Time Flies

April 4, 2024 beatingtheboundsBees, insects, Nature, Wildlife5 Comments

IMG_20230830_114241 — *My trusty steed in the small Gait Barrows car park.*

In brief, I cycled roughly three kilometres to the small car park at Gait Barrows National Nature Reserve, then had a very slow wander, of roughly three kilometres, then pedalled home again.

PXL_20230830_131942482.PANO — *Limestone pavement.*

Since there’s not much more to say about this particular outing, a word about the tentative IDs.
Although I’m still surrounded by field guides when I’m blogging (and am eagerly awaiting the release of the 4th edition of a UK hoverflies guide), much of my research these days is carried out online.

P1400461 — *Hoverfly – possibly Syrphus ribesii*.

Google Lens often gives me a good start point. Sometimes it seems fully confident and offers me numerous images of the same species along with a related search. At other times, frankly, it might as well throw up it’s notional hands and admit that it hasn’t got a scoobie – showing images of several different species, sometimes of a kind which aren’t even related.

To be fair, according to the National History Museum website, there are over 7000 species of wasp resident in the UK. A little confusion might be expected.

Even in the case of hoverflies, where there are a relatively modest number of species (around 280 apparently), making an ID can be very difficult. For example, I’ve identified a couple of the hoverflies in this post as Syrphus ribesii, but apparently the species Syrphus vitripennis is almost identical, barring some very subtle differences.

P1400468 — Hoverfly – *Helophilus trivittatus*, *I think.*

This information comes from the excellent Nature Spot website. Nature Spot is about the wildlife of Leicestershire and Rutland, coincidentally where I grew up, but is often relevant to my more northerly current locale. If I could find something as comprehensive specific to Lancashire and Cumbria I would be thrilled.

P1400475 — Hoverfly, *Eristalis tenax*, *the Common Drone Fly.*

So, all of my identifications should be taken with an enormous pinch of salt. I’m well aware that I’m often going to be wrong, or simply clueless, but I’m learning all the time and I enjoy the detective work, even when it might lead to questionable conclusions.

According to this detailed presentation, the UK only has 29 species of Robber Fly, so maybe that’s an area in which I could make some progress? To be honest, at the moment I’m content to leave it at ‘Robber Fly’. Last summer, I watched one of these intercept and kill a micromoth; they are awesome predators.

P1400521 — *Dragonfly – Migrant Hawker.*

P1400535 — *Dragonfly – Migrant Hawker.*

P1400537 — *Dragonfly – Migrant Hawker.*

P1400545 — *Green Shield Bugs – an adult on the right and an earlier (final?) instar on the left.*

P1400565 — *Dragonfly – Migrant Hawker.*

P1400592 — *Another wasp or sawfly – I’m inclined to think wasp, due to the narrow connection between the thorax and the abdomen.*

P1400599 — Hoverfly – *Melangyna umbellatarum*

Many hoverflies are mostly black and yellow, but I do often see these small black and white hoverflies. I’m less successful and capturing them in photos though, so was happy to get this one.

P1400604 — *A 14-spot Ladybird and a Drone Fly.*

P1400615 — *Hoverfly – Helophilus pendulus.*

P1400627 — *Common Carder Bee on Knapweed.*

P1400635 — *Shieldbug – Troilus luridus*, *the Bronze Shieldbug*.

P1400648 — *Hoverfly – Eristalis Pertinax – The Tapered Drone Fly.*

P1400657 — *Hoverfly – Helophilus pendulus*.

P1400678 — Hoverfly – *Syrphus ribesii*, *potentially.*

P1400679 — *Dark Red Helleborine leaves – no flowers, something had been munching on the plant.*

Whilst these photos are all from the tail end of last summer, I’m happy to report that on Tuesday afternoon, the rain paused briefly in its recent onslaughts, and I was back at Gait Barrows, in glorious spring sunshine snapping photos of shieldbugs, butterflies and particularly abundant hoverflies. Marvellous.

Good Weather for Snails

March 14, 2024March 14, 2024 beatingtheboundsBees, insects, Nature, Wildlife6 Comments

PXL_20230825_121916194 — *Looking towards the Howgills.*

Two more local strolls from the back end of August. The first was a quick trip to The Cove and around The Lots, with TBH, but since she wasn’t ready to leave the house when I was, I first walked across the fields to Stankelt road and around Clark’s Lot first.

