ChrisC

[ChrisC]

don't hold your breath for that one Guy

Chris

just one more from today

[Susie]

Very pretty, as are all of your images from today. You must have had better light than me.

[Lee Hurrell]

Fantastic raindrop pics Chris!

Cheers

Lee

[ChrisC]

3 hours in the wood this morning, and what can i say, the more i visit the more i fall for it. not many pictures taken as everything was so mobile. First to check off the list was a purple hairstreak, then white admiral and silver washed frit, meadow browns, ringlets, in large damp clearing there were marbled whites, large and small/essex skipper, the odd comma, GV white, red admiral and just to top my day off nicely was a painted lady. at one point by the clearing i just sat and watched it all going on. fantastic.

as close as i could get to shots of of these 2

and had to look twice at this chap, only using 4 of 6 legs.

[ChrisC]

it was one of those days today, cloudy and the frits and admirals nowhwere to be seen i was on my way back to the car when i heard animal footsteps coming towards me, could only be a deer i thought so i ducked down and i could even see the foliage parting as it headed towards me, frantically unscrewing the the close up lens off the camera ready for the shot of a lifetime when the HUGE ruddy great cows head appeared. I can safely say it was even more surprised to see me than i was to see it as it turned tail and ran. i couldn't help but laugh out loud. unfortunately no pic or video either, it would have been a classic. so some pictures of the afore mentioned woods

as you can see the understorey is quite dense in places

quite open in others
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qyl36rQd3zI[/video]
this is the meadow taken last week. today it was alive with meadow browns, marbled whites, ringlets and skippers and making photos impossible millions of grasshoppers and crickets which jumped into whatever i wanted to get a picture of.

i did get some skippers but that's all

[ChrisC]

what a difference a bit of sun makes. i couldn't resist another tree shot and i did see deer today but no cow thankfully

[Susie]

Smashing silver washed frits and white admiral.

[ChrisC]

with the paucity of any sun and butterflies i thought i'd have another go at inflight shots of other orders. it's amazing how they know to just keep that extra inch further away the little beggars these were the best of the bunch, i try not to crop but with these i had to. with some sun and less zoom i'm still hopeful of better with the lumix.

[Lee Hurrell]

Love the second one Chris, I don't think I've ever seen a hoverfly's wings!

Cheers

Lee

[ChrisC]

thanks Lee, i have to admit clicking on the other 2 they don't look anywhere near as good. i'll have to see if that's the cropping etc

i thought i would do my usual garden buddliea patrol last night, a lone pine hawk amoung the many visitors. this time of year i'm always looking out for glow worms and 2 nights ago i got my first so had to check on her again last night. she wasn't glowing so well.

glow.jpg (6.04 KiB) Viewed 904 times

so i put the torch on her hopeful to see a male but what i got was a bit of a surprise

personally i don't if she was avoiding get run over, biting off a bit more than she could chew on the dinner front or climbing on for lift. so much goes on after dark

[ChrisC]

chuffed and sad at the same time with this one. this was probably the last major tick that i can expect in my garden. it was cloudy and windy, i was trying to get a hummingbird hawk moth at the time when i saw this come in. it didn't hang around for long but hopefully it'll come back on a sunny day. i'm down to waiting for small and essex skipper now.

[ChrisC]

been an interesting weekend for the garden, as well the white admiral yesterday which did put in a brief appearance this morning. the first silver washed have been in, red admirals max count 4, brimstones, whites the odd fly through ringlet. even a holly blue came in for some buddliea action.

even managed to finally catch a reasonable hummer

another thing i've always wanted to see after seeing the evil face on shot in the books is a beewolf Philanthus triangulum
this female was giving this bee the cuddle of death if you check out the rear ends.

last but not least continuing the cruel nature theme was this Achaeranea lunata a new spider for the garden but it's carrying around a friend that will unfortunately be it's demise.

i think that'll do for now

[Wurzel]

That Bee-wolf shot is great, any ideas of the identity of the spiders "little friend"?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

ps - I want your garden!

[Susie]

Nice fresh female swf you have there, jammy begger.

[ChrisC]

Wurzel, it's certainly an interesting garden, added common lizard to the list of visitors last week but no pic. spiders little friend i would be guessing at Polysphincta tuberosa but not really looked into it.

A female you say sue? hmmm may have to plant some more violets i must confess to not really paying much attention to the sex.

chris

[ChrisC]

well what can i say, not too many butterflies in the garden when i get home from work but red admiral, large skipper and peacock seem ever present. I've also been graced with the presence of hummingbird hawk moth every evening this week around 6.30-7.00. not improved on my last picture though. but this entry is just about a few other things that i watch and wonder at. new life.

This is either campion or lychnis caterpillar, just about still fitting inside the seed head

something new to me this year were barkflies/ barklice
these are some of the many nymphs? i found on the fence

as with all the winged insects they too have to inflate the wings

an adult at a full 3-4mm tentitively identified as the rather scarce Blaste quadrimaculata

and so on to my shed. it has been great fun watching the coming and going on this so far this year. an example
he loitered for a couple of days (i'm assuming same species as the same happened on the other side of the apex)

the eggs were laid and she stood guard

and now for the new life.

It's theridion but which i don't know for sure

i apologise it isn't butterflies but you know. . . i just can't help looking.

[Susie]

Well I can't comment for anyone else but I love your pics and videos and hope they keep coming. They're always fascinating. I've never seen bark flies before, I didnt even know they existed. I must admit to having developed tunnel vision a bit when I am out and about and seem to mainly concentrate on the butterflies. I am obviously missing a lot. I'll check the campion at dusk because I always used to get campion moth caterpillars so they should be there this year.

[Gibster]

Hi Chris, my first post on your Diary!

Just to echo other's sentiments, a superb Diary and don't worry if it isn't always butterfly-orientated. Plenty of other Diaries already doing just that, lol.

For anyone interested in barkflies have a look at http://www.brc.ac.uk/schemes/barkfly/key/A.htm

All the best,

Gibster.

[ChrisC]

Thanks for the link Gibster i fear now i know about them i'll be looking at tree trunks even closer than i do now. my walks just got even longer.
and thanks for the encouraging comments both of you. i do feel a little guilty sometimes (doesn't stop me posting though )

[ChrisC]

in the garden between showers red admiral, comma, peacock, large white, large skipper and humming bird hawk , and even something i don't ever recall seeing nectaring on the buddliea before.... a speckled wood (terrible picture but just a record shot)

also managed a walk out the back , my first gatekeeper, small and large skipper, marbled white, ringlet, meadow brown, even a reasonable small heath, and a lone grayling put in an appearance.

and probaly the most complete mushroom i have seen for a long time normally there is a chunk out of them somewhere