Tags
birds, buzzard, common darter dragonfly, Damselfly, dove, emerald damselfly, flea beetle, garden, garden spider, grey dagger caterpillar, insects, leaf beetle, long-tailed tit, moorhen, snail, spider's webs
This is the last collection of photographs I took last year of the creatures I saw in my garden. This post starts with photos I took in mid September and continues until the beginning of November.
A Flea Beetle. Not a particularly desirable insect to have in the garden but I was fascinated by its shiny wing cases and the enormous rear legs used for jumping.
A Leaf Beetle – I think this may be Chrysolina varians which lives on St John’s-wort. It was such a pretty iridescent beetle that I found on the clothes hanging on my washing line. With apologies for the horrible hand!
Buzzard (Buteo buteo)
I am pleased that Buzzards are returning to East Anglia. Until eight or nine years ago I had never seen one here.
Some beautiful dew-covered Garden Spiders’ webs (Araneus diadematus) I saw at the beginning of October
Apologies for the out of focus image. I believe this is an Emerald Damselfly (Lestes sponsa) or it might even be a Scarce Emerald Damselfly (Lestes dryas)
I spent ages following this damselfly round and round the pond until at last it settled and then of course, the camera wouldn’t focus on it!
I saw it again the following day perched on willowherb seeds.
This is a better photograph but still not as clear as I would like.
I had never seen one of these damselflies before. What makes me think it is an Emerald Damselfly is (a) its green body, (b) the way it rested with its wings spread out and (c) the brown wing-spot. What makes me think it may be a Scarce Emerald Damselfly is the size of the wing-spots which are quite wide. (The Emerald Damselfly’s wing-spots are narrow).
Grey Dagger moth caterpillar (Acronicta psi)
The prominent soft spike is just behind the caterpillar’s head which makes it look back-to-front. Probably a ruse to fool birds. The moth has dagger shaped markings on its wings. I found the caterpillar in the bottom of the wheelbarrow after I had taken the pyracantha prunings down to the heap at the bottom of the garden.
Common Darter Dragonfly (Sympetrum striolatum)
Long-tailed Tit (Aegithalos caudatus) in Spindle tree
And again
Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus)
White doves sitting on the shed roof
Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus)
Spider silhouette
I held the begonia leaf so that I could photograph the markings on the spider’s back
A tiny yellow snail on a dead leaf. I think this is a White-lipped Banded Snail (Cepaea hortensis)
I hope you have enjoyed looking at some of the things I saw in my garden last year. Best wishes to you all!
A Suffolk Lane 