Garden life

Comma

Rhododendron Leafhopper - meet Garden Spider

'orrible looking thing

Slightly more pleasant-looking fly

Owl and a friend

All the squirrels' Christmases have come at once

Honeysuckle bearing fruit, but who's going to eat it?

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

An autumn's day... in August

Red Admiral

Common Darter

Common Darters mating

Migrant Hawker

Young fox in the garden

What happened to summer?

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Down by the pond

Common Darter

Emerald Damselfly

Pyrausta moth

It's been a good day for wildlife in and around the garden today. Darren found loads of Common Blues just next door. I saw a Spotted Flycatcher sitting on our washing line post, right outside the kitchen window (I was in the bathroom at the time). Darren saw a female Southern Hawker cruising around the pond (which I missed). I saw a Brown Argus perching on a waterlily bloom (what a photo that could have been!) but by the time I'd fetched the camera, it had gone.

An Emerald damselfly has been around the pond - is it the same one from a couple of weeks ago? I hadn't seen it again until today, but I'm sure I miss most of the pond action while I'm at work.

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Who are you looking at?

Common Darter, one of three at the garden pond this afternoon

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Copper, red, yellow

Small Copper


Common Darter



Starting to get cabin fever, so it was a relief to get out with the cameras this lunchtime. What a lovely day.

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM or Canon Powershot A640

Red September

Common Darter


Small Copper on Helenium

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

After the rain

Flagstones shining with rain


Gatekeeper hiding in the flowerbed (this one had a crinkled hindwing - presumably something happened while it was metamorphosing)


The ladybirds I've seen this year have mostly been native Seven-spots!


This Common Darter hadn't long emerged when it was grounded by the shower
photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Hedgerow

Bumblebee at take-off, with a shower of pollen grains




Brown Hawker


Common Darter


blackberries


acorns

At lunchtime I went for a walk down to Stratford Road, which runs along the foot of the hill. It's south-facing so tends to be a good place for insects with a good bank of bramble bushes. I couldn't resist helping myself to a few ripe blackberries, and while I did, a squirrel dropped bits of discarded acorn husk on my head.

The blackberries (and blossom) attract butterflies, with dragonflies presumably enticed by the smaller insects on the plants. I had to wade through some nettles to get close to the beautiful Brown Hawker above. The bumblebee was in the garden on my way to the lane.

More photos available on Flickr

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D + EF 300mm f/4L IS USM

Sunshine!

Red Admiral


Peacock


Hoverfly Volucella pellucens


Brown Argus


Small Red-eyed Damselfly


Common Darter


Bumblebee on Water Mint

Seven-spot Ladybird on blackberries. I haven't seen a proper ladybird at The Lodge for ages!

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM, Extender EF 1.4x II

Biodiversity

More progress on the pond front. It's still amazingly clear, so it's easy to see what's going on under the water, even right at the bottom.

Pondskaters are still eating, mating, fighting and whizzing around

They've been joined by two Backswimmers, Notonecta glauca. These seem to perform a similar role to a spider on land, catching and eating things caught unawares. As well as swimming around just under the water's surface, they also dive after prey. Apparently they have a nasty bite if you handle them...

Loads of Lesser Water Boatmen have appeared sometime during the past few days. Confusingly, another name for the Backswimmer is Water Boatman, though the two species seem quite different.

The real Water Boatmen have a vegetarian diet and seem to spend a lot of time at the bottom of the pond, only coming to the surface for air, which they carry in the form of a bubble stuck to their rear end. They have 'oars' as well but are quite distinctive.

There are lots of beetles in the pond, some quite big, but not Great Diving Beetle size. I'm going to have to get a pond life book to work out what they all are. We've got a school of three Whirligig Beetles, too.

Two pairs of Common Darters were ovipositing (egg-laying) on Saturday, with other unpaired males bickering for control of the pond. No Broad-bodied Chaser this week

Most exciting (I think) was the discovery of a resident Smooth Newt this afternoon, followed rapidly by our first sighting of a Common Frog. It appeared on the side of one of the plant pots before hopping onto dry land and squeezing under the turf at the edge of the pond. I'll have to be careful when I'm walking around.

We've got amphibians!

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D + EF 300mm f/4L IS USM or Canon Powershot A640

Creepy-crawlies

Not sure what these bugs are, but they seem to like thistles

A Common Darter seems to be holding a territory not far from the pond

It managed to see off a [the?] Broad-bodied Chaser

The pond's looking pretty clear now, and the plants are helping it look more mature

Pondskaters now number 12+, and this is perhaps why...

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640