Powerstock Common

Close to our accommodation, Powerstock is always one of my favourites. There weren't as many butterflies as normal (no Marsh Fritillaries and few Blues) but plenty of other insects to play with. No photographable Butterfly Orchids (some small 'over' ones were seen)  but good Bee, Common Spotted (with Beautiful China Mark moths), Marsh (not shown) and Birds Nest Orchids. Not ecologically good to see the Brown Tail Moth caterpillars in their tent! Ends with my favourites 'bug' - the Speckled Bush Cricket.

 

A CCC Week in Dorset

We are in Dorset for a week staying at  Higher Kingcombe Lodge - thanks Andrea (and Paul) for a great first dinner). A short stroll in the meadows produced a few 'Ugly Bugs' to start the trip

Watching the Skies

After a mostly cloudy day, the skies cleared in the early evening to give a beautiful clear end to the day. We walked up to the radio telescopes at Barton to check out the route for a CCC outing on Thursday and I couldn't resist a few IR images. Very interesting scarecrow!!

Gamlingay and Lackford on Hot Days

Insects are still in short supply but here are some from a walk round Gamlingay Wood (3 Hoverflies) and Lackford Nature Reserve - Hairy Dragonfly, Banded Demoiselle and female Black-Tailed Skimmer. 

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!