The Blues

Ever since Rachael drew a rare Welsh butterfly for me on Mother's day, I've been on a mission to see the silver-studded blue in real life. I haven't yet achieved this feat, but captured one of the other 'blues' along the way, the European common blue, Polyommatus icarus

This little beauty is ... little, with a wingspan of up to 1.4". Only the males are blue. And they don't seem to want to settle in one place!

To see this rare version illustrated below, I'll have to examine the underside of the hindwing when its wings are closed to see the silver studs! I'm on it.

Thrilling Find

We're so very excited that our outdoor camera finally captured a hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus, a protected species) in our yard! This is brilliant news - we'd been finding scat that we'd had confirmed as hedgehog, but ... seeing is believing 

We'd put a covered feed station outside, with a narrow maze of bricks threading inside it to deter cats. The food has been disappearing for the past 4 nights, but this is the first camera capture!

We've also been placing shallow basins of water outside for it because of the current drought.

Woohoo!

The way it stretches and contracts its body makes me think of a leech's movements!

These nocturnal omnivores are often killed on roads as they forage and are also declining in numbers through habitat loss.

About Town

 We spent another day strolling through town to show off the historic sights.

I love this elephant door knocker

St Myllin's church, oh ye of the bell-ringing practice

Old homes back onto the churchyard

Extinct post office building

Welsh stonework, door and poppy

 

Can you guess why I had to take a photo of the art exhibit in the Workhouse Gallery?

Beers in the garden at the local inn wrapped up the day

Low Lake Level

On our scenic meander with Craig, we visited Lake Vrynwy. 

We were astounded to see how low the lake has become since our last visit one month ago. Our drought conditions this summer have been brutal to the landscape in all sorts of ways - so many plants look burned to a crisp.

The water usually reaches all the way up to the small bushes in the foreground. There is usually no gravel bottom exposed like this at all.

Lots of beautiful rocks and trees were visible (I've mentally added this next one to my birthday wishlist)

Dried, baked on vegetation decorated some of the exposed rocks

The extent of the shrinkage and exposed shoreline was shocking

I saw two not-very-grumpy, old men stop to read about the flooded village in an identical stance

Not too grumpy, see?

A very short walk gave us excellent views of the sculpture called the giant hand of Vrynwy, carved from the remains of a Douglas fir that was once the tallest tree in Wales.