The Magic of Butterflies and Moths is my latest book published by Moon Books. It will be available on 24 February 2023, but it can be preordered now. As the title suggests I take a look at what can be considered as magical about these amazing insects. Everyone is familiar with the incredible transformation from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis and then to adult butterfly but there are many more astounding facts about butterflies and moths.
Swallowtail caterpillars
I first became fascinated by these insects when I was a little boy. I used to keep caterpillars in jam jars and other containers. I learned then that you had to feed the larvae with the right types of plants. I also learned that some chrysalises and pupae have a short time before they emerge as adults, while others must wait many months and go right through the winter and the spring months before eclosing in early summer. Many species of butterfly and moth embark on lengthy migrations at specific times of the year. They can fly incredibly long distances and cross seas. The Monarch is probably most famous of all for its annual migration from the lower part of Canada and the most northerly American states right down to Florida, California and Mexico. It overwinters in the south and in the spring it begins the migration northwards.
Monarch butterfly
I take a look at butterflies that live in the most inhospitable areas where you would probably think these insects cannot be found. But there are butterflies that live within the Arctic circle, in Lapland and Siberia. Some butterflies have extraordinary life cycles. There are species of Blue butterfly that depend on specific species of ants finding their caterpillars. The ants take the caterpillars into their nests where when fully grown the butterfly larvae become chrysalises. The very rare Large Blue is a species that is like this.
Many species of butterfly and moth employ elaborate camouflage as adults and as caterpillars to help protect them from predators. When their wings are folded some species look like dead leaves as adults, some caterpillars look like twigs. Other types have displays and warning colours of bold contrasting hues that are a signal that says “do not eat me because I will poison you!” There are moth species that cannot feed as adults, there are many others in which the females are not only unable to eat but they cannot fly either. Yet the caterpillars of these species are some of the most gaudy and exotic looking of all. Some moths, such as the weird looking Death’s-head Hawk-moth have become the subject of superstitions. Because it has an odd skull-like marking on its thorax and because it has weird behaviour such as the ability to squeak, this moth was regarded as a bad omen.
Death's-head Hawkmoth
As well as the appearances and behaviour of many species of butterfly and moth I take a look at what we can do to help them. There is a chapter devoted to butterfly gardening, as well as a list of some organisations where you can find out more about butterfly (and moth) conservation.
The Magic of Butterflies and Moths has some wonderful endorsements from people such as Rebecca of Rebecca’s Butterfly Farm who said: “Lovely stories and lots of amazing facts.” Paul Hetherington, Buglife Director of Fundraising and Communications described my book like this: “The Magic of Butterflies and Moths is just what is needed to help people understand and have friendlier relationships with these incredible insects, a major goal of our No Insectinction campaign.”
My book will be available from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk as well as many other book suppliers around the world. Just Google “Steve Andrews The Magic of Butterflies and Moths” and pick up your copy.
My new book Saving Mother Ocean is part of the Earth Spirit series from Moon Books and was published on 26 November 2012. It opens with a quote from Captain Paul Watson, founder of Sea Shepherd, and he says: “If the ocean dies, we die.” I chose this quotation when writing my book because it sums up what a serious situation this is. Most people are aware of the plastic pollution problem but there are many more threats to the oceans. Overfishing, seabed mining, acidification, sonar and military testing, nuclear waste dumping, pollution from other sources besides plastic, and climate change, are all taking a heavy toll. Coral reefs are in danger from coral bleaching. I cover all these subjects in my book, taking a look at the problems. I look at solutions too and explain my personal journey, and what taking action has meant for me. Really this is an important part of my message to readers, because I am hoping to inspire as many people as possible to take action that is suited to their lives. We can all do something to help save the seas, and save the environment and life as we know it on this planet. I mention Greta Thunberg several times as an example of a person who decided she had to do all she could and to encourage others to do likewise. In fact, I have devoted a whole chapter, entitled “Let The Children Lead Us” to young activists who have spoken out and made changes in their lives because they felt a calling to do this. Speaking of young people, who are activists, I included 13-year-old Lilly Platt, who is a Global Youth Ambassador and is most famous for her lillysplasticpickup project.
