Time Flies

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.

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.

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.

A Mining Bee?

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.

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.

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.

Dragonfly – Common Darter.

Dragonfly – Common Darter.

Robber Fly?

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.

Robber Fly?

Dragonfly – Migrant Hawker.

Green Shieldbug.

Dragonfly – Migrant Hawker.

Dragonfly – Migrant Hawker.

A wasp, or a sawfly?

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

Dragonfly – Common Darter.

Dragonfly – Migrant Hawker.

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

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.

A 14-spot Ladybird and a Drone Fly.

Hoverfly – Helophilus pendulus.

Butterfly – Red Admiral.

Another Green Shieldbug.

Common Carder Bee on Knapweed.

A Crane Fly.

Shieldbug – Troilus luridus, the Bronze Shieldbug.

Robber Fly.

Hoverfly – Eristalis Pertinax – The Tapered Drone Fly.

Butterfly – Speckled Wood.

Butterfly – Speckled Wood.

Hoverfly – Helophilus pendulus.

Eyebright.

Late summer fungus.

Butterfly – Red Admiral.

Butterfly – Red Admiral.

Hoverfly – Syrphus ribesii, potentially.

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

Dragonfly, Common Darter.

Sedum.

Butterfly, Speckled Wood.

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.

Blackberry Picking

Brimstone

Hairy Shieldbug.

Blackberries. One of several tubs I filled.

A short post to mark a wee interlude of brambling at Sharp’s Lot last summer. It should really finish with a photo of blackberry and apple crumble with custard, but sadly, the blackberries are all still in the freezer I think.

Colourful Bronze Shieldbug

Inman Oaks.

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.

Purple Loosestrife by Bank Well.

Lambert’s Meadow.

Wild Angelica.

Drone Fly.

Honey Bee.

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. 

Common Carder Bee.

Marmalade Hoverfly.

Hoverfly – possibly Helophilus trivittatus.

Drone Fly.

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

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

Chrysolina polita.

Chrysolina polita

A very dark Drone Fly…

…possibly Eristalis Pertinax.

Mamalade Hoverfly.

Hoverfly, possibly Meliscaeva cinctella.

Harvestman.

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…

Bronze Shieldbug? Mid instar?

An incredibly colourful Shieldbug nymph.

Inman Oaks.

The Next Week

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.

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.

Garden Snail.

Late light on The Lots.

Sunset from The Cove.

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.

Wolf Spider. Possibly Pardosa amentata.

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

One of the many forms of Harlequin Ladybird.

Unidentified bug.

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.

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.

Home Away from Home.

Porth Towyn

As always, our summer holiday began with a trip to meet old friends at the Towyn Farm campsite near Tudweiliog on the Llyn Peninsula. The forecast for the weekend was diabolical and I tried very hard to persuade TBH that we should make a last minute booking of a cottage in nearby Morfa Nefyn, but she stood firm – we should camp. This is a complete reversal of our normal attitudes – usually I’m the more enthusiastic camper.
Once again we had problems fitting our detachable towbar (to be avoided at all costs) and without B’s patient repeated attempts, I’m not sure we would have ever got it into place. At least I didn’t injure myself with it this year. Eighteen months on from that debacle, the sensation in my finger has returned, the persistent pain has mostly gone, and my nail looks almost right.
We were very late leaving, as ever, but that at least meant that when we arrived, although it was dark, the torrential rain had slackened to a drizzle. We’re a well practised team when it comes to putting the tent up. We even managed the awning in the dark, which seemed wise given that the Saturday was predicted to be very wet.

Common Restharrow.

In the event, the weather could have been worse. In the afternoon we even had some blue sky.

Porth Towyn and blue sky!

Beach games ensued. I think most of us had a swim at some point too. Not Uncle Fester though, you can see he remained well wrapped up…

Mölky in full swing.

On the Sunday, the weather was a bit mixed. I had a walk one way along the coast with a small subset of our party.

A ‘secret beach’ or Porth Cae Coch.

New signs…

Were everywhere. A primary school project?

‘Secret’ Porths.

Common Restharrow again.

Along the coast.

Spiny Spider-crab shell.

I wonder how this empty crab shell ended-up on the clifftop?

A view to Carn Fadryn.

Later I went the other way on my own.

