Goldfinches and common blue

Goldfinches pass through our garden every day, but recently a pair of goldfinches have been visiting. I have caught a quick glimpse of them in the bird bath from time to time.

This morning I noticed a pair of goldfinches feeding in the track next to our house.

Not long a go the track was full of dandelions which went to see and blew everywhere. Maybe some of the seeds are still laying on the ground.

Later on in the afternoon a common blue butterfly was feeding just over our garden wall on the same track.

We often get holly blue butterflies in the garden, difficult to distinguish unless they settle. You can see the top and under wing markings in this picture

Life in a black ants nest

While working in the garden I accidentally disturbed a black ant nest on the rockery. This exposed a couple of chambers where ant larvae and cocoons were stored. The nest was beneath a rock a favourite site for ant nests because the rock absorbs the suns heat. This is why they also nest under garden paths and patios.

Tiny ant larvae

Worker ants swarmed around the nest to look for the intruder and protect the nest while others speedily picked up the larvae and cocoons and carried them deeper under ground.

These tiny ant larvae will be fed by the workers and grow rapidly if plenty of food is available. As well as protecting the larvae, the worker ants keep them clear and healthy.

Eventually the developing larvae will spin a cocoon while they change (metamorphosis) into worker ants.

If you look closely near the centre of the picture you will notice a much larger stage larvae which has been brought to the chamber so it can spin a cocoon.

Later in the year new queens and males will be produced who will leave the nest on a mating flight and the survivors will start colonies elsewhere. See below for a link to a mating flight last year, from a different black ants nest in the front garden.

http://urbanwildlifejottings.blogspot.com/2010/07/ant-mating-flight.html

Ants are fascinating to watch and one of the most interesting insects you can find in your garden.

Early Bee

Here are a couple of very busy early bee Bombus pratorum doing a great job of pollinating the flowers on our raspberry canes.

This bee species may have one of two bands. The ones visiting my garden only have one band. They are only visiting the raspberry flowers at the moment.

Lacky moth caterpillar

Today I noticed a large colourful caterpillar on the shrub growing in a pot outside our front door.

It was a caterpillar of the Lackey moth Malacosoma neustria.


This caterpillar is usually found on deciduous trees living communally in a silk tent which they spin.

It is only at the last instar stage, having shed their skin for the last time before coming a chrysalis, that the caterpillars then go their own way. This is how this single caterpillar ended up on our shrub. 
 
The adult moth is a brown colour with two wavy markings across the wings. I don't have a picture but I have provided a link below.
 
http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?bf=1634

House martins and swifts

A feeding flock of house martins appeared overhead yesterday morning and this evening the first two swifts have arrived. They nest under the eaves of our neighbours house and I always look forward to their return.

Nesting herring gulls

We have several herring gull nesting each year.

This one gull is collecting some last bits of material for the nest - as seen from our bedroom window.

This nest is a few houses, the adults had just swapped over on the nest.

Damselflies, slowworm and peacock butterflies.

Yesterday I noticed the first damselfly had emerged from our pond. I rescued a slowworm, different to the previous slowworm, from our cat. I also noticed the first peacock butterfly in our garden.