We've been back from Italy for several weeks but I have only just got around to downloading my photos! That is partially because we both came back with rotten colds, which may or may not have actually been Covid as they were not the same as normal colds - I did do a test but by the time we got around to getting one from the pharmacy, it was 10 days since I had caught Keith's cold and the results were negative. Anyway, it left me feeling drained although I am glad to say we are both feeling much better now.
I found some photos from July and August on my camera so I am sharing those now, before I get back to reporting on our Spanish trip.
I decided to try shooting butterflies in flight, but you know how it goes - you go outside to do so and where are the butterflies? Well exactly. I shall have to try again next year when there are more butterflies around. This summer was so hot and dry that I didn't see that many butterflies in the latter half of the summer, and it was too hot to go out for walks. A bit of a wasted summer in that respect (although the pool was nice and warm, see above. 😀)
I did get a reasonable shot of a Long Tailed Blue (Lampides boeticus) in flight - interesting because they usually sit with their wings closed. If you open up the collage you can just see its little tails. The other picture is of a more worn specimen which is lacking its tails and eye spots at the base.
October has been a very pleasant month with temps mostly in the low 20Cs and lots of sunshine. Just before we went away we had an enormous amount of rain which was sorely needed - I think it was about 50mm (2 inches) so when we came home it was very green everywhere which was so nice after the dry summer. There are still a few butterflies around, one of which is the Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) which is below taken on wild oregano, back when it was flowering.
This is a Rough Saddle Bush Cricket (Uromenus rugosicollis) on a garden waste bag. Love its eyes! Also, I've just remembered - I don't have a photo but we found a gecko in the garden - it was on a watering can that I was carrying around at the time! I thought they were only found in the coastal areas so that was a real surprise. Haven't seen one since though there are lots of young Wall Lizards around.
And whether it is the heat or what, I don't know, but I have seen lots of Preying Mantises (Mantis religiosa) this summer. There are probably lots more, but look how well it is camouflaged against the colours of the plant! Often I spot them because they are on a wall, or have just flown out in front of me to land in a plant. If they don't move, they are very hard to notice.
My indoor orchids are doing really well. The Odontoglossom below is one of the fancy ones I bought at the plant fair last year so I was really pleased to see it come back into flower again, although these flowers didn't last very long (about two weeks) and are actually going over in this photo.
This is a Phalaenopsis that came back into bloom for the first time, so I didn't even know what colour it was going to be! These blooms are really huge ones.
My favourite purple Dendrobium flowered its face off before we went to Italy and this time, instead of the usual 5 or 6 flowers on each stem, it had loads of flowers, I think about 11 or 12 on each stem! When we came back it was just going over but has two more flowering stems which have just started flowering!
Three of my other Phalaenopsis are about to flower yet again, having already been flowering for four to five months earlier this year, and my fancy Jewel Orchid (Ludisia discolor) with the stripey leaves (you can just see it in the foreground below) has a bud on it.
I can honestly say that at the moment I have really green fingers where orchids are concerned. 💜 I am being very good about watering and feeding them regularly, and have been repotting some of them, which might help!
But how was Italy, you may be asking? It was really enjoyable and made a nice change from Spain and France. However, the amount of tourists in some places was incredible; I absolutely dread to think what it is like there during the school holidays! It was also very green everywhere which was surprising and the weather, whilst sunny, was very humid which wasn't so nice. As for the Roman sites we visited, they are out of this world. You'll have to wait until I finish blogging about our earlier Spanish travels first though! 😀
We're back! We had a brilliant time in Spain which I will tell you about in due course - bearing in mind I still have a final post from the previous trip to share - but in the meantime, an update on what’s happening here.
We’ve both been busy since coming home two weeks ago - me facing a mountain of laundry and Keith, amongst other things, mowing as our housesitter didn't get around to it. I must admit I secretly rather liked our wildflower meadow! We do mow around the orchids anyway, but the pink Pyramidal Orchids (Anacamptis pyramidalis) looked lovely in amongst the grasses. There are more and more of them every year. The photos just don't do them justice.
He’s been getting the pool ready too and it is nearly up to the temperature that I like (hot) so hopefully I will get my first dip this week.
What I didn't get a photo of was a white crab spider of which I noticed three, each one on an orchid flower, waiting for insects to land, such as this Five-spot Burnet moth (Zygaena species) which was enjoying the nectar. I can't give an exact Latin name as it could be the Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet for all I know.
Out on the verge outside the garden this Long-lipped or Ploughshare Tongue Orchid (Serapias vomeracea) has turned from one flower to three with another one nearby!
The Nectar Bar looks good every year at this time, which is its peak time.
Valerian at the front, then Nepeta 'Six Hills Giant' followed by Salvia 'Hot Lips'.
From the other end, with a Sedum, then more Nepeta (Cat Mint), Verbena bonariensis and Perovskia, with the large Salvia "Hot Lips' and Valerian beyond. This bed is really buzzing with loads of bumble bees of all different sizes, bee flies, Hummingbird Hawkmoths and butterflies too. There are tiny Skippers about and at least one is a Lulworth Skipper, which pleases me no end!
Remember the front bed after it had all been cut back a few months ago? Of course weeds have germinated....
.... but not just weeds. This is the Bay tree, with a Holly front centre! Not only that, but lots of the plants are coming back to life - even the Yew has shoots coming up, there's a complete Hydrangea plant up and the Hibiscus are shooting. It's so sad as they will all be dug up in about a month's time. (This photo is about 10 days old and the Bay is about a foot taller now!).
A new insect for the garden - a Stick Insect! K found a drowned one in the pool some years back but we've never seen a live one in France before. We saw a huge one in Australia years ago but in your own garden it's rather more exciting! I'm not sure which species it is as I don't have close enough photos - yes there are several different species in southern France - who would have known? 😀
A cropped version - click on the photo to see it larger and sharper.
Before we went away the Black Redstarts built another nest in our covered terrace in the same place as before. They made it in three or four days - quite incredible! Whilst away, our housesiter told us there was activity around the nest and sure enough, when we returned mum and dad birds were back and forwards feeding babies. After a little while we could see beaks peeking over the edge and eventually, with a lot of encouraging noise going on by the parents, we could see two fluffy babes standing on the edge of the nest. We have to move out of the way when they wanted to feed the young although I found if I stood with my back to the nest then the parents would go there.
The first young fledged (although we didn't see, obviously) and the next day the last two or three went. We could hear the parents making a lot of noise over the next couple of days, and one evening K said the father had flown into the shed and he hoped they were not checking it out to make their next nest there. Turned out, as daddy bird was making a lot of warning noises the next morning around the shed area, then coming to the pool fence and chirping at us, there was a fledgling which had spent the night in the shed! Daddy bird was telling us this (I did wonder, so asked K to open the shed). Babe promptly got fed well by both parents then later was gone, thankfully!
Finally I just wanted to show you the difference between the 'field' across the road when we came to view the house in summer 2019, and now. Back then it was pretty much just grassland.
But now the hillside is covered in predominantly Broom, with Hawthorns, Viburnum Tinus and some other shrubs all colonising the once grassland. I don't know how it was kept as just grass before unless it was grazed by animals or somehow the grass was cut. Now the grass that is there is so long because there is a thick thatch underneath meaning you sink in a long way - it's really hard to walk in there and there are lots of low growing brambles as well. Shame as I had envisaged myself in that meadow stalking butterflies - though thankfully I don't see many butterflies there which is good (for me!).
