Showing posts with label Bee-fly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bee-fly. Show all posts

Monday, 3 April 2023

Newbourne Springs, Suffolk Wildlife Trust Reserve

 

Not the best photograph of a Peacock butterfly, but what a surprise after the last few days of grey skies and chilly temperatures! This afternoon we saw:

  • 1 female Brimstone, too quick to photograph
  • 5 Peacock butterflies
  • 11 Comma butterflies
  • 2 Bee-flies 
  • In excess of 15 7-spot Ladybirds, including one outside our house

We were not expecting Newbourne Springs to produce such riches in a couple of hours, if that; but how wonderful, at last, to feel that the insect seasons are underway. 

The photos below are a bit of a mixed bag, but I hope they give an impression of the seasonal sights we enjoyed.  


Wild Arum

We watched this bee climb into the undergrowth

Wonderful blossom

Butterbur

Seasonal first: Peacock butterfly

Lesser Celandine


Seasonal First: Comma butterfly


7-spot Ladybird (this top one outside our house)


Robin

Two more 7-spots

I love the feathery reflection!

Another Comma

And another 7-spot ...

... perhaps laying an egg?

Bee fly, one of two seen this afternoon


Peacock

Primroses above the stream

Primroses

Hard to resist a ripple over the sandy stream bed

?Greater Stitchwort

close-up

Wild strawberry flowers

The stream at Newbourne Springs

Back to the house, where our spring bulbs are adding a splash of colour.


Saturday, 24 April 2021

Spot the Dragon and the Sutton Hoo Bluebells

 
I love bluebells, partly because blue is my favourite colour and there are not many flowers that have such an intensity of blue colouring, and partly because they remind me of nursery school visits to Kippington Meadow where we formed a circle and danced, singing 'In and out the dusty bluebells'. I wonder if any of you played this 'song-game' when you were also very young.  

We saw the bluebells in this post yesterday in the woods that form part of the Sutton Hoo estate. There was also plenty of Hawthorn blossom.
 



 
Sutton Hoo overlooks the river Deben and the town on Woodbridge. The tide was going out at speed. 

 
Here be dragons in the wood ...
 

 
... but what I didn't know until yesterday was that this dragon's name appears to be 'Spot'.   ;-)


 
There were one or two winged insects flitting about on the gorse. I wonder what the white sphere is at the top of the red arrow. I am guessing it may be an egg or perhaps pupa of some kind.  


 
Who knows if this impressive den, created with last year's bracken, was meant to resemble an ancient dwelling? 
 
I had wondered if the tiny pink flower below was a type of Storksbill. Perhaps I need to post it on iSpot. 



 * * *

Meanwhile, back in our Suffolk garden the Bee-flies have been making the most of our Dandelions and Honeybees have been busy gathering amber-gold pollen.



 

Thursday, 8 April 2021

Sparrows and a Dash of Spring Colour

 


 

We are thrilled to have Sparrows in the garden this year. A hedge was disturbed by some building work a few houses away, and I am guessing that the birds have moved up to a hedge a bit nearer our home. 

Easter in our part of Suffolk was pretty chilly this year. We had bits of sunshine (followed by a snowstorm two days ago), but the weather has been cold and blustery at times. Despite the fluctuating temperatures, we have been enjoying the spring bulbs and the bee-flies. I haven't seen a butterfly for days, but we have had some welcome colour in the garden ... such as these tulips. 



I think this is a Brown carder bee on the Dandelion.


Good to see (four) more 7-spot ladybirds



I couldn't resist showing a photo of this beautiful (and delicious) Easter gift in the form of a ginger biscuit sheep!


One of several Bee-flies




I wonder how long it will be before the next butterfly appears ... The chart below shows my sightings (or lack of them) for January, February and March 2021. The Butterfly Conservation Garden Butterfly Survey charts show the highest number of butterflies seen at one time, rather than how many were seen in total.