Porth Towyn.

I’d been warned that the coastal path in that direction was horrendously muddy. A large herd of sheep were grazing on the clifftop and, between them and the wet July weather, the path was pretty churned up.

Gorse Shieldbug, final instar nymph. And Labyrinth Spider, Agelena labyrinthica.

But I’m glad I went that way, because, as ever, I was fascinated by the Agelena labyrinthica spiders lurking in their webs on the gorse, and whilst attempting to photograph one of them I spotted this colourful Gorse Shieldbug, a new species to me.
I shall be keeping my eye open for them in future, the adults come in two different colour forms, green in the spring and darker with a little red and purple in late summer.

Porth Ysglaig. (I think).

Porth Llydan.

Of course, when I reached the point on my walk when I was furthest from the campsite, the weather turned nasty.

A new waymarked route.

I shall have to try this route on out next visit. I walked the northern part of the circuit, but used the lane back to Towyn to cut it short and miss Tudweiliog itself.

Porth Ysgaden.

It’s a sign!

Small Blood-vein Moth.

The white-washed toilet block on the campsite is small for a campsite facility, but large for a moth-trap. It’s a reliably good place to see moths. I’m usually a bit circumspect about taking photos in there, for obvious reasons, but I guess I must have had the building to myself when I took this one.

We’d survived, even enjoyed, the wet weekend, and better was to come.

Edit.

WordPress has started to suggest tags to me as I publish a post. Generally, they seem to be wildly inappropriate. Here is what was suggested for this post…

Which I offer in the spirit of a round from “I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue”* (surely one of the funniest radio programmes ever?): can you see the connections between this disparate bunch of tags and my tale of a wet weekend in North Wales? I had to look three of them up, and I’m still not really any the wiser about two of those.

* Funniest radio programmes ever:

• Hancock’s Half Hour
• I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue
• Cabin Pressure
• Old Harry’s Game
• Round The Horne

Oh dear, a top five with no room for Brass Eye, The Day Today, Clare in the Community, The News Quiz, Just a Minute, The Now Show or Dead Ringers. I can see I shouldn’t have started this. Feel free to play along. Or not.

Another Slow Walk (or Two)

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.

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.

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.”

Spear Thistles.

Leisurely pace. Yup.

Monotasking.

If that.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

Fourteen-spot ladybird.

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.

Common Spotted-orchid.

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.

One of the white-tailed species of Bumblebee.

Silver-ground Carpet Moth.

Seven-spot ladybird.

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.

Bee on Marsh Thistles. Common Carder Bee?

Hoverfly – male Xylota segnis. A new species to me.

Green bottle fly.

Figwort Sawfly.

Figwort Sawfly.

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.

Azure Damselfly – female.

Figwort Sawfly and photo-bombing Figwort Weevil.

Figwort Weevil and…?

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.

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

A wasp on unopened Figwort flowers.

Figwort Weevil – very dapper markings.

Figwort Weevil.

Figwort Sawfly.

Figwort Sawfly.

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.

Small White Butterfly.

Mating Figwort Weevils.

Great Willowherb flowers.

Comma Butterfly.

Red Admiral.

Common Blue Damselfly – male.

Yellow Flag Iris seed pods.

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

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.

Hawes Water – standard camera.

Hawes Water – zoom.

A Good Day for Ladybirds

Lambert’s Meadow.

The Sunday of the Art Trail weekend at the end of June. I was out early for a solo wander, and then later with TBH and J touring a few more art venues.

Common Spotted-orchid.

A group of almost entirely white Common Spotted-orchids.

White-lipped snail.

Seven-spot Ladybird pupa. I think. And a host of aphids.

I’ve always assumed, I think because of the rather crumpled appearance, that ladybirds like this were in the act of actively transforming from their larval form into an adult. I suppose I was right, but I hadn’t thought about the fact that there might be a pupal stage at all. I suppose lots of insects go through a pupal stage, but I generally only tend to see ladybirds in this phase. I wonder why they so often seem to choose such obvious spots – you’d think they would all get picked off by birds or other predators.
This one was on the thorny stem of a Teasel and, since ladybirds prey on aphids, looks well set for a good meal when it metamorphoses into its adult form. The aphids seem to be in all sorts of sizes and two completely different colours – I have no idea whether they are of different species or not.

