Flicks and Flutters for Friday

One of the Magpies has returned to the garden area after an absence of several weeks. Even when it cannot be seen I know it is there. It seems as though it chatters and chunters to itself all the time. For a while I have been trying to film it but Magpies are so shy here they disappear at the slightest movement. At last I managed to film it through the kitchen window and the sound which was coming through the open back door was just recordable.



As well as the visiting Goldfinches there has been an increase recently in the number of Greenfinches making regular visits to the feeding area.



One Hedgehog continues to visit soon after dark. Here it is seen tucking in to its favourite dried mealworms followed by a drink of water, a good shake and a wander off to the rest of the garden.



For once I watched what the hog did next. It wandered along the edge of the lawn in the direction of the pond stopping every now and then to snuffle out something to eat. Probably small beetles which make up the main part of a hedgehog's diet. It stayed still long enough for me to take its portrait.



If it had been Honey she would have run away at full speed. Henry always stayed put but this one seemed smaller than Henry so it may well be a different hog.

That was the flicks (a slang word for moving pictures) now for the flutters. I actually took a real camera with me on our afternoon perambulation to the cricket field yesterday in the hope of seeing some dragons but as is normal when I take a camera they had all disappeared. There were many seven spot ladybirds in evidence on the brambles which was good to see as I understand they are under threat from the invading harlequins. Also in evidence were a few butterflies.

An area at one end of the field always has a magnificent crop of thistles. Many had already gone to seed and were dispersing in the breeze.



Those still in flower were attracting numerous Small Tortoiseshell butterflies.



I was fortunate enough to spot a couple of Comma butterflies. A variety I never see in the garden.



Also spotted was what I think is a Speckled Wood.
(Thanks Roy for confirming the identification)



Apart from flies and wasps by the score the only other life spotted was the usual crop of bumble bees which still visit the lavender bushes in my front garden.