WINGS

I've been trying to get this shot of a Southern Migrant Hawker in flight for three years now and yesterday was the day. Not brilliant but not bad. Thank goodness for digital cameras. Below is another Keeled Skimmer I think. It was completely exhausted and would fly a few feet, then land again for some minutes:

As you know I've been failing miserably with butterflies this year. Tiptoeing over the moors like an idiot after little Meadow Browns and Small Heaths who never rest. The other day, my neighbour with the beautiful big garden who very generously gives me many plants, rang to say their Buddleia and hydrangea were covered, so off I went to see the Peacocks, Red Admirals and Tortoiseshells:

And a Small White....wings blown out in the sunshine:

The Marsh Thistle was attracting life again. This time the butterfly had flown completely out of shot by the time the delay had expired. Sigh. A little Honey Bee left I think. 

A rather good looking young Blackbird on the feeder. Certainly better looking than that last one preening itself in the sun. 

Male Sparrow. The porridge still disappears in minutes, even at this time of year:

The Housemartins have nearly finished the nest but I'm not sure if they're resident. I can't really stand staring up at what might appear to be our neighbour's windows for any length of time. 

Obligatory Pipits:

Some amazing evening light:

OB sowed some carrot seed in March but only one made it through the Slug hell of our veg patch. He harvested it, if one can possibly harvest a single item, yesterday:

Definitely organic.

I love it when heather pokes up through the bright yellow of the gorse flowers:

Unknown pony in the sunshine:

When I first saw these in the grass, I thought they were tiny flowers but, on closer inspection, I think they might be fungi, possibly Pleated Inkcaps. I'm really not sure so any input gratefully received. They were about half a centimeter or one fifth of an inch across. TINY. 

Dogs enjoying the sun:

I haven't mentioned OB's Rubik's cube prowess recently and he wanted me to mention that his record for solving the 3X3 cube is 17 seconds now. At the end of term, he achieved level 6 in maths (if you don't have kids of school age this will probably mean nothing to you.....it meant nothing to me until a few years ago), which was his aim throughout the year, and I gave him the promised 7X7 cube as a reward. It really is an amazing achievement but then so is solving this momsa of a puzzle. 4 minutes at the moment but what I love is the fact that he's worked out how to make letters on it. F for his REAL name.....

The meeting with the people down the road about Trigger went well but I am now waiting to see if the lovely lady, who would suit him down to the ground, wants to come and meet him. She's also looking at ponies in local rescue centres. I'm keeping everything crossed as the place is horse heaven and her cob is a lovely calm animal who would keep Trigger grounded. I'll keep you posted. 

OB has as friend here for a couple of days so I've been taxiing them around. Am writing this in a brief respite but it's now time to pack them off to bed. They are currently giggling at some kind of ten year old boy's idea of smuttiness. So, until next time, here are those dogs looking alert having spotted someone on the horizon. Have a great rest of the week.

A DISTINCT FOAL AT LAST AND OTHER BITS

I saw this little foal a few days ago but have been so busy, I only managed to get out and look for him/her (haven't got close enough to tell yet) properly today. Not much chance of mistaking this one; I spotted it from half a mile away. I think that looks like a whirlwind on his face so I'm non-sex-specifically calling it Tornado, since we already have an 'Arrow'. Such charming markings. 

Before I got to them, I saw many others. Here's a great example of why I haven't been able to keep track of the foals or their mother's this year:

Whilst chatting to one of my neighbours, standing next to their fabulous pond, we spotted a leech. I know they are still used with great success in modern medicine, but my ideas about plunging in for a swim went by the wayside.

The grass surrounding the pond was alive with tiny, tiny frogs; so tiny I couldn't get the camera to focus properly in macro mode, but you get the idea:

The heat has been getting to us all and we still have no rain. My theory, as I gazed over to North Devon, where storm clouds were gathering, is that the gathered heat in the lump of granite that is Dartmoor, is rising as a giant column, diverting all the rain away. I don't think the Met Office will be knocking on my door any time soon but that's my opinion! You can feel it radiating at night. Snip needs another haircut if this is to continue.

We headed for Widemouth Bay with OB and a friend again on Sunday, where the day was much clearer. I swam without fear of the hundreds of jellyfish we encountered last time and took a few more pictures:

The garden is really starting to suffer. A precious Ash sapling growing out of the top of the Vole wall has died. The grass is browning fast and the water-butt is emptying fast. The geraniums, however, will survive anything it seems. Given my dry shade issues, I try not to water anything other than my few tubs, but, when washing out the compost caddie, the water has been poured wherever it looks most needed. A bit stinky with bits of onion skin, but it does the job. We really don't want to risk the bore hole running dry as it feeds three households here. 

The Jacob's Ladder seems to be doing okay in the dry too:

The butterflies are everywhere but the only ones I can get near are in the garden. This lovely Comma was resting on the hedge: 

I've noticed that very few flowers are flourishing out on the moor. Milkwort should still be going strong but I see barely any. Self heal is around but very stunted:

The Dragonflies are still laying in the boggy puddles where so many expletives are uttered as they escape my macro lens. Pretty soon there will be no water left and their work will be for nothing. Some rain please! This Keeled Skimmer male looked exhausted today and I managed to zoom in on him.

I think the Stonechats are between broods as the males are singing their hearts out. Perhaps they're just avoiding their parenting duties.  

The seed feeder is inundated with young Chaffinches:

Tomorrow is OB's last day of school. He appeared in a play about the Romans last night, managing to be the first to die in every battle scene. I think he just wanted a rest from the searing heat. Posts may be less frequent as I take up my taxiing role and am unable to walk as far due to cries of 'do we have to?'. Six and a half weeks start here. I will look back in a few years and wish for these holidays, so I'm not complaining. Apologies if I'm not as regular in my comments on your blogs; I will try my best. Until next time, here's Snippet disappearing out of shot at speed.