They are stunning, aren't they?

@MarieDeGournay I forgot from yesterday: yes, the thread title is from (I'm pretty sure) The Big Rock Candy Mountain, the book. It's definitely in the song.

They really are! I can't get over my first sighting 😀(even if they aren't quite as rare as I had first thought)

Fabulous!

@AngleofReposeI'm (also? I think you're here) in Cardiff and I had one in my garden the other day. I haven't seen her since, but my dad who is very into nature and knows loads about butterflies, was very impressed as he didn't realise they'd spread is far as Wales.

I had forgotten The Big Rock Candy Mountain, @AngleofRepose - thank you for reminding me. My dad used to sing it!

Wow! I'm not quite that far south, actually well north, almost to Ogmore Vale, so the moths have spread aways west and north, too.

ps I love that you can really see the orange on the moth in your picture!

Scotland AND Bagpuss's Mice out. 😥😥

Life is so unfair.

<tears up betting slips>

Angle, your moth is a real beauty.

Well, I hope they find each other, or at least find others of their kind so we get them more often. I get lots of cinnabar moths and caterpillars cause my garden is "rewilded", mainly cause I'm rubbish at gardening and kill plants so I just let it do what it wants. I have bought some ragwort seeds cause I didn't have much growing this year so my poor caterpillars have had to explore the rest of the garden looking for food.

Chickadee, that is available in the UK so I've looked up the UK equivalent and have ordered it to give it a go. Thank you so much for the suggestion! I really appreciate it.

The surgeon was surprised I retained the range of motion I have, given the x-ray, and credits weekly aqua sessions. I'm definitely trying to keep as much movement by whatever means!

It's a nice evening here - catching up on Only Connect from yesterday then the first episode of Sewing Bee.

Now Chris Packham on the evolution of elephants while MrPasta enjoys the match in The Staunch Ally. The rest of us (whisper it so as not to upset the gerbils) don't do football really.

Thanks to Angle I've been channelling my inner Burle Ives and singing Big Rock Candy Mountain in full throated enthusiasm for the last couple of days. I probably owe the neighbours an apology. 😳

I grow ragwort also, specifically for the Cinnabars. And lots of lavender (for the moths, butterflies, and the Six-Spot Burnet from a few days) and in my large wild area, I let the thistles and nettles grow, along with whatever shows up (except brambles-I let it grow one year, that was a mistake. No fruit, just a load of hassle) And finally the honeybees and bumblebees are here, too. I was worried that I wouldn't have any, they were so late. Saw a Peacock Butterfly and a Red Admiral on my buddleja yesterday as well!

I do hope my Jersey Tiger isn't one of a kind around here...

Here's my Six-Spot Burnet from the other day.

I saw a Jersey tiger at a nature reserve in north Essex last year. It was very beautiful. We get mullein moth caterpillars in the garden - they're pale blue with neat blobs of black and yellow down their sides. Last year they totally trashed the mullein; this year for some reason the damage wasn't so bad.

And I think I saw a fritillary yesterday but it flew off before it could be photographed. I'd have immediately thought, 'painted lady' or 'tortoiseshell' if it had been either of those. This year hasn't so far been as good for butterflies as last year. The flies and the wasps, OTOH...

It's been wildly social here since last Friday, and I am now entirely peopled-out. DH too. The pair of us are sitting in the living room with headphones on in our own little worlds.

All the best to Hunter, I hope those who have dental work are now AOK, and good luck to Pasta with Chickadee's arthritis supplements.

And Marie, I trust you are still enjoying the lack of workmen.

I’ve seen lots of red admirals and some peacocks and tortoiseshells this year, and swarms of meadow browns. I spotted an interesting looking moth yesterday but couldn’t ID it.

I do love seeing the range of insects and other creatures in my garden. Despite having a bird feeder, I don't get much of a range of birds, just sparrows, pigeons, and 3 crows who I have named Edgar Allan Crow, Leonard Crow-en, and Kurt Crowbain. Staying at my dad's is always fantastic, he's near Burley in the New Forest so I saw lots of different butterflies and day moths this weekend, and loads of different bits including a woodpecker a few times. Not forgetting the New Forest ponies of course!