Waresley Wood in summer

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

Clopton

Looking south towards Royston

Almost harvest-time

Brown Argus

Meadow Browns...

Small Heath

Common Blue

Haws

Elderberries

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

Buddleia + butterflies

Loads of fantastic butterflies in the garden this morning. I am smitten with Painted Ladies. Most around now are of the generation that hatched in the UK/northern Europe, the offspring of the North African immigrants which themselves emerged in the Atlas mountains. The newer ones are in pristine condition. I could almost... eat one!

Peacock and Painted Lady


Peacock basking on a dead tree stump

Painted Lady (see a bit of a theme here?) and Large White

Painted Lady...

Meadow Brown has its own subtle charms

Teasels are fabulous wildlife garden plants. Insects go mad for the purple flowers and later on, Goldfinches can't get enough of the seeds. Well, male Goldfinches do, anyway. I think the females have thicker bills which don't let them get the seeds! Must check...

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

Butterflies and moth

With the hot weather this weekend, I haven't been in the mood for much more than lounging around in the garden. It's been great. Butterflies have gathered in numbers on our 10-feet high Buddleia bush:

Peacock

Brimstone

Large White

Small Tortoiseshell

Gatekeeper

Meadow Brown

Large Skipper

Peacock and Comma

And then this creature turned up:

Hummingbird Hawkmoth!
I've been growing Valerian in preparation for attracting 'Hummers' but this one found the Buddleia perfectly adequate. It did some funny things: feeding happily one second, then whizzing off at rooftop-height over the wheat field, before appearing back on the flowers again within a few seconds

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

Creepy-crawlies

A pretty lady Meadow Brown

A dull male Meadow Brown

Green-veined White

Something clever seems to have constructed a tent from leaves and silk. Spider expert Ian Dawson tells me it's 'a web of the Nursery Web Spider Pisaura mirabilis.

'She carries her eggsac around in her jaws until ready to hatch when she attaches the eggsac to some vegetation and spins a protective silken tent over it. She normally stands guard until the young spiderlings hatch. These stay within the protection of the tent for a few days until their first moult when they disperse.

'A widespread and common spider. You often see them basking in the sun on leaves low down in early summer.including in the Lodge main border.'

The aptly-named Large Black Slug

Fly inside Bindweed

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

Garden stuff

Hobby

This photo was a bit lucky... After tea, I went for a wander round the garden and to mow the lawn (this is virtually a full-time job in itself). I was trying to get photos of the bees on the mallow flowers...


... when I saw some Swallows flying over. As I looked up, I saw a Hobby flying in the opposite direction, not very high up. As I already had the camera to hand - and switched on - I managed a few shots.

Looking at the brownish wings, I think it's a first-summer bird. Though I may be wrong. That means it hatched last year, went all the way to Africa, crossing the Sahara, and has come back again. They mostly eat small birds and largeish insects (eg. dragonflies).

Talking of dragonflies, there was a Brown Hawker in the garden yesterday morning, and a Southern Hawker this afternoon.

Anyway...

Red Admirals seem to be out today in good numbers

Darren saw SIX rabbits on the lawn yesterday!

Up to seven Peacocks were in the garden today, on the Buddleia or sunning themselves

Meadow Browns still around - this was one of the neater ones

Dusky Sallow moth - perhaps one of the two trapped on Friday night

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

Gardening

Painted Lady on Lavender

Meadow Brown on Cranesbill

It finally stopped raining for a short while this afternoon, so I managed to do a bit of tidying up in the garden (believe me, there is a lot that needs doing).

It was a very pleasant surprise to see some butterflies enjoying the plants... a single Painted Lady and about half a dozen Meadow Browns. They joined the bumblebees on the Cranesbill and Lavender in the flower bed, plus the clover growing in the lawn and some Catmint. I know some people don't like clover in their lawns, but sod it, if it's good for insects, I want it.

The insect-attracting plants were already in situ when we moved in six months ago, so I ought to say thankyou to whoever planted them. They're all purple, but it does the job nicely.

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