PREPARING FOR NEXT YEAR

Having caught up with the post-holiday domestic stuff, I took myself off to RSPB Saltholme for the afternoon and was so pleased to see so many insects, literally more in an afternoon than I saw in the whole two weeks in the part of Cornwall where we were staying. The damselflies were busy pairing up, and this female was ovipositing - placing her fertilised eggs on the underside of this leaf. I've also noticed ladybirds everywhere I've been in the last couple of days. They're all over any hogweed flowers I've passed. I haven't read anything about it, but I wonder whether we're in for another ladybird summer. I can't remember when the last one was.

Now to catch up with all the back-blipping and with everyone's journals.