And down came a Spider.

Practising with a new macro lens in the Garden this afternoon I took pictures of one of my favourite spiders the “Garden Spider.”

Garden spiders are the most common orb web spider found in the UK.They get their name as they are often found in our gardens. They sit in the middle of the web waiting to feel the vibrations of a struggling insect that gets caught in threads of their webs. Any prey caught is quickly and tightly wrapped in silk to stop them from moving – finishing the job with a venomous bite! (they are completely harmless to humans).

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An afternoon visitor.

A juvenile Robin visited our garden this afternoon a quick photo shoot at home.

Mullein Caterpillar.

The mullein moth, Cucullia verbasci, caterpillar’s on food plant Verbascum giganteum – Great Mullein. Taken with a smartphone. 

Garden hedgehog.

A short trail camera film of one of the resident hedgehogs in mums garden. Rarer daylight movement, – worth watching with sound on to hear snuffles.

Fields of plenty.

Another local walk to keep within our lockdown restriction. Although this Pandemic is getting to me and it still seems a long way before life will return to any sort of normal walking and enjoying the environment remains a lifesaver.

Garden Squirrel

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Female Blackbird enjoying Red Crab Apples.

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Walking across what we call the horse field today it seemed wise to keep to the edge of the field has the horses were running wild!

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One of the trail cameras caught the Roe deer family mum and twins.

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Blackbird.

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The male Blackbird are black with a bright yellow beak and eye-ring and although not a colourful garden bird adult male blackbirds they are a very striking garden birds. The female birds are brown often with spots and streaks on their breasts.

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Trapped.

This crane fly is trapped in a spiders web. There is no way out. We have been trapped by lockdowns and restrictions due to COVID 19 I have taken a cautions path in my risk management. This path has given me a greater understanding of nature in my garden and local patch.

Spiders.

This is Henry one of our resident Garden Spiders.

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Flock or invaision!

Wood Pigeon invade my bird feeding station which I built at the start of lock down. I am not getting many birds visiting the station at the moment just pigeons. I set up my small underwater camera to catch some action

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This bird can be an agricultural pest sometimes seen in large flocks and it is often shot. It is wary in rural areas, but can quite tame where it is not hunted such as towns and gardens. There are a lot of Wood Pigeon’s found in the UK some 5,400,000 pairs.

Take over!

Locally known in South east England as the Culver this name has given rise to several areas to be named after it, such as Culver Down on the Isle of Wight. They need water to drink and bathe in. Young wood pigeons swiftly become fat, as a result of the crop milk they are fed by their parents. This is an extremely rich fluid that is produced in the adult birds’ crops during the breeding season.

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How the garden grows.

I do not know what this garden plant is called I have a number of large clumps around the garden, this is one of the small specimens. I originally bought a potted plant while on holiday in Norfolk from someone selling plants from the side of the road.  It likes to be damp and by mid-summer, the leaves get brown and will start to look tatty but the red flowers are a magnet for bees and insects. the flowers last right into early autumn.

I made the decision not to weed our small backyard garden this year my lockdown plan to see what grew and what would be attracted to the garden. A big clear up will be due at the end of the season!

Bee’s flies & spiders more views of the garden visitors this morning working on recording these garden visitors and residents.