Unexciting

 

Unexciting

Nothing of note to tell you, so I thought I’d share a recent photograph. Gilbert and Herschel often go to bed before the rest of us. They’re effective bed warmers.

It’s rained quite a lot today, which is good. It’s colder, which is not so good, but a bright fire is dispelling the gloom. We’ve drawn the curtains, too, so it feels quite cosy. 

I spent Monday afternoon at the dentist. It wasn’t the whole afternoon, of course, it just felt like it. A thirty-minute appointment stretched to ninety. C’est la vie!

No names, no pack drill

 

No names, no pack drill

Boots, ankle, gs (general service, usually called ammo boots)
Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

This expression, often to be heard in our house, originated in the British army. 

Pack drill was a punishment for offenders which entailed marching in full uniform carrying a heavy pack of equipment. It was a common form of discipline in the nineteenth century army and was first recorded in 1903.

‘Boots – boots- boots- boots - movin’ up and down again’

Rudyard Kipling  1869-1936

The phrase carries the meaning that when a misdemeanour has been committed no-one can be punished if the miscreant has not been named.

In general humorous use, it is used as advice to abandon a subject or discussion so that further difficulties can be avoided. I suppose it could be superseded in some circumstances by, ‘Mind your own business.’

The phrase sprang to mind when I read the following on Facebook:

It’s frightful that people who are so ignorant should have so much influence.

George Orwell  1903-1950

Christmas shopping

 

Christmas shopping

🎅🎄🎁😇

I have been Christmas shopping all afternoon. I am exhausted and I haven’t even left the house! 🙁😟😕

Have I finished? No!😉

How’s your shopping going? 

Coconut crab

 

Coconut crab (Birgus latro)

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The coconut crab is not the largest crab in the world – that accolade goes to the Japanese spider crab (Macrocheira kaempferi) – but it is the largest terrestrial crustacean. It is also the largest land-dwelling arthropod, the invertebrate family that includes insects, spiders, and centipedes. (Arthropod means ‘those with jointed feet.’)

An adult coconut crab may weigh four and a half kilogrammes and have a leg span of up to one metre.

The coconut crab, also known as the robber crab and the palm thief, is found on Indian and Pacific Ocean islands. It has become extinct on islands with large human populations, like Madagascar and Australia. Christmas Island has the largest population of coconut crabs.

This large hermit crab spends its entire life on land, once the young have developed sufficiently to go ashore. Coconut crabs mate between May and September. The female then lays the eggs and sticks them to her abdomen, where she carries them for several months. When they‘re ready to hatch, the female travels to the seashore to release them into the water. This is a dangerous time for her, because if she falls into the water, she will drown. She cannot breathe underwater and is too heavy to swim back to land.

The small shrimp-like larvae float in the ocean for three or four weeks. They are very vulnerable, and large numbers are consumed by predators. Eventually, the survivors sink to the seabed and find a shell to live in. They then move towards the seashore, where they remain for about a month until they finally venture onto dry land as young crabs, at the same time losing their ability to breathe in water.

Coconut crab on coconut! 
Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

As they outgrow their shells, they find larger ones. If they are unable to find suitable shells, they may use broken coconut shells. Large adults do not live in shells but develop a hard exoskeleton. They moult annually. For this they dig burrows to take shelter while their soft shell hardens, which can take up to three weeks.

Their popular name suggests that they eat coconuts and while these may form part of their diet, they also consume an omnivorous diet, including fruit, nuts, carrion, birds, baby turtles, and younger relatives. They have an acute sense of smell, allowing them to locate food. They actively hunt rats and larger sea birds, like the red-footed booby, and climb trees to reach hanging fruit, like that of the pandanus tree.

Coconut crabs climbing trees in Bora Bora, French Polynesia
Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

They mature very slowly, and can live for 120 years, reaching their maximum size between forty to sixty years. They are sexually mature at five. Colours vary by location. and may be shades of red or purplish-blue.

