the hair of the cat

This unusual looking caterpillar is probably a larva of some sort of sawfly (see link to previous Spotblog page). Apparently the word caterpillar is derived from an old french word chatpelose, or hairy cat. I find it hard to believe that anyone thought that caterpillars looked like cats; maybe the French had very small cats.

meadowlands

the meadows are so impoverished around here we have had to plant our own.

closed for the olympics

unless anything very interesting happens we're off to see the corgis and watch the greatest show on earth!

tree creeper

We didn't see much new today during a long hot walk through the meadows by the Inny but we did get a glimpse of a tree creeper with its mouth full of insects.

a small skipper

There are several species of skipper butterflies but only two, the small and the large, are found locally. This is the small skipper, and the photo shows the characteristic orange colour of the under tips of the antennae. These are very lively butterflies which dart about (hence name) and which favour meadows of uncut grass. It is feeding on bird's foot trefoil although they prefer to feed on knapweed (as below) and thistles.

as green as it gets

after all the rain, and a little warm sun the countryside is a rich rich green, a temperate jungle with roads.