Finally, after a few murky and dull weeks of cloudy, rainy weather, sun has come out, kind of. There are still some clouds lingering around as nothing is perfect, but it's no doubt a major improvement and hopefully it'll stay so for a while.
Traditionally, as a Slovenian national, we tend not to do anything or any work outdoors when Sunday knocks on the door, but this time I've had to make an exemption. Living in the UK, all we get is bad weather after bad weather, so when sun does pop out from behind the clouds, we have to do chores, as we can never be sure when dullness will strike again.
I've managed to fall behind on the work in my garden substantially! Actually, I could say that I've fallen behind to the point, which could result in someone getting lost in the overgrowth! Good side to it all was the extensive and very welcoming visiting period of all that crawls and flies, the insects.
If you've managed to come across any of my previous post/articles, you was able to see some of the insects that have visited us in the garden. Today, I've come across a couple of new ones regarding this year, and was very pleased to be able to spot them.
Ladybugs are out in force and they were everywhere, on the bushes, flowers, even on my gardening bin. Weather, as mentioned eralier was quite bad. We tend to see ladybugs much earlier in the year, most likely at the start of the spring and that would continue well into the next few months coming up to summer. These could well be their offspring and I just wasn't paying much attention to it, apart from what's been unfolding around the world in these tough times.
Today I've struggled to keep not only my hands and the phone steady, but also tried to catch these little cute insects in a still position to take a simple photo.
Finally, I got one, and that one ladybug was resting on my green gardening bin. That said, even this one decided it'll fly away, just as I've presses the shutter.
Ladybug eventually disappeared over the fence in to neighbouring garden, as it probably had enough of me chasing after it.
As I continued my gardening adventure deeper and towards the bottom of the garden, I've accidentally stumbled upon a caterpillar. A caterpillar that I've seen so many times before, but it's the first time I've spotted one this year. Medium size, a vibrant colour caterpillar, just there making its way up on the yellow flowered ragwort to munch away on it.
The caterpillar in mind is called a Cinnabar Moth. It's widespread throughout the UK and is commom sight in the late spring and throughout the summer months.
Their black and gold stripes make them really easy to identify and it will unmistakably stand out from the rest! As you probably gathered, these Cinnabar Moth caterpillars are toxic, and they become toxic only after they'll consume a yellow flowered ragwort. Ragwort is a toxic plant, and so when a caterpillar eats enough of it, it becomes toxic itself. Them yellow and black stripes on a caterpillar suddenly make more sense, and are very much a warning sign to all the predators. Nevertheless, they are beautiful! I don't know how otherwise to describe that they're just so so interesting to watch as when they do what they do best, eat. I've left a decent size patch of tall grass in the back of the garden where I've found this little insect, and I sincerely hope that more of them will flock into the area.
Compared to a ladybug earlier; Cinnabar Moth caterpillar was a much easier photography! He really took his sweet time between making any moves, which eventually resulted in an above photo.
My daughter has come up with this idea to make a real 'bugs life' area in the bottom part of the garden, which will be great for not only insects having somewhere to be without being disturbed, but also to give me more of a chance for capturing a great photo and of course sharing it with you.
Thanks for stopping by and take care.