Rainfall: 40.2 mm

Temp High: 31.8^oC on 24th

Temp Low: 5.5^oC on 22nd

Temp Average: 18.1^oC

This morning I found that the wasp spider nearest the house had migrated around 3 metres from her nest to our patio doors to create her egg sac. Needless to say, after a few days I will put this safely in our of my containers to overwinter as it won't be safe on our patio.

I put the moth trap out again last night. It was a reasonable catch, but only one new species for the garden, this very worn pine carpet.

Yesterday when I was looking out of one of our windows, I saw a bat emerge from behind one of our shutters. Today I could see two or three bats roosting behind the same shutter. I took this crappy photo, but I also got some video which I'll put up once I've processed it.

A kingfisher was at our pond today and a couple of goldfinches were on our sunflower seed feeder.

I'm not sure why, but this funnelweb spider, Agelena labyrinthica, was sitting on one of our patio doors. I know the females lay their eggs in August, so she might have been searching for a suitable site.

I found a herald moth in one of our sheds today. I know they hibernate, but I'm really surprised that he would be hibernating so early - it's still quite warm and still feels like summer.

After a day of gardening, I took a walk around the garden and found this Celypha lacunana. There are loads of these around but I don't usually bother photographing them.

I had the moth trap out again last night but it was a complete contrast to the last session. It was colder and there was a 90% moon - so there were only 13 moths in total - that's in contrast to the last session where I had around 40 species. Nevertheless, I did have a new species for the garden (and a new species for me), Pandemis corylana, the Chequered Fruit tree tortrix. We're now at 494 lepidoptera species - only 6 to go!

A family of herons has been flying around the house for a few days. The fledgling landed on one of our sheds and stayed for quite a while. This photo is through a window but has come out remarkably well.

I've found 7 female wasp spiders in the garden this year. I did a video tour of them all which I'll aim to put up in the future. This is the first one that has left her web and started spinning her egg sac. An hour before this, I saw that she had moved from the web to this position, but there was nothing there at that stage.

The sheep are back for a second visit, only a couple of weeks after the first visit. The visits are a bit random so aren't helping nature much. Here's a photo of one of the flock. We believe these are Suffolks.

A juvenile great spotted woodpecker was in our hazel tree today.

In my efforts to get to 500 lepidoptera species this year, I realised I'd never recorded brown house moths as a species - even though we see these in the house all the time.

While out on a run, I came across this leaf mine of Phyllocnistis labyrinthella. It's not a new species for the garden yet, but I'll have to watch out for this distinctive leafmine.

There are now 7 female wasp spiders in the garden. I'm aiming to take a video where I walk between them all - but it was too wet today.

I took this photo of a shieldbug on the steps of our patio with my phone, thinking it was a boring old crucifer bug. I now realise it is a new species for the garden, Adomerus biguttatus. This isn't rare but it is rarely seen as it lives in moss. Once again, I missed the opportunity to get my good camera out.

The weather was good enough for me to put my moth trap out last night. It was a really good night with nearly 40 species including several new species. My target for 2024 was to bump the number of lepidoptera recorded in the garden to 500. We're only about 10 short now. I've put up photos of the new species (which included a Ichneumon wasp).

The warm weather has brought in a couple of common redstarts who are presumably now relieved of their breeding duties and fattening up for migration. There was also a female blackcap enjoying the fruits.

I found this common groundhopper up in our orchard today. I've not seen this species before. I took this photo with my phone and returned later to get some decent photos with my good camera, but I couldn't find him again.

A couple of young goldfinches were eating plantain seeds in our garden today.

I found a new beetle species for the garden, Nacerdes carniolica. This eats damp, rotting wood so it could well have come from one of our beetle basements.

I found a female wasp spider in our small wild flower meadow. The male I found a few weeks ago had disappeared.

I found this fly sitting on a chicory plant in the same wild flower meadow - it is a new species for the garden, Melanostoma mellinum.

The goldfinches are back visiting all the scabious and thistles in and around our garden.

This fledgling great tit was being fed in our front garden - this must be a second brood!

We thought the red-backed shrikes had left, but this male was hunting at the top of the garden.

This pretty fruit fly has been buzzing around our living room for a day or so. It is a new species for the garden, Chaetorellia jacaea.

Later, in the garden, this speckled wood was visiting some flowers. I'm adding a couple of new species of bumblebee for the garden: the white-tailed bumblebee and the red-tailed bumblebee. I've seen these many times in the garden, but I've not previously recorded them formally. I didn't manage to get a photo of the red-tailed bumblebee - I'll get that soon.

A late addition - I found this small new species of moth, Borkhausenia fuscescens, on a house window.

A few days ago, I found a strange black and white pupa on a grass stem. I collected it and today an ichnuemon wasp emerged. These are very difficult to identify to species level, so I'll settle on the family Campopleginae. The pupal case is apparently formed from the eviscerated remains of the larval host.

I took some more photos of the purple-shot copper caterpillar collected last week. It is growing quite slowly.

While out on a run, we saw this jersey tiger moth nectaring on valerian flowers