Blue Tit Behaviour

I saw this Blue Tit on the front garden feeder on Sunday clearly holding a sunflower seed between both its feet to keep it steady for pecking. I don't know why this surprised me but it did. I wonder if they always do it like this.
I like to keep an eye open for regional and archaic bird names. There is a wonderful book called British Nesting Birds by W. Percival Westall, Dent & Sons, 1922 which gives a variety of 'local names' for each bird. Some names commonly in use then are now archaic themselves. Robin, for instance, is listed as a 'local name' for Redbreast.
Anyway my point is that in our household the favourite name for the Blue Tit is 'Billy Biter'.

Hoverfly

In the garden this afternoon we saw this rather nice hoverfly bothering the Catmint. It is smaller or at least more slender and more delicate than the usual run of hoverflies we see in the garden. I will try and identify it but if there are any hoverfly enthusiasts out there could you let me know what it is? Thanks.

It seemed to be doing something with its rear end. I wondered if it was ovipositing or something. This hunched position was characteristic, in contrast to its generally slender form.

Various bees were very very busy on the catmint and lavenders, but we didn't see a single butterfly in the garden all afternoon.

Froggin'

Cora found this very interesting frog in the garden this afternoon. It had a rather attractive rufus aspect and was uncommonly docile, even for a frog. Dad would have liked it as he was extremely good at communicationg with frogs.

1st Painted lady 8 6 2007

The first Painted Lady of the year drifted aimlessly accross the garden and back yesterday morning as I was waiting to go for my interview. It seemed to be associating itself as far as I could tell with the valerian which is in full flower.

I also saw a large number of medium grey spiders on the slate chippings by the Buddlia. One of my fellow candidates (the successful one) had an interest in photographing spiders and identified them from my description as female Wolf Spiders. I will check later and try and get a picture.

Lime Hawk Moth (19.4.2007)

This Lime Hawk Moth turned up outside our kitchen door on the 19th of April this year.