Lilly collects plastic and other litter and displays what she has done on social media. Many people around the world are cleaning up beaches and their local environment, and this is spreading. I talk about how reduction is so important, reduction of the amount of plastic we buy, reduction of the amounts going into the environment, and reduction in all the ways that the consumerist world we live in is destroying nature. I have included the story behind my songs, “Where Does All The Plastic Go?”
and “Time For Ocean Aid” and how I came up with the idea for “Ocean Aid” concerts. I have been getting publicity around the world, for my songs, book and idea. So far Italy, Portugal, Spain, Wales, England, Ireland, Australia, and the US, are the countries that have given me a platform to discuss plastic pollution and other threats to the oceans. Taking action can open all sorts of unexpected doorways. An example of one of these, has resulted in me becoming a Rotarian. The Rotary Club of Wyndham Harbour in Australia discovered me on Instagram and featured me in their The Wave magazine pages 80 and 81. I began attending Rotary meetings online and discovered not only were there many Rotarians keen on listening to what I had to say, but also very many who were environmentalists and activists worldwide. I went on to join ESRAG (Environmental Sustainability Rotary Action). The fact that it was an Australian club that featured me fitted well with how I look at the problem of the threats to Mother Ocean. The oceans do not belong to anyone, we all share them, and depend on them, so the more countries that want to help me raise awareness the better. I am really pleased to be able to announce that Saving Mother Ocean is available from good book suppliers in most parts of the world. Just try Googling it where you are. I am also delighted with the endorsements my book has had, and the reviews that are starting to be shared.
I was honoured to have Captain Paul Watson’s endorsement, which is included on the back cover, and I will leave the last word to him: “Steve Andrews understands that the key to defending and protecting life and diversity in the Ocean is to use what you are good at to find solutions to seemingly impossible problems. The strength of an eco-system depends upon diversity and interdependence within it. By harnessing our passions to the virtues of courage and imagination we can find impossible solutions to seemingly impossible problems. Saving Mother Ocean is inspiring, informative and a call to action by all of us to save the Mother to all of us - the Ocean.”
My protest song about plastic pollution entitled Where Does All The Plastic Go? has had some great media coverage, but it needs a lot more. The song has been featured in a national newspaper in Portugal and in a recent book from Italy. It would be wonderful if the British mainstream media would report on it too.
The Portugal News
Last September, The Portugal News included an article about my song after I was interviewed by Kim Schiffmann, who is one of the newspaper’s writers. There was a photo of me on the front page too and a caption which said: “Singing Against Pollution p11.” The Portugal News is a national newspaper in the English language and read by many an expat.
My song also received airplay in Portugal on Roque Duarte’s Sonic Fine Cut show on esradio.pt (Eclectic Sounds Radio) and Nação Sónica.The video for Where Does All The Plastic Go? had been made in Portugal by Filipe Rafael, and the song is included in my album Songs of The Now and Then, which is available as an environmentally packaged CD with a recycled egg box CD tray, or as a digital release on bandcamp. On Facebook, the video has had over 19,000 views.
Where Does All The Plastic Go? is also available for streaming and downloads at Reverb Nation.
SPAM: Stop Plastica A Mare and Ocean Aid
Meanwhile in Italy, Where Does All The Plastic Go? Has received some wonderful publicity thanks to Filippo Solibello, who is a top radio presenter and author there. He has included an entire chapter about me and my song in his book SPAM Stop Plastic A Mare, which he has been touring extensively to promote. He even got a copy of his book to Pope Francis.
Filippo has been showing the video of my song to audiences in Italy and also spreading word about my idea for an Ocean Aid concert to raise awareness on an international level, and as a fund-raiser for charitable organisations that are working to save the oceans and marine life in them. I think some very famous names would want to be involved if a massive concert could be organised, like Band Aid and Live Aid but this time it would be Ocean Aid. Many stars from the world of music, such as Ed Sheeran, Mick Jagger, Kanye West, Cerys Matthews, Chrissie Hynde and Brian May, have spoken out about plastic pollution but I think I am leading the way when it comes to songs on the subject.
