It's such a long time since I've added a post - in fact, sadly, I've just about missed the whole of summer. So to sum-up (before winter's here), the first half of summer to mid- July was gloriously hot and sunny in Kent - but then it went decidedly down hill as soon as my kids started their summer holidays. Looking back I can't remember anything too special that visited the garden. But then the standards are high, with insects such as White Admiral and Hornet a fairly regular sight. Likewise birds such as Hobby, Buzzard, Nightingale, and down by the church at least, Spotted Flycatchers still continue to nest. Most of the pictures I took during the summer seemed to be of insects; all common stuff except for one or two I've yet to identify. But let's start with the Vapourer Moth caterpillar (below) found feeding on Dog Rose leaves close to the house during July.
Vapourer Moth caterpillar, probably the highlight of the garden this summer. Unless you count this....
...I believe it's either a Squash bug or a much rarer Box Bug......and then, there was also this (below)! I think this could be some kind of Ground Beetle. A mixture of metallic greens and red flanks it was a beautiful insect to see.
A Nusery Web Spider (above) looks awesome under the macro lens.
Azure Damselflies have graced the garden pond into early August.
A micro Moth species.
Resting in the garden pond reeds, a China mark Moth.
Large Red Damselfly with prey.
Female Emperor dragonfly egg-laying on Broadleaf pond weed. This is only the second time this has happened in 10 years here.
Feeding on Meadowsweet pollen and then moving onto unmentionable things, a pair of Longhorn Beetles.
A Speckled Bush Cricket stalking prey on the flower of Greater Spearwort.
A rare visit to the garden and my hand from the unwelcome female Cleg fly.
A common and beautiful Marmalade Hoverfly species.
Azure Damselfly with prey.
An Orb Web spider.
German wasp on blackberries.
A Parasitic wasp gorytes mystaceus with prey.
An, as yet, unidentified fly species.
2 comments:
A great set of photos showing just how important a garden is
ps Happy Birthday
Hi Nick. Yours is a great website. Informative, reflective and with lovely photos. May I borrow your horsefly pic from 2010 to show my community woodland volunteers?
Jerry Dicker, Thornbury, South Glos
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