#viper's-bugloss

[dansnaturepictures]

16th July 2023: Egleton, Rutland Water

Photos taken in this set: 1. Herb-Robert. 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7. Views at this beautiful reserve. 5. Great White Egret, a star bird again this weekend. I still find it quite surreal when we have a run of visiting good habitats for them and they're so commonplace, being a bird that was a real rarity when I first got into birdwatching. They're great to watch too with their larger than life stature and quirky movements. 8. Green Sandpiper, a key bird that we wanted to see at the nature reserves whilst away and it was an honour to see loads of them on lagaoon four. They are such beautiful birds and I really just enjoyed watching them and taking them in. 9. Comma, one of a few wonderful butterflies I enjoyed seeing especially in a blooming patch of meadow. 10. Egyptian Geese, another key Rutland bird, with adorable goslings. The gosling I saw of one at Petersfield Heath Pond earlier in the month was the first Egyptian gosling I'd seen I think but was bigger so it was lovely seeing these little goslings.

Another year tick in Yellow-legged Gull seen nicely with Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls for comparison and some chicks of the latter in an Osprey nesting platform were other key birds seen, as well as stunning views of Osprey and Hobby acrobatically working through the air seeing both successfully hunt. Birds I adore seen so well this weekend. Sand Martin, Little Egret, Great Crested and Little Grebe, Shelduck, Blackcap seen extremely well, Reed Warbler, delightful Teal, Gadwall, Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Common Sandpiper, Common Tern, Swift, Goldfinch, Pied Wagtail and Linnet chasing each other and Stock Dove were other key birds seen. It was an insect fest with Painted Lady, Red Admirals, Gatekeeper, Ringlet, Meadow Brown, Brimstone, Small Tortoiseshell seen well at the visitor centre, Small Skipper, Green-veined White, Small White and Speckled Wood butterflies, Southern Hawker, Common Darter, Brown Hawker and Black-tailed Skimmer dragonflies, Common Red Soldier beetle, ladybird, Bird-cherry Ermine moth and Marmalade and Long hoverflies other standout insects seen. Poppy, fox-and-cubs, bird vetch, wild carrot, lady's bedstraw, field scabious, self-heal, viper's-bugloss, red campion, white deadnettle, white and broad-leaved clover, thistle, great willowherb, ragwort, forget-me-not, burdock and meadowsweet were other key plants seen.

[flowerishness]

Wildflower garden in front of the Central Library in Liverpool, England plus Viper’s-bugloss (Echium vulgare) and a tree bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum).

The last time I was in Liverpool, this little wildflower garden was a tiny manicured lawn.  Since then, they’ve deep-plowed the lawn and put in a carefully selected group of wildflowers that promote bumblebees and butterflies. It’s startling to see so many wildflowers right in the heart of the city.

[dansnaturepictures]

27/06/2022-Great Crested Grebes and more at Lakeside and home 

I enjoyed getting some brilliant views of the Great Crested Grebe pair and three chicks at Lakeside on my lunch time walk, I cherished seeing their humbug stripes again I cannot get enough of seeing them and it was great to see bits of preening from the chicks too with their legs raised at certain points. Some precious moments with these beautiful birds. I took the final five pictures in this photoset of the chicks and adults. An intimate look at a Greylag Goose, a young Robin and a Swift flying overhead at Lakeside and a young Goldfinch in the garden were other bird highlights today. 

Despite the very heavy shower before I headed out for my lunch time walk and bits of rain on the walk, although there was nice sunshine too, it was a great walk of butterflies too with a pleasing amount of Ringlets around especially going along the northern path, and I saw a few of the deliciously marked Marbled Whites well too in the grassy areas. The Marbled White butterfly one that really takes me back to my early butterfly days watching these at Lakeside 

It was a nice lunch time walk of flowers with dock starting to dominate the green out the front alongside white clover which looked nice. I also liked seeing a clump of viper’s-bugloss which I took the fourth picture in this photoset of by the garden area by the visitor centre more than I’d ever seen together before of this flower I do like, a great combination of thistle, yarrow, poppies and cornflower on the flower bed around the estate I took the second picture in this photoset showing this, knapweed, lovely forget-me-not, self-heal, lots of bindweed, wild carrot, oxeye daisy, bird vetch, pineappleweed, ragwort, roses, some nice valerian a key flower for me lately and other nice flowers in the garden area at Lakeside. It was nice to see some rowan berries starting to come with the buddleia on the bushes around home coming into flower more and more. 

It was a good day for landscape and sky scenes with the sunshine and showers, I enjoyed taking the first picture in this photoset of the green of the trees at Lakeside visible from my room lit up by a bit of sun looking great against dark clouds this morning a type of shot I’d wanted to try again for a while. I took the third and fifth pictures in this photoset of views at Lakeside today, and I had a lovely moment when I saw some mist lifting off Kornwestheim lake as I saw and photographed last June which stuck in my mind so this was nice to see again I took and tweeted a photo of this on Dans_Pictures tonight. There were pretty cloud formations throughout the day. There were brilliant sky scenes towards sunset. 

