Two Fascinating Findings this Morning. We took today’s walk (we make it a rule to walk somewhere every day - got to fight off this ageing business) in the Arboretum which apart from a couple of dog walkers we had to ourselves. When we set off along the trail there were ice [...]
Snowberry Clearwing (Hummingbird) Moth Today is impossibly hot with blazing sun and a humidex of >40C ... on the other hand, these conditions brought this wonderful moth out to play amongst our phlox flowers. Hemaris diffinis The moth is not quite as large as a Hummingbird but easy to confuse at a [...]
Realizing that I had a good photograph of a White Admiral butterfly, an insect that is more black than white, I wondered what it would look like in monochrome. This is the result - quite pleasing, especially as it was sitting on a white flower at the time. This was taken almost a [...]
Common Yellow Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia) About this time of year we start to enjoy the big webs and bright yellow bodies of the Yellow Garden Spider. Today we found one busily wrapping up a snack she had caught in her web ... hard to tell, but just possibly a Japanese Beetle. [...]
Following a long and very heavy spell of high heat days with health warnings to stay indoors etc there was rain today and afterwards this wonderful moth was working the flowers on the milkweed plants. About the size of a thumb and an absolute gem of an insect - we have seen [...]
Not that we have any urge to escape from the garden - this lockdown business is not causing any mental disturbance at all - but occasionally we like to check up on what the wild world is up to and so we take ourselves five minutes down the road to walk the trails [...]
Bruce Spanwing Moth A couple of days ago we saw a pale moth flying across the garden - late November, snow on the ground, temperatures around zero or below - and shrugged as it flew away. This morning we got a closer look at it, or a relative. I am reasonably confident that [...]
Japanese Beetles in the Ascendency Recently we wrote about the welcome appearance this summer of the eggs of parasitic Tachnid flies on the bodies of Japanese Beetles in the garden and we have been looking forward to a decline in beetle numbers as a consequence. No such luck. For the past four years, [...]
The Golden Rod was alive with insects Tuesday morning in the warm sun - here are four that posed for their portraits. There were also a number of Hover Flies which never paused long enough to be immortalised. Clearly a Bumble Bee and I think most likely Bombus impatiens (Common Eastern Bumble Bee) [...]
A Garden Month (to 24 Aug 2019) Pictures follow Even back in late July some end-of-summery things were already being noticed such as a small group of Waxwings taking berries from the Dogwood bushes on a hot and windy day … the sort of day on which it is perfect for Japanese Beetles [...]