Music Interview Magazine
I am very grateful to Music Interview Magazine for publishing an in depth interview with me in which I explain about how I became alarmed about the ongoing threat from plastic. I mention David de Rothschild and how he sailed The Plastiki across the Pacific Ocean back in 2010. This was when I started following his work as an environmentalist and learned how bad the plastic pollution problem really is. Sadly, in the years that have gone by since then the size of the problem has multiplied on a mind-boggling scale, and we really do need to find ways of stopping it getting any worse and of getting as much of the plastic that is out there in the oceans out of them. Plastic is now everywhere. As micro-plastics it is in the air, soil and water. The environment worldwide has been contaminated by plastic pollution and plastic has entered the food chain which goes right up to us. This is why I sing: “Plastic kills the turtles and is eaten by the fish, plastic’s in the food chain and the dinner on your dish!” Please help me spread the word about my song and idea for an Ocean Aid concert. Plastic pollution affects everybody!
I think the late Daniel Quinn was a genius, and his books, Ishmael and The Story of B, have answered questions I had, as well as giving me a new view on how the world got in the mess it is in today. I have gained a useful understanding from reading his work, and while this is all very well and good, I find myself asking: What can I do? Quinn said in interviews that this was a question he had often been asked by his fans, fans who had understood the points he was making in his work and felt moved to want to take action. The author’s answer was to go out and get 100 more people to understand. So, this is what I am trying to do here. The idea is that if 100 people understand Quinn’s theories, that they can get another 100, and that 100 can get another 100. The word will keep spreading and eventually there will be enough change in how the world is run, and this will help stop the world being destroyed. So let me tell you about my understanding of what Quinn was saying in his work. Let me introduce you to Ishmael!
Ishmael
Gorilla (Photo: Public Domain/Pixabay)
The character of Ishmael is actually a gorilla, but he becomes a teacher for the narrator of the story. Ishmael challenges the storyteller and the reader with his questions and statements. Ishmael makes the point that all of us have been conditioned by our “Mother Culture” to share beliefs, and this culture has spread globally. It is the culture responsible for world religions, world politics, global corporations, and the daily damage being inflicted on the natural world. It is responsible for consumerism, for wasting natural resources, and for the crazy belief that humans are superior to other animals, and that the world is made for them to use as they please. This has led humans from this culture to be at war, not only with other humans and themselves, but with nature. They see nature as something to be conquered. The verb “conquer” is frequently used in common speech. For example, a mountain climber is conquering a mountain. Humans like this do not see that they are as much a part of nature as the natural world they are attempting to conquer and use.
Quinn puts forward the idea that this all began about 10,000 years ago, at the dawn of civilisation, as it is taught. We have been told that civilisation began in the Middle East area, when great cultures like the Phoenicians, the Babylonians, Sumerians and Egyptians began building cities, using writing, and living in a civilised way. It is as if everything that went before this was of little consequence, primitive, and not worth talking about. These early civilisations went in for agriculture in a big way. It enabled them to settle in one location and to feed the many people who lived and worked in the cities. But according to Quinn, it was what he calls “Totalitarian agriculture,” and I will explain more about this later. But what went before these cultures and societies were hundreds of thousands of years, in which people were living on the planet and getting along fine. We don’t hear about this period of human history. I never did, when I was in school. So the greatest span of time in which humans were living on the planet is more or less unaccounted for by Mother Culture. It has been very conveniently forgotten about. Quinn calls this the “Great Forgetting.” The very many tribal peoples that lived before civilisation were hunter-gatherers, agriculturalists and combinations of these life-support lifestyles. Some practiced the herding of animals, like goats and sheep. Many still do but they are at odds with the advancement of global civilisation and development that has no problem with taking these peoples’ lands, mining them, polluting them, and destroying environments and the ways of life of indigenous people.
