I spent Tuesday at ‘home’ with Daughter-who-takes-photos and Son-in-law-and-friend-who-loves-otters. This decision was more than justified when the sun came out and we had a glorious day during which I could explore the plants and insects in their garden.
Misty approved of the decision and enjoyed my company though she pretended not to at times.
It’s been wet for weeks down here in Devon so it was the first chance D-w-t-p has had to mow the lawn.
I took this Speedwell before it disappeared with the hay crop.
My reputation for bringing the good weather is momentarily intact.
D-w-t-p and I hunted for Large Red Damselflies which were emerging today from their ponds. I’m trying to get used to her new haircut. (Polite way of saying I miss her long hair but then her great grandmother felt the same when Mum had her hair bobbed in the 1920s!).
A female Large Red Damselfly, newly emerged and pumping blood into its body as it dries out in the sunshine.
A male Large Red Damselfly.
A new species for me – the comparatively rare Woundwort Shield Bug (Eysacoris fabricii). These three were clustered together -it looks as though the bottom two are mating and the top one trying to intervene. The eternal triangle? This is my eleventh shield bug species. “Small things amuse small minds”, as they say.
Woundwort Shield Bugs mating.
The large Hawthorn Shield Bug is a fairly common species.
The Marsh Marigolds in the ponds provide two of the great splashes of colour in the garden.
They prove most attractive to the pollen beetles and little hoverflies.
A beautiful little leaf beetles shows its iridescent blue in the sunshine.
Flowering currant.
Public Enemy Number One – the Great Black Slug (Arion ater) awaiting th night-time before chomping its way through the plants.
A spell of pond-dippimg yielded both damselfly larva and dragonfly larva.
I hope you too are having sunny days.
Gorgeous photos. My parents used to have a garden pond when I grew up and I spend hours there, looking for all the animals that lived there. I had a special liking for the leech because it looked so elegant when it swam.
ReplyDeleteAlso, one can never have seen too many bug species.
Those are gorgeous photos! You are like Daniel and me going through the garden and marveling at everything living there... If you take a look on my blog, I got some great shots of our bluebird yesterday. :)
ReplyDeleteAnd your daughter's haircut reminds me of my mother, who was disowned by our grandmother for cutting off her long hair when she was in her 20's. She never had her hair long again and always wanted us girls to have short hair as well. So, when I left home, I grew my hair long for a few years. The nice thing about hair is that it keeps growing...
Hope you are doing well!! :) Silke
Would you please let your daughter know how much I love her hair-cut?
ReplyDeleteAnd please, thank you for the wish for sunny days, but could you wish me a rainy one? :-)
Jed - have you ever had a leech on you????? Nasty things...;)
ReplyDeleteLovely day that was Scriptor!
A love triangle must be an eternal issue in any world! In my garden there are Woundwort Shield Bugs, but they are not beautiful like yours.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing you found so many insects!! I guess you have never experienced you are bored. Next time I will take a close look at any leaves in my garden.
keiko
Vicomtesse - we used to get leeches on us when we played in the local ponds as children but nowdays they seem to be fairly rare. I have leeches in my garden pond, Jedediah, but they are very small ones, not the wonderful great medicinal leeches I recall from childhood. We used to pretend to dread getting them on our legs but in fact we used to allow them to get on any time they liked and were quite fascinated by them. Sorry, Vicomtesse, but boys will be boys and obviously, if Jedidiah is anything to go by so will some girls!
ReplyDeleteNo, Snowwhite, I'm never bored (and I love your fascinating posts, by the eay!)
Kay - I'll try to send you a rainy day in Georgia!
Silke, I saw your blog and absdolutely loved the Bluebird shots. I tried commenting but lost the internet connection and gave up!
Well you certainly seem to have a whole little world to explore there without having to go very far ;) I hope the sun keeps shining on you during your stay down there. We've been having a few days of "early summer" here too with everything springing into colours all at once.
ReplyDeleteSo far still rainy here, but thanks for sharing your lovely day!
ReplyDelete