A years first and a life first.

The years first comes in the shape of a Red Admiral butterfly, I was commenting to someone recently that I had only seen 2 or 3 Red Admirals this year and not managed to get a shot of any of them. Blow me if whilst out with the camera yesterday (28/9) I didn't see 4 within 10 feet of each other. I managed to get close enough with the 100mm macro to snap a few frames of one of them.

I'd forgotten just how large the Admiral is.

There were also a large number of Comma butterflies present too. Managed a frame of that as well.

I also got the caterpillar of the Comma, but from a different location.

The life time first was another shield bug I'm afraid. Initially I thought it was a Forest bug when I saw it, but having managed to get a shot of it I saw it was different. I confirmed it on the net and with my books as being a Spiked Shield bug, Picromerus Bidens.

I also got a few Bronze Shield bugs. Much smaller than most of the other shield bugs.

A very nice spider and the return of a moth complete the post this week.
Crab Spider:

and an Angle Shades moth.

It really is getting to almost bird time now, just got to wait for those until I get to Chester. Come back soon

With a mind to a move.

With my mind on moving back up north I have stopped feeding the birds in my garden and my don't I notice the difference. I only get the odd visitor at the moment but I feel it is better to stop now than suddenly stop at the end of October when there may be less natural food around and they may be more dependent on it.

Photography wise I have continued with the bugs, with a little bit of swan and duck thrown in. I have found a couple of new bugs to show you, and one from an amazing set of photographs that I was fortunate to grab before getting soaked.

Lets start with the swan and duck.

Despite the sun, it was quite cold and windy a real taster for winter. Not fully in true colours yet but getting there. The swans have become incredibly used to humans now, with many people being able to feed the cygnets by hand.

The bugs have been great fun again, I really love doing them and I feel a lot fitter having walked around and around the park and fields nearby. I have shown you a couple of Troilus Luridus larva but finally this week I got an adult, it is identifiable by the yellow on the last but one segment of its antennas.

I also got my first picture of a Vine Weevil, It was on the path on the new part of the estate up from me, I was dressed in Camo trousers, Camo baseball hat and green Tee shirt, laying flat on my belly, ok maybe not dead flat, totally involved with what I was doing when an M.O.D police car came up and stopped alongside me. He was obviously suspicious of a man in full camo on the estate and I showed him some of the shots I had taken to put his mind at rest.

A washed out Small Copper came my way, nice but terribly washed out.

and a new hoverfly.

You may remember that Harvestman that I got the other week, well I got one again with a little bit more focus.

Finally the shot I have been most wanting to show you, you will have seen pictures of Dragonflies doing this, even Butterflies, but have you ever seen this? I think its a Dockleaf Shield bug as it was on the edge of a huge patch of the things and it has the right shape to it. I would happily accept if you know different.

I found it when looking for insects on an old rotted tree trunk, caught it out of the corner of my eye. Had to get on my belly again, its getting to be too much of a habit. amazing to watch it gently pushing its way out, unfortunately although I would have loved to have watched it complete the change it started to pour down so I had to make a break for the shelter of the trees and then home. Truly, truly wonderful to see.

Hope you have enjoyed this post as much as I have obtaining the shots.

Not giving up without a fight.

I think I may have spoken too soon last week, there was I casting the summer into the distance when in  reality it was right there all around me still giving its all.

Friday saw me doing dragonflies in beautiful sunlight, who'd have thought that eh? It was a good week really I intended to do a bit of birding but having looked at my garden visitors I don't think they are quite ready yet. I have a bald headed Blackbird that comes to my garden so I stuck to the bugs. Funnily enough they seemed to want to make it easy for me with no less than 3 shield bugs being found in or around my house. unfortunately two were dead, I am confident that one of them was a Birch shield bug, and the other a Forest shield bug. Roxy found the living bug in my lounge, that too was a Forest Bug.

in adult stage.

I found Hawthorn shield bug in various stages. From a very early stage,

Right up to adult stage.

Its very difficult to find some of these bugs. I have literally looked at hundreds of Hawthorn bushes, although that makes a change from the hundreds of bramble bushes I looked for Sloe bugs in. A couple of posts ago I said that I'd seen lots of Green Shield bug larva but no adults, well it must be the right time of the year now as I have seen quite a few.