Seven-spot Ladybird.

Two-spot Ladybird pupa. (According to Google Lens).

I also found a Twenty-two-spot ladybird, tiny and yellow and rather natty, but sadly none of my attempted photos were very sharp.

Dolycoris Baccarum – Hairy Shieldbug.

Lime Tree in flower.

Hazelwood Hall.

Hazelwood Hall was one of the art venues, which suited me since it provided another opportunity to have a peek at a Thomas Mawson designed house and garden.

Six-spot Burnet Moth.

Midweek Walks and the Art Trail.

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.

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.

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

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

Morecambe Bay from Castle Barrow.

Grange-over-sands from The Lots.

Unidentified bee on Common Blue Sow-Thistle.

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.

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.

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.)

The Mawson Garden.

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.

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…

Hairy Shieldbug or Sloe Bug.

Mawson Garden Pergola.

Roses.

More sculpture.

Mawson Garden Pond.

Another view of the Mawson Garden.

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.

Elderflower Season

Hagg Wood – Bottom’s Lane – Burtonwell Wood – Lambert’s Meadow – Bank Well – The Row – The Golf Course – The Station – Storrs Lane – Trowbarrow Quarry – Moss Lane – Jubilee Wood – Eaves Wood.

Broad-bodied Chaser Dragonfly, female.

The day after my Harrop Tarn swim. My new, second-hand phone (a Google Pixel 6) had arrived and I was keen to try out the camera. Actually, it has four cameras – the selfie camera, the ‘standard’ camera, a wide angle and a x2 slight telephoto. I had my actual camera with me too, so I had four to choose from at each point.
One thing my phone won’t do is take photos like the one above, of shy subjects like a Broad-bodied Chaser, which need to be taken from some distance. There were loads of them about at Lambert’s Meadow, all female again.

Spear Thistles

Elder Flowers

The Elders had just come into flower – I made a mental note to bring a bag and some scissors on a subsequent walk, so that I could collect some to make cordial. I think I made the same mental note several times before it actually worked.

Ragged Robin at Lambert’s Meadow.

I’ve come to really like the wide-angle camera on my phone, it seems to give a considerable depth of field.

Mullein Moth Caterpillar.

Since this caterpillar wasn’t likely to fly off, I was able to compare shots taken on my camera and on my phone. This first was taken with the phone.

Mullein Moth Caterpillar, and Figwort Weevil.

And this one with my camera, which I think is a slightly better photo. The little Figwort Weevil is something I’ve been looking out for; photos taken with macro lenses reveal them to be astonishing little creatures. I’ve only ever seen Mullein Caterpillars in large numbers on Mullein plants before, but apparently they will eat other things.

Common Blue Damselfly, male.

Once again, there were Common Blue Damselflies about in large numbers.

Meadow Brown Butterfly.

Quite a variety of butterflies too, I also have photos, but not very good ones, of Commas and Red Admirals.

Common Carder Bee on Marsh Thistle.

Peacock Butterfly Caterpillars.

The Peacock caterpillars had grown considerably since my last visit. My camera seemed to struggle with them, and the photos I took on my phone seem to have worked better.

I’ve cropped this photo more heavily…

Peacock Butterfly Caterpillars.

They’re astonishing, spiky critters, like something from some sort of sci-fi horror B movie. Every time I visited, I noticed a fairly appalling smell. I’ve read that liquid fertiliser made from nettles is highly efficacious, but also produces a stomach-turning odour. Maybe the caterpillars, by eating the nettles, produce a similar stench? On the other hand, maybe there was something beneath the nettles rotting away. I suppose I won’t know until I find another patch of nettles with a colony of Peacock caterpillars.

Common Spotted-orchid.

The phone seems to work well for flowers. I’ve cropped this photo quite heavily too, so that you can see the tiny golden bug which emerged on the top left whilst I was lining up the photo.

Hedge Woundwort.

Meadow Vetchling.

Early Bumblebee on Bramble flowers.

I suspect the clever people at Google have packed some nifty algorithms into the phone’s software. I’ve noticed that sometimes two photos of the same subject, taken consecutively, can look quite different. Sometimes you can watch the temperature of a scene change on the screen. Although, I can’t put my finger on why, I really like these bramble blossoms and the Early Bumblebee and I can’t help thinking that the phone, or the algorithms, have done something sly to produce a pleasing effect.

