Painted lady in the garden

I haven't seen a painted lady in my garden for many years but this one stayed all afternoon on Sunday. She(?) loved the marjoram flowers. Brimstones and gatekeepers along with some whites were all out for the sunny afternoon.

An annual treat

I love to see that we still have them. This year's stag beetle is a bit later than usual in the garden.

 

Having found two larvae in my leaf mould piles this year it looks like we will still have them for some years yet.

A young visitor

I found a tiny toadlet in my garden today. I had a little talk to it and tried to persuade it to stay. I have a plentiful supply of slugs for it to feed on.

And another!

I recorded my first picture of a green woodpecker this week. One has visited my garden before but this one stayed a good time. I think it had found some ants in the bed nearby.

A new pecker

This time it's a female. She shows a lot of interest in one of the holes in the birch tree and I thought she might be nesting. It will be some time before I'm sure.

She sits preening a lot on the adjacent branch.

Another white

It was three years ago that I saw my first green veined white in my garden. And this year one has arrived again. The date is only 8 days earlier this time.

It settled on a particularly pretty coloured columbine flower so I couldn't resist another shot!

It's been a good year for butterflies so far in this little patch.

Another chaser

I watched another broad bodied chaser which had just emerged from its nymph yesterday.

The wings were not yet pumped up and it was clinging to the empty shell of its previous body. (left)












Two hours later, it was just about ready to fly but the body colours still had to develop fully. That would happen over the following few days.