Birthday busy-ness

Penny's birthday falls at this time of the year followed by a succession of others in our close family, so life has been hectic. Until the end of the week, the weather has been discouraging too and so there has been quite an interval since I last reported.

During that time, one pleasure has been the emergence of a vivid and fresh new generation of lots of butterflies, including Brimstones whose parents were the first of the year, Peacocks and Holly Blues. In the sunshine yesterday, the tangle of wildflowers on the edge of the big field near our house produced clouds of them, in just the manner which my parents and grandparents recollected from days gone by. They spoke of them wistfully as a sight no longer to be seen. But it very much is.

The moths are busy too, with new arrivals for the year including the dappled and delicately different coffee flavours of the Dushy Sallow, a pretty exception to the yellowy-orange dominance in that tribe:

Two attractive micros paid a visit too, the male Ringed China-mark below and an Anania coronata with its bubbles of white on dark brown which fluttered away while I was fumbling with my iPhone:

Outside the trap the other morning, there were large numbers of visitors roosting in plants and on a nearby wall, among them this Clouded Border and - I think - a second generation Engrailed, child of ones which flew earlier in the year like the Brimstones and Peacocks. 

Elsewhere in the rich and wonderful world of insects, Ladybirds are out in force which is good news for aphid control in the veg garden, and breeding is going on full tilt. One of the smallest couples I've yet seen was this pair of very small flies below which live in our greenhouse/conservatory and chose our vividly-coloured tablecloth for their mating.

Here's another of their family which has yet to find a mate, or perhaps already has:

They share the table with some agile - and also very small - jumping spiders and may form their dinner; I've not yet had the time to sit and watch.

Happy 300th Birthday meanwhile today to Gilbert White whose wonderful Natural History of Selborne, only published after pressure from his brother, was an immediate best-seller and has never been out of print. All sorts of celebrations had been planned and have been torpedoed by the virus but there is online fun and fascination today at https://www.gilbertwhiteshouse.org.uk