Spiders, Flies etc at Welney Wildfowl Trust

Lots of spiders around at Welney including these Zebra Jumping Spiders in the Hide. One has caught a Magpie Moth

Harmony Between Rider and Pony

We had an enjoyable day at Polo out in the Fens and were very impressed by the friendliness of the people and their care of the horses - their welfare definitely came first. The ponies clearly enjoy the game and will follow the ball pushing each other off the line whenever they can.

Following on from Composite Workshop

Life is still all fairies in our household. Like her mother, grandmother and great grandmother, Sadie's favourite book is Cecily Mary Barker's Flower Fairies. She decided to pose as the Forget-me-not Fairy and mimicked the pose. The composite elements were all shot on the same day - flowers against a blue sky, a bank of forget-me nots (screen mode), fairy wings from an obliging Common Blue Butterfly (no insects were harmed in the making of this image) and some grunge from a slab of concrete. The back drop was a white sheet embossed with butterflies. Now to do Meredith!

Haslingfield Clunch Pits on Hot June Afternoon

I visited Haslingfield Clunch Pits last Sunday to check on the orchids.The Man Orchids and Twayblades are fully out but the Common Spotted are still in bud or not yet developed spikes. Lots of insect life with a wonderful Myathropa florea hoverfly, Ringlet Butterfly, Lattice Heath and Burnet Companion Moths, Dock and Hairy Bugs, a Golden-bloomed Grey Longhorn Beetle, Empis species fly and a very obliging Crab Spider - Xysticus ulmi.

Toft Garden Insects

Yesterday was the first day that I have been at home where the weather was right for a variety of insects to be on the move. . The first bug, Corizus hyoscyami, is another of the species benefitting from warmer summer as it was originally only found on southern coasts. The Nomad bee - a parasite of lots of species of mining bee - is the most common species after the various Shield Bugs like the Woundwort Shield Bug. A variety of Hoverflies recorded but all quite active in the warm weather.

Caldecote Churchyard and Orchard

The churchyard and orchard at our neighbouring village are very beautiful at the moment with flower borders, swathes of Red Campion and Cow Parsley. I will return with a colour camera some time but here some Sony infrared images