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Fluffy the Skipper & Friends

Meet Fluffy the Skipper… wouldn’t you just like to give him a cuddle? Skippers are probably the most cuddly-looking butterflies you’re ever likely to meet. The first time I saw one I assumed it was some kind of moth as they’re usually the more fluffy ones.

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Fluffy on a Knapweed flower
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Fluffy on a Bramble leaf

Fluffy wasn’t alone – there were other fluffy and not so fluffy creatures hanging out round the pond on Saturday with him …

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Fluffy and friends on Ragwort L-R Fluffy the Skipper, Bob the Thick-Legged Flower Beetle, Colin the Small Copper Butterfly
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Colin with Bob in the background. Colin is also rather fluffy as you can see
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Colin showing off his rather impressive proboscis
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Barry the Bumble was also looking rather fluffy (and covered in pollen) as he bumbled busily around this Scabious flower.
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Even Darren the Common Darter dragonfly is showing off a nice bit of neck fluff (although he doesn’t really have a neck, that’s his thorax I believe)
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Rather less fluffy friends include Sir Geoffrey the Grasshopper here. He’s looking a teeny bit fluffy but also slightly scary
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Gary Grasshopper, not at all fluffy, resting on a Nettle
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Greta the Grasshopper posed glamorously for me on this Bindweed leaf
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Bob the Flower Beetle decided a Bindweed Flower was a nice place to get some peace and quiet
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David the Dock Bug was a bit lost, clomping around the grass looking for some Dock leaves

In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Close Up.”

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Soldier Season

It seems to be Soldier Beetle season as they are all over the place. I even had one in my car the other day! I shall respect their privacy and avoid photos of them mating, but here are just a few of them wandering about:

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Depth

I’ve spent ages pondering what photos to choose for the weekly challenge this week, veering from one angle to another. In the end I’ve gone for three quite different photos showing both actual depth and depth of field.

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Looking into the depth of this lovely pink rose you can just see the golden yellow stamens deep inside
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This Nursery Web Spider has made herself a deep nest web in the leaf of a Bergenia
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The depth of field in this shot of a Common Green Shieldbug is very shallow. When insects face you head on, you often get this effect when you focus in on their eyes.

In response to The Daily Post’s weekly photo challenge: “Depth.”

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Bee Memories

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Here’s a lovely little bee for you from a week or two back, before the weather turned wet and blustery.

Remember the bees? They swarmed in our house, which was a tad unfortunate, and then set up home in the soffits of our roof. We grew quite fond of them after a while as they didn’t bother us once they were settled.

Sadly their nest has since been overtaken by wasps which insist on coming into our bathroom on a daily basis! We’ve had to resort to insect-killing spray 😦 Hopefully soon the weather will get too cold for them and we have read that they rarely return to old nests. Fingers tightly crossed that’s true – I’m so sick of having to warily enter my bathroom incase there is a wasp buzzing around in there.

I remember our bees with fondness … much preferable to wasps!

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Big Buff-Tip

Don’t seen to have seen so many caterpillars this year, but a week or so ago, I spotted this chap on the Willow. He’s a rather large Buff-tip Moth caterpillar. I went for an unusual angle to get this shot, looking upwards at him. Seems to work quite well 🙂