Cinnamon Bug

Even a wildlife garden needs some management so most of my day was spent working in the garden. Mowing the grass becomes quite complicated when you're trying to achieve a patchwork of different grass lengths! I took some time to look out for insects, and spotted the first Cinnamon Bug of the year and the first ever Black-tailed Skimmer that we've seen in the garden. I also confirmed that we have at least two different Spotted Longhorn Beetles visiting, which suggests that they might be breeding in our dead wood piles.
In the evening I celebrated the Summer Solstice with a walk round Ferry Meadows. It was fantastic to watch large numbers of swifts and sand martins feeding low over Lynch Lake, as well as masses of Summer Chafers assembling around the Elder bushes just next to the lake. I ended the day with a spot of star-gazing in the garden with the family - the Summer Triangle of Deneb, Vega and Altair are very obvious now, as is Arcturus which has a faint orange colour. Magic!