It was my birthday at the end of July. Some people don't take much notice of birthdays as they get older (and I am definately getting older) - but I still love the idea of a day to celebrate the beginning of that crazy interval we call life. Plus it's another new beginning in the year (I've never been 55 before!) and I love new beginnings. And I get to do what I like for the day, without feeling guilty.
Here is the beautiful birthday posy I got, with flowers from our garden.
Lucky Leo me, the sun shone, so I took my camera into the fields to see who was about. But first I must show you a picture of this little chap. He's a Mint Moth, although this one seems to prefer Sage. Apparently they like the whole mint family, and there are lots flitting about on the Marjoram too. They are such a gorgeous colour, and have sweet little beady eyes.
The butterflies are still stealing the show for me at the moment. Every time I see a new one I get excited and can't wait to check it out - they all look so exotic and fantastic to me that I'm always surprised when the book says 'common and widespread' - but so far that has been the case...This one is a Gatekeeper - warming up on a bramble leaf, and dining on the bramble flower (one of their favourite foods apparently). My book says that their emergence is a sign that summer has reached it's height, and it certainly feels like that. Already in August, with Lammas come and gone, it feels like the year is waning, with the harvest in full swing.
This one is a female - you can tell them apart as the males have an extra dark marking on the fore-wings - there is a picture of one further on.
The magestic Burdock is flowering now, in it's second year, and the bugs and butterflies love it. My walk took me past several stands of these handsome plants, so I got to see a lot of them. Burdock is also a favourite with herbalists as an 'alterative' or tissue cleanser - and I have read that in Japan they eat the root as a vegetable - they must have very clean tissues!There are two main types of burdock in Britain, greater burdock and lesser burdock, and you can tell them apart by their leaves (amongst other things). At least you can try...I think this one is the greater, as the leaves are broad and flatter. The lesser has narrower and more wavy-edged leaves. I have only just found this out so am very chuffed with myself!
The path leading to the Cam brook and the meadow is lined with Burdock...
Here is a Comma butterfly, looking fairly spruce for this time of year - I have seen lots of faded and tattered ones too. The Comma is easy to recognise by its deckle-edged wings - you can't see the comma until it closes it's wings, but it's a distinctive small white mark on the lower wing.
I was surprised to see one of these little people, I thought they would all be gone by now - this one, I think, is a broad-winged Damselfly - they always look so prehistoric to me!
-and a bee making a bee-line for the burdock flower - already in occupation by a green-veined white, hope they are happy sharing...
It seems hover flies are as keen on burdock flowers as they are on thistles - must be the colour purple...
Is this Episyrphus balteatus? Looks just like the one in my book...
Brace yourself for the next pic - I know these critters have some pretty nasty habits but they do have a part to play in the grand scheme of things too - and look at his beautiful coat!
He is in the Calliphorid or blow-fly family - can't decide whether he is a bluebottle or not because the description of a bluebottle (Calliphora vomitoria - yuk) says it has a dark or gray thorax and metallic blue abdomen, whereas this chap is metallic blue all over - maybe someone can clarify this...
From flies to shield bugs - you will have to wait for more butterflies! At least I thought it was a shield-bug till I looked in my book and it turned out to be a Squash Bug - same order (Hemiptera) different family (Coreidae).
From flies to shield bugs - you will have to wait for more butterflies! At least I thought it was a shield-bug till I looked in my book and it turned out to be a Squash Bug - same order (Hemiptera) different family (Coreidae).
Some of them like squash plants, others are rather partial to Agrimony, like this little fellow clambering over the seed pods - he didn't like having his picture taken, maybe he wasn't supposed to be there (I'll never live this down, I'm supposed to be on a squash plant)...
-and yet another bug...
I was in the meadow by now, and chasing the elusive butterflies - it's certainly a good lesson in patience...
next I found a rather washed-out Ringlet...
and then the prettiest little blue lady - one of the hardest to track down, but eventually she had to rest, and I snapped her with her wings closed. In my book she looks more like the picture of a Silver-studded Blue, because she has more blue on her closed wings, but I imagine she is probably a Common Blue - as they are more common!
We have an old disused and dismantled railway running above the meadow. It used to be the most glorious wild-flower-filled place but for the past couple of years it has been used for pasturing cows, which turned it into a deeply rutted and cowpat strewn bare area. In the past year we have had all our stiles replaced with much more accessible kissing-gates, and the overgrown footpaths cleared. So when I got to the path that led to the old railway line and discovered it had been cleared I thought I would check it out. I climbed up the slope and through the gate and 'hey!' - the cows have gone and the wild plants have come back - it was magical once more! Loads of Teazels and masses of Melilot, full of busy humming folk whose sound filled the air - what a lovely birthday present.
-and yet another bug...'Aha! an Oil Beetle' I hear you cry - but no - it's a False Oil Beetle, silly...
and it's a girl, so I can't call this one a fellow or chap. It's a girl because she has slender knees, and the males apparently have big fat knees (femora). They feed on pollen, which this Woolly Thistle flower has in abundance. Her name is Oedemera nobilis, but you can call her 'ma'am'...
I was in the meadow by now, and chasing the elusive butterflies - it's certainly a good lesson in patience...
The butterfly below is one that I hadn't seen before, and caught my eye with it's rich dark orange colour - it doesn't show when the wings are closed but I just couldn't get a shot with them open. Thought again I might have found something a bit rarer but no - 'one of the commonest butterflies in the British Isles' !
I love its stripy antennae and big black alien eyes...
next I found a rather washed-out Ringlet...
and then the prettiest little blue lady - one of the hardest to track down, but eventually she had to rest, and I snapped her with her wings closed. In my book she looks more like the picture of a Silver-studded Blue, because she has more blue on her closed wings, but I imagine she is probably a Common Blue - as they are more common!
We have an old disused and dismantled railway running above the meadow. It used to be the most glorious wild-flower-filled place but for the past couple of years it has been used for pasturing cows, which turned it into a deeply rutted and cowpat strewn bare area. In the past year we have had all our stiles replaced with much more accessible kissing-gates, and the overgrown footpaths cleared. So when I got to the path that led to the old railway line and discovered it had been cleared I thought I would check it out. I climbed up the slope and through the gate and 'hey!' - the cows have gone and the wild plants have come back - it was magical once more! Loads of Teazels and masses of Melilot, full of busy humming folk whose sound filled the air - what a lovely birthday present.
The wild clematis or Old Man's Beard was clambering everywhere and that is where I snapped this male Gatekeeper - maybe he is the Gatekeeper to this magical land...
