Another warm day. There were lots of butterflies flying around today. They were mainly large whites, meadow browns and ringlets but there was an occasional more colourful species like this fresh comma and small pearl bordered fritillary.

There were a few moths sitting around in the grass too like this burnet companion.

There was another heat stressed bird today as well - this time a great tit.

To finish up, Christine stood beside one of the teasels in our thistle garden to show the scale of this impressive plant.

There were lots of grasshoppers and crickets singing in the garden today. These two weren't singing - they were busy. I've identified these as Green Mountain Grasshoppers, Miramella alpina.

A kestrel has been flying about recently too. I thought it was trying to catch birds, but this one was after easier prey it seems.

We had a rare visit from a serin today.

It was very warm and some birds like this chaffinch seemed to have been heat stressed.

I found this fine caterpillar on our raspberry plants. I'm pretty sure this is the caterpillar of the peach blossom moth. It's a nice one to find, especially on raspberry as it is usually found on bramble. I've had it in a box for a few days now and it refused to eat bramble - it will only eat raspberry.

The 14 caterpillars from the eggs laid in my moth trap in mid June have reached their final instar and a couple have already pupated. My guess is they are ruby tiger caterpillars. We'll see next year.

Lots of bird activity down by the pond today. Firstly, this family group of gray wagtails presented a photography challenge as they each decided to sit at the four corners of the jetty.

This week we've had a kingfisher visit a few times as well. He had his back to me unfortunately.

We found two interesting caterpillars on some hedge bedstraw in the garden. I believe they are caterpillars of the Royal Mantle moth - which would be a new species for the garden. I've got a long wait to find out - these won't emerge as adults until May or June next year.

We're got a lot of goldfinches in and around the garden at the moment. Our thistle garden is again a great hit, but they're also spending a lot of time at the scabious which gives some really nice photo opportunities. Today, they brought along some youngsters.

The red-berried elder is having a really good year. This one beside our patio was cut back really hard a couple of years ago and I didn't think it would survive.

I've included a couple of photos of some butterflies I tend to neglect as they're so numerous.

I've also included a photo of a rolled leaf on a rose. I'll try to identify this when I have time.

Towards the evening, we spotted this squirrel sitting on top of the shed looking very unhappy. It was hot out in the sun so we couldn't understand why he wanted to sit up there. He later moved around into the shade and just hung his head over the roof. We thought he was ill, but a couple of hours later he was feasting off our bird tables with the other squirrels.