People keep telling me that we haven’t had a summer this year. (They also often ask about where I’ve been to get my tan and seem rather incredulous when I say North Wales.)
But we seem to have spent quite a lot of time recently sitting in our garden in the sunshine. We haven’t been the only one enjoying our garden. One morning we opened our curtains to see a roe deer sat beside the kids’ swing. That evening it was back. And the following morning. We thought we had a new neighbour. The kids were excited. To be honest, I was excited too. I was reminded of the wonderful story of John Wyatt’s relationship with a young roe deer told in his book ‘The Shining Levels’.
But sadly, that was the last we saw of it.
Never mind, plenty more to see. Recently, there always seem to be 4 or 5 dragonflies quartering the space above the garden, and sometimes perching in the borders.
Migrant Hawker
Southern Hawker
Lots of bees about too. This one seemed to like the montbretia every bit as much as I do.
This one stood out because of its gorgeous orange fur.
Because it’s dark, and because I’ve been reading about these things, I think that this is a native British honey bee rather than an imported New Zealand or Italian bee.
This is not a bee at all, but a hoverfly pretending to be a bumble.
Lots of spiders about too. I think that this is probably a garden spider, Araneus diadematus.
And this another one. Looks like it’s eating, or at least wrapping-up for the larder, another spider. Is it a female preying on a would-be suitor?
I suppose that this could be another garden spider, although the colours are very different.
Little S found this small shield bug and was thrilled with it.
Of course, it has been very wet this summer, and butterflies have not been anything like as plentiful in our garden as they usually are. I was very pleased then, when some sort of parliament of Lepidoptera seemed to be taking place.
Peacock, painted lady and small tortoiseshell butterflies.
Initially the peacock was very aggressive and kept driving off the larger painted lady, but eventually they all seemed to decide to tolerate each other.
This comma refused to join the conflab however, choosing to occupy an entirely different buddleia.
Back at work now. No more lazing around in the garden for me (sigh!).
What lovely photos, each creature spectacular in its own right. The Southern Hawker has such huge golden eyes! I think the bee you say has ‘gorgeous orange fur’ may be a common carder bee:http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/life/insects-spiders/identification-guides-and-keys/bee-rotate/carder-bee/index.html.
Thanks for that Emily. I think you’re right about that carder bee. It’s fur was a much richer colour than my photo suggests.
The carder bees seem to be doing well this year, yesterday I walked past a blue bush which was full of them. They’re very pretty bees, their orangey thorax is quite a foxy colour.
I agree there – what fantastic photos!
Thanks.
I’ve discovered since writing the post that the summer wasn’t just bad for butterflies. A friend who farms in the Forest of Bowland is still waiting, with ever decreasing optimism, for some settled dry weather to get the silage in. It may well be too late apparently.
I never get as many butterflies on my buddleias as you have. Beautiful pictures.
Actually, this year we haven’t had many. We have a lot of Buddleias and we live in an area sometimes described as the best place for butterflies in the North of England, so we’re very lucky in that respect.
Lovely pics, you must have created quite a habitat for your garden to get so many wild visitors. The Roe Deer especially is a great tick. I have always been fascinated by insects and those Shield bugs are certainly strange creatures. They have spear like mouth parts which stab their victims and suck them dry. http://www.bluestoneimages.com/photo_516720.html Its a good job they don’t find us tasty.
Thanks David. Shield bugs passed me by for many years, but now I’m fascinated by their variety and the stunning colours and patterns. That image is astonishing!
That is an image not out of place in a sci-fi movie! Top pictures there. Our buddleia was killed off by the extreme cold weather a couple of winters back which was a shame so we don’t get many butterflies now
great photos – glad to hear you got your tan in North Wales – we’re usually blamed for awful weather and I have to say I’ve had more than my fair share of wet and wild walks in the mountains this year! Great blog, been looking for walking blogs and there’s not that many about
I’ll probably jinx us all by saying this, but our annual trip to North Wales has always been blessed by pretty decent weather. Torrential rain next year I expect.