Essex Skippers, Graylings and others ..

Two not so common butterflies in N Lincs from the weekend - the first one hard to see I know but there is a Grayling in this image - 10 in total seen

And Essex Skippers (black tips under the antennae rather than brown as in Small Skipper)

We also had around 300 Ringlets

Plus probably the most exciting fly I have seen - member of Thick Headed Fly family (I kid you not)
Sicus Ferrugineus (probably Im told)

Planting up the new pond

Had a very kind delivery of one of my favourite plants today (many thanks Jim and Sharon!) four beautiful Himalayan Cowslip - they are so fragrant and were immediately visited by various Hoverflies.  We have also added some Water Forget-me-not which will hopefully be covered in newt eggs next spring - excitingly 3 Water Beetles have colonised the pond

The new pond is finished

Just need to get a few plants in and wait for the newts!

A second garden pond!

Not content with one garden pond, Wayne has decided our newts need a second one in the front garden this time!

Lots of landscaping required now ...

Unexpected Nightjar

Another stunning bird during lockdown very close to home - very rarely seen during daylight hours so an absolute treat to see.

Normanby's VE day celebrations under lockdown!

Yesterday, our nation came together, even though forced apart by the lockdown to remember the end of the war in Europe and mark 75 years sine VE Day.We are extremely lucky to live in a small corner of North Lincs where we have found such lovely and supportive neighbours aka friends!  So after marking two minutes silence at 11.00am we socially distance ourselves  (until 9.00pm!!)  around our homes and celebrated with many bottles of Prosecco, Beer, G&T's, Whiskey, Ginger Wine, Cakes and the great British standby fish and chips - a fabulous day which I doubt had it not been for the virus would not have taken place.

The Queen I think accurately hit the mark when she said, "our streets are not empty, they are filled with the love and the care that we have for each other".

So without further a do here's our cast;

Sue and Martin 

Sheila starting as she means to go on!

Doing a marvellous impression of the Queen - Barbra

Sheila (again)

 Alex, Lucas, Mechelle and Paul

Jean, Deirdre and Norma

 Sarah and Pam

 Ray of sunshine - Mechelle

Sarah (again)

Martin, Alexander, Heather and Christine

Wayne with an unfortunately named bottle of beer

 Martin (again)

 Pam

Yvonne and Richard

Mechelle - what can I say the whole day wouldn't have happened without her and she even managed to get a delivery of socially distance fish and chips!

Day 41 of Lockdown

Nearly six weeks of lockdown in the UK now and still easily finding something new to identify each day either in the garden or on our hours exercise and still adding to our birding lockdown list with an unexpected Cuckoo yesterday! Insect wise it has been very exciting in the garden as you can see;

Green Nettle Weevil 

On the face of it the next two look pretty similar however due to the plants they were on and length of antennae I'm confident they are Solomons Seal Sawfly and Iris Sawfly

Solitary Bees where to begin - I have Steven Falk's field guide to British Bees which is a fabulous book if only I had the skills to use it - I spent a longtime keying this bee out to Andrena wilkella and then via twitter asked Steven to confirm my id and no surprise I was wrong it is in fact Andrena clarkella

Lockdown Insects

During the last five weeks of lockdown we have had lovely warm sunny days which has given us a great opportunity to look for insects in the garden and local surrounds - here's a round up so far

Hairy Shield-bug

 Ashy Mining Bee

Helophilus pendulus

This I am not sure about - photos just not good enough to key out but I'm thinking Dusky Mining Bee?

Green Longhorn Adela reaumurella

 

14-spot Ladybird

Leucozona lucorum

This is a tricky one - I took this next the the colony of Ashy Mining Bee (Andrena Cineraria) which should make it  Nomada lathuriana but I don't think that it is as it looks more like a male Nomada flava.

Orange Tip Butterfly

More Green-Longhorn Moths