Barbara

On a background of dark soil, rests an arrow shaped gold & brown coloured moth.

I think this is a Frosted Orange moth. Or perhaps a Sunflower Borer. Thanks to Google lens for those suggestions, I had never seen a moth like this before. It was uncovered when I was harvesting potatoes, hiding in the compost. The metallic sheen & Fin de Siecle pattern is stunning.

Speckled Wood butterfly sitting with open wings on sunny clematis leaves

End of September, high pressure = clear skies. The mornings start chilly, with mist rising from the river. The sun's warmth is still strong, lots of butterflies still around: Speckled Woods, Whites, Red Admirals & a fresh Brimstone today #butterflies 🐛🦋 @savebutterflies.bsky.social

A north-easterly wind, 13 degrees Celsius & swallows are flying northwards over the house in pairs. There must have been 30 of them since I noticed. Another now! Also a Hummingbird Hawkmoth on Verbena bonariensis in the chilly morning. Last days of summer.

The Equinox had fallen on a day of such beauty and unexpected sunshine, that Old Fox had set up the long trestle table in the garden for an early supper. It was draped with the old green velvet tablecloth and there were vases of Michaelmas daisies & decanters of blackberry wine and village apple juice, artichoke soup with fine white bread & bowls of buttered potatoes & golden pies with elaborate crusts, a quince pudding with rich hot custard and a cinnamon plum cake with yellow cream. The light was golden and not quite of this world. It was the colour of old buried treasure hoards, of earth-dimmed torques and Gaulish coins, and a little breeze sent leaves pattering from the trees. To dear Autumn, toasted Old Fox, raising his cider cup to his friends, may She be a merry and gentle one!

My warmest condolences to you and your family.

Stretched across two rose leaflets is a caterpillar. It has a straight pale yellow stripe along the top of its body with grey stripes on either side and red dots in the middle of the grey stripes. It's hairy & has a black protruberance sticking out near it's head. Like an insect unicorn.

I met this fine looking chap/ess today. It's the caterpillar of a Grey Dagger moth but how I wanted it to be the butterfly that it most resembles: a Swallowtail. Sadly we're many counties adrift from them.

A shoal of ten swallows have flown over the house. Due south through the warm blue early autumn skies. Safe travels little ones. See you next year.

An orange & brown Small Copper butterfly resting with open wings on pink Sedum flowers.

My first Small Copper of the year, this afternoon between heavy rain showers. AND A SWALLOW HAS FLOWN PAST AS I WRITE! I'm so thrilled to see these little souls.

We're fairly convinced that we saw an Osprey hunting at #Farmoor reservoir this afternoon around 5pm. Seen through binoculars the raptor had a pale face with a black ring behind the eyes & wings like a mottled-brown massive lapwing. It dived in & caught a sizeable fish. Definitely a raptor but what🤔

Swifts! They're still here 🎉
Two have just flown past from east to west probably heading to the reservoir to feed.

It’s been nearly 3 months since our petition to end the badger cull hit 100,000 signatures, yet still no word on a debate. The government continues to ignore us.

It’s disgraceful.

Thank you @savebutterflies.bsky.social
It's such a pleasure to devote 15 minutes to stay still & watch who is sharing space with me! 🐛🦋

Apologies for the construction noise in the background - best watched with sound off 🙉

I've just done a #Bigbutterflycount for @savebutterflies.bsky.social on this sunny morning. I've been able to record on their app: 1 large white, 1 Red Admiral & 14 😲 Gatekeepers. But there was also a bonus Hummingbird Hawkmoth 🎉 One lavender was preferred to the other 3!

Close up photo of a frog's head peeking out from the soil of a growbag with an out-of-focus cucumber plant in front of it.

Hello friend! I didn't expect to find you in the cucumber growbag, but you're very welcome. 🐸🐌

A little clump of harebells, some pale & one darker purple rising from bare earth & pine needles.

A single pale blueharebell flowering amongst pine needle leaf litter.

