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Wednesday, September 9

In almost forty years of my teaching career, starting the Christmas Term is remembered as heralding an improvement in the weather. Stuck in a classroom with hot and bothered students, all of us longing to be outdoors enjoying the sunny spell known as an Indian Summer. Why an Indian Summer? I've often wondered.

The exact origins of the phrase are uncertain, several writers have speculated it may originally have referred to a spell of warm, hazy autumn conditions that allowed Native American Indians to continue hunting.
Whatever the origin of the phrase, it evidently first was used in the eastern United States. The first recorded use of the phrase appears in a letter written by a Frenchman called John de Crevecoeur dated 17 January 1778. In his description of the Mohawk country he writes "Sometimes the rain is followed by an interval of calm and warm which is called the Indian summer." Met Office

Maybe the moth-ing will improve with the good weather forecast for the next few days. We have already trapped the first of the Autumnal moths expected. 

Black Rustic

Lunar Underwing

and a lovely second generation Oak Hook-tip.

Another Grasshopper on the outside of the actinic light this morning. I wish I could identify them more positively. I believe that this is a Speckled Bush-cricket.

We often drive home through Langham after our North Norfolk birding trips. On Saturday, a new erection near the dome off Cockthorpe Road once used to train anti-aircraft gunners, was impossible to miss. A silver replica Second World War Supermarine Spitfire, gifted by the RAF Museum at Hendon, now mounted on a plinth next to the building. My first impression was how small it is. Piloting that would have made the flyers very vulnerable. It's a wonder that any of them survived. 

The stand has a rotating bearing to allow the Spitfire to rotate freely to follow the prevailing wind. It will be taken down in late October for winter storage.