The Takers and The Leavers
Ishmael, who by now we realise is voicing Quinn’s ideas, calls the cultures that were the ones recorded in history as the civilised societies, the “Takers.” Not in the book, but later on in his life he regretted using this term because it has been misunderstood, but I will use it here. The rest of the world, in other words, all tribal and indigenous peoples, were, and still are the “Leavers.” There are and were fundamental differences in what these cultures believed. Quinn, speaking as Ishmael, explains that the takers violated and continue to violate the “Law of Limited Competition” that all the rest of the animal world and that all Leavers obey. He explains this law in this way: “You may compete to the full extent of your capabilities, but you may not hunt down your competitors or destroy their food or deny them access to food.” The Takers hold the view that the Earth was made for them, that they are superior in the knowledge and lifestyles to the Leaver cultures, which they regard as primitive, and that they have the right to take what they want and do what they want. Biblical scriptures in Genesis 1:28 back up their views: ‘God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground."’ This is indeed, what has happened. Humans have increased so much that we now have over 7 billion, and many humans of the Takers who follow the Mother Culture and are in positions of power, have been thinking they are right to rule over all living creatures.The Takers feel that it is right to enforce their ways, their culture, their religions and their consumerism upon the Leavers and the rest of the world. This is where the Takers are “breaking the law,” according to Quinn. No other culture amongst the Leavers does this or has done. There are and were many other cultures! Salvation and Prophets At the same time that the Mother Culture of the Takers holds this view that it is right and that it should be enforced on the rest of the world, all the major religions followed by the Takers teach that humans are flawed and need some form of spiritual salvation. The patriarchal religions teach that we are born sinners and need to repent. These religions all have prophets, who came to Earth to show us the way to God. The religions of the Far East, Buddhism and Hinduism, also teach that we are flawed and need to follow disciplines, meditation, the use of mantras, etc., to attain enlightenment or to free us from the cycle of birth-death-rebirth. We are taught that we have something wrong with us, and thus need to follow scriptures with the aid of priests and gurus. Mother Culture has spread these ideas worldwide in all civilised societies, where even those people who are atheists, still understand the concept of sin and salvation. All of these religions came about and all of these prophets are said to have been here within the last 6,000 years. The question that came to my mind is what about the hundreds of thousands of years before this? Why had I not thought about this before reading Quinn’s books? The author takes a far greater look at this in The Story of B. Totalitarian Agriculture
In the Takers “Totalitarian Agriculture” it is right to keep on increasing the amount of land farmed. It is right to destroy all potential other animals and birds that can damage the crops or eat farmed animals, and it is right to prevent them from having access to their natural food. It is easy to think of lots of examples of this, where animals such as wolves, coyotes, pumas, and foxes are hunted and culled. Sea mammals are not spared. Seals are killed because they might eat fish that humans want. Seals might take fish from fish farms, so they must be shot. This stops the animal having access to its natural food, classes it as an enemy and kills it. I have recently been reading reports of seals shot in Shetland because they are viewed as a threat to salmon farms.This culling is currently in progress in many places where birds and mammals are regarded as a threat to farmed crops and farmed animals. Quinn points out that only people of the Takers do this. Only Takers break the Law of Limited Competition. Feeding the Starving Millions Quinn explains that followers of the Mother Culture talk a lot about feeding the starving millions. Increased farming is given as the way to help these people by increasing food production. However, in reality even though the amount of land given over to farming is increased, the millions continue to starve. Food is unfairly distributed and often wasted in vast amounts, and this is becoming common knowledge. It is a myth that there is insufficient food for the people on the planet. What does continue to happen from the increased food production is an increase in population numbers. People from all classes of society, including those very poor ones in the starving millions, continue to reproduce and the population continues to rise. Many people die but still the population is increasing. Quinn points out that with all forms of life, increased food sources means an increase in population. Peoples of the Leaver tribes do not do this, so their numbers stay within the natural resources of the areas they are in. Quinn is not putting forward the idea that the Leaver peoples do not have conflict with other neighbouring peoples but they work out a system whereby each tribe has a territory. It has its own culture and belief system but it does not attempt to convert the rest of the world to its ways of living, unlike those of the Takers. Human population growth is continuing to use resources, destroy the environment worldwide and drive an increasing number of other species to extinction, estimated by scientists to be as much as 200 species a day. It is easy to see that the ways of the Takers are endangering all life on this planet.
Conclusion The above represents my understanding of Quinn’s philosophical ideas. The author has given me a new way of thinking. This is what is needed. We need to think about where our beliefs are coming from. We need to understand we have all been influenced by the Mother Culture and are living in a world held in its power. Something big has got to change and each of us can contribute to that change. So what do I recommend? I recommend reading Quinn’s books and watching the interviews with him included in this blog. Hopefully you will then want to find the next hundred to spread the word!
