After waking at 6am this morning, fretting about lawn edges, I did some intensive research on the interwebs and ordered a power edger. I can’t honestly say that I have total confidence in this purchase, but almost all of my … Continued
This was the prettiest of just a few invertebrates I found and photographed on a quick rattle around the garden this morning, before going out for lunch with R. I do love a Hawthorn Shieldbug, and this one was displaying … Continued
I spent most of the day at my desk, doing financial updates and assembling the information I need to complete my tax return. This did not make me happy, and nor did the fact that every time I decided to … Continued
I’ve finally solved the problem of eliminating those pesky burnt-out specular highlights from photos of Shieldbugs: shoot them in the dark! By the time you read this I will, of course, have copyrighted this clever technique, which I’m confident is … Continued
I didn’t have much time for photography this morning, because the Boy Wonder and his mother were due to arrive for a visit around lunch time. Rain, wind, and appalling light didn’t help the situation, and in the end I … Continued
A 5am start with the Boy Wonder today was pretty much exactly what I didn’t need, but I wanted his mother to get more rest, and figured I could always get more sleep myself after they’d gone back to Wales. … Continued
The temperature went back up by several degrees today, though it was still windy, and intermittently wet. R and I did some gardening this morning (eeeurgh), and then I scuttled around the garden after beetles and bugs, managing to find … Continued
Of all the shieldbugs I see regularly, this is the one that puts me most in mind of a child’s plastic toy: that cool and vivid green always looks slightly unnatural to my eye. I haven’t tweaked the colours here, … Continued
Most shieldbugs are pretty shy and retiring – as would you be if you were as far down the food chain as they are – but when I walked round the corner into the wild garden this afternoon, the first … Continued
After a very stormy night, it was still pretty blowy today, but fine and bright. When I went out to check the garden for invertebrates, and the wildlife pond for debris, I found plenty of the latter, but not many … Continued