Speckled Wood Butterfly

It was the first time for many a long day that a butterfly rested long enough to take a photo while we were taking our afternoon bout of exercise. This Speckled Wood was looking a bit the worse for wear.



Many thanks to Adrian and The Wessex Reiver who pointed me in the right direction for the identification of yesterday's unidentified fly. It would appear to be one of a large number of flies in the group of Empid flies. Reading about their lifestyle I would guess the vacuuming of the lily pad included catching some of the mites which abounded on the leaf. I have a feeling that those tiny creatures are also partly the reason the Blue-tailed damselflies spend so much time on the lily pads - a constant source of three square meals a day!

Weather has been very changeable and a certain hairy monster gets withdrawal symptoms if he can't spend the day sunbathing on the lawn.



Fortunately the rain had stopped by the time Bobby took me for my afternoon walkies.

Another Unidentified Fly

I was filming a damselfly laying eggs in my pond when I noticed this fly on one of the lily pads.



What was unusual was the way it was moving its proboscis side to side across the leaf just like a vacuum cleaner.



I have tried some searches in the hope of finding out what type of fly it is, but so far have found nothing which looks like this one. In size it was about 10 to 12mm in length which might explain why I did not even notice the other bugs on the leaf until I cropped and enlarged the photo. They would appear to be only 1 or 2mm in size.



With luck there may be some video of it on Friday along with the damselfly.

While I was looking for the above fly on the internet I did find what I think is an identification of the red eyed fly from a while ago.



I am now pretty sure it was a Flesh Fly from the group Sarcophagidae. I don't think it will take three guesses to work out what its diet is.

The Soggy Magpie

A couple of days ago, when the rain was very heavy, I spotted a juvenile Magpie on the peanut feeder. I don't remember seeing one on any of the feeders before. They usually scavenge on the ground picking up the seeds dropped by the smaller birds.



Unfortunately the lighting conditions were abysmal and very difficult for obtaining any crisp shots. For a while it stood on the edge of the bird bath for, every so often having a good shake to dry off its feathers.



I tried to take some video but the camcorder insisted on focussing on the raindrops running down the kitchen window.

A Little bit of Tweaking

The only decent view I get of the clouds and sky is looking South from my front garden. In other directions close trees limit the view. This is the view as seen by the Lumix a couple of days ago. To get some contrast in the clouds I let the camera take a 'reading' from the sky before lowering the view to take the shot.





Of course that meant that the foreground was under exposed and it is spoilt by the telephone wires which cross the view.  This seemed a suitable subject for another trial in PaintShop Pro with the Re-dynamizer plugin  First though - get rid of the wires. For that I use  a plugin called Wire Worm. This is one of a small group of plugins which are free. It draws an elongated loop (length and width fully adjustable) to enclose the unwanted part of a picture. This loop is then dragged and nearby pixels are blended in to replace the offending section. The process is better done in short sections.


Next was to let Re-dynamizer do its job. Here I have just used its own suggested settings which have increased the contrast in the clouds and brightened up the foreground. Now we can see 'bee heaven' - the lavender bushes and the Hibiscus that they frequent from dawn to dusk.





As I mentioned a short while ago this plugin is not free but I think well worth the £15 it cost to register, which I have now done. Both pictures have a border which is put on by another free plugin - One from a whole group called Border Mania which includes the gold coloured frame I also use.

Friday at the Flicks (Bees and Hedgehogs)

Nothing as out of the ordinary as head banging flies this week.
Just busy bees working hard on slippery Hibiscus flowers as they strive to reach the nectar right at the bottom and becoming covered in pollen in the process...  (Taken with the Lumix TZ7 about three inches from the flowers)



... and a mix of video and stills of the visiting Hedgehogs. For a while visits were down to one hog visiting just once each night but activity is increasing again. No Sumo wrestling seen recently as the hogs arrive at different times.



Thanks
My grateful thanks to Adrian, Keith, Frank and The Wessex Reiver who all identified my dark coloured damselfly as a female Common Blue. That is quite exciting as I know the Blue-tailed Damselflies are breeding in my pond and it would be great to see a second variety become established.

Damselfly ID Needed

Spotted a very dark coloured damselfly over the garden pond which led me a merry dance trying to photograph it. By the time I had fetched the camera it was nowhere to be seen, I stood by the pond for ages waiting to see if it would appear again. Finally I looked down and there it was resting on the rim of a planter about a foot away from my leg. I would say it is slightly shorter than my resident Blue-tailed Damselflies but with a thicker body.





My ID sheet mainly shows damselflies from above so I can't tell which have the dull yellow ochre which this one has underneath.

As for the head banging fly from last Friday. It got mentioned in dispatches - well a poem anyway - along with other creatures in a Poem written by Glo on her blog Porcelain Rose.

Following a suggestion from Matron I have joined the Nature Plus section of the Natural History Museum. There I have put the photo of the red-eyed fly to see if they will come up with an identification.

Wall Butterfly and other wings.

Twice last week I saw a Southern Hawker dragonfly circling the pond. Every now and then it would disappear under the hedge next to the pond so I guess it was hunting for food. Unfortunately so far it hasn't settled for a photo session. While I was waiting, camera in hand, hoping for the dragonfly to land I spotted a butterfly on a flower. It was the first time I had seen any of the brown varieties in the garden so I took several shots before it disappeared.



I had to look up to see what had visited - A Wall Butterfly, Lasiommata megera. A female I think judging by the tiny white spot near the front wing tip.

During our afternoon walk yesterday I was lucky enough to capture a shot of a Common Darter dragonfly as it rested.



There are still plenty of bumble bees in the front garden. They are now spoilt for choice. Not only do they have the lavender plants but also the hibiscus which has come into flower.



Also being attracted are a few of the local wasps.



Visiting bird numbers are well down recently. They are able to find plenty of natural food. At least it means that my seed stock is lasting a decent time.