PXL_20230825_131210778 — *Looking towards Grange from the Cove.*

PXL_20230825_131215901 — *And the other way from the Cove.*

PXL_20230825_164044106 — *Garden Spider*.

This spider was in our garden, but only just, hanging just beyond one of our kitchen windows.

The following day I walked our circuit around Jenny Brown’s Point, but had a mooch around Lambert’s Meadow first. This slight path runs around the eastern edge of the meadow…

PXL_20230826_103221772 — *Lambert’s Meadow – very wet.*

It’s where I take most of my photos – you can see here that’s it under a couple of inches of water, which isn’t uncommon at all in the winter, but which shows what a wet August we were having.

P1400327 — *Harlequin Ladybird, with a raindrop on its back.*

P1400339 — *A couple of wasps and a fly.*

P1400341 — Hoverfly, possibly *Eristalis arbustorum*.

P1400350 — Bog Hoverfly – *Sericomyia silentis*, *I think.*

“This is a large and brightly marked hoverfly, with 3 pairs of wedge-shaped yellow bars and reddish-orange legs.” It prefers wet heath, so Lambert’s Meadow is the right sort of spot.

The light wasn’t great, but there was plenty to see and photograph. In particular, a variety of snails seemed to be having some sort of rave. They were everywhere.

There were actually several more snails on these two tall stems, who knows why they were so busy that day?

P1400366 — *Probably the Banded Snail from the photo above – White-lipped.*

P1400367 — *Two more White-lipped Snails.*

P1400431 — Pirate Wold Spider – *Pirata piraticus*. Female carrying an egg sac.

P1400437 — *A very hairy bee – I don’t know which kind.*

P1400452 — *A ladybird chrysalis – also possibly a Harlequin.*

On my way down to Jenny Brown’s, I emerged from Fleagarth Woods into a small clearing which was mobbed with wildflowers, especially Common Knapweed. The flowers were really busy with bees and hoverflies, so of course, I took no end of photos.

PXL_20230826_112109511 — *A patch of wildflowers, mostly Common Knapweed.*

P1400377 — Hoverfly – a *Syrphus* species.

P1400388 — Hoverfly – Pellucid Fly – *Volucella pellucens.*

P1400389 — *Marmalade Hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus)*.

P1400395 — *Drone Fly, possibly Eristalis Tenax, the Common Drone Fly.*

P1400405 — *Hoverfly – Helophilus Pendulus – The Footballer. On Sneezewort.*

P1400408 — *Honey Bee on Common Knapweed.*

My roaming through the flowers disturbed this frog…

Had I realised how many different species of hoverfly were in that little clearing, I probably would have stayed to take even more photos, but until I got home to download and look at the photos I wasn’t aware of the variety.

P1400423 — *Honey Bee on Traveller’s Joy flowers.*

PXL_20230826_120845077 — *Traveller’s Joy flowers.*

PXL_20230826_120850861 — *Traveller’s Joy* seeds.

PXL_20230826_120150562 — *Looking towards Grange from Jack Scout.*

A shortish, but very satisfying outing.

Sunflowers and Snails

March 6, 2024March 6, 2024 beatingtheboundsNature, Wildlife6 Comments

PXL_20230820_170419598 — *One of several sunflowers growing near Jenny Brown’s Cottages.*

Out in the real world, spring is springing, whilst here on the blog, I’m still stuck in last August. Will I ever catch up? I’m beginning to doubt it!

Anyway, at the tail end of the summer holiday, I had several excellent local meanders. The first was around our usual Jenny Brown’s point circuit. I was surprised to see several sunflowers – presumably growing from seeds dropped by birds from feeders in the nearby gardens? These days, we have a number of feeders in our garden again and I’m quite looking forward to a few sunflowers popping up.

PXL_20230820_121824675 — *Caterpillar – Large Yellow Underwing moth, possibly.*

PXL_20230820_171210834 — *A view from Jenny Brown’s Point.*

I didn’t take my camera on this first walk, so not all that many photos. It was a frustrating omission. because I thought I saw two Great Egrets in Quicksand Pool, but they were too far away to be sure – I could have really done with the large zoom available on my camera.

So, the next time I was out, for a mooch by Bank Well, Lambert’s Meadow and around Hawes Water, I remembered my camera and, predictably, took hundreds of pictures.

P1390826 — *Brimstone Butterfly on Purple Loosestrife.*

P1390838 — *Common Carder Bee (I think) on Common Knapweed.*

P1390840 — *A tiny snail on the very large seed-pod of a Yellow Flag Iris.*

P1390849 — *A small spider – maybe Metellina mengei*.

