Specimens

Finally met up with one of the top odonatologists of Malaysia, the dragonflyman, Ian Choong, himself.  

It was a short meeting but getting to meet an odonatologist and talk about dragonfly species and behaviour and our quest for dragonflies is something I don't get to do everyday.  And I have been looking forward to meeting Ian for quite a long time, so I really enjoyed the hour chatting with him.

Also, I was on a mission.

Last year, I'd met up with Robin Ngiam, the odonatologist from Singapore, and Wei Ling, and we went exploring.  There were several species that are not found in Singapore but can be found here and Robin had a list of species which he'd like to look at.  So we had great day out dragonfly hunting.  Anyway, during their short holiday here, two specimens were collected.  And since then, these specimens have sat in a container in my freezer.  

Yes, like a dragonfly morgue of some sort.

Finally, these specimens have been handed to Ian so that he can take a really good look at them and determine its correct species.

I had a great sigh of relief when Ian checked both specimens and they were still in good condition. 

Whew!

Perhaps we'll have another species to add to the checklist for Langkawi..... or maybe even two?

C O M P O S T I N G..... continued.....

I'm still keeping an eye on that pot of Japanese Bamboo......

Simply because it fascinates me!

Here's a photo taken in early June when I first noticed the new sprout that had emerged from the soil.

It caught my attention as this new sprout was so much thicker compared to the other existing stems.

 How tall did it grow?

Five months later, this giant new sprout is now almost touching the roof, has finally decided its reached a dizzying enough height and has started sprouting leaves.

 Anyway, that gave me the idea to pick a few leaves from various stems for comparison.

The smallest leaf on the left was plucked from a much older stem that's several years old.  

After I'd started composting, the stems grew thicker and so did the leaves.
The largest leaf on the right is from a stem that's at least a year old now.

There are more new sprouts emerging in the pot.....

It's difficult to understand why people are still not composting their vegetable scraps?

It's nourishing the plants in your garden and helps reduce the amount of trash that goes to the landfill.

Take a look at my neighbour's neglected Japanese Bamboo plants.....

 See the difference?

I hope you will start composting today!