Orange beetles and Peacocks

Ah, the blog hasn’t been updated in something resembling a week! What has happened to me I hear you cry? Well, I have been out and about, but it seems that any interesting birdy sightings have fallen thin on the ground. As the sunshine pulls me away from the computer and into pastures new, my binoculars stay tucked away in my trousers and the camera comes out to photograph what insect life is foraging around in the undergrowth.

Butterflies are now making more of an appearance and today I was presented with a couple of young Speckled Woods. Yesterday I managed to photograph a Peacock (see below); the only reason I managed to photograph this one is probably due to the knackered appearance of his wings (assuming he’s getting on a bit in butterfly years/had a rough life)…

The other ‘ooh la la’ moment was finding an Orange Ladybird (Halyzia 16-guttata). The numbers of these beetles has been climbing steadily all over Britain and it’s the first I have found in Cornwall (although, not that this fact means anything as they have been here since before I can remember anything worth remembering… )

I can hear a Chiffchaff…