The male beetle can be this or turquoise in colour and feeds on the pollen of plants. I see it a lot on ox-eyed daises, as I suppose with them being an open flower they are easy to feed from. "Shropshire Community Group Award"
This is a great achievement for our group, as the whole project has been carried out on a shoestring and with the good will of many people and organisations.
Here you can see our winners trophy, certificate and bottle of champagne. 
The meadow has been under construction since Autumn of last year and it has involved building a dry stone wall, clearing out a small wooded area, making a fence around it , providing two benches, sowing some wildflower seed,creating two log pile/habitat things and finally marking out the area with 26 two meter logs. The view you are looking at it what you will see if you enter the meadow from the reindeer hut entrance.
As you can see the grass and wildflowers are starting to look quite meadowy and I think you will agree the logs marking out the area fit in very well. The paths will remain grass and will be strimmed every now and again to keep it short. I think leaving the paths grass adds to the feel rather than mulching them.
Several of the areas were sown with wildflowers around March time and they are just starting to fill out the beds and blend in with the grasses.
The log piles are also starting to blend in and the green roof will be in flower soon. You can also see our giant log pile in the middle of the picture, these logs where put there around 6 years ago and they are starting to break down quite nicely, creating habitats for insects.
I mentioned earlier that we had cleared out some of the lower branches from this wooded area, this has been planted with woodland plants and in the Autumn we shall be planting it with bluebells, so come next Spring it should look fantastic.
A bit of a closer look at the plants in the wood. The wooded area has a fence that goes around it which you can see at the top right of the picture. It is made from hazel and silver birch and works really well.
The dry stone wall is now complete with its grass bank. This has taken a while to establish due to the warm April, but with all of the rain we have had recently it has taken off.
And finally... this is the view from one of the benches and it one that I enjoy sitting on watching all of the insect. That in its self is important to me as I feel that we have created a useful habitat for many insects and other animals in what was just another bit of grass that was mowed once a month and was not a lot of use to anyone or anything.
Here is the seventh 'Picture Of The Month' , which you can view together with the previous months pictures at my photographic web site. All of the pictures showcased in the 'Picture of the month' gallery and are available at a special price, mounted (400mm x 500 mm) and signed by myself, posting and packaging is also free to anywhere in the world. You can order them from my web site by using PayPal or just contact me at dragonsanddamsels@fsmail.net
This picture is called
'Three Of A Kind'
June is a time when the garden really gets going, the Ox-eyed daisy is always one that lights up a border and as it grows well just about anywhere it works well in a wild flower garden too, and as a extra plus insects love it.
Just a simple pile of logs made up from various woods to create a visually interesting pile of different colours and textures.
This one is along the same theme but with logs around 4ft in length, they are kept in place by sweet chestnut stakes which in turn have enabled a green roof to be added, creating yet another habitat.
And finally.... this one is made from old pallets with all of the gaps filled with all sorts of things that will suit a wide variety of insects, spiders and mammals.All of these piles have one thing in common, that is they hardly cost me anything to put together. So if you wish to be come a fellow logaholic why not give it ago and help wildlife out.
The radishes were the first to grow and you can see the children were quite fascinated with them. New ones have been sown ready for the next crop.How are your veggies doing?
Here is the sixth 'Picture Of The Month' , which you can view together with the previous months pictures at my photographic web site. All of the pictures showcased in the 'Picture of the month' gallery and are available at a special price, mounted (400mm x 500 mm) and signed by myself, posting and packaging is also free to anywhere in the world. You can order them from my web site by using PayPal or just contact me at dragonsanddamsels@fsmail.net
This picture is called
'Bluebell Wood'
Here is the fifth 'Picture Of The Month' , which you can view together with the previous months pictures at my photographic web site. All of the pictures showcased in the 'Picture of the month' gallery and are available at a special price, mounted (400mm x 500 mm) and signed by myself, posting and packaging is also free to anywhere in the world. You can order them from my web site by using PayPal or just contact me at dragonsanddamsels@fsmail.net
This picture is called
'White On Blue'
This is a Green Veined White butterfly enjoying some nectar from froget-me-nots which has recently emerged with the nice weather we have had this past week.
It is even more pleasing knowing that the Greater Knapweed that the Silver Y Moth and the hover fly are feeding from was one that Wigglys supplied our community group, Lawley Green Space Group with when we first started.
Here is the fourth 'Picture Of The Month' , which you can view together with the previous months pictures at my photographic web site. All of the pictures showcased in the 'Picture of the month' gallery and are available at a special price, mounted (400mm x 500 mm) and signed by myself, posting and packaging is also free to anywhere in the world. You can order them from my web site by using PayPal or just contact me at dragonsanddamsels@fsmail.net .
This picture is called 'Snowdrop'
A nice close up of one of natures most beautiful flowers, that certainly puts a smile on your face at this time of the year.
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