Winged Beauties for Nature Notes

The first insect that greeted me this morning was this stunning red dragonfly. This Fulvous Forest Skimmer is a common sight particularly in this season.

It had raining for the past week and I'm hoping to see more dragonflies in our area. Below is another dragonfly I hadn't photographed before.

A Grass Yellow on a gaillardia. The few blooms that I have are still attracting a fair number of butterflies. Below is a Lime butterfly. The Lime butterfly is said to be one of the most common and widely distributed swallowtails around the world. My current header picture is of the same kind of butterfly.

Lime butterfly/Papilio demoleus

The other day I saw a small winged insect on the wall. Thinking that it was a skipper, I took a series of shots with my phone camera. It was late afternoon and the light wasn't good. Imagine my surprise when I saw these colours jump at me on the computer screen later! I come across a lot of moths every year but this one is by far the most colourful that I have photographed in the vicinity of my house. The top right picture in the collage shows the moth with wings closed. Well, who'd have thought....?


For more posts in the fascinating world of nature, visit Michelle at Rambling Woods.

Hawk moth

I found this moth one evening on a chair. The dictionary definition of a hawk moth is any of a family (Spinghidae) of moths with a thick, tapering body, slender wings, and a long feeding tube to suck the nectar of flowers.

Although I didn't follow the progress of these caterpillars around my plants, I'm sure they turned into beautiful moths later. I have to say that the most beautiful hawk moth i have photographed is the Hummingbird Moth. Sadly, not a single one of them has visited my garden this year!