PXL_20230823_122421782 — *Lambert’s Meadow.*

PXL_20230823_112406800 — *Wild Angelica.*

P1390852 — Tapered Drone Fly – *Eristalis pertinax* *(I think).*

P1390863 — *A tatty Gatekeeper butterfly.*

I was astonished to see three Migrant Hawkers, all male, perched on the same Great Willowherb plant. I shouldn’t have been: over the next few days I would see lots more – it seemed like it was a good summer for this species, in this area at least.

P1390880 — A different *Migrant Hawker, Male.*

P1390922 — Hoverfly – *Ferdinandea cuprea*.

P1390932 — Beetle – potentially *Poecilus cupreus*.

P1390936 — *A Banded Snail, maybe White-lipped.*

P1390952 — *Yet another White-lipped Snail.*

P1390958 — *Soldier Beetles and a Honey Bee on Mint.*

P1390977 — *Enchanter’s Nightshade – easily overlooked.*

P1390984 — *Snails – Banded and Garden respectively.*

P1390995 — *Snail on nettles. Some sort of Glass Snail?*

P1390996 — *Another White-lipped Snail.*

PXL_20230823_105831419 — *Fox and cubs.*

P1400015 — *Dragonfly – Common Darter, female.*

P1400020 — *Hoverfly – Helophilus pendulus*.

P1400032 — *Dragonfly – Common Darter, male.*

And there we are: one step closer to the end of August!

Skylarking

February 9, 2024 beatingtheboundsButterflies, insects, Nature, Photography, Wildlife11 Comments

Cove Road – Holgates – Far Arnside – Park Point – Arnside Point – White Creek – Blackstone Point – New Barns – Arnside – Black Dyke Road – Silverdale Moss – Challan Hall Allotment – Hawes Water – The Row – Hagg Wood

Home again and a familiar walk around the coast to Arnside and then back via Silverdale Moss and Hawes Water. It was a walk which involved a lot of stopping and gawking, and during which I took nearly four hundred photos (I’ve edited them down a bit for this post!). It was a good day for butterflies, spiders, harvestmen, grasshoppers and various other things.

P1390606 — *Harlequin* *Ladybird nymph.*

I find Grasshoppers very tricky to identify. I found this guide useful, if not conclusive.

I spent a long time by a Buddleia at the edge of the caravan park at Far Arnside – it was very popular with the butterflies, with quite a few bees and hoverflies visiting too.

Whilst I was snapping away, a Robin appeared close by in the hedge and watched me for quite some time.

P1390681 — *Common Blue Butterfly (female).*

P1390701 — *Bumblebee on a St. John’s Wort.*

PXL_20230816_140846057 — *Looking south along the coast to Clougha Pike.*

PXL_20230816_141156679 — *Looking North to Grange-Over-Sands.*

P1390725 — *Holidaymakers enjoying the mud.*

I was surprised to see a few family groups dotted about on the mud of the Bay, with a full collection, by the looks of it, of beach paraphernalia. Of course, I love the area myself, so I shouldn’t be surprised at all that other people want to enjoy it too.

PXL_20230816_140837388 — *Heather on the clifftop.*

PXL_20230816_141331230 — *Bloody Crane’s-bill.*

PXL_20230816_141559341 — *Naturalised Montbresia.*

PXL_20230816_143955660 — *Approaching Park Point.*

PXL_20230816_145400818 — *And around the point looking up the Kent Estuary.*

PXL_20230816_150033868 — *Marsh Samphire.*

PXL_20230816_150354069 — *The foreshore at White Creek with lots of…*

PXL_20230816_151744445 — *The estuary near New Barns.*

PXL_20230816_151812019 — *Lax-flowered Sea-lavender.*

PXL_20230816_151903647 — *Lax-flowered Sea-lavender.*

PXL_20230816_152213071 — *Approaching New Barns.*

PXL_20230816_153211348 — *At New Barns.*

PXL_20230816_152526475 — *A yellow composite (which is to say, I don’t know what it is!).*

P1390742 — *Common Carder Bee (possibly) on Marsh Woundwort.*

PXL_20230816_153724081 — *I think that this is an Orache, possibly Spear-leaved Orache.*

P1390730 — *A Rove Beetle, on the Orache, – one of the *Paederus* species.*

Paederus species are widespread across the world and I was surprised to discover that one (or possibly more) of them can cause severe skin reactions.

