Bills Posts

Featured

Bill’s Locality Stories

Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.
— Oscar Wilde.

Me and my occasional posts, mostly about the town of Gosport and occasionally my thoughts. So stay tuned for more. Subscribe below to get notified when I post new updates.

Yesterday, I wrote a post about observations: https://localitystories.com/2026/07/07/2047-observations/
As you can imagine, today, I was really looking out for observations that I could record. You know what’s coming next, don’t you?

I did get out today. I met up with some friends from the Camera Club at the Vine, which is about half a mile from us. I was watching as I walked out, did anything catch my eye? To be honest, no.

On the way back, I was on the Waitrose side of the road, and there were some roadworks, or similar. I was mildly excited as I tend to find holes in the ground worth of observation. As I got nearer, there were men working, and they were using a grinder to cut into the pavement, but no hole. For some reason, that. I can’t explain. I didn’t take a picture, perhaps I didn’t think what they were doing was really of value as an observation? I have had a think about that, and with hindsight, I think I’ve missed something. That needs to change.

I need to talk at this point about a project I had adopted several years ago, and like in a lot of cases, I did the initial work, but haven’t followed up on it. That is watching the shops on Stokes Road, and monitoring when they change. Well, I was walking along the street, and was quite shocked by how much some shops had changed. I don’t know if I’m going to follow up on that. Some changes, though, were quite major in terms of shop frontages.

Then, when I got home, I thought “Ah! Butterflies,” I would go into the garden, there are bound to be some butterflies, even if they are only Cabbage Whites. Although we have seen Red Admirals and Small Coppers. Because we have our granddaughter today, we spent a fair bit of time in the garden. How many butterflies did I see? Yes, none. Of course, later in the day, I did see one, and it even settled near my foot, but I didn’t have my phone with me, so no pictures.

although the day was unsuccessful in terms of observations, I actually discounted one activity which I really should have captured. That’s a lesson learned.

2047 – Observations

I haven’t been anywhere today, apart from a couple of small car trips. I haven’t walked, which is bad. As it got towards midday, I became aware that I would have a problem with tonight’s post as I didn’t have anything to write about.

Spend 10 minutes in a garden that a beekeeper had praised for being bee friendly. annd the chances are that you’ll find a bee. Especially a bumble bee, which are probably amongst my favourite insects e(unlike spiders, which aren’t in that list).

The bee in the picture was very focused. Taken with my iPhone, it meant I was almost millimetres away from it. I fully expected it to fly off, but luckily it didn’t. I hope it was getting a good meal from the flower.

One frustration is identifying the flowers. I have an app on my phone, which works occasionally – I think to make it work all the time, I would need to pay a subscription, which I don’t want.

I went looking for butterflies as well. I had been sitting under the shed, and a really big one flew by. I didn’t respond straightaway (I should have done, Gilbert wouldn’t have been impressed. My search was frustratingly fruitless. I think I’ll have another look tomorrow.

2046 – About The Letters to Steve

CB4530CE-0E0E-46DA-AEF1-BE219A6B2DBD_1_105_c

This is the story of how I discovered Gilbert White. Because of my work, we moved from Cambridgeshire to Gosport. Elayne’s family live in South London. The easiest route to visit them is to travel north on the A3. Just to the north of Petersfield is the only roundabout on the A3 outside the M25.

The first exit off the Roundabout is signposted “Gilbert White’s House”. For I don’t know how many years from 2014 (when we moved) as we went around the roundabout, I would ask, ” Who is Gilbert White? Why is his house sign posted”? And then I googled him. I then knew about Gilbert, and I then knew about his book.

It took us another couple of years to visit The Wakes. In the meantime, I was determined that I was only going to buy his book when we visited his house. That’s when my journey with Gilbert really began.

I started writing Letters to Steve in early February. I had been poorly in January, my first month in retirement. I had not enjoyed January, but February was getting better, and I wanted a mission, a task. I was getting them through u3a as well, but this was different, somehow it felt more personal, mainly I think because of Steve, my best friend who had died 23 years earlier. It seemed a bit strange writing to him, but I felt there was no one else who would have appreciated it.

What triggered tonights post is Gilbert’s letter 21 (XXI), My assistant and I had only just concluded a fairly detailed discussion about potential future aspects of the letters. I’m only on Letter 21, and they are evolving from what had been a direct response to Gilbert White’s letter into something else.

