damselflies, hovering sparrows, moth and bees.

I opened the curtains on the conservatory this morning to see another damselfly half way through emerging.

The damselfly continued to emerge slowly, pulling itself out onto the grass. The damselfly was pale and it lay in the sunlight while it slowly gained its adult colours. This is also a large red damselfly. After a couple of hours the damselfly flew up onto the gutter and hung for a while before flitting up over the roof.

A small flock of chattering female sparrows foraged on the roof. One of them hovered momentarily and it checked along the edge of he roof looking for insects.
I have often seen them performing a similar behaviour to check for insects underneath the over hang of the garden wall. Several small moths flying in the front garden. I managed to get a close look at one which I think is Pyrausta purpuralis. This species flies both during the day and at night, and is distributed throughout much of Britain. It prefers dry grassland and chalky downland habitats. We live only a few minutes from the edge of the South Downs.

In this hot weather the coservatory door is almost constantly open. Unfortunately all manner on flying insects, in particlular bees, bumblebee and wasp. The solitary and honey bees seem to have the most problem finding their way out again so I now have ajam jar by the door to catch them and let them go outside. If not they tend to hide byehind the curtan unoticed and die.