PXL_20230816_155204146 — *The Kent near Anside.*

PXL_20230816_155350934 — *Another boat on the Kent.*

PXL_20230816_155748078 — *A particularly vigorous clump of Sea Aster.*

This tall clump of Sea Asters was thronged with bees and hoverflies, particularly Drone Flies.

P1390756 — *A Drone Fly on the Sea Aster.*

A sixth species of butterfly for the day, not bad going.

PXL_20230816_160733107 — *People paddling in the Kent at Arnside.*

Over the years, I’ve taken countless photos of Blue-tailed Damselflies, but curiously, I don’t recall noticing the rather gorgeous two-toned wing-spots which are characteristic of the species before.

PXL_20230816_161130468 — *Former Custom House Arnside – now home to the Sailing Club.*

I’ve walked past the Sailing Club in Arnside many, many times. I’ve often thought of joining – I’ll no doubt get around to it at some point – but I’d never been inside their clubhouse. I have now. But I’m getting ahead of myself – that post is still some way off.

PXL_20230816_165605950 — *The footpath beside Black Dyke.*

I’d only set-off from home mid-afternoon, so it was getting quite late. I’d originally intended to follow the path beside Black Dyke, but as you can perhaps tell, it was pretty water-logged, testament to what a wet year 2023 was. So instead, I turned left and headed East…

PXL_20230816_165715738 — *A drier alternative, heading East.*

…towards some very dark looking skies.

PXL_20230816_170743841 — *Ominous clouds.*

PXL_20230816_170917646 — *Blue skies back the way I’ve just come.*

Long-suffering readers might know that I love to be on the edge of a weather front like this with strongly contrasting weather evident in different directions.

PXL_20230816_171030607 — *Silverdale Moss and Middlebarrow.*

PXL_20230816_171854156 — *More threatening clouds.*

PXL_20230816_173801543 — *The remnants of the Cloven Ash.*

PXL_20230816_181432110 — *Dandelion clocks.*

PXL_20230816_182132892 — *Common Knapweed.*

PXL_20230816_182707101 — *Thistleheads.*

PXL_20230816_184407342 — *Inman Oaks – nearly home.*

You may have noticed that no Skylarks appear in this post. The fact is, that I was listening to Horace Andy’s marvellous 1972 debut album ‘Skylarking’ whilst I was choosing the pictures for this post. Now that I’m almost done, my soundtrack is the similarly laidback reggae of John Holt’s ‘1000 Volts of Holt’.

A really delightful walk and a precursor to another family get together the following day.

Colourful Bronze Shieldbug

January 14, 2024 beatingtheboundshoverfly, insects, Nature, Photography, Wildlife4 Comments

After a fairly wet drive home and unpacking etc, I had a late mooch around home. Where to go? Lambert’s Meadow of course, via The Row and Bank Well before strolling back through the village.

PXL_20230813_161915603 — *Purple Loosestrife by Bank Well.*

PXL_20230813_170638343 — *Lambert’s Meadow.*

PXL_20230813_162756903 — *Wild Angelica.*

P1390467 — *Turnip Sawfly, I think – note the orange thorax, abdomen and legs contrasted with black head and ‘shoulder pads’. It also has an obvious black front edge to its wings.*

P1390486 — *Hoverfly – possibly Helophilus trivittatus.*

P1390512 — Social wasp and hoverfly – possibly *Leucozona glaucia*, *a new species for me.*

P1390514 — *Hoverfly – possibly Myathropa florea*, *the ‘Batman’ fly*.

P1390562 — *…possibly Eristalis Pertinax.*

P1390581 — Hoverfly, possibly *Meliscaeva cinctella*.

PXL_20230813_165905903 — *Twirly seeds.*

The light was very variable, but that didn’t stop me taking a huge glut of photos. The best was saved for last however, after I’d left the meadow and was walking around Silverdale Green…

PXL_20230813_170944046 — *Bronze Shieldbug? Mid instar?*

An incredibly colourful Shieldbug nymph.

Parasol Season.

December 19, 2023December 21, 2023 beatingthebounds7 Comments

Elmslack Lane – Castlebarrow – Eaves Wood – Hawes Water – Moss Lane – Trowbarrow Quarry – The Trough – Storrs Lane – Myer’s Allotment – The Row – Hagg Wood.

PXL_20230730_140508549 — *Flowering Nutmeg.*

The light and shadow in this picture suggest sunshine, but this was taken late afternoon, after another day of mixed weather.

