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21 June - A grey morning as the temperature drops a few degrees after a period of warm, humid conditions. This afternoon we had a heavy downpour which topped up the ponds, and this evening is ending with sunshine.
Yesterday we passed another milestone with out grandson. He was able to see a frog in the garden for the first time this year. It should have happened sooner, but with the vegetation thick around the banks of the ponds this year frog sightings have become quite rare. I need to trim a couple of spots so that we can get a better view the next time he is with us (tomorrow!).
I managed to see another ten frogs, although none were mature adults. Hopefully the youngsters here now will survive to breed in a few years time, and boost frog numbers once more.
Something that he didn't get to see was this magnificent spider, measuring well in excess of a centimetre in body length, that was hidden in the undergrowth next to the big pond. It's a female Pisaura mirabilis, a nursery web spider, although I have yet to spot the nursery web that it constructs.
In the same bit of vegetation was this (possibly) Philodromus cespitum female measuring nearer 5mm in length. It is an agile hunter that feeds on small insects.
And just a bit further along was this female wolf spider, carrying its egg case - a familiar sight on leaves at this time of the year, when the sun shines especially. A hunting sider of the genus Pardosa, it carries the egg case attached to its spinners.
Just one insect recorded over the last couple of days, this small cuckoo wasp, Trichrysis cyanea. It gets its cuckoo label because it usually lays its eggs in the nests of small digger wasps Despite it being one of the commonest of the cuckoo wasps in the UK this is the first time I've recorded it in our garden.
22 June - Another disappointing day. Although it remained more or less dry it we saw very little of the sun and it was quite breezy at times, the temperature only reaching 17C briefly at around noon.
One all too brief sunny spell occurred during the morning while we were out in the garden with our grandson. The timing was just perfect because he was treated to a 'wow' encounter with this Speckled Wood butterfly, not see previously this season. He also had the chance to watch another frog, this time a smaller individual, hop across the ground immediately in front of him as it headed towards the big pond - it received a 'bye' as it took its final jump into the water.
23 June - Another disappointing, blustery day which up to the late afternoon has remained dry but cool. The high of the day (17C) was achieved around breakfast time after some early morning sunshine.
The only garden related activity today involved removing our mystery larva (or is it a pupa now?) from the position that it has been in since the 17th. This is the final picture of it, tucked between a branch and some curled bark.
It is now in a container made for tasks such as this, made from a thick block of Perspex with two glass panels (optical glass from a large slide mount). The curled nature of the bark allowed me to support it on a thin twig, making it easier to photograph. The pieces of bark at the bottom of the container have been moistened very slightly.
It turned out that the larval case was attached to the bark only at the head end. During and after the transfer I saw no signs of movement. It will now be kept in the shade on our veranda so that I can check it each day. From now on I'll only report on it if I see any changes.
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