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Showing posts with the label Stocky Mason Wasp

Between rain showers

Last weekend was a bit like April, with lots of sunshine and showers. Well, not like this April, obviously, hence my delight at the much-needed rain. That said, we were fortunate that an afternoon's ramble along the coast in East Mainland was warm and dry, with plenty of wildlife to see. At a muddy pool, we stopped to have a quick scan for damselflies, but only managed a tall wader which I mistook for a young Curlew. A local expert helped me out with the ID later, the bird actually being a Ruff. In sheltered spots, there were plenty of Meadow Brown and Common Blue butterflies, and I couldn't resist yet another photograph of a Blue when one landed on a Ragwort flower. On the cliffs, the Fulmar chicks were very plump and fluffy, including these pyramidally-nestled ones.  The clifftop vegetation now consists of much Wild Angelica and Scots Lovage. Meadow Brown This Shag chick can't be far from fledging. And a Black Guillemot (Tystie) kept a watchful eye on us. As the afternoon...

The inverts is true

The late May bank holiday proved to be an outlier on the Bell curve, as it was mainly warm and dry. We'll take that, I think. A pootle around the garden with my camera set to macro mode proved fruitful. Tree Wasps basking on a window sill A hoverfly, Rhingia campestris Cocksfoot Moth A hoverfly, we're still ruminating over ID Stocky Mason Wasp, Ancistrocerus oviventris A hoverfly, Leucozona lucorum In fact, the weather was so insect-friendly, it brought on a trip to the Stenness hills where I was shown my first damselfly of the year. Large Red Damselfly Towards evening, the front door step was the location for another homely wildlife encounter. I just hope it wipes its feet properly. Flat-backed Millipede