The Arbutus unedo tree flowering in my garden at the moment is a great source of food for both bees and butterflies. Captured this rather grumpy looking Red Admiral butterfly enjoying the nectar today! The tree will carry on flowering for quite a few weeks and at the same time, the fruit from last year’s flowers will ripen. It is quite a stunning sight!
Spotted this awesome caterpillar today – apparently the larva of an elephant hawk moth.
There are so many spiders around at this time of year. Found this one preparing his dinner.
Sedum flowers are the bees must-have food at the moment! The flowers are not even fully out and the bees are crawling all over them. Sedums are a wonderful plant to have in the garden, as they have so much to offer for three quarters of the year. The young lush shoots in the spring, the beautiful flowers, followed by the seed heads which look superb covered in frost.
A juvenile Green Shield bug which was residing in an allium seed head.
This butterfly gets its name from the white mark, shaped like a comma on the underside of its wings. The scalloped edges and under wing colouring are to conceal adult butterflies hibernating amongst the dead leaves.
Leptophyes punctatissima or Speckled Bush Cricket can be recognised by their antennae which are longer than a grasshoppers.
Found this interesting creature on a flower I was pruning in the garden. You can see where it gets its name, from the way it holds its front legs and the way it scuttles about. Apparently it doesn’t build a web, but relies on camouflage to catch its prey.
Our garden has extremely heavy, clay soil – the sort you could make pottery from if you were so inclined. Generally it is either too wet or rock solid and I have to wait for a gardening window when digging over the soil or planting anything. I have added loads of home-made compost and grit over the years, which has improved some areas. However, the most important lesson I have learned is to grow plants that are tough and don’t require too much fussing over once established.
Tonight it was so dry that I just had to water the vegetables and annuals. Our neighbour has a pond, but I swear the frogs spend more time in our garden than in the pond. This little chap was sitting under some foliage trying to look cool!
This pretty little beetle is only about 6mm long, with an iridescent body which looks as though it’s been carefully embossed. I found this one on the rosemary bush in my garden, but they also like to eat the leaves and flowers of lavender, sage and thyme. I tolerate this beetle chewing the leaves of the rosemary, but if it becomes a problem then then environmentally friendly way to get rid of them is to pick them off and squash them!