Why the Ancient Herbalists Assigned Herbs to Astrological Rulers
Nicholas Culpeper (Photo: Public Domain)
As far as we know, there are no more planets in this Solar System that have plants growing on them, though some people have suggested there may be vegetation of some sort on Mars. Ancient herbalists, however, had a system of assigning herbs to planetary rulers; in other words, they claimed that deities linked with the heavenly bodies held dominion over herbs that grow on Earth. Let us take a look at a selection of herbs that were placed under the astrological ruling of other planets, and see why it might have been that herbalists, like Culpeper, decided to assign them to specific heavenly rulers.
Herbs of Mars
Dragon Tree (Photo: Public Domain)
Nicholas Culpeper was one of the most famous herbalists who believed that medicinal and culinary plants could be grouped in this way, according to their various characteristics that were linked to those of a specific god or goddess. For example, because Mars was regarded as the god of war, herbs that had something aggressive about their physical appearance or something that resembled blood, were candidates for being ruled by this planet. The strange Dragon Tree (Dracaena draco) is a perfect example of a herb ruled by Mars because it has sword-shaped leaves, reddish-coloured berries and it bleeds a resinous sap that goes a dark red when dry and is known as dragon’s blood. The Dragon Tree comes from the Canary Islands, and a specimen in the town of Icod de los Vinos is thought to be 1,000-years-old or more. It is known as the "Drago Milenario," has its own park, and is a tourist attraction nowadays.
Steve Andrews explains why the Dragon Tree is a herb of Mars
Mistletoe (Photo: Public Domain)
Herbs of the Sun
Herbs of the Sun include the Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) and the Chamomile (Anthemis nobilis). These two plants have petals that radiate out from a central disk like the rays of the Sun, and the Sunflower is, of course, a bright yellow, which is a colour linked with the central star of our Solar System. The St John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum) is another herb in this group. It has yellow star-shaped flowers and is harvested in midsummer when the Sun is at its strongest and the days are at their longest. St John’s Wort has become well-known as a herbal antidepressant, and one of its alternative names is Sunshine Herb. Mistletoe (Viscum album) is an herb of the Sun because it was traditionally harvested by Druids at the time of the Winter Solstice. It was cut down from an oak tree using a golden sickle.
White Water Lily (Photo: Public Domain)
Herbs of the Moon
Herbs ruled by the Moon were often ones that are associated with water, because the Moon is linked with the oceans because it causes the tides. White flowers or a silvery colour on the foliage are other characteristics linked with the Moon, and plants that have something to do with the night might also be thought of as herbs of the Moon. The White Water Lily (Nymphaea alba) is a herb ruled by the Moon. This is because of its white flowers, rounded leaves, like full Moons, and because it grows in lakes and ponds. The Jasmine (Jasminum officinale) has white blooms and its perfume is strongest at night. The White Willow (Salix alba) is another herb under the dominion of the Moon. Willows, of course, like to grow by water. The Lettuce species (Lactuca spp.) are ruled by the Moon too. This is because they have a white milky sap if cut. This sap is known as "Lettuce opium" and has similar sedative effects.
Fennel (Photo: Public Domain)
Herbs of Mercury
Mercury was thought of as the messenger of the gods, so herbs ruled by this planet have to really communicate to us in some way. Strongly aromatic herbs were often chosen as herbs of Mercury. The Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is a great example of a herb in this group. It communicates to our senses with the visual appeal of its tall graceful stems and ferny foliage, to our tastes with its sweet and spicy flavour like aniseed, and with its scent like anise when crushed. It is used both as a culinary herb and in herbal medicine.
Periwinkle (Photo: Public Domain)
Herbs of Venus
Herbs ruled by Venus, not surprisingly include the Rose, which is a symbol of love and passion, and, of course, Venus is the Goddess of Love. The pretty blue-flowered Periwinkle (Vinca spp.) is another herb in this group, and this is because it has been used in love potions and spells. It was thought that merely sprinkling this herb under the bed of a couple of lovers would increase their passion. In fact, the Periwinkle is a poisonous plant but that never stopped it being linked with love.
