52 Weeks Wild #29

A collection of my wild moments from the past week...

Monday morning was a treat this week! A moment of calm amongst the more usual busy days.

I had a whole couple of hours to myself, with nothing pressing to be getting on with, in which I sat in my garden, reading and watching insects :)

I'd made a cup of tea in my school mug (the bug mug!) at home and then nipped over to my house with it to sit outdoors in the long grass. The earthy, grassy smells made me long for a camping trip... maybe next summer!

There's quite a lot of ragwort in the garden and yesterday it was buzzing all morning with so many bees and hoverflies visiting.  Quite a few butterflies around too.

I haven't identified this fly yet so please do comment if you know what it is!

common hoverfly

There are lots of froghoppers in my garden too :)

I also noticed some vapourer moth eggs. I've never seen a vapourer moth or caterpillar before but I've found the eggs of this species on several occasions. I'm hoping to keep an eye on these and see the caterpillars emerge next year!

Later on, in ma & pa's garden, I had a small glass of wine (needed after a pretty rubbish afternoon at school!) and spotted a caddisfly hiding in the bogbean. I think it's Limnephilus rhombicus but am happy to be corrected!

I found a bog hoverfly in my garden too. I see these quite often on the moorlands here but I've never seen one in a garden before. 

Sericomyia silentis

marmalade hovefly

I also squeezed in a bit of wild reading this week, reading the magazines from The Woodland Trust and Buglife as well as the latest RSPB magazine (not picture as it arrived after I'd read these). I really like the new format for The Buzz and it was a very interesting read as always!

The badger dug up the bee nest for the second time this summer. I put all the soil back with my bare hands last time, being careful to leave an opening for the two holes the bees are using, to maintain access, so I wasn't too pleased to see the badger has had another go! It hasn't dug as big a hole as the first time at least!

I think this hoverfly is a white footed (Platycheirus albimanus)...

The water mint has just started to flower in the pond this weekend.

I squeezed in another outdoor drink this weekend too - a strawberry milkshake (along with some lemon drizzle cake!)

Shortly, I'm heading off to bed and starting my next read...

I bought Transformations of Insects at Birdfair two years ago and did start reading it at the time but then stopped for some reason I don't recall now. I think it's going to be good! The book was originally published in 1870 I think but mine is a third edition so published in 1900.


How was your week?