PXL_20230730_142709818 — *The Dale from by the Pepper Pot on Castlebarrow.*

I was doing what I generally doing in those circumstances: making the most of a break in the weather, without straying too far from home in case it turned wet again.

PXL_20230730_144150618 — *Fungi in Eaves Wood.*

PXL_20230730_144140568 — *Fungi in Eaves Wood, possibly Amanita rubescens*.

PXL_20230730_144456775 — *Ruin in Eaves Wood.*

PXL_20230730_151052487 — *The Old Summerhouse by Hawes Water.*

I took lots of pictures of insects during the walk. Once again, I was only using my phone camera, I don’t remember why. In the poor light, the depth of field was low and I have a lot of sharp photos of flowers with blurred bees resting on them. Until I reached this Burdock plant near Hawes Water anyway.

I love Burdock for its great vigour and it’s punky purple flowers, but this one was thronged with pollinators, making it even more to my liking.

PXL_20230730_151325810 — *Busy Burdock.*

It was the ginger bee here which I first tried to photograph, but, for some reason, none of the shots were sharp again.

PXL_20230730_151336161 — *Burdock fly and one or other species of White-tailed Bumblebee.*

PXL_20230730_151405923 — *Marmalade Hoverfly and White-tailed Bumblebee.*

PXL_20230730_151535560 — *Marmalade Hoverfly.*

PXL_20230730_151603798 — *White-tailed Bumblebee.*

PXL_20230730_151701795 — Burdock Fly – *Terellia tussilaginis*.

The nymphs of these tiny, colourful flies live in galls on Burdock plants.

PXL_20230730_152046175 — *Path by Hawes Water.*

PXL_20230730_152013521 — *Hemp Agrimony.*

PXL_20230730_152140491 — *Deadly Nightshade bush.*

Zooming in on this photo reveals that the belladonnas flowers have now been superseded by the highly poisonous shiny black berries.

PXL_20230730_153426545 — *Gloucester Old Spot pigs at Hawes Villa.*

PXL_20230730_154350177 — *Meadow Vetchling.*

PXL_20230730_154404016 — 14 Spot Ladybird – *Propylea quattuordecimpunctata*.

PXL_20230730_154805602 — *Broad-leaved Helleborines*.

At this time of year I always try to fit in a visit to this spot on the track which leads into Trowbarrow Quarry where there are always a few flowering Broad-leaved Helleborines.

PXL_20230730_154917239 — *Broad-leaved Helleborines*.

PXL_20230730_154819948 — *Broad-leaved Helleborines*.

PXL_20230730_155020119 — *Broad-leaved Helleborines*.

I kind of orchid, the flowers have muted colours, but I’m always pleased to see them.

PXL_20230730_155318165 — *Tree Bumblebee.*

PXL_20230730_155817336 — *Large Rose Sawfly.*

PXL_20230730_160122365 — *Trowbarrow Quarry.*

PXL_20230730_160755287 — *Carabiner Gate.*

PXL_20230730_161857681 — *Narrow-leaved Hogweed.*

This Hogweed, growing on the verge almost opposite the Leighton Moss visitor centre, seemed a little odd to me. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was, but wondered whether it was Giant Hogweed. It’s actually all wrong for that, but I now thinks it’s from a sub-species, Narrow-leaved Hogweed.

PXL_20230730_161815255 — *Dark-winged Fungus Gnats.*

I was intrigued to read that the outer flowers in a spray of Hogweed blooms are zygomorphic, but have discovered that it just means, rather prosaically, that they have only one axis of bilateral symmetry. I think that might make me almost zygomorphic myself.

PXL_20230730_161909838 — *Narrow-leaved Hogweed.*

PXL_20230730_161912385 — *Narrow-leaved Hogweed.* The narrow leaves.

PXL_20230730_162547430 — *Tufted Vetch.*

PXL_20230730_162618293 — *Robin’s Pincushion Gall.*

PXL_20230730_163038463 — *Common Carder Bee.*

PXL_20230730_164249199 — *Leighton Moss from Myer’s Allotment.*

PXL_20230730_165237804 — *Red-tailed Bumblebee.*

PXL_20230730_165412306 — *Parasol Mushrooms.*

These mushrooms, growing in a group of perhaps a dozen in one of the clearings at Myer’s Allotment, qualify as the best find of the day.

PXL_20230730_165426160 — *Parasol Mushroom* *cap.*

They were huge. At least a foot tall and almost as wide.