Lime Tree (Photo: Public Domain)
Herbs of Jupiter
Jupiter is a giant planet and expansion is one of the characteristics associated with it as a planetary ruler. Various trees come under its dominion because of their spreading branches. One of them is the Lime Tree (Tilia spp.), a tree which gives us lime flower tea, which is known to help relaxation and is very popular in many parts of Europe. It was once thought that anyone suffering from epilepsy would be healed by merely sitting under a Lime's branches. The Oak (Quercus) is a very important and sacred tree for Druids, and it too comes under the rulership of Jupiter.
Deadly Nightshade (Photo: Public Domain)
Herbs of Saturn
Saturn is another gigantic planet and famous for its rings. To the Ancient Herbalists it was associated with the passing of time and with old age and death. It symbolises the “Grim Reaper.” Many poisonous herbs come under its dominion. The Deadly Nightshade (Atropa belladonna), the Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger), Hemlock (Conium maculatum) and Monkshood (Aconitum napellus) are all very dangerous herbs that were once used by witches as ingredients for their “flying ointments.” The Morning Glory (Ipomoea violacea) is another herb under the dominion of Saturn. Its flower has a circular mouth to a funnel-shape and could remind us of the Rings of Saturn. Its seeds, especially in varieties like "Heavenly Blue," contain lysergic acid amide, which as hallucinogenic effects and has often been used by hippies and shamans because of this. This flower looks so beautiful it could be from another world, and its psychoactive effects could make you feel like you were on one.
Morning Glory (Photo: Steve Andrews)
In Conclusion
Thinking about how the herbalists assigned various herbs to the rulership of planetary deities, according to their characteristics, certainly makes for a fascinating study and something for us to think about. My new book Herbs of the Sun, Moon and Planets (Moon Books) explores this subject in greater detail.
Herbs of the Sun, Moon and Planets explained by author Steve Andrews
When I was a boy, as well as tropical fish, stick insects and exotic silk moths I kept as pets, I also used to keep newts. In spring, which was the season for newts, I used to catch them in a large pond in a local park, which was called Fairwater Park, but was referred to by me and my friends as “The Dell.” I always used to wear my Wellingtons for trips to this park and carry a bucket with me, into which I put whatever I caught.
Melissa Houghton taking photos at Fairwater Park pond (Photo: Steve Andrews)
The pond in Fairwater Park was very untended by humans and had large masses of grass growing in it and around the edges, it had willow trees and bushes, and brambles coming right down to the water in some parts. It was wild and how it should be! It had large clumps of bulrushes and much of the water surface was covered in floating leaves of amphibious persicary, broad-leaved pondweed and duckweed. The pond was basically full of aquatic vegetation with very little open water. It had plenty of brown stinking mud and would ooze methane bubbles when you stepped in it.
Nepa cinerea the Water Scorpion (Photo: Public Domain)
Many species of aquatic life lived in this pond. There were ramshorn snails, water scorpions, water mites, water bugs and diving beetles, pond-skaters, water measurers and water crickets, caddis fly larvae in their cases made from broken bits of vegetation and water snail shells, and medicinal leeches that can suck your blood.
These leeches, by the way, are now a very rare species in Britain. I am pretty sure, without checking current statistics, that many of the other species I have listed have drastically declined in numbers too.
But getting back to Fairwater Park pond, as it once was, it was an ideal habitat for newts. All three species found in Britain bred there. You could find common newts, palmate newts and great crested newts, which last-named species is now endangered, and often gets in news stories because it has been found somewhere that was scheduled for development.
I used to catch newts, mainly by hand. I would part the weeds, spot a newt and swiftly grab it. I took my captures home and kept them in aquariums I had set up for them. In those days, you could legally catch and keep these amphibians, but this is not the case now, and for good reasons, because there are a lot less newts around now, when compared to the numbers in the UK when I was a boy.
What I loved about newts was their amazing colours. The male common and great crested newts have high frilly crests and underneath their bodies they have orange bellies spotted with black. Palmate newt males have dark webbing on their hind feet that can grow so much that it looks like they have squares of skin around their toes. They also have tiny thin filaments sticking out the end of their tails. I really don’t know why. Female palmate newts look very like female common newts but there is a difference, though it is hard to explain. The female palmates are an olive-brown or dark brown with pale bellies. The common newt females are a different shade of brown and slightly more colourful underneath. Newts have little hands and cute sparkling eyes. They have to swim up to the surface every now and then to take a gulp of air. They are fascinating to watch. The females have no crests and are not colourful like the males, but they have their own charm. They lay their eggs in water plants, carefully wrapping each egg in a leaf.
