Summertime at The Lodge

Painted Lady

Speckled Bush Cricket

Male Emperor

female Emperor, hovering to find somewhere to lay her eggs

Holly Blue

Gatekeeper

Wasps

Marmalade Hoverfly

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

Wordless Wednesday

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

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

Rainbows

The weather's been changeable this week, to say the last...




But there have been loads of butterflies around during the drier bits. At least three Painted Ladies graced our buddleia bushes this afternoon, with lots of Large Whites, some Peacocks and Gatekeepers

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

Summertime

Painted Lady - a smart UK-hatched butterfly (not a scruffy migrant)


Emperor dragonfly laying eggs


Gatekeeper on Ragwort


I bought a window feeder for the office. When a flock is passing through, there's a constant stream of Great, Blue and Coal Tits coming for sunflower seeds. They seem to peer in at me before flying off with food


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

Painted Ladies

A massive movement of Painted Ladies has been taking place since Saturday. I've heard a guesstimate of 15 million of 'em! Wherever you were at the weekend, it would have been hard to miss them, flying along without stopping, all the way from north Africa.

Where will they end up? How do they know where to stop? Butterfly Conservation want to know where you've seen them.

Two were at The Lodge today in blustery conditions, feeding on Rosemary along with lots of bees.

photos taken with Canon Powershot A640

Sunny Sunday

Comma on blackberries

Red Admiral

male Southern Hawker basking

Painted Lady on valerian

Rosehips

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

Dragons and butters

Back to my usual haunts this lunchtime.

I may as well change the title of this blog to 'Common Darter portraits' for the duration of August, September and probably October. I can't help it if they're very photogenic and cooperative.

Will I ever get the definitive Common Darter shot? Don't think so.

Common Darter

Painted Lady - the first I've seen for a while. Numbers of butterflies are still well down, after all the rain

Migrant Hawker

Small Red-eyed Damselfly. Again, lots of these on the swimming pool today

Lots of Verbena in the memorial garden, though not nearly enough insects on it

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

'flies

Small Copper

Painted Lady. After a lull last week, there seems to be more of these about today. Another 'wave' of migrants?

Brown Argus. These seem to be everywhere I go at the moment - can't remember the last time I saw a 'blue' butterfly that wasn't one.

(Now someone will probably tell me this isn't a Brown Argus...)

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Butterfly twitching!

My afternoon's work was interrupted (briefly) this afternoon by a phone call informing me there was a Silver-washed Fritillary on a buddleia nearby. I managed to 'connect' with it at the second attempt, but not until after I'd been spotted loitering by the Chief Executive... Just as well I wasn't the only one there.

It was a fantastic butterfly - a big, less-tatty version of a Comma - but it was far too quick on the wing for me to get any photos.

So here's another Painted Lady, instead:


We spent some time looking after work, in case it had hung around, but there was no sign of the fritillary. Still loads of Silver Ys and Painted Ladies, and at least four Hummingbird Hawkmoths.


Well, there were until one of them got caught by a Hornet!


I didn't witness the event itself, but apparently the Hummer was minding its own business, nectaring along with all the other insects when a Hornet came along and grabbed it.

The moth must have received a sting before someone came to its rescue (argue about the ethics of that one, if you like, but it wasn't me!) and, despite the best efforts of those present, it did not recover.

Later, at Grafham Water (for no particular reason)...

Common Blue Damselflies in 'mating wheel'

Cinnabar moth caterpillar on its foodplant, Ragwort

Silver Y moth on Knapweed

Spider on web

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995