Rainfall: 163.9mm

Temp High: 33.0^oC on 9th

Temp Low: 5.7^oC on 6th

Temp Average: 16.7^oC 

Our potatoes have been remarkably clear of colorado beetles up until now. Today, I found this one on one of our deadly nightshade plants. This is sufficiently far enough away from our potato bed to not be of concern yet.

It was extremely wet today. This young red-backed shrike was not looking happy. A male blackcap didn't like the red-backed shrike being around and was warning furiously.

Two families of red-backed shrikes were around the garden today - two male adults, two female adults and five youngsters. The youngsters were particularly fond of our compost heap annex.

The caterpillar I collected on July 7th emerged today, which is a very quick turn-around. As predicted, this is the broad-barred white moth.

I managed to get some 'studio' photos of the willowherb hawk-moth caterpillars I mentioned earlier this month.

Back in July 2022, I saw this spectacular bush cricket in the woods down the valley. It isn't rare, but they're rarely seen as they live their lives at the tops of trees. I thought it was unlikely I'd ever see one again, but this morning, this beauty was sitting on the north wall of our house. It's been really windy today, so he might have got blown down from a nearby tree. It made my day even if it didn't make his. Anyway, this becomes a new species for the garden.

This morning, a black kite passed overhead.

Also this morning, there were several hundred house martins gathering over the poplar behind the house. They seem to do this around this time of year every year. The past couple of years, they've used our birch, but this year they're using the large poplar.

On my morning run, I was buzzed by this purple emperor who was coming down to drink from some puddles in the woods.

More mundane was this cabbage moth which I collected as a larva from a cauliflower we bought from a local supermarket. Mundane, but nonetheless, a new species for the garden.

I initially thought this was a male red-backed shrike with a fledgling as it was begging for food, but it was otherwise behaving like an adult - so I think this is a breeding pair. It seems a bit late. She looked a bit tired - perhaps she didn't get much sleep last night due to the storm. It was also strange that there was another adult male just below these in the same tree - the males don't usually tolerate each other.

The most exciting thing today (probably this year) was this field cricket crawling across our patio.

Only one photo today - of an interesting looking wasp drinking in our pond.

It was really hot and humid today - gearing up for a big thunderstorm.

I took these photos of a damselfly with my phone as it looked a bit unusual with the brown body and blue tail. Our local expert has ID'd this as a blue-tailed damselfly.

Right on cue, there were six simultaneous ant eruptions from our alpine garden. We can't tell whether this is six exits of a super-colony on six mini-colonies. I took some samples so I can hopefully get more information on the species. I didn't get bitten which probably means they're different to the ones near the sheds - those ones are vicious and seem to bite without any provocation.

This unusual beetle-like spider was trying to get across our patio without being noticed.

I think this micro moth is the same species as the one I saw on Friday, Ochsenheimeria taurella. Once again, it was on one of our windows.

There were 3 marbled whites on this knapweed beside our dry stone wall.

As the sun was setting, this smallish slow worm was sitting in the last rays. It was still over 30^oC well into the evening.

This weird insect was walking across one of our windows today. This is a nymph of a masked hunter which can give a nasty bite apparently. It decorates itself in dust and general crap, presumably to make it unpalatable to predators.

Last night, we sat out on the patio until late and had the light on. This huge female oak eggar moth was crashing about around the light. This morning she was sitting beside the patio doors. I moved her into the undergrowth.

This holly blue butterfly was egg-laying on the flowers of one of our melilot plants.

We have a lot of evening primroses growing in the garden (too many!). This bee was carrying around a lot of evening primrose pollen.

Mid-morning, a white banded grayling was taking minerals from our house walls. This is over a month earlier than we've ever recorded this species.

This distinctive micro moth was on my office window. This is a new species for the garden, Ochsenheimeria taurella.

I found an interesting caterpillar on nipplewort. I'm 90% sure this is the caterpillar of the broad-barred white moth.

On Saturday, we collected and marked some roman snails that were attempting to eat the plants in our stone garden. We placed them several metres away as we're attempting to see what homing instincts they have. Today, snail A2 was sweeping majestically across our patio. He's been placed even further away to see how strong the force is with this individual.

I had my office window open this afternoon and I was serenaded by this goldfinch.

I spotted this beetle on a scabious stem this afternoon. I expected this to be Clytra laeviuscula, which I've previously recorded in the garden. However, the pitted pronotum identifies this as C. quadripunctata, a new species for the garden.

I've got some bugs to identify including a shieldbug nymph shortly after a skin shedding. The strong, bright colours are probably only temporary so maybe this is going to be difficult to ID.

After a really poor start to the year for butterflies, things have suddenly improved. We've never had so many skippers, meadow browns and ringlets. The skippers in particular are really numerous. I've left our privet to flower properly and this is a magnet to lots of bees and butterflies (although it looks extremely untidy).

This weird insect landed on my hand while I was strimming the garden. It's not a biter, so no harm done. I managed to coax him onto a bindweed leaf to get a photo. This is Cixius cunicularius, which I first recorded in the garden last year.