a chat of some sort

this bird, sat on the top of a gorse bush, singing its heart out would do for either a stone or whinchat, but I guess it must be a whinchat. If you wonder why it is hard to get better pictures, spot the same bird in the picture below. It is a demonstration of how good the Nikon 18-200mm VR lens is.

Lynher river again

the banks of the Lynher are covered in ramsons, the wild garlic.

mayflower meadows

meadow in the Lynher valley, full of buttercups and mayflowers (cardamine pratensis).

not suitable for arachnophobes

this could be an example of the false black widow spider (steatoda grossa, and very gross indeed) that has been in the news recently but probably isn't. The ghoulish sight to the bottom left is either last year's skin, or a recent meal. The dogs left it well alone.

take me to your leader

a cockchafer (or May bug) paid a flying visit last night. They are very slow and noisy fliers and the dogs can easily catch them in mid air, this seems rather a waste of the long haul they have from larvae to adult. The antennae on the males (as here) have a very elaborate and odd looking .design

in the bluebell glade

bluebell glade, Kelly Bray woods, painting by PaintshopPro from an original photo. The bluebells are abundant this year.