lane warfare

On our walk this evening the lane was full of red admirals and speckled wood butterflies. They seem to take possession and guard 5 or 10 metres of hedgerow, racing up and down and fighting off all intruders. The air was full of butterflies being aggressive, and this rather battered individual was taking a breather before lurching (appropriate word for this blog) off to do some more fighting. So much for the quiet life. More like boy racers.

beauty and the beast

a crab spider has caught a meadow brown and is hauling it up to the flower head. Not all is beauty and light in the meadows.

knap hand

although it is common, as this photograph shows, knapweed brings a blaze of brilliant purple colour to the meadows in late summer (a prize to anyone who can name every flower in this photo).


 PS .... prizes are always photos of Spot :-)

silver washed out

There were a lot of silver washed fritillaries out today in the sun. They seem to prefer meadows and grassland that lie next to woods. They are large and powerful fliers and are usually quite skittish, but the top photo is of a female who was prepared to pose for me with the sun shining through her wings. The male in the lower photograph is feeding on hemp agrimony instead of the preferred food of brambles which have almost finished flowering.

small and vulnerable

A very juvenile blue tit (only a very few blue feathers on its head) recovering from an encounter with a window. Although very shocked it eventually recovered enough to fly off.

high and mighty

if dogs were lords of the universe....

summer colours

On Rowden lane. Is there a hint of autumn in these colours?

a very shy visitor

Jays may be very noisy birds but they are also generally very shy, and only very occasionally come into our garden (see link). The local magpies were very unhappy about this intruder and tried to chase it off.

 We also spotted this magpie moth yesterday, although its colouration might suggest that leopard moth would be a better description.

disappearing peacock

we are now in butterfly count fortnight, and the butterfly conservation group have reported an "alarming" drop in the number of peacock butterflies. So it was heartening that we saw 5 or 6 individuals this morning, once it had warmed up a bit. The bramble flowers on which a lot of bigger butterflies tend to feed have already come and gone this year, and the knapweed  has not quite come into flower yet so there seems to be a gap in available food for these insects. This butterfly is feeding on a species of thistle.

kings of their castles

a small skipper on a marsh thistle, and (after much discussion about little brown birds) a chiffchaff

in the meadows

soft light and a myriad of spiders' webs filled the meadows early this morning, as did the chattering of a family of long tailed tits enjoying the warmth of the sun

occasional visitors

Another very occasional visitor to the peanuts is this nuthatch, adopting its characteristic upside down feeding posture, much to the surprise of the juvenile blue tit.

butterfly news

just in time for the big butterfly count (see link) more species of butterfly are appearing; today in the meadows we saw large whites, small whites, meadow browns, ringlets, silver washed fritillaries, small skippers, and red admirals, in addition to the three above from the top a bright comma , a small copper, and a painted lady showing her under wear. No blues, tortoiseshells, brimstones or peacocks possibly because it was quite early in the morning.

a rare sight

We know that hedgehogs live in our garden but we only see them very occasionally at night. It is extremely unusual to see them ambling around in broad daylight like this one, completely unconcerned by our (four dogs and one person) return. The rain has brought out a lot of slugs so maybe this hedgehog was too busy snacking to notice the time of day.

in greenscombe woods

It was a warm sunny day but not much to see apart from cornish bladderseed and the strange slender variety of betony that is only to be found in these woodland meadows.

just like a leaf

the first of the second generation of brimstones to appear this year. The first silver washed fritillaries have also appeared in the last few days

five or six

the 3 main varieties of burnet moth are the five, narrow bordered five, and six spot. As far as I can tell this is the five spot (and only experts can tell the difference between this and the narrow bordered five spot). They are very striking in flight when they appear like a blurry ball of red (not black).

the middle  picture is of a heart and dart moth. The dart is the black streak, and the heart is the round brownish mark towards the edge of each wing. The bottom picture is of a silver y moth, a frequent migrant to Britain. The picture looks slightly blurred. This is because this moth has the habit of rapid trembling when at rest.

on the Inny

In the morning light the river looked like an impressionist painting today

getting braver all the time

finding the peanuts irresistible, this juvenile woodpecker is prepared to come very close to the house

full sail ahead

mid summer sees the appearance of the pretty yellow flowers of meadow vetchling, a member of the pea family

damsel in distress

I am not quite sure what is going on here, but it looks like an aphid has a tiger by its tail. The damselfly was doing its best to dislodge its unwanted passenger by arching its back and rubbing its tail against the blade of grass.

Further research suggests it might be a water mite, various secies of which parasitize dragonflies, damselflies etc (see link for arrenurus genus) ... you live and you learn!

the view from Cotehele

 we were very lucky today to be taken up the North tower at Cotehele. The roof is reached via a very narrow steep flight of stone steps, and has a view towards Calstock and far across the Tamar valley. This is the same view as before (see link) but taken from a much higher vantage point and it includes the tudor roof of Cotehele itself.

more butterfly things

the greater butterfly orchid, and the lesser Spot

another episode from Dr Doolittle's handbook

He can even charm the heath fritillaries out of the trees. There were a lot of heath fritillaries about today.

hedgerows

hemp agrimony about to flower - reputedly a rough medicine, or an ointment when mixed with hog's lard.

the scorpion fly returns

this is the common scorpion fly (identified instantaneously thanks to the experts at wild about Britain see link) in a clump of brambles. The scorpion bit refers to its tail appendage but is not very obvious in these photos. The head reminds me of Star Wars: the clone wars

an occasional visitor

great spotted woodpecker, one of my favourite but only very occasional visitors to the garden

the slightest thing

a green lacewing (chrysopa perla I think) in amongst the grasses and sorrel. The pollen was coming off the grasses in the meadows in great clouds today. And there was a great flash of blue as a kingfisher flew past chinking as it went like two coins knocked together.

a small skipper

the small skipper (male with little black bands on wings), quite common at this time of year but frisky and can be difficult to catch on camera

off spring

a goldfinch showing its youngster the ropes, and a blackbird doing all the work for its youngster

summer days

fresh frisky tortoiseshell posing on some silverweed

and a two coloured leaf beetle (chrysolina polita) on a flag iris

tableau des agneaux

finding a cool place on a hot day

human landing strip

 

In late May and early June, especially on warm days, you can see these longhorned moths performing little dances in the lanes, rising and falling before they mate. Here they are taking a rest before resuming the great battle to procreate.

walnut tree

tiny flowers have appeared again on our much nurtured young walnut tree but will we get any walnuts? Watch this space for the next riveting installment.