A warm and sunny day, and this fresh-out-of-the-chrysalis butterfly graced our garden with its presence.
Admin1 is reading Inhibitor Phase by Alastair Reynolds and Admin2 is reading The Dead of Winter by Rennie Airth.
We scored 11 on the GWQ.
Tag: butterfly
Critter of the Day: Peacock
First one we’ve seen all year. Photo is a bit subdued because it was taken though the window at an angle.
Admin1 is reading This Night’s Foul Work by Fred Vargas. Admin2 is reading First Light by Peter Ackroyd: astronomers, archaeologists, Aldebaran and agriculturalists.
Critter of the Day: Cabbage White
Pieris rapae feeding on our lavender.
Admin1 is reading Have Mercy on Us All by Fred Vargas. Admin2 has been reading The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo, which is like a fiendish logic problem, not helped by its old-fashioned style and Admin2’s ignorance of aristocratic Japanese culture in the 1930s.
Critter of the Day: Cinnabar moth
Hello, pretty patterned fly-by-day moth. We look forward to golden eggs and stripy caterpillars on the ragweed. Oh, and hello Fiona too. Long time since we’ve had a house guest.
Last month was the third sunniest June on our records: 252.4kWh.
Admin1 is reading The Royal Secret by Andrew Taylor. Admin2 is reading Smoke Screen by Jorn Lier Horst and Thomas Enger.
Critter of the Day: Speckled Wood
Pararge aegeria. We tried to persuade it to open its wings, but it just stayed perched on a leaf in a dancer’s pose.
Admin 1 is reading A Rising Man by Abir Mukherjee. Admin2 is reading The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman.
Comma Comma Comma Comma Comma…er…Butterfly
First butterfly of spring that hung around for long enough to have its picture taken.
Admin1 is rereading Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith. Admin2 is reading The Cutting Place by Jane Casey. We scored 10.5 on the GWQ.
Last of the Summer Wings
A Red Admiral perches on one of the few remaining buddleia flowers on the hottest September day since our records began: 33.0 °C. The days to come are predicted to be much colder, and then comes autumn, winter, Brexit…
Admin1 is reading Boiling a Frog by Christopher Brookmyre.
Critter of the Day: Small Tortoiseshell
There were also Red Admirals, Speckled Woods and Large Whites flapping around.
Admin1 is rereading The Naming of the Dead by Ian Rankin. Admin2 is reading When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi; the autobiography of an overachiever who gets his comeuppance when he dies of cancer in his thirties.
Critters of the Day: Cinnabar caterpillars
After the eggs, a load of adorable little stripey youngsters cavorting on the ragweed.
June’s weather was pretty average for June; ie colder, cloudier and wetter than the average May and July.
Admin1 is reading Bryant and May on the Loose and Admin2 is reading Seventy-Seven Clocks, both by Christopher Fowler.
Critter of the Day: Large White Caterpillar
The caterpillars are much more colourful than their large white parents. Here are three of them working as a team to demolish the cabbage. They are not the only critters wrecking our victory garden; today the squirrels stole our cucumber seedlings and a young tomato plant. But we had homegrown peas for tea.
Admin1 is rereading The Complaints by Ian Rankin and admin2 is rereading Reconstruction by Mick Herron.
We scored 12 on the GWQ!
Critter of the Day: Cinnabar moth
Admin2 has been chasing this creature around the garden for days but Admin1 found it while mowing the lawn.
Admin1 is reading The Woman in Blue by Elly Griffifths.
A Whiter Shade of Pale
A blank Pieris rapae waiting to be coloured in on another >10kWh day. In the past week we have had 5 of the top 6 sunniest April days of all time.
Critter of the Day: Speckled Wood
Orange tips, cabbage whites and small blues are also flying around, on another >10kWh day.
Flower of the Day: Camellia
And another battle-scarred peacock.
Today was the warmest day this year: 22.7 °C. It was also the sunniest: 9.12 kWh.
Admin2 is reading The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman.
First Peacock of Spring
Aglais Io on a forsythia.
Admin1 is reading Elysium Fire by Alastair Reynolds. Admin2 is reading The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman.
First Butterfly of Spring
A comma on a skimmia on our warmest day this year: 21.0°C. We are digging for victory in the garden. Admin2 is reading The American Boy by Andrew Taylor and we are watching Better Call Saul, season 2.
Home at Last
Elusive Butterfly (not)
Red admirals are everywhere.
Admin2 is reading Confessions by Kanae Minato, more repercussions of a murder, this time commited by schoolchildren.
Coffee of the day: Burundi Sangira: super fruity, yumms!
Critter of the Day: Peacock
Well a peacock butterfly anyway.
Admin1 is rereading The Birdwatcher by William Shaw.
Critter of the Day: Comma
Polygonia c-album, the proofreader’s butterfly.
Admin1 is reading Smoke and Whispers and Admin2 is reading The Last Voice You Hear, both by Mick Herron.
Critter of the Day: Cabbage white
Admin1 is reading Big Sky by Kate Atkinson.
We scored 10 on the GWQ.
Critter of the Day: Painted Lady
Vanessa Cardui, a migrant from Africa, sitting on the road. Fun fact: it is the only species of butterfly ever recorded in Iceland.
Admin1 is reading The Shadow Killer by Arnaldur indridason.
Critter of the Day: Red Admiral
First this year.
June 2019 was our second least sunny June (200.302kWh), the wettest month since September 2017 (93.9mm) and the coldest June since 2012 (averaging 21.6°C).
Admin2 is reading Murder in the Crooked House by Soji Shimada; a 350-page logic problem.
White on White
A small white butterfly on a wild garlic flower.
Admin2 is reading Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar; adventures of a bouncing Czech.
Blue on Blue
Spot the butterfly on the bluebell.
We scored 8 on the GWQ with remote help from Dave.