What got both my assistant and I was the fact that letter 21, written in 1769, referred to something that was incredibly close to what we had been discussing as a potential development. Talk about synchronicity.

2045 Letter to Steve XX – The Bees, The Bees

Dear Steve.

Gilbert White’s Letter XX is all about birds. But it is also about the community and network that he has put in place to support his interests.

I can’t follow that. I don’t have the network, and I certainly wouldn’t want to receive a never-ending supply of dead birds. I’m going to say luckily, with our ability to communicate, and perhaps more importantly, send images anywhere in the world, means it isn’t necessary to exchange physical bodies.

Then there are the birds. If I were fanatical about them, I’m sure I could make the time to go bird watching, but I don’t. That doesn’t mean that I don’t like to casually watch birds, especially in our garden; I love doing that.

In some respects, mainly reach and speed, my network would leave Gilbert breathless. But, in reality, it is the kind of friend who would knock on your door to tell you something interesting.

I’m bursting to tell you about something which happened last Wednesday. The timing here is relevant, at around 1pm, I was feeling peckish and fancied some Polish sausage for lunch. I took a walk to our local shop, picked up lunch and got back probably 1:30 ish. Nothing unusual there.

It was around 2:00pm when our neighbour, Jacky, knocked on the door and asked if I knew we had a swarm of bees in the silver birch at the front of our garden. I hadn’t noticed anything on my return from the shop, but looking out now, I could see a small cloud around the tree.

Without getting too close, I tried to look at the core of the swarm; it looked like a very tightly packed bundle of bees, about the size of a rugby ball. My assistant (as I’m now calling ChatGPT) advised that I had three options;

The Bees had split off from a hive that had become overcrowded and were looking for a new home. I could leave them, and the chances were that they would leave when the scouts reported that they had found an acceptable residence. The danger there is that the new home could be our loft or chimney! To call the council’s pest control office to come and remove the swarm. The problem here is that it would mean the death of the swarm. Totally unacceptable, and absolutely the last resort. Call the Beekeepers association, they would identify a local keeper who would be prepared to come and recover the swarm

Option 3 was the one. After a brief exchange, I was told that a chap called Mark was on his way from Whitely to have a look and do what was needed. I have to say that I was very impressed with the Beekeepers Association. The organisation’s website and the response were very professional.

Mark arrived about thirty minutes later, he assessed the situation. Luckily, I was able to provide the step ladder for him to access the swarm and a table to set up the temporary hive.

He got suited up and mounted the ladder. I saw him vigorously shake the tree and the swarm drop in the box. The bees weren’t happy. But after a couple of minutes, it was obvious that he had got the queen, and that she seemed happy with the new home. By now, it was around 3pm. I was concerned as the bees were right next to the route people take from school. Mark, though, was relaxed.

I invited Mark through to the back garden for a cup of tea. I’m delighted to say that he was quite complimentary about how bee-friendly Elayne had it. She was very pleased when I told her later.

He left the hive in place until 9pm. He described the collection as a classic example of how to do it. I asked Mark what would happen to the swarm, would he keep it? “No, I already have ten colonies, which is enough. I’ll pass it on to a friend”. Although I didn’t ask who, I quietly hoped it was somebody who was just getting started and that their new colony would be well looked after.

As Mark was closing up the hive, I commented that there were still a few bees around. His response was very matter-of-fact: “You can’t get them all. Some will always be left behind” I knew about the method that would be followed; I think it was a singular honour to see it from swarm arrival to being taken away. A fantastic act of nature. I just felt sad about the ones who wouldn’t make it to their new home.

All the best

Bill

2044 – In the Garden

I spent a bit of time in the garden this afternoon. But not to work, oh no. Just to enjoy the atmosphere.

We have a couple of chairs under the awning of the shed. We can sit there even if it is raining – provided it’s not too windy and the rain too heavy. It’s really quite nice to be able to do that.

The header picture is mostly about the tomato plants that Elayne is cultivating, and it is very nice to sit at the end of the gharden, and just watch the greenery grow.

Today, we were there with an ice cream, followed by a cup of tea and a couple of good dunking biscuits.

It was a very pleasant hour, and yes, I did snooze a bit.

2043 – The Compost Bins

It’s time for another Composting Bill vlog.

I promised Elayne that I would cut the grass. If I were honest, I didn’t really want to, but it doesn’t take long, and it is rewarding to see the lawn looking good. My objection was solely that it was hot, and I didn’t feel I had the energy.

