Winged Creatures

As long as I can remember my Father never went anywhere without his camera. Lately I've begun to understand as I've delighted in being able to photograph the wildlife in our garden. It was when I first began to craft & was creating in the ATC format that my husband decided that I needed to have a proper camera as my dated non-digital Olympus could not cope with such tiny detail. It took about a year for me to pluck up courage to negotiate the digital technology & I still tend to feel my way forwards using the Macro, SuperMacro & Automatic settings rather than having a theoretical knowledge. The rewards are immense for I have a lot of pleasure in photographing details of plants & insects.

Red-tailed Bumblebee on Cotoneaster

Dandelion Clock in our Woodland

I was dead-heading & weeding the other day when I stumbled upon a moth beautifully camouflaged against the red brown earth. He obligingly allowed me to photograph him as he made his way across one of the Lesser Periwinkle (Vinca Minor Bowles Variety) plants. I believe he is a Large Yellow Underwing Moth for I caught sight of brilliant yellow underwings as he moved.

Large Yellow Underwing Moth on Lesser Periwinkle 

Our Wallflower (Erysimum "Bowles's Mauve") regularly attracts the Small Tortoiseshell butterfly & yesterday I managed to photograph what I think is a Meadow Brown whilst he was totally engrossed in feeding.

Meadow Brown Butterfly on Wallflower 

I'm a novice when it comes to identifying butterflies, moths & bees although I've been identifying birds since I was eleven years old.  I shall miss the birdlife that we have here in Brecon - suprisingly my last count of positively identified bird species seen in/from our garden came to 27, & that's not including the owl that we regularly hear at night - but I hope that when we relocate to Exeter we'll be able to find a property where I can have a courtyard garden to grow butterfly/bee friendly plants in. Whilst I'm on the subject of insects has anyone else noticed a distinct lack of ladybirds this year? I have only seen one so far.

The house is finally up for sale. Should you know of anyone who loves wildlife & wishes to have a little piece of woodland in their back garden with lovely mountain views........you can point them in THIS direction.