It has been another glorious week here in the South of England, and the insects have once again been out in force enjoying the warm weather and lovely sunshine.
This Bumblebee (Bombus) was certainly enjoying itself grabbing every last grain of pollen from one of my Zinnia flowers.
While this very small Hoverfly was content just to sit on the petals of another Zinnia and sun itself.
The Cosmos 'Bright Lights' were the place to be for this pair of Greenbottle (Lucilia caesar) flies, and what a pretty colour combination they made!
This Bumblebee preferred the pollen from a different kind of Cosmos bloom.
I managed to grab a shot of this Dragonfly (Odonata) hovering above my pond, which I think may be a Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum), but cannot confirm that. If you know better, please don't hesitate to leave a comment below!
Over in dad's garden at the weekend, there was also plenty of insect activity. This Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus) butterfly had a preferred resting place in the conifer hedge, which seemed odd to me.
I also couldn't quite work out what this Hoverfly was doing in the Bramble bush! There was plenty of blossom for it to be feasting on, but it was more interested in the thorns protruding from the stem.
Back in the Butterfly Bush (Buddleia), the Bumblebees were going crazy. There must have been a dozen bees in the same bush at any one time.
While this Bumblebee was as snug as a bug in a Nasturtium bloom!
...closely followed by a Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis).
...alongside this other colour changing variety.
This variety of Sweet Pea, which comes back year after year, is also performing well at the moment.
The Fuchsia flower buds I posted last week have finally opened, and have resulted in these rather pretty red and purple blooms.
Also new to dad's garden are these Wild Roses, which have just appeared in a hedge from nowhere!
The Queen Elizabeth Rose has returned after a couple of months of regeneration, and is looking splendid once again.
The bane of many gardeners life is the Bramble Bush (Rubus fruticosus), with its very sharp thorns, and ability to seemingly grow in any type of soil, it can quickly overrun a border. However, on the plus side, it does produce some nice tasty fruit!
...which was then closely followed by this Corn Cockle (Agrostemma githago) bloom.
I was extremely pleased to see the first of what will hopefully be many flowers from my Japanese Anemone of which this is variety Anemone x hybridus 'Fantasy Pocahontas'. I purchased this as a damaged plant a couple of months ago, and wasn't expecting it to flower at all this year, but it's now covered in flower buds!
Another plant I wasn't expecting to flower were my Delphiniums, as they were small plug plants when I purchased them only a few weeks ago. However, the recent few weeks of good weather seems to have done them the world of good, and this one opened its first flower during the week.
Another unexpected treat this week was the return of my Clematis Montana Mayleen. It first made an appearance back in May!
I think my white Water Lily (Nymphaeaceae) will be making its final appearance for the year, as this was the final bud to open this week.
What was my furry photo friend up to this week? Well, he was keeping a watchful eye on me as I snapped away in dad's garden.