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.

White and Brown Plume Moths.

White Plume Moth, Pterophorus pendtadactyla
Plume Moths are fascinating, I think. Their wings have 4 or 5 segments which have tiny 'feathers' attached.

They are attracted by the Convolvulus (Bindweed) in my garden, and I will often find either a white or a Brown Plume Moth about.
Usually White Plume Moths have a wingspan between 2.5-3cm, but this week I caught a little one of say, 1.5cm.

I have been wondering what the advantages would be for a Moth to have wings like these, in contrast to the more common wing of our ordinary Moths. And where do these wings stand in the long list of evolution.. A kind of "Which came first.. the plumed, and segmented, wing or the structure of a wing consisting of just the one piece. This is all playing around in my head but I just do not have the time to try and find a proper answer to all this.
I'm just hoping to wake up and find that the famous One Day has arrived. Will I be able to finish everything that I hope to do One Day?


Large White plume Moth in my kitchen in July 2009.



This is the usual view of the Wood Brown Plume Moth,. A T shaped Insect, and in fact it looks more like a stick Insect than a Moth!


The Brown Plume Moth, or Wood Brown, as it is called more properly, I believe.
I am glad that I turned back and took a photo from the other side, as I had no idea that some of the wings was visible.



It is surprising that despite their size, Plume Moths (at least in the UK/Ireland) are classified as micro moths.

A bit of Mixed Bunch, really.

I have encountered quite a few unidentified Moths by now. Here are just a few. Most of the time we have a number of Small Magpies inside, ranging from 7 to 4. Added to these we got another species too, waiting to be discovered, and helped outside again, after one or two pictures.

On one of my rides on my local patch, I spotted a this beauty. Sitting in the bush.
Found this a few months ago, actually.

This one sunning itself on a rock with Moss, Lichen and Stonecrops around it. What an ideal habitat! It was almost transparent.




This one looks almost like a wooden toy plane. At first I thought it could be a pale form of one of the Thorns, like the Early Thorn, Ennomos quercinaria, but its behaviour in resting position were very different. The Thorns that I've seen here, would keep their wings closed like a Butterfly would rest with the wings closed.




A Buff Ermine, Spilosoma lubricipeda was caught by Francis when I was in bed, and one is in the kitchen again tonight. Just a few nights later.

This little brown micro caught me, so to speak, when I was photographing other life around the garden and it landed on the towel over my legs. I had been thinking a few minutes earlier that I do need to take small pots or jars with me when I go outside these days. As I went backwards to get a few jars and my macro lens, , this Moth took a liking to me and I was way too late. I was unable to get a closer look. How sad. Perhaps it just took a shining to the rusty orange and how well it would look colourwise.


Along thebackroad I sat watching the plants when this lovely Butterfly landed on an empty packet of crisps. It was no coincidence; it seemed to land there directly. At first I assumed it was a late female Orange Tip.

Until I saw the underside. It doesn't look like a Green or Black Veined Butterflies, either. nor like the large or Small Whites. Oram I overlooking details?


I also found Ragged Robin, Lychnis flos-cuculi

In Dutch this is called the real Cuckoo's Flower.

Yellow Flag Iris, Iris pseudacoris
Again, the rain has ruined them mostly this year.





Cork-screw Grass & Fern.


Early stages of Arum Lilies?

Black garden Ants, Lasius niger

The other day, when I opened the kitchen(outside) door, a little spider caught my eye. I then spotted quite a few of Ants, destined on taking this food source with them somehow.

Thing was that the Ants were so quick, it was very hard to get a look, let alone a proper photo of the poor little Spider.









It being far from easy, all theml running about vertically on the wall at the door, I thought that these Ants would be there every day, so instead I focussed in on another little Spider plus a tiny micro Moth.
Just look at this intricate design.

And have a look at the markings on this Spider's body.