28/08/2018 Anniversary and around the garden.

Maximum temperature today 33C, minimum 16C.  Dry except for a couple of drops of rain late evening that did not even measure in the rain gauge; 9 km/h South-easterly winds with up to 29 km/h gusts. 

Waiting for friends to arrive to celebrate our 37th wedding anniversary.  How time does fly when you are having fun!

Note how brown the lawn is!!!!

Comma butterfly (Polygonia c-album).

As above.

Red Admiral butterfly (Vanessa atalanta).

Red Admiral and a Comma.

As above.

Red Admiral in flight.

Unknown moth but I thought it was pretty!

Pumpkins.

Butternut squash.

Granny Smith apples.

Californian poppies.

My bird blog

has been updated HERE

20/06/2017 A few odd photos from around the garden, too hot still to do very much outside during the day.

A bit cooler than yesterday!  

Pale Californian poppy with bug.

 Californian poppy with what I think is the female of Oedemera noblis, the male was on the blog a few days back. Not sure what the disappearing backside is, or the one bombing out above the flower.

Cranesbill.

Le Gendarme beetle (Pyrrhocoris apterus).

Great tit taking a drink.  The water is evaporating as fast as I can fill the dishes!

Ladybird pupa.

The lawn is already starting to go brown with the heat.

Lunch on the veranda, I actually took this a few days back and never put it on the blog for some reason. Too hot at the moment to eat outside.

27/08/2016 Light rain forecast for tomorrow, I hope it is true! For this reason we had a barbecue today and will have the leftovers tomorrow to celebrate 35 years of marriage.

Maximum temperature 34C, minimum 18C.  25 km/h SW  wind. Very Dry. 

An early cycle ride by Nigel past St Sornin Church and war memorial, the sun was low and behind the church....

Past the restaurant at Taponnat-Fleurignac,...

and the remains of an old archway.

Back home he cooked the joint on the Weber..

Which we enjoyed outside under our new umbrella...

Smoked Salmon for starter...

Roast meat and veg for main course.

Small white on the Lavender just in front of us....

and bombed by a fly!!!!

01/08/2016 A country drive and our first lunch enjoying the new tiling on the patio. We took a day off!!

Maximum temperature 27C, minimum 11C.  17 kph NE winds.   Dry.  

Sunflower, bees and an ant.....

They are everywhere at the moment...

A sea of yellow on both sides of the road.

Maize under irrigation.

More maize.

Make hay while the sun shines...

More bales with my pet hate of turbines in the background.

Hay stack.....

They do not look like they used to!

Derelict buildings on the outskirts of this town. 

Cheers, we made time to have lunch in comfort today!

06/05/2016 Insects in the garden but not on the fruit trees!! Hope there are some pollinators around that I have missed.

Maximum temperature 22C, minimum 10C,  69 kms/h SW winds.

On the choisya ternata a hover-fly of the Syrphidae species.  It was very windy and the few bugs around were not out on the apple trees.

Looks like a bumble bee of some kind. Possibly Bombus pascuorum? Noushka says it is a fly though so I am sure she is right.

A fly!  Blue bottle ?

My guess is a type of fly, I am not even going to try and identify!

As above.

Looking for insects - Common Lizard.

  Pheasants Eye, Adonis Aestivalis

Iris.

Broad Beans.

The tiling is coming along but it looks like we are due rain which is going to call a halt to everything!