I used to enjoy keeping the newt tadpoles too and watching them grow bigger and bigger, and losing their gills to become miniature newts that could leave the water, just like their parents could do. I used to feed my adult newts mostly on very small earthworms and the newt tadpoles fed on daphnia, which are tiny crustaceans, also known as water fleas.
Nodding Burr-marigold (Photo: Public Domain)
Sometimes I found sick newts in the pond. Sometimes they had seeds of the spiky burr-marigold embedded in their mouths. I could sometimes help the newt by prying the seed out but not always. Also some newts had dropsy and their bodies became very swollen so they could not swim properly. They would sadly die but there were plenty more healthy ones.
It used to sadden me, though, seeing what some boys used to do. They would catch great crested newts, which they incorrectly called salamanders, and put them on the grass where they would take turns in throwing knives at the poor amphibians. These boys took pleasure in the suffering they caused the newts and it made me sad but I was too scared to stop them because I knew they would beat me up. I didn’t like a lot of boys. I found them violent and destructive. I much preferred being out in nature on my own or with a few good friends I trusted. Boys I didn’t know, and many boys I did know, I began seeing as a source of potential danger to be avoided. This was to go into my ideas about male humans, so I grew up thinking men and boys were more dangerous than women and girls.
But getting back to the newts, it was many years later and I was in my late teens but still living at home. I had seen an advert for the Cardiff Naturalists Trust and thought it would be a good idea to get in touch with these people to tell them about the great crested newts, which I knew were very rare. Incidentally, my good friend and fellow author C.J. Stone has also told this story. Anyway, I wrote a letter and sent it to the address of the organisation, and in due course, I received a reply from someone who was in charge, thanking me for my information but saying he had done a “preliminary pond dip” but had found no evidence of great crested newts in the pond, as I had described. He asked if it would be OK if he called on me so I should show him some of these newts and asked me to catch a few. I agreed to this and caught some great crested newts and put them in a bucket. When the man and his wife called at my parents’ house I was all ready to show them I was correct. The man in charge of the Cardiff Naturalists group was amazed but could see for himself that I had some specimens of this species. He asked if we could go up to the pond so I could show him how I caught them. I put my boots on and off we set in his car. When we got to the pond I waded slowly into the water, parted some of the floating grasses and weeds, spotted a newt and grabbed it. “Got one,” I said, as I put the newt into my bucket. “And another,” I added as I caught one more. Within about 10 minutes I had managed to catch several great crested newts and showed the man from the naturalists group how I did it. He was impressed and thanked me again, saying he would see to it that some work was done to make sure the pond was a safe habitat for this rare species of amphibian in future. I was glad I had got in touch with the Cardiff Naturalists and felt proud of my efforts. My attitude was to change drastically though many weeks later when I saw what had been done to the pond in The Dell. Large masses of weeds and grass had been dredged out and thrown on the banks, big spaces of open water had been created, and marginal vegetation had been cut back or destroyed. The pond was no longer wild, like Mother Nature intended. It had been cleaned up and made to fit what people thought it should be like. People like big spaces of water but newts don’t because they can easily be seen by predators.
They like weedy ponds where they can hunt, look for mates, and lay their eggs. I regretted my part in having alerted the local organisation to this, and have carried that regret onward because there were never anywhere near as many newts there after that. In the years that followed further work was done at the pond. Water lilies were planted, a big space of open water was kept that way, a wooden landing stage was erected, so people could look out over the pond more easily, and the grass and plants that grew around the edges were often cut back. Now admittedly the pond looked a lot nicer, more like a pond you might have in a painting or on a postcard perhaps, but a lot of wildlife stayed away, apart from some ducks.
Ducks at The Dell (Photo: Steve Andrews)
Footnote: The above article is taken from an unfinished book of memoirs I started writing. Fortunately in many ways, due to the economic crisis and government cuts, the pond is not being tended to any more and vegetation has returned all around it and in it, as you can see in my photos, which were taken in 2015.
