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| Photo credit: David Gill |
We were absolutely thrilled to find this beautiful insect, a summer visitor, on our self-seeded Valerian this morning. The Valerian comes up each spring in our left-to-nature garden and has often attracted the Hummingbird Hawk-moth, but this was rather different.
The wings were flapping so fast that they hardly show up on my photos below, so I am grateful to David for his picture above.
I began a journaling-style sketch of the moth; I may post it in due course ...
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| Two more flowers for the list ... |
My fledgling list of wildflowers seen in the garden ...
1. Daisy (20 February)
2. Violet (18 March)
3. Chickweed (19 March)
4. Dandelion (19 March)
5. Herb Robert (9 April)
6. Red Valerian (29 March)
7. Goosegrass (with tiny white flowers) (21 May)
8. Buttercup (21 May)
9. Red Dead Nettle (21 May)
10. Common Storksbill (24 May)
11. Red Clover (25 May)
I am finding it a bit of a challenge to distinguish between the wild 'weeds' and the wild 'flowers'. We have nettles and goosegrass growing at the moment; but since these do not have obvious flowers, I have not counted them. We also have a stalk of Aquilegia, and having read this page, I am wondering whether it ought to be included since it seems it is not the 'garden escape' I asssumed it to be, but rather a British wildflower that has become domesticated!