PXL_20230730_165609522 — *Parasol Mushroom*s *– notice the snakeskin stem.*

Apparently they’re really good to eat, but I didn’t know that at the time, and anyway I’m a bit suspicious of large mushrooms – I’ve been unpleasantly surprised before.

PXL_20230730_165915882 — *Myer’s Allotment.*

PXL_20230731_154219011 — *Roe Deer visitor.*

Lambert’s Meadow, Mostly Bees

December 13, 2023 beatingtheboundsBees, hoverfly, insects, Nature, Wildlife7 Comments

PXL_20230729_152953054 — *Lambert’s Meadow.*

Still, if the weather’s showery, how handy to have Lambert’s Meadow on the doorstep for between the squalls.

PXL_20230729_150859012 — *Lambert’s Meadow*, *Mint flowering.*

PXL_20230729_155418965 — *Lambert’s Meadow*, *fringed with Great Willowherb.*

PXL_20230729_152134082 — *Bird’s-foot Trefoil.*

PXL_20230729_145426093 — *A ripe blackberry (but most weren’t).*

PXL_20230729_151501123 — *Guelder Rose berries.*

PXL_20230729_145401428 — *Megachile species – Leafcutter Bee (I think)*

PXL_20230729_145456076 — *Common Carder Bee and photobombing Marmalade hoverfly.*

PXL_20230729_152422057 — *Western Honey Bee? Quite different from the very yellow Italian bee in the last post.*

PXL_20230729_154852891 — *Bombus lapidarius – Red-tailed Bumblebee.*

PXL_20230729_154102731 — *Bombus lapidarius – Red-tailed Bumblebee.* *A faded male. Possibly.*

PXL_20230729_151843312 — *Soldier Beetle.*

PXL_20230729_152457865 — *Soldier Beetles.*

PXL_20230729_152451382 — *Green Bottle.*

PXL_20230729_153406224 — *Physocephala rufipes* *and one of the White-tailed Bumblebee Species on a Mint flower.*

This odd looking fly, with its narrow wasp-waist and the bulbous end to its abdomen, was a new species to me.

PXL_20230729_154029580 — *Episyrphus balteatus – the Marmalade Hoverfly.*

Apparently this small hoverfly might be the most widespread and most numerous species of hoverfly in the UK.

PXL_20230729_152808811 — *White-lipped Snail.*

PXL_20230729_154721693 — *Another White-lipped Snail?*

I’d managed to go out without my camera, or possibly with my camera but either no charge or no memory card. Either way, these photos were all taken with my phone, hence the lack of damselflies, dragonflies and butterflies, none of which would tolerate me getting close enough with my phone to get a decent photo.

The Next Week

December 12, 2023 beatingthebounds4 Comments

PXL_20230727_185255903 — *Brown-lipped Snail.*

I thought I could real-off a quick portmanteau post to dismiss the final week of July. The weather was very frustrating – I repeatedly studied the forecasts and made plans for promising looking days ahead, only for the forecasts to change and for more unpredictable, showery weather to arrive. I read a lot, and pottered around in the garden, between showers, or escaped for short local walks.

PXL_20230727_190254383 — *Garden Snail.*

But even pottering in the garden throws up interesting, to me at least, subjects for photos, and that applies twice over to a lazy wander to Lambert’s Meadow. So I have a lot of pictures, and have decided, after all, not to try to cram them all into a single post.

PXL_20230727_190313279 — *Garden Snail.*

PXL_20230727_194325355 — *Late light on The Lots.*

PXL_20230727_195358169 — *Sunset from The Cove.*

PXL_20230728_141222588 — *Common Carder Bee.*

Most of these photos are from our garden. Marjoram self-seeds all over the flower beds and is brilliant at attracting pollinators.

PXL_20230728_141330998 — Wolf Spider. Possibly *Pardosa amentata*.

Marjoram leaves are not very big, so this spider was pretty tiny, but I like its mottled patterns.

PXL_20230728_142559195 — *One of the many forms of Harlequin Ladybird.*

PXL_20230728_145355535 — *Unidentified bug.*

PXL_20230728_145513651 — *Honey Bee – Italian?*

Over the summer, I took a lot of photos in the garden, but I often missed the most interesting things that appeared. One afternoon there was a tiny, colourful Mint Moth. Another day I saw a large hoverfly, which I’m pretty sure was my first Volucella zonaria, the Hornet Hoverfly, which has the size and colouring of a hornet.

