Nesting swallows

I'm delighted that swallows are nesting in one of the outbuildings. I realised last year that there were plenty of swallows but no nests on our land. To encourage them I installed four artifical swallow nests in outbuildings. Needless to say the swallows have totally ignored the nests I put up and built a makeshift nest resting on a girder. No pictures I'm afraid - I tried a flash assisted picture but it just frightened the fledgling who was sitting there and the photo didn't come out.

6-spot Burnet

A second moth has been formally identified (I'm starting with the easy ones) on our meadow. Fittingly this is the 6-spot Burnet after the previous day-flying moth identified which was the Burnet Companion (so named because it is often found with the Burnet). The Burnet is pictured on knapweed one of its favoured food sources.

More Orchids

Greater Butterfly Orchids are now flowering at the Pentwyn reserve. Here are a few surrounded by a rich mixture of meadow flowers and grasses.

Twayblade time

Twayblades are out both at Pentwyn and New Grove and for me they are a particularly beautiful orchid. They seem plentiful at New Grove this year.

Burnet Companion

I haven't tried to identify any moths yet but a day-flying moth flew into view yesterday so I can now record my first moth species. No photograph I'm afraid, as it had disappeared by the time I got my camera, but it was a Burnet Companion (Euclidia glyphica)whose larval foodplants include Bird's Foot Trefoil of which there is plenty in our fields.

Masonry bees

There are a lot of bees showing great interest in holes in the stone on the front of the house. For the moment I will assume this is the common mason bee Osmia rufa, as I struggle to identify different species of bumblebee let along the 20 species of mason bee found in the UK. If I get a book on them I will do a more precise ID.

Daffodils

We live very close as the crow flies to Maragaret's Wood, which has a slope down to the road which is currently ablaze with wild daffodils - and a fair few wood anemone as well.