Possibly a Tree Bumblebee, but a slightly odd looking one if it is.

A ladybird larva shedding its skin to become an adult.

Another comparison shot. The camera photo is the first one, above.

The same ladybird.

This time I think it’s the phone which did a better job, having made the most of some fairly poor light.

Common Twayblade.

Common Spotted-orchid.

Broad-leaved Helleborine.

Broad-leaved Helleborine.

Dog Rose.

Grypocoris stysi – plant bugs, on Hedge Woundwort.

The phone certainly did a good job with these little chaps. This was in Eaves Wood. I’d stopped to look at the Woundwort because I was hoping to find a Woundwort Shieldbug, then spotted a Common Carder Bee, which soon made itself scarce, but, having stopped and looked closely, noticed these tiny flower bugs. There are lots fo similar species, but apparently this particular pattern is fairly distinctive.

Empis livida – a Dagger Fly.

Another Empis livida.

Enchanter’s Nightshade.

Fly Orchids at Last!

Another week’s worth of evening, post-work walks from near the end of May.

Tuesday: The Lots and The Cove.

Late light on The Lots.

Sunset over Hampsfell.

Thursday: Lambert’s Meadow – Bank Well – Myer’s Allotment – Leighton Moss – Trowbarrow Quarry

Lambert’s Meadow – I can’t stay away.

Guelder Rose.

Comma Butterfly.

Comma Butterfly.

Peacock Butterfly.

Male Common Blue Damselfly and female Damselfly (I’m not sure which flavour).

Greenfinch.

Leighton Moss from Myer’s Allotment.

Flowering shrub at Leighton Moss, coated in webs.

…containing caterpillars.

Male Pheasant, completely hidden, he thinks!

Leighton Moss.

Leighton Moss.

The causeway.

Trees fogged with Willow seeds.

Everything was quilted with Willow seeds.

Fly Orchid

I’ve been hoping to spot some of these for years, so this was something of a red letter day. I’d been looking at another orchid, a Common Twayblade, and then noticed an even smaller orchid nearby. They’re tiny.

“Despite the flowers looking like flies, they actually attract digger wasps. They release a scent which mimics a female wasp’s pheromones, luring in males that attempt to mate with them. The male wasps get a dusting of pollen, which they carry on to the next flower that fools them, hopefully pollinating the plant.”

Source

How the heck does a pollination method as complex as that evolve?

Friday: The Lots – across the sands to Park Point and back.

Arnside Knott from the Sands.

Looking back to The Cove and Know End Point.

Hawkweed seedhead.

The flowers of this hawkweed appeared in a fairly recent post. I wasn’t expecting the seedheads to be almost as attractive, but when the multicoloured interior was revealed, I think it was…

Colourful Hawkweed Seeds.

Common Blue Butterfly.

Bloody Crane’s-bill.

When Andy and TBF were down on the Gower, a few days prior to this walk, TBF messaged me about the lovely pink flowers which were dotted about the coast there. Maybe that was at the back of my mind when I came this way. Anyway, there were lots of Bloody Crane’s-bill in evidence along our coastal cliffs too.

Heather.

Unidentified caterpillar.

Quaking Grass.

Appealing seedheads.

Burnet Rose.

More Bloody Crane’s-bill.

Horseshoe Vetch.

Common Blue Butterflies.

I think that these butterflies were mating, or attempting to mate. They kept being disturbed by a third Common Blue, a male, which persistently flew towards them.

Dropwort.

Micro Moth.

Small, day-flying moths are very common in the summer, but as soon as they land they seem to disappear, so I was lucky to spot this one.

Dingy Skipper.

Cryptocephalus bipunctatus – a nationally scarce species of beetle.

Bee holes?

I watched a couple of dark bees flying very low to the ground near to these holes, but didn’t manage to get photos, or seem them approach the holes, so I’ll never know whether these are bee burrows.

Bloody Crane’s-bill and Rock Rose.

Rock Rose.

Thrift.

May was a busy month; without really making a conscious effort, I logged over 250km of walks. The excellent weather helped a lot!
Not that I’ve quite finished my May posts yet!