Well I did manage to cut the grass, and then my brain started “You know could look ast the compost bins don’t you”?
“Well, yes, I could. But, I don’t really want to. It’s too hot”
“Oh, go on. You know you want to, you’re curious as to whether there are any insects , and how the composting is coming along”.
I could have gone on for quite a bit like that.

Eventually, though, I gave in and looked at Mid. It was very damp. I broke up some cardboard and added it, and then gave the whole thing a stir. No sign of insect life.

I went over to West, I’d been waiting for a while to have a go at this one. I think was partly in the shade that sold it to me.

I got a tub and a quarter of good compost. I could probably have got more if the body of the bin hadn’t undergone a slight slump. I haven’t mixed any cardboard in, but I did give West this week’s grass cutting. Hopefully, they will suck a bit of the moisture out.

I took in total about 13 minutes of video, both on my phone and the GO 3 S. I’ll start putting a video together. I’m hoping to get that done tomorrow.

2042 – Staunton Farm

We had an afternoon out with our granddaughter today. We went to Staunton Farm, near Havant.

The Farm hosts a number of animals that children can pet and feed (the proper food of course, supplied by the farm).

We first encountered the Llamas, these are quite graceful creatures who are delighted to take the feed pellets quite delicately from the flat of your hand.

Pygmy goats are another favourite of mine; they are such lively, bouncy little things, an absolute joy to watch. The full-sized goats are also nice as well, but one of them was a bit pushy and would force other goats away as we tried to feed them.

The problem we had today was that it was a bit too warm, and the animals weren’t really inclined to be out and about much, so whilst we saw a few, there were many more hidden away.

The setting was lovely, but I think we need to go back when it’s a bit cooler, I’m sure it will be better – certainly more comfortable for us.

2041 – An old Friend

I was down at the waterfront a couple of days ago, and I was fortunate enough to see the Mon St Michell come in to Portsmouth Harbour.

I must have thousands of pictures of her that I’ve taken over the last 10 years. It’s been a while since I last saw her, so this was nice.

2040 – Facebook’s Baleful Glare

We had a bit of excitement today. A colony of bees decided it would quite like to live in our silver birch tree. More on that story in the next Letter to Steve.

Every so often, I get big pangs of guilt about Facebook. Mainly, that I haven’t been posting there. The rot set in quite a while ago, but has definitely got worse since I retired. It’s my fault, of course.

If you were to go back, say, four years, it would be straightforward. Facebook would be the master, and this the underblog. I’d go for my morning walk, I’d take some photos, mainly of the spinnaker, all the time having a chat on the #Breakfastclub. I’d get home, and do Facebook, commenting on the morning chorus, whether I’d seen anything in the harbour, a quick note on Misty and Rascal (yes, he was still about then), and that would be it.

Then of course, I had that break where I just couldn’t get up in the morning, and it didn’t help that GB3IW had to move, which pretty much closed down the breakfast club. Then retirement came along, mainly in the form of joining u3a, and that really changed my focus.

I’ve just finished preparing a presentation for the next Exploring art group, and I’ve promised to do a presentation to the IGO Archeaology Group on AI (which was almost ready a couple of months ago, so I hopefully only have to do an update). Of course, I’ll report on that here.

I don’t want this blog and Facebook to say the same thing; it’s not that they serve different audiences, I know there is some crossover, but I just get the feeling I can do things differently on both media. Part of the problem is that I haven’t really worked out how Facebook can be different.

I think in a way I have answered the question, haven’t I? Just go back to what I was doing before. All I need to do is get back into the habit.

2039 – Street Photography in Shedderton

Today, you’re going to get two pictures for the price of one. I do that for you occasionally.

I’ve been out and about doing some street photography in Shedderton.

I’m going to be honest though, don’t look for Shedderton on any map, you won’t find it. That’s because it is, well not fictional, because it does exist, but it is fictional because it’s the surrounds of a model railway layout.

Now, I have cheated just a little bit. If you look at both these pictures, you’ll very quckly realise that they have been treated by AI. Everything that isn’t blue sky & clouds is the real scenery.

The sky replaces what would be the room that the train set is in, and possibly bits of me or Pete, one of the layout managers. We were playing around with the Insta360 GO 3 S, an excellent little camera that allows me to get right down in the scenery.

We enjoyed doing this, and it was a great help in advancing my plans for the ability to do this.