They haven’t left us, quite yet…

Yesterday the warm thing in the sky returned… Over the past couple of weeks the weather has been teasing us with a day of sun and fine weather, and then a day of miserable persistent drizzle, sometimes turning heavy.

And today, the sun brought with it plenty of insect folk. I was surprised they had survived yesterday’s lashings… and even more surprised to see Butterflies and even moths flying in full daylight.

The Ladies continue to roam

Speckled Wood Butterfly

A Comma Butterfly landed right in front of me

Some type of moth…

What’s this? A cloudless sky?? Well well, I haven’t seen one of those in a long time. Oh yes, and there’s a Bee on the Aster :)

And finally, the Admiral stopped by, teasing me, daring me to take shots.

Mystery Bee Is Not So Mysterious Any more.

A few blogs ago I mentioned a tiny Bee on the Clover flowers which seemed to be Blue… Photos I got were always poor because it never got close enough for me to snap away.

A few days later I was sat near my black Hollyhocks and the little Bee landed on one of the leaves. It promptly began eating/cutting the leaf and I assumed it was some sort of Leaf Cutting Bee.

It’s actually a Blue Mason Bee, it’s tiny and apparently they collect the leaves for their grubs…

Collecting the cut leaf into a ball against its abdomen…

And now about to set off with the ball in its mouth…

One ball abandoned as I scared one away by accident.

2 on a leaf, sometimes there were up to 4…

And here I was assuming weevils or slugs/snails were turning the leaves into rather fetching lace…

Insect Safari

**plus a couple of Arachnids, plants and birds...

A rare sight… A Dunnock eating at a hanging feeder.

Another Crab Spider waiting to ambush.

Ladybird! Grateful for these little beasties

I saw my first Speckled Woods today… They readily allowed me to get close too!

Speaking of which… Sadly my Caterpillar in its chrysalis disappeared some weeks ago :(

Sweet rocket seedlings

Black Hollyhock seedling

And the most special of the lot… Dierama!

Chive flowerheads

Big fat Turkey, urm sorry Wood Pigeon.

Clematis Marjorie…

I’m quite certain those seedlings are poppies now. Because I assume this is one of the ‘black’ poppies Cheryl sent, either Blackcurrant fizz or black peony.

I believe this was a male spider… If you look closely you can see a brown blurred blob under the wood. That was another spider.

This one kept on ‘dancing’ with its front legs, shaking them very quickly. Sadly I couldn’t capture it!

Astrantia, again!

Love this Beetle… No idea what type it is!

Nor what type this little Bee is…

I hope you've all been having a good week so far!

Common Carder?

Is this little bee a common Carder?

It's too orange, I have lots of them around and they're usually a softer orange… Or have a vibrant orange back but the tail is lighter…

Such an amazing colour!

Having lots of fun on our blackcurrant bush…

Plenty of flowers this year…

Hopefully leading to plenty of fruits.

[Monday] Sunday Safari

I apologise, this post was intended for Sunday, only I took so many photos and it took me so long to work through them, that at 11pm I decided it was far too late to be writing a blog post as I'd only be grouchy and boring.

Mind you, is Monday morning any better?!

Yesterday the weather was lovely, and with the sun came the insects including the butterflies! So, although I didn't get anything exciting like a Painted Lady - I'm seriously beginning to wonder whether their massive migration was actually a lie because I still have seen nada, not a single one.

As a result I have decided that this post will have to be a butterfly post because if I combined the plants with the insects there would be an obscene number of photos…

First I noticed two Gatekeepers on the Sea Holly…

Just I was getting into the swing of things…

My camera battery died!!!!

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Luckily it did remain sunny, and I left the battery to charge for a short while before being unable to resist taking photos any longer.

Mainly because I spotted this fella…

She was right up against my face on the Buddleia and as the wind blew it around I was getting a little too close for comfort :)

Shortly after [scaring away the Small Tortoiseshell] I looked across at the Privet, there was a sea of Butterflies flitting around along it, and amongst the whites and gatekeepers I saw a Meadowbrown… Sadly, the battery was dead so I couldn't get a shot *weeps*

The Bees also like the Sea Holly, and I do wonder whether they prefer certain types… Although I couldn't say whether mine are different but they do all seem to prefer the Sea Holly in the left border compared to the ones in the right. Of course it may also be that the one in the left is in full flower compared to those in the right which are a little behind…

The Sea Holly in the left border

This lovely Gatekeeper enjoying the nectar

Is surprised by a Bee coming in to share

Not to worry, they make the perfect couple

A Bee in the Crocosmia (I really ought to begin finding out the names of the Bees…)

A Green-Veined White visits briefly but is quickly moved on by the Large Whites (Butterflies chasing was a regular sight yesterday, as there were so many)

One of the [beautiful] big bullies…

A Comma put in an appearance

This Bee is a newer visitor I believe, until now we've mainly been getting them with white bums, although some with red too were seen they had different yellow patterns on the body…

A hoverfly takes a break on the Blackcurrant

And another pollinates my Tomatoes for me

And a teeny tiny Bee on the Verbena…

I did also see a Speckled Wood, the photograph was too poor to use though! One landed right in front of me on the Buddleia literally inches from me, I couldn't believe my luck! The shutter releasing scared it off and all I have is a blurred image of it taking off... Such a shame, they're so jumpy!