Beach Walk 1st Oct

The Sea Holly is withering where it grew...

...the Viper's Bugloss has been reduced to a pale skeleton...

...flowers & hips can be found together...

...it must be Autumn!!!

More Spider Stuff...

I don't think I've ever seen a bigger Garden Spider than this one which was in the greenhouse this afternoon!

It was very active - shinning down a silken thread and up again in the blink of an eye!

This raggedy Speckled Wood was also sheltering/trapped in the greenhouse.

A Spider

There have been an awful lot of these small spiders in the garden lately, notably on the catmint.THey hang upside down so could be a little tricky to identify. Much smaller than the Garden Spider.

Shield Bug

I saw this on my top box as I set out to walk to Squires Gate in preparaton for the lads walk on Saturday (shudder...) The nearest I have come to identifying it so far is Hawthorn Shield Bug but this doesn't have such extensive darker areas on the wings & abdomen as that seems to. Update later...

Sour Grapes?

This caterpillar took no notice at all of the grapes Ivan gave me from his vine in the soon-to-be-mine greenhouse. It just carried straight on in the direction of my brassicas! (It didn't make it...)

Caravan (1)

This yellow boulder was lying amongst the Limestone pebbles on the beach at Far Arnside.

A closer look reveals a fascinating landscape of minute perfections! I know very little about lichens so this rock will provide me with a good starting point.

There look to me to be two types (species?) here but what do I know? Will report back later.

Caravan (2)

These two lichen were on limestone bedrock nearby. This one has a distinct ring around it. Perhaps it is different to those posted above?

And this is a pale grey like discarded spearmint chewing gum.