WILDLIFE PICTURES - Page 8

@robot.. thats is the most beautiful picture i have seen on here... amazing.. you are awarded the gold medal for that one.. it is briliant.

@Robot - Amazing pictures!

Robot- beautiful pictures, really lovely.

Gary & Gracie- The yellow plants that I have are not Rudbekias. I thought maybe they were Bupthalmun, because they seem to be the closest match and all the insects love them.

The leaves look different to your pic Gary, I'm thinking they could be a different strain/species of them.

A few insect snaps, all taken yesterday afternoon, mostly on the same buddlea bush...

Peacock butterflies...

Red admiral...

Comma...

Those 3 are all butterflies that require stinging nettles. I've been looking to see if I could find any caterpillars, but no luck.

Brimstone(?), (definitely has lime green wings, so it's not cabbage white)...

Bee enjoying chocolate scented cosmos...

I've no idea whether the smell of the flowers affects the flavour of the honey.

Gary, That is definitely a Brimstone, beautiful pics.

From the experience of two wildlife gardening people I know off and reading up on the subject, there is not much evidence around that nettles in a garden setting are beneficial to butterflies. Both grew nettles in their garden but gave up as they never saw any caterpillars on them.

lovely pics gary.. i saw a couple of red admirals today on teh cycle path.. beautiful.. my buddlehias have been brimming with brown butterflies with  yellow dots.. they all seem to be coming out in this warm weather..

were supposed to get rain today but none as of yet.. maybe at weekend.. need to plant some autumn plants and the ground is so hard.

Heres a photo of one of many hoggy visitors to my garden.

One of my pond area residents. Apologies for picture quality but used my camera phone

That's the first frog photo that anyone's posted. Well done.

lovely pics of the butterflies and bumbly!! thanks for identifying the Comma's that have been flitting round my garden the last couple of weeks too, (I'm in NE Scotland).  Also nearly stabbed 2 frogs at the weekend , getting rid of some untidy wild flowers / scruffy grass.  Don't freak, there are plenty other wild areas in my garden, including 2 stretches of garden measuring some 40' long each, containing long grass, thistles and anything else that wants to grow there!!  I moved one of the frogs to under my rhubarb which is still growing wildly, it's nice and moist and cool under there so figured he'd like it, the other one legged it into the remaining long grass, so I left him to it.  All the more reason to get a wriggle on with my pond project !!! 

great pictures everyone.. i got this picture of a bee yesterday as osbourne house gardens.

 and this peacock butterfly who moved as as i took it..

 and some bees having a feast...

i have just got e-mail from bee conversation that hte bee in my top picture is a male field cuckoo bumblee... and they are not so common.. so very pleased i contacted them..

Over the last few weeks I've seen more butterflies when out & about. I've seen a few peacocks but not managed to take a pic, but fantastic to see them. Simply beautiful.

I am a definite convert to loving all the insects that we see in our gardens. I've seen so many types of bees/flies? this year. Great encouragement for me as I've been growing plants that attract them

gardeningfanatic-  do you think the bee conservation trust would  ID some of the bees I've seen? No idea what they are all but I've seen loads of different ones.

Like the purple thistle plant in the last photo.

i just love looking at all the photos on here - some of them are good enough to be entered into competitions. This is a bit of a cheat really. When we had the bad winter of 2010 , we were visited by a colony of waxwings.  A rare occurrence for us known as a '' waxwing winter ''  They come over from Scandinavia and are not at all worried about being approached by people. We managed to get a load of photos before they left and here is one of them having a feast in our neighbours' cotoneaster.

Insect alert for the squeamish.

I accidentally uncovered two stag beetle larvae the other day - I have only ever seen about three stag beetles in the 24 years I've lived here so was delighted. I covered them up with their rotting log, went for the camera, and by the time I returned they had burrowed away. They looked very large but I don't know how much longer before they pupate and emerge. (I shall admire them from indoors as I'm not keen on large beetles flying near me!)
I took this 3 or 4 years ago, presumably 'Dad'!!

great pictures jean and flo.. i have had a large amoutn of red admiral butterflies today on my buddhlia

 and then little fella along with them..

 i ahve never had so many  red admirals in my garden at once for a long long time.. was so chuffed.. sorry so many pictures.. couldnt help myself

hey guys.. i dont mind how old the pictures are.. they are all great to see..

It's lovely that you caught them with their wings open, gf, not always easy to do. Your white buddleia is doing a lot better than mine!!

@flobear.. i took loads and picked the best..  yeah it is doing well.. i keep cuting off the dead heads,, keep sit going longer..

Great pictures everyone

Is there a name for an insect lover-insectophile? Lovely clear picture Flo

gardeningfanatic & Gary I'm a convert to gettting some Buddlia in the garden, particulary the white variety. Bit pricey in the shops though, might have to go for the purple if they are easy to propagate.

kitiekat- I'm a bit envious of the hedgehog & frog pictures I've seen a couple of toads here but they are very elusive and tend to disappear for months at a time.

I saw a squirrel earlier- common yes.........but a first in my garden