A Holly Blue in our garden

Earlier today, while Andrea sat on the front step she spotted a Holly Blue on the Pyracantha. It came to rest on the unbroken flowers buds and showed no interest in the other plants. She grabbed her camera, waited for it to settle and got a couple of shots to mark the visit. Pretty good going for a tiny front garden. 

As an update to yesterday's sighting, on my way into work this morning I saw one Holly Blue settle 3 metres up on a Beech tree on Beckett Park and then another at lunch time in a dried puddle on the playing fields next to the rail line. With only my phone to hand I managed a couple of ropy shots. Happy Holly Blue week!

Small White in Kirkstall Abbey Walled Garden

During an early evening stroll down to Kirsktall Abbey walled garden I spotted this Small White (Pieris rapae) land on a. Phlomis (fruticosa?) Jerusalem Sage. I think its a slightly worn male The downy grey leaves provide perfect camouflage for the butterfly at rest. Had I not seen it on the wing I doubt I would have spotted it. 

The flowerheads are in place but the majority of the deep yellow flowers, arranged in whorls, are just starting to emerge.

I returned twenty minutes later to find it had barely moved.

Clematis montana

The current low temperatures have halted the flowering of the Clematis montana in our back garden. For the past couple of weeks the flower buds have been increasing in number and I thought that yesterday's sunny spell might have done the trick but no such luck.

The flowerbuds remind me of Audrey II from the Little Shop of Horrors.

"Feed me Seymour, feed me now!" Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

Demoiselle in my garden

Dropping in to the front garden this weekend was this female Banded Demoiselle where it settled on the foliage of a Mexican Orange Blossom for a few minutes. Up until a couple of weeks ago I'd never knowingly seen one, then one turns up right outside my door, luckily Andrea was on hand to mark the occasion with a photo.

Here's another female, this one taken on the banks of the River Aire, next to Kirkstall Abbey. Both have the metallic green body colouring, with a distinctive white pseudo-pterostigma near the tip of the wing.



Hosta leaf

The large ribbed leaves of a variegated hosta, potted up in my back garden seem to retain raindrops more effectively than the surrounding plants. Undeterred by the failing light I snapped away to catch the quartet of glistening raindrops before they disappeared.

Angle Shades

I found this moth indoors on the curtains where it sat motionless, making it easy to capture and carefully transport to the garden. A new one for me, its Angle Shades (Phlogophora meticulosa). The first pic was taken outside where the colours are more vivid, and the second pic taken indoors shows its unusual side profile.