Critters back in front of the lens.

If you can tell me the ID of this gorgeous little guy or one of the others, I hope you tell me. Just leave a comment below or via email.

Cork county council has cleared the garden for me in April or March, and although I wanted to create a garden here at long last, all the hibernating invertebrates went into the skip with the overgrown grass, and most of the bramble and nettle, when they cut it back. The Bramble and Nettle have taken the opportunity to get new growth into the air, and slowly I can spot Insects returning. No Ladybirds as of yet though. And I have not seen one Spider in the garden yet. Even my little Zebra Spiders, Salticus scenicus, have not surfaced yet. The other side in my mind takes the very harsh winter into account also, of course. in the case of the Zebras I'd have thought they would have crept indoors. They survived the previous winter as well.
Mind you, the garden is changing. In an effort to cheer myself up, I have bought a lot of containers and pots for the garden and started to fill them. But I'll talk about that at a later date.


A little moth resting on the wall outside. Probably one of the "Waves".

Lots of Micros have been flitting about the house, as this one on the microwave.


Good old favourite, Small Magpie, Eurrhypara hortulata

Hibernating Small Magpies kept me company in the kitchen over the winter and after Francis died, they were my only companions in the house. I always talk to them, in- or outdoors. I talk to every creature, really. Like this beautiful red eyed Insect, which I spotted in between the bird crops, an area of about 3x1 metres where the oats and other grasses are maturing nicely among the Nettles.





This Bamble kept buzzing about without avtually flying much. So I smeaed a little honey onto the window & sill, hoping it would give it some energy. It had no parasites or other hithikers on its body, but it still died pretty soon afterwards. Poor thing.

I've seen this one before, last year, and isn't it very cute?




Another Wave, perhaps?


I have seen this one before, and it is a very common one, but my mind has so many other things to cope with that, that I cannot get into identification-mode right now.

White Ermine MothsSpulisoma lubricipedalucri.


I think this is one of the "Arches" It popped out of a plantpot, which I was about to go and plant. What a lovely find! It looks more silvery than on the photo; I was in a rush-I was about to be picked up in 10 minutes, and got the settings wrong. Thought it was a Silver Arches, due to its colour, or the Grey, but it looks nothing like those.

Angle Shades Moth, Phlogophora meticulosa

Angle Shades, Phlogophora meticulosa
I really love this Arabic style "head dress"



Apart from the angles on its forewings, (which give it its name) the Angle Shades is unusal in that it rests with wings curved along the side of its body,


Isn't this a sweet little face?






At MothsIreland, a group at Yahoo, I was told that P. meticulosa is a very variable Moth. In these pictures below you can see how variable that can be!
A lovely pink version here and
below
31 January 2008

And 5 days later a visit from a brownish version
05 February 2008
Plus a very pale exemplar.
05 February 2008

And here, this April one which much more resembles the one found last moth.


12 September 2010

Pollen and pollinaters

Can you name this Fly? If so, please leave a comment below.




Sunday, the weather was kind for once, yet my back and my neck were hammering down too much, and so I had to stay home unfortunately. Instead, I stuffed myself with fresh fruit with my large fruit salad with I make every Sunday.
I hoped the wind would stay similarly nice the next day, and although the wind was still quite full on to photograph Wild Flowers, I headed off. A few showers had passed and I hoped the dark clouds would look kind on me! As if!
This Knapweed had just opened, the fresh pollen has an attraaction to me as well as to these Insects. The pollen stands out and sparkles really, very hard to capture in photos though.

Althuogh the photos of the Fly weren't that hard in the strengthening wind, this Bee was a bit late, and as you can see, keeping flower and Insect in the same frame was getting harder and more difficult.

So my apologies for quality. What did catch my eye though,was all the white on this Bee. White bands around the abdomen, I do see regularly, but not a Bee with white thorax as well as a white abdomen!. Any ideasto the specie?? Let me know, please! See the comment box underneath this post.




















Purple Loosestrife, Lythrum salicaria