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. 

 

21/12/2020 Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas and a much improved 2021.

   Maximum temperature here today 14⁰C, minimum 6⁰C.  3 mm of rain measured this morning but it has been raining all day.  23km/h North-westerly winds with gusts up to 46 km/h.   The freeze arrives on Christmas day.  Temperatures drop and frost arrives.

I had intended doing another blog before this one, but time caught up with me, and the speed of the WiFi just got worse.  I hope it will improve in the New Year but I do not have much hope.  I have picked one photo from each month of 2020, thankfully COVID has not as yet killed off my photos.  Probably not the best photos as far as photography goes, but the ones I like from each month

12.2 km walked yesterday the best ever!

14/01/2020 A sunset that looked like a fireworks display.

03/02/2020 Snow drops appear in the garden.

21/03/2020 Blossom and insects start to appear.  Mirabelle blossom and hoverflies.

11/04/2020 Butterflies are very visible out on my walks. Orange Tip butterflies  

(Anthocharis cardamines).  Male on the left and the female under the leaf.

25/05/2020 Lots of Damselflies around. Beautiful demoiselle Male (Calopteryx virgo).

09/06/2020 I just liked this shot of the Wall Lizard (Podarcis Muralis) eying up the hornet (Vespa crabro). They both finally decided to go in opposite directions!

04/07/2020 Happy and smiling Sunflowers.

16/08/2020 Lesser purple emperor, female butterfly (Apatura ilia).

11/09/2020 Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas).

18/10/2020 Hummingbird hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum).

14/11/2020 One of our neighbour's little ponies, they have four, and none of them are higher than my waist.

16/12/2020 What else but a Robin for Christmas. (Erithacus rubecula).

Happy Christmas 

Gesëende Kersfees

Nginifisela inhlanhla ne mpumelelo e nyakeni

Nadolig Llawen

Nollaig Shona Dhuit

Nollaig Chridheil agus Bliadhna Mhath Ur

Buone Feste Natalizie

Feliz Natal

Feliz Navidad!

God Jul and (Och) Ett Gott Nytt Ar

Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan

 Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun

 Kung Ho Hsin Hsi. Ching Chi Shen Tan

Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto

Sawadee Pee Mai

Gajan Kristnaskon

Froehliche Weihnachten

Kala Christouyenna

Mo'adim Lesimkha. Chena tova.

Vrolijk Kerstmis en een Gelukkig Nieuw Jaar

See you all in 2021 I hope.

See also my

 Bird blog

Joining up with My Corner of the World.

05/11/2020 The final photos of October.

  Maximum temperature here today 14⁰C, minimum 3⁰C.  Dry today, but we had 183 mm in October!  So far this year our total is 880 mm, while last year, we only had 782 mm for the whole year   19km/h South-westerly winds with gusts up to 41 km/h.  

Raindrops on the Californian poppies which are still trying to flower.

Possibly a Sloe bug (Dolycoris baccarum).

Bumblebee...

As above.

Hoverfly (Eupeodes luniger).

Slug!  Not sure which one.

Hoverfly (Eristalis tenax)...

As above.

Bush Cricket but which one?

Rosemary Beetles (Chrysolina Americana).

Fungi - Red Hygrocybe Species (I think).

More fungi - Grey Mycena Aetites (again I think).

Wall Lizard just checking on the weather. (Podarcis Muralis).

Cuckoo bee (Epeolus fallax).

Hummingbird hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum)...

As above...

as above and my favourite shot of the month.

The same shot as above but a little closer.

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

See also my

 Bird blog

Joining up with My Corner of the World.

Photo competition running until 31 December - colourful photos.

B u n t

Let us all join in great fun.

Trying to catch up a bit......

 Maximum temperature here today 31⁰C, minimum 13⁰C.  Dry.   12km/h South-Easterly winds with gusts up to 24 km/h. 

Apologies for lack of blogs and lack of visits, but with the dehydrator not working, I had to keep up with bottling, and then when the dehydrator returned in working order, there was still a lot of figs (and they have not stopped yet) to be prepared for dehydrating.   I am sorry that I did not weigh all the fruit but I didn't.  We have though 5 large bags of quartered figs dry and a couple of bags of sliced figs also dry.  Now the apples are ready!   I have already bottled some stewed, and some apple sauce from the fallers.  But will pick out a few good ones for dehydrating, we have two Granny Smith apple trees.  In between we rescued a few quinces from the top of the tree, thankfully there was not a lot this year.  The quinces made up 4 large bottles of fruit and 8 jars of jelly.  Oh, and of course an overload of haricot beans meant bottling curried beans which we prefer to frozen.

Proof that I have not been loafing!!

I have though each day managed to get out and take at least get one photo - I needed to keep Blip going.  If you have never tried it, meet the great community of Blip  Here.  If you should join please let me know so I can follow.  I Blip under the name of 'Charente'.

Unusual sunset.  I was a bit late and missed the best of it.

Speckled wood (Pararge aegeria).

Californian poppy (Eschscholzia californica).

Bee on the Sedum.

Bee drinking.

Asian hornet (Vespa velutina), also known as the yellow-legged hornet.

Believed to have arrived in France in boxes of pottery from China in 2004. They have since spread all over France and are bee-killers!!!

Robber fly but not sure which one.  Family: Asilidae.

Hummingbird hawk-moth (Macroglossum stellatarum).

As above

Common blue butterfly (Polyommatus icarus).

As above - Male.

A feather plant 😀

Cosmos.

Cyclamen.

Common Spitting Spider (Scytodes thoracica).

So-called because it spits a venomous sticky silken substance over its prey.  It has six eyes instead of the eight spiders usually have.

Ladybird (Coccinellidae).

As above.

Pearl-bordered fritillary (Boloria euphrosyne).

 

As above.

Californian poppy with bee.

Wall Lizard  (Podarcis Muralis).

The dehydrator using every other shelf as the fig quarters are too big!

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

See also my

 Bird blog

Joining up with My Corner of the World