Globetail, Earwig and Butterflies

   
Photos of new visitors to my garden before Storm Floris. Then on the day of the storm it was amazing to see that as the storm abated but not by much, I could see hoverflies, bees and a few butterflies active.

Common Globetail aka Common Twist-tail Sphaerophoria scripta

Common Globetail aka Common Twist-tail Sphaerophoria scripta

Common Banded Hoverfly Syrphus ribesii

Common Drone Fly

Common Earwig

Common Earwig

Large White Butterflies coupled

Peacock Butterfly

Peacock Butterfly

Large White Butterfly

Large White Butterfly

Marmalade Fly

Migrant Hoverfly

Rose in Olive's garden

Red Admiral

Tree Bumblebee

Tree Wasp

Otter, Speckled Wood Butterfly, Plants, and dog sick slime mold

A mammal, a few birds, Bees, Wasps, Beetles, Flies and Plants.

A surprise find at Murton NR of six Speckled Wood Butterflies, but no Damselflies or Dragonflies. Later more were reported around Arbroath and Elliot including one at Hospitalfield House.

I had lots of pollinator action in my garden and have posted new species first, photos I like second, and even a flower.

Don't be put off by the dog sick slime mold, it's a harmless mold I've found in damp parts of my garden in the past, it's usually found in wet grass. Exactly where the one in the photo further down was.  

Otter near the Old Harbour, Montrose Basin

A Little Egret dwarfed by the Mute Swans which congregate at the Basin in July to moult

Sand Martin at Murton NR

Song Thrush, also Murton

Garden Bumblebee, also below

Gwynne's Mining Bee in my garden

Red-sided Parasite Fly Eriothrix rufomaculata garden, same below

Variable Duskyface aka Dumpy Grass Hoverfly Melanostoma mellinum garden

Speckled Wood Butterfly, six seen at Murton, underwing below

Tan Dance Fly, garden

Peacock Butterfly

Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly

Tree Wasp, same below. Both show a small black spot on an otherwise featureless yellow face, unlike a Common Wasp with a black anchor like marking

Common Red Soldier Beetle, lots in my garden since I planted Yarrow, it's a magnet for many insect pollinators

Greenbottle species garden

Clustered Bellflower, Murton

Hollyhock in the garden

Cherries at Murton

Didymium spongiosum, also known as dog sick slime mold, is a species of true slime mold in the order Physarales. Before reclassification in 2023 it was known as Mucilago crustacea. Due to its visual resemblance to canine vomit, it is known colloquially as the "dog sick slime mould" or "dog sick fungus", albeit that slime moulds are not true fungi

Garden Pollinators and a Killer Cat

   
Mostly insects and primarily Hover Flies, photographed in my garden when we had visitors, and others from Boddin Lime Kilns in cooler conditions. As usual ID's are "best effort" using ObsIdentify, Paul Brock's book, and often Peter Falk's Flickr. 

There's been an uptick in butterflies in the garden with seven species seen, most photographed. The Large White Butterfly in the picture below is the largest butterfly I've seen, it was clearly larger than any species seen before.

I have only a few insects from past garden lists to find this year. I'll be shifting more to birds and Damselflies and Dragonflies.

A new cat appeared in the garden this week and it was unphased by me escorting it off the premises. It returned over a few days, day one it killed and ate a frog, day two a mouse, day three another frog, and probably more unseen. Day four and there was no cat, maybe it moved on, or went home. However, that night Olive noticed a cat had been killed on a road nearby, or was the cat I saw the one reported missing in the opposite direction, I'll never know...

But it does show how domestic cats can affect wildlife.

 

"In the UK, domestic cats are estimated to kill between 160 and 270 million animals annually, including 40 to 70 million birds".

"In Australia, cats (both feral and domestic) kill an estimated two billion native animals each year. This includes a significant number of birds, mammals, reptiles, frogs, and invertebrates". "Cats have been identified as a major factor in the extinction of at least 22 native Australian mammal species". 

Buff-tailed Bumblebee

Carline Thistle, Boddin

Common Banded Hoverfly Syrphus ribesii

Common Banded Hoverfly Syrphus ribesii

Common Carder Bee

Common Drone Fly

Common Grass-veneer Agriphila tristella

Common Red Soldier Beetle

Early Bumblebee

European Drone Fly Eristalis arbustorum

Unknown fly species

Gannet sub adult, Boddin

Honey Bee

Large White Butterfly, Boddin

Marmalade Fly

Migrant Aphideater, aka Migrant Hoverfly

Painted Lady Butterfly

Pied Hoverfly

Sea Kale in the Lime Kilns at Boddin

Six-spot Burnet Moth, Boddin

Small White Butterfly

Thick-legged Hoverfly Syritta pipiens

Tree Wasp