PXL_20230728_195959515 — *Cultivated Angelica with wasps.*

This last photo is not from our garden, but from a colleague’s, who threw a party. I’m a bit rubbish at parties, small talk is just not one of my talents, so I took photos of wasps instead! I thought that this tall, striking plant looked very like Angelica, aside from the fact that the flowers were purple, and I’ve since discovered that Angelica Gigas, or Korean Angelica, has purple flowers, so I suspect that’s what this was. The wasps were obviously loving it, and I’m very tempted to get some for our garden next summer.

Another Slow Walk (or Two)

November 12, 2023 beatingthebounds8 Comments

PXL_20230701_131555224 — *Lambert’s Meadow.*

The photos in this post are all from two walks around home from the first Saturday in July. The random musings are more recent.

PXL_20230701_132255672 — *Lambert’s Meadow.*

I remember there was a bit of a fuss about a Slow Food movement a few years ago, wasn’t there? Started in Italy, apparently. I was thinking about this, because I was idly contemplating the concept of a Slow Walking movement.
Although movement sounds a bit energetic in this context.

PXL_20230701_140959200 — *Lambert’s Meadow.*

Apparently, there’s already a Slow Living campaign:
“Slow living is a lifestyle which encourages a slower approach to aspects of everyday life, involving completing tasks at a leisurely pace.”

Leisurely pace. Yup.

Monotasking.

If that.

PXL_20230701_124328834 — *Silver Y Moth.*

I read somewhere that this year was a good one for butterflies. I can’t say it seemed that way particularly, from my perspective. I did see a lot of Silver Y moths though. They migrate here from the continent apparently. Overachievers.

PXL_20230701_125042799 — *A very faded Meadow Brown.*

For various reasons, TBH has put a lot of effort into researching ADHD recently. Now and again, she gives me articles to read, or listen to. They usually make me chuckle with recognition.

PXL_20230701_125207517 — *Another very faded, and very hairy, Meadow Brown.*

Whilst not a recognised symptom, apparently people with ADHD often display hyperfocus.
“Hyperfocus is highly focused attention that lasts a long time. You concentrate on something so hard that you lose track of everything else going on around you.”

PXL_20230701_125234078 — *A faded bee – an Early Bumblebee?*

The example given in the article TBH showed me yesterday was of a child continuing to read a book under a desk, which is me all over. I imagine slowly plodding around a field taking hundreds of photos of bugs, bees, flies, fleas and creepy-crawlies probably qualifies too.

PXL_20230701_125305009 — *Hoverfly – female Syrphus ribesii*.

I realise that it can seem like half-the-world is busy self-diagnosing ADHD these days, but that’s okay isn’t it? We can all be neuro-diverse, we all have our little, or not so little, idiosyncrasies.

PXL_20230701_125455542 — *Fourteen-spot ladybird.*

PXL_20230701_125457996 — *Fourteen-spot ladybird.*

Similar colouring to a Twenty-two-spot ladybird, but much bigger, and the spots are more rectangular and less round, and can merge together.

PXL_20230701_131249560 — *Common Spotted-orchid.*

PXL_20230701_132901615 — *Rutpela maculata* – the Harlequin or Spotted Longhorn Beetle.

Apparently these longhorn beetles, in their larval stage, live on dead wood for three years – then they get a fortnight in the sun to mate. They’re certainly very striking. The black and yellow markings seem to be very variable. I’m fairly confident that I saw beetles of this species several times this summer at Lambert’s Meadow, but this was the only time that I managed to get clear photos.

P1390115 — *One of the white-tailed species of Bumblebee.*

P1390150 — I think that this is an Ichneumon wasp, very tentatively a male Ichneumon xanthorius, but since there are around 2500 species of these parasitoids in Britain, and I am the exact opposite of an expert, you should probably take that identification with a lorryload of salt.

P1390152 — *Bee on Marsh Thistles. Common Carder Bee?*

P1390167 — *Hoverfly* – *male Xylota segnis*. *A new species to me.*

I’m hoping that the weevils and sawflies which live on Figwort, about which I was completely ignorant before this year, will become familiar sights now that I know where to look and what to expect. That has certainly happened with a wide variety of other species that I’ve become aware of over the years.

P1390210 — *Figwort Sawfly* and photo-bombing Figwort Weevil.

