Love is... 2 cosy snails.

I don't think we need any text for this one, do we?
cute?

This is what I tried to take pictures of, in a moderate breeze, making it very awkward.


Then my lens dropped lower..
and guess what?
A pair of snails.


Some other recent pictures.

Placing a Small Magpie Moth back into the garden.



In the garden,

Bittercress.



At the coastal road, Common Scurvy Grass,Cochlearia officinalis.
young leaves are lovely in your salads, but the leaves have to be young. Otherwise they get bitter. So don't wait too long.


I used to put any seed into compost, including those tiny Kiwi fruit seeds.


Tulip in Bantry.

Stone Walls; the ideal micro climate

Hairy Bittercress, Cardumine flexuosa

One of my favourite habitats are stone walls. So many pockets which offer a safe haven for all kind of species. Her are just a few of them. And most I have not identified yet. so keep the ideas as to IDs, coming via the comments box, please!
Bittercress

Hairy (Cardamine flexuosa) or Wavy ( Sagina procumbens)





Mosses:

Nice and fresh green and sienna moss.




And this kind of moss:

At the other side of the village, along the coastal road, it is all dried up and poorly looking. I don't know enough about Moss yet to tell what caused this.


Early leaves of? Herb Robert, Geranium robertiatum perhaps? It is the hairs and the feel which remind me of good old Robert; in a stage before it starts shaping into that classic leaf shape they got.

Suggestions to the ID of this plant to be are welcome. They look familiar, but that is as far as I can go. Took this on the coastal road.

Barren Strawberry, Potentilla sterilis


and those wonderful Stonecrops. These succulents have fleshy leaves which can hold their water longer.







Don't you love the colours of these? This orange/pink is very cute, as is the shape!






What is so amazing about all these plants (in my view), is that get hardly any nutrients from the soil, like other plants, the soil they grow in is minimum, really. Thinking about plants growing in or upon walls recalls species like Ivy and Ferns of course. But have a look around you; there are so many more fighting for their little niche.

and these are just a few of them!
Sorry if I overdid it on the photos. As I said before, Blogger gave me problems in uploading my pics.

3 Moths; Early Thorn, Small Magpie and an Angle Shades

Early Thorn, Ennomus quercinaria.
Small Magpie, Rivula sericealis





I found the Early Thorn Moth first on Wednesday night, when I spotted it on the Ecover bottle on the floor at the washing machine.

Angle Shades, Phlogophora meticulosa
n this position, with its wings spread, I first thought of it being a specie of Angle Shades. Phlogophora meticulosa, which I've had here in 2008 too. (actually, that one I found near the floor at the wasing machine too.)

The next day however, it turned its other side to me, and these markings made me realise that it hss to be an Early Thorn, Ennomus quercinaria. One of which I found here last year.
Another possibility, and probably the most likely, is that I had two different moths visiting. The Angle Shades has a more pinkish hue to it, and the Thorn more yellowish brown.
Later it dawned on me that I had had Angle Shades as well as an early Thorn moth, of course! Where the Angle Shades is now, is anybody's guess. It might have found its way out through the window, or via the door, which is often open for longer spells now that the weather is warming (not) the atmosphere. Or it has found a nice shelter within the kitchen;
We'll see, or not.


looks a little drunk, doesn't it?

It sat in a transparent container, lying flat on my table next to the open door, and kept moving about.before it finally flew off.
the underside of the Moth.

As son as I returned to the other side of the table to upload my photos, a Small Magpie landed on the door again, prompting me to repeat the whole process of catching and realease of yet another Moth.






I had to post this one from last year again; I just love its pose!


On the door, which was difficult because it sat right under the window and this made photographt very hard with the Sun reflecting into the lens of the camera.

The Magpie took position on the tip of my finger,, and let itself be taken outside where I sat it onto the stinging Nettle leaves. (its foodplant). Not wanting to come off, I gave it a small push with my thumb, and it made a quick dash for the Fatsia first, before coming back to me and into the the Nettle leaves.


I've got a lot of photo's which I tried posting, but which showed up as errors, time after time.
Anyone else having trouble?
we'll keep trying, but it might take some time.

Small Phoenix, Ecliptera silaceata; another litle Moth

Small Phoenix, Ecliptera silaceata.


This gorgeous little spring-flying Moth, flew into the open door:






Here the white vertical lines really stand out.