The only predators of coconut crabs are other coconut crabs and humans. They are hunted extensively, and in some areas, like Guam and the Mariana Islands, it is illegal to trap egg-bearing females or adults under a certain size. A limit is placed on the number allowed to be captured. It is currently a bag limit of five crabs at one time, or fifteen in a whole season.

In the Philippines it is illegal to catch them in any category. Violation of the law can lead to a heavy fine or a prison sentence up to six years. Despite this, and in order to satisfy the tourist trade, hunting continues. Coconut crab meat is toothsome.

Numbers are declining and the coconut crab is considered vulnerable by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)

Woodland Walk

 

Woodland Walk October 2025

Cool, cloudy mornings, neither cold nor warm.

        

Still air and bird song. Quiet paths lead the walker onwards to discover what lies beyond the bend in the path.

        Gilbert drops the ball and waits for it to be thrown again  . . . and again . . . and again.

                                Roxy contemplates the path ahead.

Fungi everywhere

The beginnings of a corduroy road? Or the end? Or just random logs?

 

Another fungus

Trees have to fight for space and light in some places, so grow slim and straight, almost like railings.

A walk is enlivened by the company of a dog or two.

                                     More of 'railings.'

 

                                            Fungus and friends

Retrieving the ball.

 

                                                     Magical.

  

            Roxy retrieves her ball. She and Gilbert each carry their own.

Red-footed booby

 

Red-footed booby (Sula sula)

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

This seabird is the smallest of at least six species of boobies. It is about two and a half feet long and has a wingspan of five feet. Unlike the blue-footed booby which makes deep dives into water to catch fish, it often catches flying fish in the air, as well as making shallow dives. All boobies immediately swallow the fish they catch, unlike other fishing birds which may carry the fish in their beaks.

It has a similar range to the blue-footed booby and is commonly seen in Hawaii and the Galapagos Islands. Other species of boobies nest on the ground, but red-footed boobies live in colonies and nest in trees, where they lay a single blue egg.

Both adults incubate the egg for just over six weeks. The chicks learn to fly around three months of age, but it will be another eight weeks before they are able to attempt long flights.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The red-footed booby comes in several plumages, white, brown, or mixed, but all sport bright red feet and have blue bills. Some males also display blue throat patches when trying to attract mates.

They will not nest on islands where the Galapagos hawk is found, even if conditions are otherwise favourable. If the hawks have been eradicated from an island, red-footed boobies have been observed moving in to colonise it.

Humans continue to hunt and eat both adults and chicks, even though it is illegal. The birds bite the hands of humans attempting to take them from their nests. Two or three thousand birds are killed in most years.

Coconut crabs hunt red-footed boobies, using their strong claws to break the birds’ wings or trap them by their legs.

Blue-footed booby

 

Blue-footed booby (Sula nebouxii)

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The blue-footed booby appeared on my screen recently, so I had to investigate it.

The name booby derives from bobo, the Spanish word for clown because, like many seabirds, the booby is ungainly on land. Bobo also means foolish, because the bird shows no fear of man, a potential threat.

It is found along the coast from California to Peru and especially in the Galapagos Islands. It comes ashore to mate, lay eggs and rear its young.

 An adult booby is almost three feet long with a wingspan of five feet, and may live for seventeen years. The blue colouration of their feet is provided through their fishy diet and indicates their overall health. The brighter the colour, the healthier and stronger the bird.

Young birds have paler blue feet than adults and females have the most concentrated hue. The feet are important in the mating rituals. Males look for females with bright feet because they indicate youth. good health, and fertility. Females favour younger males, who have brighter feet. As birds age, so the colour of their feet fades.

The mating dance involves both sexes, the male displaying his feet with an exaggerated gait of wider and higher step, while male and female lift their beaks skywards and spread their wings.

After the clutch of two or three eggs is laid on bare ground, both parents take turns to incubate the eggs, using their feet to keep them warm.

There are three recognised collective nouns for boobies – a hatch, a trap, or a congress.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the blue-footed booby as being of ‘least concern.’