Back in the Groove

Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’. Probably.

Our trip to America was amazing. The Adirondacks is definitely my new ‘happy place’. But coming home to my old ‘happy place’ was great too. Reunited with my camera, where would I go?

Well, initially, no further than the garden. And then not much further – a meander to Lambert’s Meadow, along The Row, past Bank Well to Myer’s Allotment and then back the same way. A very short walk which took quite a while because it was packed with interest. Well, packed with insects at least.

Brown-lipped snail (not an insect, I know).

Common Carder Bee.

Raspberries.

Blackberries.

Snowberries.

Rosehips.

Harvestman.

Looking towards Farleton Fell.

The tractor (and its driver) spent hours, long into the night, circling this field. Doing what? Not ploughing. The grass was removed, but, if anything, the ground seemed to have been compacted. Whatever, the gulls were very taken with the activity and followed the tractor slavishly.

Not ploughed.

Hoverfly on mint.

Common Darter.

Common Darter on Robin’s Pincushion Gall.

A Sloe or Hairy Shieldbug, I think.

At first I thought this was a Forest Bug, which is superficially quite similar, but I think the stripy antennae are the clincher.

This is the rather dried-up Burdock which was host to the Shieldbug.

Once I’d stopped to look, I realised that actually there were several of the same kind of bugs all on the one desiccated Burdock.

I’m really rather fond of Shieldbugs which can be very colourful.

The lower slopes of Warton Crag and Leighton Moss from Myer’s Allotment.

Speckled Wood Butterfly.

Possibly a Field Grasshopper.

There were lots of grasshoppers about, but they have a habit of springing away just as I get my camera focused.

Red Admiral Butterfly.

Conservation grazing. Red Poll Cattle?

Bumblebee.

This garden plant, growing on the verge of The Row, was absolutely mobbed with bees and hoverflies.

Volucella pellucens, the Pellucid Hoverfly.

A very dark Bumblebee with no pollen baskets. Could it be a Cuckoo Bumblebee?

I think this is a fourth instar nymph of the Common Green Shieldbug. There were several on these rather nice umbelliferae seeds.

I also took photos of the leaves of this plant, and based on those I think it might be Hogweed. Which, I find, is reputedly very good to eat – apparently the seeds are widely used in Iranian cuisine and taste a little like Cardamon. Who knew?

Common Carder Bee on mint.

Willowherb seeds.

Notice how the stem peels open to create an ideal opportunity for the seeds to catch the wind.

Ever since I read that Willowherb is the food-plant of the Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillar, I’ve kept an eye open, hoping to spot another. (Here’s the first.) It’s been many years, but my efforts eventually paid off…

Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillar (and photo bombing Green Shieldbug!)

A very large and striking caterpillar. The adult moth is even more imposing. (There’s one at the top of this very old post).

Purple Loosestrife.

Common Darter with spider’s web.

Tachina Fera.

Busy flowerhead.

Silver Y Moth on Mint.

White-lipped Snail.

White-lipped Snail, on Nettle leaf.

Copse Snail on Nettles.

Honeysuckle.

Sloes.

Erie Canal Museum and Locks

Nineteenth Century Canal workers.

On our return journey from out frisbee golf outing we stopped for ice-creams (Mine was ‘London Fog’, allegedly Earl Grey Tea flavoured, I couldn’t tell, but probably a hangover from Covid wrecking my sense of taste.) and a visit to the Erie Canal Museum and a set of locks on the canal.

Erie Canal Museum.

Actually, there were two sets of locks, a narrower set which had been rapidly superseded by a much wider set alongside. The large naval vessels we’d seen in Buffalo apparently travelled along this canal from New York, although I couldn’t see how that could be possible.

A boat!

The older locks.

The larger locks.

A pleasure boat.

A fascinating place, but sadly our final outing during our American sojourn.

Wilson-Tuscarora State Park

The yachts of either Tuscarora Yacht Club or Wilson Yacht Club. The houses on the right are on what I think is called Sunset Island.

We drove to the picturesque town of Wilson, on the shore of Lake Ontario, with the promise of amazing cookies. Sadly, the cookie shop was shut.

Sailing on Lake Ontario.

Lake Ontario shore from Wilson Pier.

Amber in the making?

We had a back-up plan however: a picnic at Wilson-Tuscarora State Park, followed by a round of Frisbee-Golf. Anyone who watched me, many years ago, shanking, slicing, topping, over-hitting, or under-hitting a golf ball around Heaton Park pitch-and-putt will no doubt remember how frustrating I found that.

B lining up a monster throw.

I’m afraid I was equally patient with Frisbee Golf and was soon distracted by the many Monarch Butterflies on the flower beds around the park. I wasn’t the only one who became disenchanted, so many of us knocked off after 5 ‘holes’ (actually nets). Prof A is almost as ridiculously competitive as I am though and insisted that the DBs keep going until he took the lead, at which point he declared the game over. Fair play; I’d have done the same myself if I was even remotely in contention.

Wild Carrot.

Much of the park was manicured parkland, but there were areas which had been left to go ‘wild’:

There’s a Monarch in this photo. Can you pick it out?

Here it is!

It won’t win any wildlife photography awards, that’s for sure, but after many failed attempts to get close enough with my phone, I was just pleased to get any kind of photo.

Another butterfly – possibly Checkered White? And a bumblebee.

Down by the rocky shore of Lake Ontario I completely failed to capture the large, colourful Grasshoppers which were flitting about.

A large green and black wasp?

Sone sort of shield bug.

Another view of Sunset Island.