Wildlife Sightings Summary: One of my favourite birds the Great Crested Grebe, one of my favourite butterflies the Marbled White, Mallard, Moorhen, Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Black-headed Gull, Swift, Robin, Blackbird well at Lakeside too, Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Starling, Carrion Crow, Ringlet and I heard Jackdaw and Chiffchaff.

[dansnaturepictures]

Knapweed, vetch leaves and viper's-bugloss on lunch time and evening walks at Lakeside Country Park today 26/09/2025 and water beetle on a walk from Andrew's Mare in the New Forest on Sunday.

Today I also enjoyed seeing cheery St. John's-wort, melilot, blackthorn sloes, spider, Siskins, Great Tit, Long-tailed Tit, a duo of Blue Tit and Chiffchaff both at Lakeside and home, Goldfinch at home, Ring-necked Parakeet and two Kingfishers on a day with great sightings of little birds and vibrant and colourful species.

[dansnaturepictures]

28/07/24-Flowers in the garden including petunia and borage this evening and beautiful Brimstone and view, Red Kite and viper's-bugloss from a fine afternoon at Shipton Bellinger.

My first Yarrow plume moth of the year, Mint moth, loads of Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers, Red Admiral, Peacock, Marbled White, Small Skipper, Speckled Wood, Roesel's bush cricket, Cinnabar moth caterpillar, ladybird, snails, Blackcaps, Stonechat, gorgeous Kestrel and Buzzard, Magpie, Roe Deer, rosebay willowherb, St. John's-wort, eyebright, centaury, daisy, self-heal, red bartsia, woolly thistle again this weekend, knapweed and my first ever white bryony were other highlights at Shipton Bellinger. I enjoyed seeing my first ever Large Tabby moth at home before bed last night with House Sparrow and Woodpigeon seen this morning. Another amazing summer weekend.

[dansnaturepictures]

28/06/2021-Lakeside and home: Sky scenes, views, birds, butterflies, dragonflies and flowers

I took the first picture in this photoset of the front garden, and second, third and fourth of dandelion, bird’s-foot trefoil and white clover on the grass beside Lakeside Country Park on my lunch time walk. I also saw a Meadow Brown butterfly here which I did on Friday evening that was quite battered with a lot of the wing missing. I remember on Friday this making it look bigger in flight. It was interesting seeing it in the same area again. I tweeted a picture of this on Dans_Pictures tonight.

And I saw another butterfly species we saw well on Friday night going down the path through the two fenced off areas the star butterfly of this place for me the Marbled White flitting around over the grass nicely in a sunny patch of a changeable day of weather with black clouds still looming. Black-tailed Skimmer dragonflies were present here and more so by the lakes. It was interesting to see some red leaves on the trees the other side of the meadow area on the banks beside the steam railway track. 

I took the fifth, sixth and seventh pictures in this photoset of a view over the lake, a female Mallard that whizzed past closely and an entertaining scene of a Black-headed Gull on the buoy then the quite big group of Greylag Geese all swam into the water and settled beside it as though it was giving them a speech on a podium. I enjoyed some great time with the Greylag and Canada Geese and their young looking so close to being adult now which was interesting and allowed me to celebrate our local geese after a real smashing walk for seeing geese yesterday at Petersfield Heath Pond with three species. 

It then became a memorable walk for flowers today as I took in heath spotted-orchid just still going by the lake with my first selfheal one I saw here last year at this site this year nearby which I tweeted a picture of too. Walking round towards the visitor centre and the flowerbed type area I got splendid views of knapweed as shown in the eighth picture in this photoset with an oxeye daisy and I also saw meadow crane’s-bill well and some St. John’s-wort which was lovely. This foray into flowers today was headlined by first viper’s-bugloss aka blueweed of the year one of the first flowers I learnt with the PlantNet app this year my best friend for flower ID a charming and unique flower I find I tweeted a photo of this one too. 

A thundery evening with lightening too when the rain did cease at times created some pretty and memorable sky scenes, I took the final two pictures in this photoset of some as well as some more which I tweeted. I hope you all had a nice Monday. 

Wildlife Sightings Summary: One of my favourite butterflies the Marbled White, one of my favourite dragonflies the Black-tailed Skimmer, lots of Meadow Browns, Jackdaw with brilliant views of two out my bedroom window as I worked, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, memorable Goldfinch views at home too I tweeted a photo of these tonight the first time I’d seen my favourite garden bird since returning from Anglesey, Blackbird nicely at home as well, Mallard, Moorhen, Canada Goose, Greylag Goose, Black-headed Gull with some at the shore of the lake which I don’t often see too and an interesting grey silverfish again in the en suite just before bed in the early hours.