Patience is a Virtue

 Astrology proves one scientific fact, and one only; there's one born every minute - Patrick Moore

Mary & I are proud to be citizen scientists: in addition to carrying out water testing on two local brooks in the Wye Catchment, we also do a breeding birds survey for the BTO, the Big Garden Birdwatch for the RSPB, and the Big Butterfly Count for Butterfly Conservation, and the Hereford City Nature Challenge. We have recently installed iNaturalist app on our phones so that we can identify and map the location of insects, plants, animals and birds; these data will be used by researchers for various nature-based projects.

I was cleaning/sterilizing my Greenhouse Sensation Veg/Salad Planter today and came across this beauty on the underside of the reservoir. I added it to my iNaturalist 'finds' and within an hour someone came back with an ID: False Black Widow Spider. Is this correct? I don't know!!

Photo 1: False Black Widow Spider? (Hereford, 11/5/26)

This rather long intro has nothing to do with spiders but everything to do with our work as Citizen Scientists trying to save the River Wye.

One of the parameters we measure with our water-testing kit is Total Oxidised Nitrogen (TON, i.e. the amount of nitrate and nitrite in the water measured as ppmN). We use HACH test strips for a simple semi-quantitative measurement of both TON and Nitrite (as ppm nitrogen). Unfortunately, the HACH product is no longer available in the UK because one of the reagents used on the test strips is banned in the European Union (EU). When the UK left the EU in 2020, it kept many of the product regulations of the EU in order to allow continued trading with the EU who are the UK's biggest trading bloc. Brexit was a complete and utter disaster for the UK where we achieved none of the supposed benefits but lost lots of advantages. Those who voted for Brexit turned out, despite the very credible warnings, to be turkeys voting for Christmas!!

Got sidetracked again there! So until HACH reformulates its product for the European market, an alternative TON test strip product was needed. There were a couple of readily available options on the market from Simplex Health and Waterworks (see Photo 2). The products look remarkably similar; so much so that Simplex Health also sell the Waterworks product!

Photo 2: Alternative TON Test Strips

Several of the citizen scientists within our Wye Alliance group have carried out checks to ensure all three makes of test strips (HACH, Simplex Health and Waterworks) give comparable results for nitrate; which they do. Nobody has yet confirmed the same equivalency for nitrite.

I spent ages trying to find a low cost source of a reasonably pure (>95%) soluble nitrite salt (i.e. any of the sodium, potassium, calcium or ammonium nitrites) so I could make up standard solutions in de-ionised water. Despite the fact that nitrates and nitrites are used in food products (cured meats such as bacon, ham, sausages) as preservatives, sodium nitrite is extremely difficult to get hold of because of its toxicity. I contacted a number of well-known chemical suppliers but none would sell to a private individual.

Finally, I located a German website (biogo.de) that would sell me a small quantity (50 g) of 95% minimum potassium nitrite. I'd have been happy with 10 g but beggars can't be choosers. 

Photo 3: Potassium Nitrite from Poland

I heard nothing for months and had given up on ever receiving the product when, out of the blue, it turned up in my postbox on the 5th May 2026: approximately six months later!

While patience is certainly a virtue, it is not one I necessarily possess. I had given up on ever receiving the potassium nitrate from Poland so searched again for a suitable nitrite standard. I managed to find a company (EDT DirectION) that would sell me a 1000 ppm total nitrite standard solution and this arrived within a few days.

Photo 4: My 1000 ppm Total Nitrite Standard

The 1000 ppm total nitrite (NO2) solution is equivalent to a 304.5 ppm nitrite as nitrogen (NO2-N); the units measured by all the test strips. As soon as I have completed my comparison of all three TON test strips, I will post the results in a future blog post. You'll just have to be patient!

Finally, Fritillaries!

 How can I tell when I've run out of invisible ink? - Steven Wright

Over a month ago (23rd March 2026) we visited Lugg Meadow on our way back home from daffodil site-seeing. Mary was thinking it might be the start of the Snakeshead fritillary season for which the Lugg Meadow is well-known. This floodplain meadow of the River Lugg (the clue's in the name!) seems to be under constant threat from road and house building developments. When we visited in late March, the blackthorn was in full flower and bird song ...

Photo 1: Blackthorn Hedge, Lugg Meadow (23rd March 2026)

But, of fritillaries, there was no sign.

We returned a month later (26th April 2026) thinking we might have missed the flowering peak. Certainly, some of the fritillary blooms were past their best ...

Photo 2: Snakeshead Fritillary (Lugg Meadow, 26th April 2026)

... and they were certainly less abundant than in previous years. It was, however, possible to find areas where the blooms, especially the white variety, were visible from a distance ...

Photo 3: White Snakeshead Fritillaries in Foreground and Background (Lugg Meadow, 26/4/26)

The white version of Snakeshead Fritillary is dominant on the Lugg Meadow ...

Photo 4: White Snakeshead Fritillary (Lugg Meadow, 26/4/26)

... perhaps by a factor of 100:1 over the more familiar 'purple' variety ...

Photo 5: Purple Snakeshead Fritillary (Lugg Meadow, 26/4/26)

Some hybrids of the white & purple were also in evidence ...

Photo 6: Hybrid White/Purple Snakeshead Fritillary (Lugg Meadow, 26/4/26)

These delicate bell-shaped flowers are a delight to see, nodding their heads in the gentle Spring breeze. It was disappointing to see so few blooms but hopefully this was just a bad year.

Bluebells on the Malverns

There is a thin line between genius and insanity. I have erased that line - Oscar Levant

We were off camping for a few days in the Cotswolds but not before stopping off at the Malvern Hills to see the bluebells. We parked up in the layby where several people were filling containers with Malvern spring water. People come from miles away to avail themselves of this free resource. Oxford is about 70 miles from Malvern and is the furthest distance that we know of; apparently, Oxford's tap water doesn't make a decent cup of tea!

We could see the bluebells in the distance and Mary was off like a shot (Photo 1) ...

Photo 1: In Search of Bluebells (27th April 2026)

We visited this popular bluebell site about the same time last year but this year's display was even better. It was as though someone had laid out a blue carpet for us ...

Photo 2: Bluebell Carpet (27/4/26)

These are, of course, the scented English Bluebells and not the increasingly common Spanish variety (no scent). As you breathed in the sweet scent, it felt good to be alive.

Photo 3: English Bluebells on the Malverns (27/4/26)

After an altogether too brief stop, it was back to the car and onwards to the Cotswolds.