20/01/2022 Three weeks since my last post - I must do better !

  The maximum temperature here today is 7⁰C, minimum 2⁰C. Blue skies but with quite a lot of clouds. Wind 15km/h North-Easterly winds with gusts up to 33 km/h.  4mm of rain was measured this morning.  We have had a very chilly week, today thankfully it is a bit warmer. 

The Christmas decorations in our supermarket just after New Year....

and the window of my hairdresser with reflections from outside and the lights inside.

Fascinating clouds that just caught my eye.

A Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) on a frosty morning.

A walk around the January garden......

A raindrop showing the house upside down!

European Holly (Ilex aquifolium).  No berries this year!!

Pampas Grass (Cortaderia selloana).

Hydrangea dried on the plant.

Calendula (Calendula officinalis).

Viburnum tinus.

A surviving but very brave rose.

Camellia japonica bud..

Playing with the Pampas grass. 😉

We have had a few icy mornings.

Eurasian Running Crab Spider (Philodromus dispar) on the poinsettia.

13th January

14 January

16 January about 20 minutes before the Full Wolf Moon.  Clouds moved in about an hour after taking this photo!

19 January after a very stormy day.

A lovely surprise 9 January when this Cirl Bunting ( Emberiza cirlus) was spotted on the verandah.

More photos on my bird blog.

My local list of wildflowers. (91 Species 02/12/2021).

See also my

 Bird blog

Joining up with My Corner of the World.

15/07/2021 Just a few photos - so much rain.

The maximum temperature here today 23⁰C, minimum 14⁰C.  Lots more rain over the past week -  we have had over 700mm to date this year;  last year at the same time we had only 500mm.  Wind 11km/h  Westerly winds with gusts up to 27 km/h.   

Today is the first time we have seen the sun since I last posted a blog, very few photos have been taken.  The garden is waterlogged and the vegetables are not looking happy, well most of them are not, though the courgettes seem to be doing better than the rest.  Blight is a problem with potatoes and tomatoes.  

Hummingbird Hawk Moth (Macroglossum stellatarum).

Hydrangea, Love in a Mist, Calendula,

European umbrella milkwort plus bee with large pollen sacs, Poppy, Rose.

The Passenger Moth (Dysgonia algira).

It was in a dark corner of the house on one of my cutting boards.  I tried moving the board after this shot to a lighter place. It flew off never to be seen again!

A drive-by shot the other day of the sky taken on the phone.

A friend commented that it looked like a steam train behind the clouds, sadly no, it really is a cloud.

I cannot pronounce this little fellow's name but you are welcome to try - (Deraeocoris ruber). 

 It was wandering around on my courgette plants.

Poppy, Love in a Mist, Cosmos (+ Tawny Longhorn Beetle [Paracorymbia fulva]), Potato flower,

Courgette, Sempervivum tectorum, Clematis, Fungi.

Love in a Mist (Nigella damascena) and wasp.

Two for the price of one.......

Longhorn beetle (Stictoleptura cordigera) and hoverfly (Sphaerophoria scripta).

Bush Cricket nymph....Munching away on the poppies!

Bumble bee (Bombus lucorum) I think!

As above

We have had a French stone mason here over a few days.  The wall in the big barn had a crack, not serious but if not treated might well have become a problem.  He and his mate have done a fantastic job and the finished job looks very good.  

They did an amazing job of cleaning up, the barn is probably cleaner now than it has been for ages!

Take care everybody, keep well and stay safe.

My local list of wildflowers. (91 Species 20/06/2021).

See also my

 Bird blog

Joining up with My Corner of the World. 

 

27/08/2020 Out and about, insects and skies.

 Maximum temperature here today 27⁰C, minimum 13⁰C.  Dry, but rain forecast.   17km/h North-Westerly winds with gusts up to 39 km/h. 

Sorry that I am not keeping up with blogs or comments, but we have had continuous slow WiFi, at times being only 0.1 (sigh).  The garden is also being very demanding, especially with two fig trees loaded with fruit and the dehydrator being on the blink.  I am spending many hours in the kitchen bottling.

Sunflowers.

Interesting clouds, do you see the teddy bear face?

Genus Calliptamusa member of Short-horned Grasshoppers Family Acrididae...

as above.

House sparrow (Passer domesticus) - I just liked this shot!

Comma butterfly (Polygonia c-album)...

As above...

See the white comma and why it is named as such.

Orchids in the house. Cymbidium.

Lesser Purple Emperor (Apatura ilia).   Think this is the female, the male (of course) is the pretty purple one!!  She is still pretty good looking though!

As above...

As above.

The setting sun after a stormy day. 16/08/2020

Florentine Woolcarder (Anthidium florentinum)...

As above.

Bumblebee.

As above.

Peacock butterfly (Aglais io)...

As above.

Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta).

Common social wasp (V. vulgaris).

Yellow‐legged hornet, (Vespa velutina) - another bee killer that appears to be rapidly spreading in France!! First identified here in 2004 😡

The first rose for some time appeared especially for my birthday 19/08 ....

We met up with friends and had a 'distancing' picnic at a friends house with a very large garden, and a very pretty farm wagon.  Despite the fact that we had not seen each other since February, and we had all been in lock-down, there seemed to be a lot to talk about.  Thirty-nine years anniversary tomorrow!

My local list of wildflowers. (90 Species 23/08/2020).

See also my

 Bird blog

Joining up with My Corner of the World