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Front view of jabi lake mall |
There
is something quite exhilarating about spending time outdoors by night each
sound, each rustle in the
shrubbery and splash in the lake indicative of hidden treasures lying just out
of sight amid the gloom. Watching
the gentle nature of the lake at night is quite intoxicating, plain and and
simple that the thought of
you taking a step further to touch the soft nature of the lake wanna make u
rush for joy seeing Mother Nature
all around you and this has become a hobby of mine lately. A pastime born of
necessity, with my days
of late spent catching up on work, carrying and out a host of more menial tasks,
thus leaving time for
adventure.
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lakeside view of the mall |
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visitors having the best of fun by the lake side |
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the lake side |
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beautiful view of nature |
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beautiful view of nature |
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the land is green |
Last
night, I spent three hours at the jabi lake mall, watching, waiting and, most
rewarding of all, listening with
only the blue glow of my actinic moth trap to light my way. My watch beginning
at 10pm as, with the
light fading fast, the local pipistrelles arrived to feed. Their coming timed
to perfection to coincide with
the departure of the first moths from their daylight hideaways. Indeed, as I
watched, more and more moths
emerged - springing forth from the Privet hedge and the nearby hawthorns before
heading upwards,
often with the bats in close pursuit. I am yet to see a bat actually catch a
moth, though I did witness
one interesting piece of behavior as a rather large individual - a large yellow
underwing, I think plummeted
downwards, rigid as a stone, clearly having caught wind of its would-be
pursuer. An interesting
defense mechanism, and something that, to date, I have only seen on TV.
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Paddle the canoe gently |
Before
long, a faint rustling in the compost heap diverted my attention away from the
trap. The sound of crunching,
desiccated vegetation easily audible as a fleet of Common Frogs began to emerge.
Ambling forward,
into the open, before splitting up in all directions: towards the lawn, lake
borders and hedge. Easily
counted by torchlight, a total of seven frogs were found, with another,
concealed in some waterside
vegetation, croaking loudly upon my approach. This particular individual joined
amid the Water Mint
by a delightful Smooth Newt. The latter watched and enjoyed as it emerged from
the shallows before
sinking, with surprising speed, out of sight. My efforts to facilitate my
local amphibians are paying
off, it would seem.
My
night outdoors finished as it began: with the security guards at the lake mall
telling us it was late already and we
needed to start going so I left with a fulfilled mind of how my outing turn out
to be.
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