Garden in May

With the warm weather and then a bit of 'dampness', my wildlife garden is flourishing with its mix of native and naturalised plants. I collect seed in the autumn which I either spread around or grow as seedlings and plant out. This helps maintain a thick cover of vegetation to stop the soil drying out and obviously to attract lots of different insects and hence also birds - see my Merlin list from yesterday!!. 

Two aerial shots show how much more vegetation we now have compared with when we moved 'up the road' in 2000 and I started the work of creating as many habitats in one garden as I could - Meadow, Woodland, Sandy 'Mediterranean, Hedgerow etc

2000

2025

Also  Eurasian Blackcap - usually the loudest song but quiet on this morning.

Insect Portraits

A few portraits of some of Trumpington Meadows residents taken on an overcast but relatively bright day.

Heron Update

A few images of one of  Paxton's Heron families  - definitely three very boisterous teenagers now  competing to get food from the parent and beginning to trial jumps and flaps prior to their first flight. It was very contrasty light in the morning yesterday.

Rutland Water Visit

Chilly day yesterday for an RPSNature visit to Rutland Water where Hobbies were definitely the stars of the day with several hawking in the sky from lunchtime onwards and one sitting on a post for a long wile before exiting front giving a disappointing shot for all the wait!! Lots of singing small birds including Reed Bunting and Sedge Warbler.

Macro Images May 12th Paxton Pits

The light for our macro session on Tuesday at Paxton was just about ideal - bright but with some light cloud to diffuse the sunlight. As usual, the daisies were attracting lots of insects while the spindle bushes were full of Ermine Moth caterpillars walking (or hanging!) the tightrope threads. Last image - 'show a leg' was an obliging Honey Bee that lifted its leg to show the diagnostic corbicula (pollen basket) which occurs in Apini (honey bees), Bombini (bumble bees), Euglossini (orchid bees), and Meliponini (stingless bees) but not in Andrena (mining bees) etc.