As if things weren't bad enough, I've decided to entertain (or otherwise) you all with some pictures of the flora and fauna from around where I live. You'll be glad to hear there's none of me lying on a beach somewhere. By the time I've finished you may feel that coronavirus doesn't seem so bad afterall or you urge the scientists to get a move on with a vaccine. Feel free to add your own. Starting with 6 Spot Burnet daytime moth Marbled White Butterfly Froglet
My beautifully crafted nestbox was not deemed good enough inside but was in a handy position anyway I love goats Emperor Dragonfly
Tried to upload my photos but the files are too big. With regard to the bumble bee, I am always baffled as to how you tell the difference between a white tailed bumble bee and a buff tailed bumble bee as the guide I have uses the same picture for both? The butterfly and moth pictures are obviously taken around late June / early July. I could identify those without a book but the dragonfly is really difficult. It is obviously a female but I have looked in my two guides and the illustrations looks different in each one!! The Princeton publication is the best of the two but , even with that, I would struggle. Hats off to anyone who can identify dragonflies ! Don't even get me on moths as they are purposely designed not to be identified. In the garden this week so far:-- Blue tit, Great tit, long tailed tit, Dunnock, Robin, Rook Crow, Jay, Magpie, Rook, Jackdaw, Wood pigeon, Stock dove, blackbird, song thrush and Great spotted woodpecker. There is a buzzard flying around too that I have heard.
On the last day of March 2020, and the Trevi Fountain in Rome is deserted. Usually, about this time of the evening, it is overwhelmed by people, using the fountain as a place to meet and chat and just congregate to throw coins into the water: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevi_Fountain
Young Blue Tit ready to make a break for it for the first time. Red Admiral on Elderberry blossom Barn Owl looking for grub on a winter's evening (sorry, it was as close as I could get) Greater Spotted Woodpecker during a hail storm Peeping Tom Badger not put off by the light or the tv
Nest box camera spying on a Blue Tit family. The focus of the camera is rather limited I'm afraid and mostly in black and white because of the light level in the box. Building the nest Nest Completed 10 freshly laid eggs Some young hatching out Some thorough nest cleaning going on Chicks getting bigger
I dont really have a picturesque photo to add unless you like looking at nearby tower blocks , cant quite see the city from my house unfortunately.
Next time you are on a exercise run, take a dobie & go and sit by a wild patch of flowers and watch for ten minutes. You'll be surprised what interesting things turn up. There's over 200 species of Bee in the UK, and some of the solitary ones are really spectacular. But you need to be patient.
This just from going outside to my decking. Its a Hornet mimic hoverfly. The pic doesn't do its size justice.
Born in Winchester. And I fully believe nature is everywhere you look, if you want to find it. If you don't have a garden, get a flower box for a window, if you build it, they will come.