The little green bug here has hind legs reminiscent of a grasshopper or cricket – but it’s so small, no bigger than the tiny weevil, that it can’t be one of those can it? Except, I’ve discovered, that grasshoppers and crickets undergo five moults, becoming more like an adult at each stage, so maybe this is a small hopper.

P1390213 — *Swirls of white, milk and dark…oh, no, it’s a White-lipped Snail.*

P1390214 — *A wasp on unopened Figwort flowers.*

P1390215 — *Figwort Weevil – very dapper markings.*

There were lots of Figwort Sawflies about. Plenty of Weevils too. Lots of damselflies also, but, for some reason, not many of my damselfly photos were very sharp.

P1390264 — *Common Blue Damselfly – male.*

PXL_20230701_142317210 — *Yellow Flag Iris seed pods.*

PXL_20230701_154940280 — *A solitary bee – possibly a Mining Bee of some description.*

PXL_20230701_160710261 — *Hawes Water – wide angle.*

I had five cameras with me on my walk. My Panasonic and the four in my phone. I didn’t use the selfie camera on this occasion. The other three are labelled as -7, x1 and x2. How come a zoom is a multiplication, which makes sense I suppose, but a wide angle is a subtraction?
I’ve found myself using the -7 camera as lot. It’s not as powerful, in terms of the huge numbers of megapixels on offer – but I like the perspective it often gives.

PXL_20230701_160713597 — *Hawes Water – standard camera.*

PXL_20230701_160717272 — *Hawes Water – zoom.*

Midweek Walks and the Art Trail.

October 22, 2023 beatingthebounds5 Comments

PXL_20230620_195918518 — *Evening light on The Lots.*

Back to June – some photos from three midweek walks and then some from the Saturday of the areas annual Art Trail.

PXL_20230622_171800917 — *A tea time visit from a Roe buck.*

This was when the weather was still hot and dry and summer like and blue skies abounded.

PXL_20230622_181529828 — *Warton Crag, Clougha Pike and the village, from The Pepper Pot.*

PXL_20230622_181902308 — *Silverdale, from Castle Barrow (i.e. from near where the last photo was taken).*

PXL_20230622_181905875 — *Morecambe Bay from Castle Barrow.*

PXL_20230624_121602121 — *Grange-over-sands from The Lots.*

PXL_20230624_123151629 — *Unidentified bee on Common Blue Sow-Thistle.*

PXL_20230624_123206979 — *Hoverfly, on Common Blue Sow-Thistle, a Syrphidae species, I suspect.*

Our friend J and her daughter E came for the weekend, as they usually do for the Art Trail, and I managed to take absolutely no photos of them, not even a single one, as I usually do when in company. Actually, that’s poor, even by my own low standard.

PXL_20230624_123245334 — *Cuckoo Pint berries.*

Much more important to record what Cuckoo Pint berries look like, obviously.

I also didn’t take any photos of the many art venues we visited, except, that is for The Mawson Garden.

PXL_20230624_160520785 — *The Mawson Garden.*

It’s always a treat to visit, and even better this time since we bumped into a very old friend there and had a good natter too. (No photo, of course.)

PXL_20230624_160656608 — *The Mawson Garden.*

PXL_20230624_160833838 — *Fox by Vicky Yates.*

I don’t generally take photos of the art work – even the things I really take a shine too – unless the art work is sculpture or ceramics. It’s acceptable to photograph 3D art apparently, in my warped view of the world at least.

PXL_20230624_160841191 — *Black Backed Jackal by Vicky Yates – that’s TBH disappearing in the background – my only ‘people’ shot of the weekend.*

We were all charmed by the Fox and the Jackal. The latter seems to still be available, at the time of writing, on the artist’s website.

There was a large Mullein flowering in the garden, so I felt duty bound to see whether it had any Mullein Moth caterpillars – I found one, and a ladybird and this…

PXL_20230624_161440383 — *Hairy Shieldbug or Sloe Bug.*

PXL_20230624_161544506 — *Mawson Garden Pergola.*

PXL_20230624_161623943 — *More sculpture.*

PXL_20230624_161832928 — *Mawson Garden Pond.*

PXL_20230624_161934665 — *Another view of the Mawson Garden.*

PXL_20230624_162431772 — *Grey Walls – also designed by Thomas Mawson and sons – the Mawson Garden is in the grounds of the house.*

The Art Trail happens on the last weekend in June every summer and is well worth a visit – doubly so now that the Mawson Garden has been open to the public each year.

Beating The Bounds

A Blog about walking, thinking about walking, reading about walking…….and maybe other stuff

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