Metamorphosis

Today was the day!

Our resident pupa is no more in pupal state. It is now a moth but until he/she turns round in its nest box we won't know for sure what sort of moth.

(for "we won't know for sure", read "until I can sent Susan a better photo.....")

At the time of writing this is all we have...

The empty casing

Underside through mesh of box

Best shots inside box

Taken a few minutes before writing

We hope to name it soon!

In fact. thank you Susan, we can now confirm it is a female Fox moth Macrothylacia rubi (Lasiocampidae). And here is a link to Susan's blog about the Fox moth.

Cushions!

That's what I've been making over the past couple of weeks.

I needed to get a supply of  various "green" embroidery silks so Colin and I took a trip to Mondial Tissus. Then I needed to find a more organised way of storing them.

So first I made a hanging storage bag out of a large polythene bag:

That done, I drew my own design on to some linen and set to work. My first cushion cover had wild flowers as its theme:

Then it was on to grasses:

Next?? Well I'm not sure. Foxgloves maybe!

Anybody want a cushion??

ps. Susan and Jean, can either of you spot some fabric you once kindly gave me?

Even foxgloves can punctuate..

So what's the answer??

Field of poppies in full glory

Mixed in with the poppies are forget-me-nots... A perfect combination....

 

So beautiful...

The mystery unfolds..

Our "find" of yesterday now has a new home, as LaPré DelaForge suggested...

First thing this morning this was the picture...

Placed in the box it soon began to emerge, giving us some clues....

By mid afternoon it had moved away from the dry casing...

And just over an hour later it was further away...

We now have a clear picture of the pupa but we are no clearer to its exact identity. What does anyone think please, Susan and LaPré DelaForge?

Four Firsts..

Four firsts in the garden today...

The first of the bee orchids to flower

The first sighting of this white spider..

The first time we've noticed the fence supports round the chicken coop are being used by solitary bees..

And the "first" which has us puzzled...

 

 

The daisy is purely to give scale!

This was found under the honeysuckle when I was clearing some weeds and dead leaves. The casing is papery; whatever is inside has orange stripes which you can just make out on one of the photos. It comes to the front of the casing and no further at the moment.

Any ideas please?

Two garden visitors..

Two visitors to the garden today...

And a favourite photo!

Car Servicing...Poitiers style

A trip to Poitiers today for the first service of the car.... Always a bit fraught but we chose to go for a walk to kill time.

Colin looked up places near the Honda garage and about 2.5 km away is the Parc de Blossac. So that decided us!

Here are a few (!) images from what turned out to be a lovely morning...

A couple of photos looking down over the Ramparts...

Interesting vehicle entrance to an apartment block!

 

and on the way back to the garage, a rooftop statue

and a baby Black Redstart!

And to cap it all, a lower service charge than in the UK!