Surprises in the Garden

I get a lot of surprises when taking photos of small things. I often find myself looking at a pretty flower and discover that there is a tiny creature on board. Sometimes I don’t notice the little creatures until later on when I’m looking at the photos I took!

I had a look out in the garden this morning to see if there were any surprises in store for me…

First pleasant surprise was that my Flowering Rush (Butomus umbellatus) in the pond has its first flower open! I got this plant for my birthday in 2018 and this year is the first time it sent up a flower stalk. It has been a slow process waiting for the buds to develop so it was a lovely surprise when I checked it today and there was a flower 🙂

I had a look around the other plants growing round my pond to see if there were any surprise visitors around the place…

I found a Mirid Bug (a Potato Capsid, I think) visiting a Knapweed flower:

And a rather damp Soldier Beetle taking a moment on an unopened Scabious:

Nearby on the stalk I spotted this little Leaf Hopper:

The Hemp Agrimony looked quiet at first, but then I spotted this Mirid Bug (a different sort to the one on the Knapweed):

I saw the brownish Mirid Bug with my eyes, but then when looking at the photo afterwards, I realise there is another bug (a green one) on the right of the image – you can just see it’s bottom. Might be another Potato Capsid.

I took a photo of the proliferation of Yellow Loosestrife flowers, and a surprise visitor appeared there too. Just a fly of some sort (top right)!

I then discovered a Self-Heal plant that has popped up out of nowhere:

And finally, we have some very bright flowers, smelling lovely, on a Buddleia which has surprised me by growing in a crack between paving slabs just outside my living room window!

Inspired by the Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge: Surprise.