Humming

Despite a chilling north-easterly wind, the bright sunshine brought out a raft of invertebrates in the garden this morning, and the whole area seemed to be gently humming. My species counts are still well down on last year – twenty … Continued

Masonic

I recorded three season firsts today, and I’m posting photos of two of them this evening. The main image, featured at least partly because he was the hardest subject of the day to capture on camera, is a male red … Continued

Dark

The girls are back in town. When I first went out with the camera this morning it was still heavily overcast and bitterly cold, and apart from a couple of ladybirds the only invertebrates I could find were female bees: … Continued

Incoming

Another day in the garden saw a border that has never been cleared in the two decades we’ve lived here finally get tidied, edged, and mulched. In the process of which I broke an edging iron on the rock-hard ground … Continued

Speckled Wood

I was stalking a tiny and uncooperative Holly Blue around the garden with a long lens this afternoon, when I was distracted by some butterflyish fluttering up in the top of the weeping pear tree. It took me a while … Continued