BITS AND PIECES 4

                                      

The heat is getting a bit oppressive if I'm honest. Poor Snippet sat at the garden gate yesterday at walk time with pleading eyes and I was quite happy to oblige. We stayed at home. Out walking, I haven't  been able to face carrying the big camera and a bag for lead, treats, phone and, as a type 1 diabetic, something sugary in case of a post lunchtime injection induced hypo! As a result, I haven't been snapping very much. So, here are some left over bits and pieces from the last few weeks. The top photo is the lovely red Astrantia/Masterwort that my mum gave me a few months ago.

I think this is a Keeled Skimmer - female. Taken with the zoom so not brilliant.

A Golden Ringed Dragonfly eating another damselfly or smaller dragonfly. These are everywhere at the moment, feeding voraciously. 

The Greater Spotted Woodpeckers are back but the peanut feeder is disappearing behind a fern. This is the female.

Siskin parent and child. The parent has spotted an incoming Sparrow....

......the child sees it off.

Lone Siskin parent

Foals still changing colour

Green everywhere at last

Enchanter's Nightshade. Unfortunately, I've discovered it popping up in the garden as well as up the track and I'll never forget the 'Gardener's Question Time' team suggesting someone move house when they asked what to do about it. Such a lovely name though.

Beautiful white Foxglove 

Woundwort. I have a rather bigger patch of this in the garden than I would like...

A very unexpected Californian Poppy which came up in my Viola tub. I think the seed has been lying dormant for years in some compost from my mum's and it's sprung to life in this hot spell.

I think this is a Green Veined White Butterfly

A Wood Speckled Butterfly

These next three are from Widemouth Bay that I somehow missed out from the last post:

Snippet, sheltering in the shade of a parked car on the beach

Clapper bridge over Wallabrook

This weekend is looking like it's going to be equally hot, so we're planning on going back to the beach. I swam in our local outdoor pool today with Origami Boy after school. It is fed by the same River Teign that we swim in out on the moor, just further downstream, and is usually freezing. Today it could have done with being cooler than it was. What is happening to me? I used not get into any kind of water unless it was bath heat! 

I forgot to mention I saw an Adder at last on Monday. So beautiful but no chance of photographing it as Snippet had to be held back from jumping in. It just slithered away into the long grass. 

Until next time, have a great weekend and here he is in that adder ridden grass.