Amongst many wonderful sights at Rousham gardens yesterday, these delicate harebells peeked out from the edge of the conifers. #wildflowerhour

Thank you so much Tia & Fee, it's lovely to be back! We're all glad that it's a bit cooler here today. It was raining when I popped out for a quick check of the garden before breakfast - purrfect for all the creatures & plants. We hope you're keeping cool & having a relaxing weekend 🐾🐈‍⬛😸

Wholeheartedly agree with both comments 👏

The UK #heatwave defeated our plans to be at @globalbirdfair.bsky.social today 🙁 Determined to celebrate birds, we visited @rspbotmoor.bsky.social & saw Lapwing, Curlew, about 30 Egrets, Greylag Geese, Goldfinches, two Common Cranes flying & a Glossy Ibis stalking the lagoon utterly at home in Oxon.

The temperature is approaching 33 Celsius and suddenly there are many ladybirds flying about outside the window. Maybe the air's a bit cooler in the shade of the house. Their orange outer wings are little stained glass windows against the blue sky 🌅🐞

If you find a grounded swift, it needs expert & urgent help. Please contact me so I can link to rehabber. These birds can’t easily take off from the ground & in hot weather, chicks who 👀 like this aren’t quite able to fly & often are pushed or jump out of their nests.

A brown & white rabbit sits in a grey box with a grey rabbit behind him. Both are behind the wire of a rabbit run.

On cork tiles sits a wooden & wire rabbit run. Inside it are two rabbits (grey & brown & white) and a lot of food, boxes to hide in, water & toys.

Heatwave emergency measures are necessary: the rabbits are in the house as it's 4 or 5 degrees cooler than their shed/ the garden. They're eating breakfast & we all had a quiet night.
Please put a dish of water out on the ground if you can for creatures that can't escape the heat.

Badger cub looking out of the sett entrance with a peanut an inch from that super sensitive nose.

A little bit early in the evening for the #badger cub to leave the safety of the sett entrance but a stretch to reach an offered peanut is in order. #mammals

Three caterpillars of the - I think - Large White (Pieris brassicae) on a half-eaten Nasturtium leaf

One green unknown caterpillar on a green Nasturtium leaf in the sun

Black aphids and ants on the underside of a Nasturtium leaf

A square pot of Nasturtiums with bright orange flowers and round green leaves.

The nasturtiums are doing brilliantly - never grown them before. Just before peak flower, they've become home to aphids, ants, eggs & now caterpillars. They're all welcome but are at risk of literally eating themselves out of house & home 🐛🐜🦋🏵️

A blue dish of water standing on slabs, next to the Newt Tower.

Day 30 of #30DaysWild 2025
It's a hot one in the south of England, currently 31 Celsius here. After this month of paying more attention to the nature around me & having seen 2 Green-veined white 🦋 on wet soil, I've put out an additional dish of water in the shade.
Take care everyone 🌡️

A pristine Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus) with orange wings with brown borders and a brown & white eye on the forewings. It's sitting on a green geranium leaf with its wings open.

Day 29 of #30DaysWild
📢 Alert! We have entered Gatekeeper season 📢
There were four pristine little Pyronia tithonus fluttering around the garden at one point this morning. They're very accommodating & patient. Lots of other insects too, it was buzzing 🦋🐞🐝🪰🪳🦟🦗🪲

Purple flower with white centre of Geranium Rozanne.

Hello from mine 👋🌱

Hello Rozanne!

Day 28 of #30DaysWild
The solitary bee hotel is being used again this year 🎉
The pattern of inhabitation changes & they've found some interesting coloured materials this year.
Whilst I watched - a bonus visit from a busy bee 🐝

Drying seed heads of Canterbury Bells (Campanula persicifolia). The youngest heads are still green & have a small indentation on the side. The most mature head is brown, dry and the indentations are almost holes that the seed will shake out of.

An orange ladybird with at least 16 black spots is sitting on a brown seed head of Canterbury Bells (Campanula persicifolia) amongst a Dianthus plant.

Day 27 of #30DaysWild
Looking with more curiosity than usual at the seed heads of Canterbury Bells (Campanula persicifolia). Each has four indentations that gradually pull apart as it dries, to release the ripe seed. Genius!
Today's ladybird was rescued from the cut stalks. 🐞