The Speckled wood, Pararge aegeria

Just added this photograph of a Speckeld wood that I found lying, sunnings itslef on a path in the wood one morning.  I tried to take a photograph, but the movement of the leaves prevented it, so I took it home, photographed it and put it back later.

For the past few days the weather has been really mild, and yesterday I saw 2 Bombus terrestris queens foraging off my lavender and viper's bugloss.  These were the first terrestris I'd seen for ages, in fact the only bumblebees I've had in the garden for the past few weeks are pascuorum.

My plants are looking pretty tatty, and i have started cutting back some of the lavender, but I always leave cutting back until there are no flowers at all, so no nectar.  I'm glad I did this year as it has really helped the pascuorum, who have had the nectar practically to themselves - although I expect the night-flying moths get their share.

The weather has turned cold and rainy today, and nothing is foraging from the garden flowers, though I did see a few hoverflies early this morning in the woods before the rain hit.  Lots of red squirrels in the woods.  This appears to have been a bumper year for them.

My log fire was lit, and my desk lamp was switched on at 3:30 this afternoon - it's like winter.

Sphingidae caterpillar

Just uploaded this to the Sphingid page.  We haven't had very good butterfly weather recently - too much wind and rain.  Today it is pouring again.  Oh well off to the wet woods with a delighted dog.

Different shapes of butterfly scale

Just added this drawing of many of the different type of butterfly and moth scale to the main Lepidoptera page. I could see from photographs that not all scales were the same shape, but I didn't realise that there were so many different kinds. Quite amazing.

So the middle east and north Africa are in turmoil and I am messing about with butterfly scales, and downloading free books on to my Kindle. The world is a strange place, and I feel totally out of it. I read, I walk my dog, I do the garden. The most exciting recent event is the annual snowdrop show of strength as they heave their way up through frozen ground and ice, then present a nodding fragile flower for me to marvel at.

Ragged ringlet

Added this very ragged ringlet to the Satyridae page. Just shows how effective the eye spots are at deflecting attention of predators away from the body.

Ringlet butterfly

Added this image of a ringlet to the Satyridae page. There are still a few flying around, but they are now looking very tattered.