Tags
Brown Hawker dragonfly, butterfly, cuckoo bee, dragonflies, Field vole, Flesh Fly, flies, garden, ichneumon wasp, Large Yellow Underwing moth, micro moths, moths, Small Tortoiseshell butterfly, small white butterfly, Southern Hawker dragonfly, Tachina fera fly, wildlife
I will continue to post last year’s photos while this winter weather continues. I am away from home for a good part of the day; certainly the part of the day with the best light for taking pictures. We haven’t been out anywhere recently either, so nothing much to show or tell you.
Rear end of a vole. I think this may be a Field Vole (Microtus agrestis) rather than a Bank Vole (Clethrionomys glareolus).
Front end of a vole.
This vole was hiding behind the wheel of the hose-pipe cart. In fact, the shots were taken just a couple of weeks ago but I was unable to add them to the other posts I’ve published this year. Field Voles are aggressive and noisy rodents and like to live in damp and tussocky grass. Exactly! Our garden is full of that at the moment.
Bees on Chive flowers
I let most of my herbs flower as I prefer to see the insects and flowers to having perfect tasting herbs.
I believe this is a Cuckoo Bee (Psithyrus vestalis) on Chives.
A micro moth I found in grass. I haven’t yet discovered what it is called.
Another micro moth seen on a wall. I apologise for the shot being out of focus.
A Brown Hawker dragonfly. This is the only photo I managed to get of it and it blends in so well with the dead leaf it was perching on. This is our only Hawker with amber wings and has prominent yellow stripes on its thorax. These can just be seen above the wings. I believe this is a female.
Tachina fera on Marjoram. The larvae of these flies are parasites of saw flies and other caterpillars.
Small Tortoiseshell butterfly (Aglais urticae) on Marjoram
Small Tortoiseshell butterfly on Marjoram.
Small Tortoiseshell butterfly on Marjoram.
This is an Ichneumon wasp (possibly Amblyteles armatorius but I have my doubts about this ID). It is on Bronze Fennel.
Ichneumon Wasp and Flesh-fly (Sarcophaga carnaria) on Bronze Fennel.
Unknown moth. Angle Shades moths (Phlogophora meticulosa) fold their wings like this but I am not sure that they are this dark in colour.
A rather chewed Small White butterfly (Pieris rapae).
Large Yellow Underwing moth (Noctua pronuba)
Southern Hawker dragonfly (Aeshna cyanea) – female.
Best wishes to you all!
Aren’t the chive flowers just beautiful? I also let all my herbs flower and seed. The flowers are beautiful, and often fragrant, and the insects and birds love them.
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We have chives here too, and the bees do love them.
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Thank-you so much! I wouldn’t be without them.
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Ah…beautiful photos! Thank you for sharing.
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You’re very welcome, Jill and thank you!
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Those are beautful photos of your corner of the world! Looking forward to seeing more of your gardens (and voles)!
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Thank-you Lavinia!
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Hi Clare, we are going to a meeting at our local group of the Wildlife Trust on Monday 16th and the talk is on Macro Moths, they are apparently smaller than your Micro Moths, neither of which I know anything about! There is so much to learn in life. We have some very annoying voles too that live in the damp tussocky grass in the wild field at the bottom of our garden,they get into my veg garden but I did not know they were noisy and aggressive.
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I read this about field voles when looking up their Latin name. I had suspected they were as I disturbed one last year when moving some pots behind our greenhouse. Instead of running as a mouse would have done the vole started squeaking very loudly and walked off – almost stomped off! II was very surprised and amused. I thought it might have been trying to distract me from its nest.
Macro moths! Goodness! I agree – so much to learn!
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A gorgeous post! Really lovely to see the little water vole and from what I understand they are under threat from both habitat loss and pollution ~ also wonderful to see the bees as well as all the other thriving insect life there. Thank you for sharing it and look forward to seeing more.
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Thank-you very much Val! The vole I found wasn’t a water vole but a field vole but we do have water voles about here as well I am pleased to say. I hope to find another when I have my camera with me next time!
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These are fabulous, Clare. that large unknown moth looks huge! As for the voles – I guess we humans just have to get used to them. I never have, but what they hey….
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Thank-you, Cynthia! I don’t mind voles as long as they stay out of the house and garage and leave my bulbs alone!
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Great photos of the insects, and your knowledge about them is quite impressive! I’ve tried to shoot photos of voles and have always missed, so I think that catching one is a great accomplishment!
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Thank-you Jerry! Field voles are fighters and don’t seem to be as scared of humans as Bank Voles, mice etc. They will stand their ground and squeak at you if they are disturbed! This one lives right close to our garage back door and I think is quite used to our comings and goings.
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I always let my herbs flower and go to seed and now my back lawn is more thyme and marjoram than grass, but it’s a joy to smell when I mow it.
I like seeing your insects. I always wonder if we have the same ones here-I’m not up on insects very well.
Nice catch on the vole. All I ever see of them is their tracks in the lawn when the snow melts. I think I’ll be seeing a lot of them this year, judging from all the tracks in the snow!
Thanks for another glimpse of the old homeland!
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My pleasure, Allen! I never really noticed insects properly until recently. Butterflies and moths were the only ones I had any knowledge about but I suddenly began to look properly and see all the other wonderful creatures right on my doorstep!
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You are surrounded my beautiful landscapes and things and this post proves it!…
The butterflies and the flowers, the caterpillar getting ready to become butterflies… So many sweet things over there!… By the way those Chive flowers are gorgeous and they reminded me of the Agapanthus that we used to have at home when I was a kid! ⭐ Lovely post,dear Clare. Thanks for sharing and I am wishing you all the best, as always! Aquileana 😀
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Thank-you dear Aquileana for your kind words! I love Agapanthus too but I haven’t got any in this garden yet. They are much bigger than the chives but I see why the chives remind you of your garden at home! Enjoy the rest of your week! Clare x
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The micro moth is nearly heart shaped 😊 beautiful photographs Clare.
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Thank-you Charlotte!
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Your photos are making me yearn for the warmer months to arrive! Love the butterfly and bee shots especially, wonderful captures. Here’s to summer! 🙂 x
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Oh yes! One of the reasons I did this post was because I am so fed up with this dreary cold weather! 🙂 x
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Spring will soon be here! x
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Beautiful post. I love your garden and all your visitors
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