Author Archives: JDO

This is a female Myathropa florea – commonly called the Batman hoverfly, though I’ve also seen it called the death-head hoverfly, because of a thoracic marking that you can see quite well in a picture of a different individual which … Continued

I was in Stratford again this morning to help take down the camera club exhibition, and reclaim my own prints. Enough of us turned up to make this a very efficient process, and it only took one of the three … Continued

Knowing that this is the time when they’re most visible, I’ve been looking for a nice big garden spider for the past few days, and today I finally found this beauty. She has spun her web between one of my … Continued

An entertaining time was had by one and all on Lucy’s Mill Bridge in Stratford today: the Migrant Hawkers were entertaining me and R, and I was – apparently – entertaining everyone else. Every time a total stranger says to … Continued

I nearly went with Fretful Fallow Friday because she does look slightly anxious – but decided that it would be pushing the alliteration. We are not The Sun, after all. I was back in Stratford this morning, stewarding the camera … Continued

R and I drove over to Witney in Oxfordshire today, to meet Child One at the wedding emporium where The Dress has now arrived. Which is to say that I met her, admired The Dress all over again, complimented her … Continued

There wasn’t much going on at the pond in Trench Wood today other than the frantic mating activity of the Common Darters, which seemed to be everywhere I looked – and even where I wasn’t looking, the tell-tale scrunched cellophane … Continued

I was due to be in Stratford all afternoon, to help steward the current BGCC exhibition, so I went out around the village with the macro this morning (and by doing that managed to catch the best of the day’s … Continued

Just before we went off on our break last week, we moved the bird bath, which we’ve had since shortly after we moved here, from a place at the back of the rose bed where we can barely see it … Continued

A week of lovely places and interesting things finished today on another high note, with a visit to Elwelme in Oxfordshire for lunch with my sister, brother-in-law and nephews. As well as enjoying the kind of hospitality that did nothing … Continued