Most of the wildlife in the garden doesn’t hang about long enough to get photographed! That’s certainly true of the mining bees that nest in cracks in the concrete path, and of the assorted birds. But since I moved here in 2014 I have managed to capture a few creatures in pixels.
Frogs lurking on the “escape ramp” from the pond – shaded cool bricks in the heat of the day. Most years, I get frogspawn and tadpoles.
May 2018
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I get six or eight of these most years. My damselfly identification isn’t all that it might be, but I’m fairly sure they’re Large Red Damselfly. Whatever this was, it seemed to have taken possession of the large rosette of leaves of the mullein, and be defending it against all comers!
May 2018
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Identification of blue damselflies is almost impossible, but I’m going with “Azure Damselfly”, given its commonness. I’ve had up to eight at once of the brightly-coloured males, with a similar number of the dun females.
May 2018
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This delightful little creature was lurking on the sill to my small shed. I vaguely thought it might be an elephant Hawk moth caterpillar, and a quick check of the book confirmed that it was.
August 2021
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I think it’s a Mint Moth, but there’s an allied species with which it’s easily confused. I get lots every year – this one was resting on an acanthus leaf.
June 2020
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Before the rose arch went in, I had a clear view of the bird-feeders, from my armchair. The growth of the winter clematis, and putting in the rose arch, means it’s now obstructed. Sparrows enjoying themselves
October 2018
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Back in 2018, I grew a Great Mullein (verbascum). I came out after lunch one day to find it covered in rather handsome caterpillars, of a type I haven’t seen before. A grovel through the “Butterfly and Moth” book revealed that they are of the Mullein moth! Sadly, they apparently have a reputation for completely stripping all foliage from plants … so I removed them to the scrubland behind the house.
June 2018
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For the past couple of years I’ve had mining bees making their nests in cracks in the concrete path. I think they like the dryness under there. My Bee identification is rubbish, but I think they’re Tawny Mining Bees.
May 2022
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I noticed dug-up patches in the lawn, and a fairly deep open latrine pit (sadly, in one of the raised veg beds that’s currently fallow). Classic badger signs, unlikely though it seemed in my bit of suburbia. Worth buying a cheap trailcam, I thought. Yes: I have a badger!
October 2022
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