Dear Steve,
Reading Gilbert’s letter XXXIII about the migration of birds and how UK birds can be found in places like Gibraltar. That led me to ask; “what should I do if I find a ringed bird”? My thinking being that if I were to find a dead bird with a ring on its leg, to whom should I report it? I now know that it is the British Trust for Ornithology and that they have lots of projects in which I could become involved if I so wished.
Meaning that unless I happen upon something that may be worth reporting, I am unlikely to become involved in any.
I had made my mind up, during the week that I wasn’t going to wait any longer for a passion fruit to drop of its own accord. I was going to take samples. I found one fruit that looked in reasonable health, and one that looked a lot less healthy, and cut them off the bush.
I didn’t squeeze them, but for both, the outer skin was almost loose, feeling like there was nothing underneath it. Very difficult to describe. At my desk, as gently as I could, I cut into the healthier of the two. I was surprised to find the seed pod inside looked intact, and to be honest,little different to the first time I cut open a more mature fruit. The only conclusion I can come to is that it looks like the development of the seeds had reached a point and then stopped. The seeds in the pod were grouped together, and were very moist. I’d say that individually, they were not ready to be dispersed naturally. I don’t have enough knowledge about the plant’s life cycle to say what the seeds would look like when they were at that point.
The second, less healthy looking pod had what, through my inexperience, I can only describe as a lesion on the skin. My expectations before I cut it open, was that the seeds I side would be in a state of severe deterioration. You can probably imagine my surprise then, when I found the seeds to relatively intact, and in a similar state to the first pod.
Before I tried to cut into the lesion I noticed that it was surface only it hadn’t gone through the skin to the inside, that surprised me. I only made one small attempt to cut in, and then left it.
The one thing I forgot to do, was look at anything under the microscope. The stupid thing is, I’d brought the microscope out of storage for that purpose.
I did a bit of a round trip yesterday. On the way, I picked up a couple of acorns, I haven’t looked them yet, but I will do for the next letter.
All the very best
Bill
Link to previous letter
Link to Index of Letters to Steve