Something slightly different this week came in the form of this little critter.

I believe that it is a Notostera Elongata. This is a female of the species I believe. I also had the luck to come across a particularly sweet example of the Scorpion fly.

I tried to get a crab spider and managed a reasonable shot but it wouldn't stop still.

It is possibly the nicest arachnid isn't it?

Dragonflies were mentioned at the beginning of this post, I spent possibly the best 2 hours or so of my time this year at the side of a largely overgrown pool watching and trying to photograph Southern Hawkers, Migrant Hawkers, Common Darters, Ruddy Darters and Common Blue Damselflies. But in all honesty if I had not clicked the shutter once during that time it still would have been fabulous experience. I had Common Darter land on my arm and chest, I had Hawkers hovering so close in front of my 300mm lens that I could not focus on them, but the highlight of the day was a female Sparrowhawk that flew over my head and across infront of me on two occasions. On the second occasion she hit a blackbird in a bush about 50 yards away, I wasn't close enough to photograph it and she was up and off very quickly, but wow what an experience.

I did get a few shots, but due to the position of the sun and the growth around the pond they weren't quite what I would have loved. For that I would have needed to have been standing in the water and my name is not Chris Grady.

A mix of Migrant, Common Darter, and Southern there.

On a slightly different note I am intending to move up north again soon, back to Chester, I am hoping it will have all happened by the end of October, If it does I am so looking forward to winter waders etc on the Dee estuary. My mother has struggled with winter for the last two years so I am moving nearer to be of help to her and my siblings.

Summers End

Summer is most definately coming to an end, although the weather over the last few days has been exceptional, really warm and sunny. The nights are drawing in and are definately cooler, this has reflected in what I've been seeing out on the ground. Grasshopper and Cricket numbers have dropped right off, walking around the hedges of the park yesterday I saw only one Dark Bush Cricket and no Speckled Bush or Grasshoppers, whereas last week I was falling over them.

Butterfly numbers have dropped too, there are still good numbers of Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper and Large White, but not as many as a week ago. Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock seem to have had their last flourish too, with only a few being seen.

This Speckled Wood was also seen this week.



A pair of moth caterpillars have kept me interested also this week, with the identity of the second being a little difficult to establish. The first is another example of the Vaporer Moth caterpillar.

The second I believe is the caterpillar of the Scarlet Tiger moth, Andy Carey agrees too but if you think different then please let me know. I found it in a gateway to a field in amongst bramble and grass.

Bugs have kept me going again this week too. I have added another species to my list of adult Shield bugs, finally finding a Hawthorn Shield bug.

but also a different stage larva or nymph of the same species.

You will remember the brightly coloured Troilus Luridus larva I showed you the other week, here it is again incase you have forgotten.

well here it is in a slightly different form.

Stunning I think you will agree.

A couple of birds for you next, adult and juvenile Mute Swan.

The Juv' really is an ugly duckling compared to its parents.The five cygnets are doing really well and proving to be a great draw for the locals. The Terrapin are making the last of the summer sun too, basking on what has become their favourite tree since the last one was messed about with by the fishermen and subsequently lost to the flood earlier in the year.

This shot was taken yesterday (sat), but slightly out of shot was this next critter, it was the size of a tennis ball and about 12 inches further up the tree.

The previous three were almost definately Red Eared Terrapin but is this one the same species? it doesn't look like it does it?

To finish off this week I have some dragonflies, I spent quite a bit of time this week trying to get dragonflies in flight, not as easy as it sounds. Here are a few of my efforts.

not brilliant but I'm getting there. The top one, I believe, is a Migrant Hawker whereas the bottom two are Southern Hawkers. Two different locations in and around Hereford. I did manage to get shots of a pair of Migrant Hawkers doing what they do best.

and funnily enough whilst I was trying to get them this one landed at the top of the stick.



Like buses, nothing for ages then three at once.

I hope you have enjoyed this weeks posting. Oh and for those of you who might have seen the post relating to me selling my 600mm lens and are wondering where its gone, I have been talked out of selling by my friends, so I will hang on to it for a while.