Saturday, 18 July 2026

Hummingbird Hawk Moth and Holly Blue, and lots more

   
At last a warm and still day, and where to go? It was Olive's hairdressers in Carnoustie, so I went to Barry Buddon to see if the camp was open, it wasn't. I took the easy option and went down to the ponds to the south of Barry Halt. It didn't look good as I walked down with a northerly wind but once I got some shelter at the ponds I started seeing Damselflies and a few Dragonflies.

The photos below start with a sighting of a Hummingbird Hawk Moth, and one other photo of a Holly Blue in a garden. Everything else was seen and photographed at the ponds, tracks and the wind farm cable terminus near the camp boundary. All photos with a D500 and 500mm lens which let me get photos without getting close, which would have been impossible in the heat.



Hummingbird Hawk Moth in Olive's garden, actually feeding in a hanging basket as she was deadheading flowers in it


I was trying to photograph my Swifts, which meant I had suitable settings on my D500



Four-spotted Chaser Dragonfly



side view


Dark Green Fritillary Butterfly



again


Common Blue Butterfly male



and its underwing



A Holly Blue in a garden in Carnoustie, three seen but difficult to capture as they were very mobile in the afternoon heat



Meadow Brown Butterfly


Red Admiral Butterfly, flushed by a greenkeepers truck before I could get a photo in focus



Ringlet Butterfly



Small Copper, and they are small


Small Heath and around the same size as the Small Copper above



Small White, not so small but is smaller than the Large Whites


Common Darter Dragonfly male


with a twinkle in its eye


One of the many variations of Common Blue Damselfly females


Common Blue Damselfly male


Pied Plumethorn Volucella pellucens 


Giant Tachinid Fly Tachina grossa


Giant Tachinid Fly Tachina grossa


Tapered Drone Fly


Red-sided Parasite Fly Eriothrix rufomaculata, it was on the same flower as the Drone above, I didn't notice the small fly through a 500mm lens...



Red-tailed Bumblebee, a photo promised to Lorna who has the Holly Blues was taken by lots of these Red-tails in her garden. (Not from her garden)



and finally a parting smile from the Common Darter

Thursday, 16 July 2026

Puffins and an angry gull

   
An early evening brief look at Auchmithie and West Links, the light had gone due to low cloud and some mist


Puffins at Auchmithie, photographed from the clifftop


There were 19 in total in a few groups



Common Gull at West Links



Lesser black-backed Gull, it was behaving aggressively towards almost everything else


and this is why, it was protecting it's youngster



Starling, a few were half hidden in the rock armour and two Common Sandpipers were just as elusive

Wednesday, 15 July 2026

Common Flower Bug, a garden first!

 
At last a day when the wind wasn't blowing the plants around, there was decent heat, and it brought out some of the insect species that had been missing so far. Earlier in the week I'd seen a third Hummingbird Moth this year, and I hope that an Elephant Hawk Moth seen seen last year left behind some new ones.

Usual caveat, ID's are best efforts


Common Flower Bug Anthocoris nemorum, this bug is only 4mm long, and it looks less than that


Grey-banded Mining Bee Andrena denticulata





Early Mason Wasp Ancistrocerus nigricornis





Gwynne's Mining Bee Andrena bicolor


Migrant Hoverfly Eupeodes corollae


Pied Hoverfly aka White-bowed Smoothwing Scaeva pyrastri


Buff-tailed Bumblebee


Anthomyiidae indet


Broad Centurian Chloromyia formosa


I thought the Magpies might stop visiting my garden but I've been left with one adult and one of this years juveniles

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