Clare Rayner

@clareacrayner

Teacher, Mum, Apprentice Farmer, NEU Rep. Very keen on native species plants 🌱 trees 🌳 and insects 🐞 Essex, UK

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Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· 14d

Hibiscus flowers and chafer beetles aplenty in the Coulee Vert Rene-Dumont, Paris - a lovely raised walkway park on a disused railway line.

Pink hibiscus flowers with a background of leafy trees and blue sky

An iridescent green chafer beetle on the palm of a hand, in the background blurred greenery

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· 23d

Excited to see my first ever Purple Hairstreak butterfly at home, but sad that the reason why is probably that it was in search of nectar/moisture because of the ongoing drought and was forced out of its normal habitat of oak tree canopies. #butterflies

Purple Hairstreak butterfly, with distinctive purple streak on dark grey upper wings, sitting on a patch of green linen.

Outer wing markings of the Purple Hairstreak butterfly

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· Jul 19

Two hedgehogs are coming to our food and water bowls in the garden, I am guessing they are rivals because of the hissing. They don’t appear to be fighting so wondering whether to keep the single food bowl or whether I should set up two separate stations. #hedgehogs

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· Jul 19

All looking very brown here in NE Essex, but there are a few things #stillflowering, including thistles, stone parsley and yarrow. #wildflowerhour

Mauve creeping thistle flower heads with dry brown grass in the background

Tiny white stone parsley flowers in an extensive bush of green vegetation

White common yarrow flowers with brown stems of oxeye daisy flowers (gone to seed) and grass in the background.

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· Jul 17

Seen 2 hedgehogs visiting our garden from about 9pm, they seem thirsty and are coming back to the water dish several times a night.

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· Jul 5

First Hummingbird Hawk Moth spotted in the garden today, feeding on salvia flowers. #teammoth

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· Jun 24

Ok well that was an absolute endurance test; 30 year 5s in a classroom that topped 32 degrees at lunchtime! Pic shows current temp; feels positively cool now the humidity has dropped. Impossible to actually get any meaningful work done, just glad we all survived the day!! #climateemergency #heatwave

An Aranet co2 monitor on a classroom desk showing 30.9 degrees c temperature and 53% humidity.

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· Jun 22

Came in from watering the tomato plants and realised I was wearing this very fetching moth! I believe it is a Dark Arches (Apamea monoglypha). #teammoth

A brown patterned Dark Arches (?) moth sitting on my T-shirt, trying to disguise itself as a brooch.

A dark arches moth sitting on a grey T-shirt

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· Jun 21

A spike of agrimony which was clearly attracting the hoverflies. There are usually a few agrimony plants dotting the road verges near me, but this year there seem to be a lot more than usual. #wildflowerhour #pollinatorpals

Yellow spike of agrimony with several hoverflies hovering around it.

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· Jun 21

Marbled White butterfly on this clover, at the edge of a beautiful field of wild flowers near Lavenham, Suffolk. #wildflowerhour #pollinatorpals

Black and white marbled White butterfly sits on a light pink clover flower amidst green leaves.

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· Jun 21

Meadow brown nectaring on buttercups and self-heal just outside our back door. #wildflowerhour #pollinatorpals

A meadow brown butterfly with its distinctive brown under wing and black “eye” perched on a yellow buttercup flower. Grass stalks and purple selfheal flowers can be seen in the background.

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· Jun 19

Orchid aura today near Lavenham, Suffolk.

A marsh orchid that looks like it is shimmering in the light, maybe just about to teleport to another dimension.

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· Jun 18

Have never seen (noticed?) this type of moth before even though it is apparently very common in the Southern half of Britain according to ukmoths.org.uk! Certainly plenty of nettle, woundwort and horehounds around for the caterpillars to feed on! #teammoth

A beautifully patterned moth with light coloured wings with black markings, and an orangey-yellow body, resting on a laurel leaf near to a nettle patch.

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· Jun 14

First pyramidal orchid I’ve ever seen here, in part of my parents garden that was a pig enclosure until the 1980s. Exciting! #wildflowerhour

Bright pink-topped pyramidal orchid poking out of a patch of grassland.

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· Jun 7

Rose beetle looking incredibly shiny and iridescent on an ox-eye daisy. Loud and buzzy as it zoomed off over the meadow.

A green-tinged iridescent rose beetle sits on an ox-eye daisy. In the background lots of other ox-eye daisies covered in insects!

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· Jun 3

Made this little hanging crotal bell display from ones found by local detectorists and given to us.

4 crotal bells of different sizes hanging vertically on a ribbon by the side of a doorway. Behind the bells is a wooden beam.

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· Jun 1

#Tawnyowl mum and owlet spotted together this evening at the owl box ☺️

Female Tawny Owl sitting on the perch/tray of a wooden barn owl box attached to a pine tree. Just behind her, a fluffy grey owlet perches on the edge of the box entrance hole.

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· May 31

After thinking we had lost the Tawny Owl resident a few weeks ago, we had a surprise this week when we spotted one flying into the box AND then saw a fluffy little face peeping out! One time we saw what looked like two of them so we think there have been #owlbabies and it is the best news ever!!

A small fluffy grey fledgling Tawny owlet which is looking out from the entrance of a barn owl box made out of wood and fastened to the trunk of a pine tree.

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· May 17

Lots of this growing on the shingle edge between the beach and the salt marshes near Salthouse, on the North Norfolk Coastal Path. A new one for me! #wildflowerhour

A low-growing sea campion plant spreading across shingle with a single white flowers.

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· May 17

Two #tinyplants for #wildflowerhour: Hairy Tare scrambling through long grass at home, and Spotted Medick growing on a steep bank near Morston on the North Norfolk Coast.

Small white flowers of Hairy Tare, with the stems tangled around grasses.

Yellow Spotted Medick flowers with their distinctive single-spotted leaves.

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· May 17

Spotted the first of the small heath butterflies at the farm today, resting on grass in a shelter-belt of young trees.

A small brown and orange butterfly with a black “eye” on the upper wing resting on grass.

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· May 2

I just spotted some today on our honeysuckle - now realising it’s the first I’ve seen! 😬

White blobs of cuckoo spit on the leaves of honeysuckle growing up a trellis against a red brick wall.

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· May 1

My wildflower seedlings are coming along in the greenhouse! I am excited to try establishing these in our meadow area: Tufted Vetch, Hemp Agrimony and Nightflowering Catchfly. #wildflowers

A black tray filled with 4 rows of 3 small plant pots, all with little clumps of wildflower seedlings growing in them.

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· Apr 19

A few local flowers for #Wildflowerhour, with Field Penny Cress for the #cabbagefamily challenge!

White-flowered Field penny-cress growing by the side of an arable field.

First patch of Alexanders I’ve seen on the farm, on a rather bare field corner near a road.

Shining cranesbill with its bright pink flowers and red stalks growing next to some paving.

Lovely white Greater Stitchwort seems to be doing well this year, here part of a big patch flourishing on the grassy bank next to a quiet back road.

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· Apr 12

New to me this one - three nerved sandwort spotted among the bluebells in a damp area of the woodland near a stream. #wildflowerhour #woodlandplants

A tiny white flower in the midst of green leaves.

Oval leafed plant with hairy stems sprouting from under a fallen tree branch, on ground covered with old dry leaves.

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· Apr 12

One week, two local bluebell woods! One on the farm, the other Chalkney Wood an SSSI managed by Essex County Council and Forestry England. #wildflowerhour #woodlandplants

A carpet of bluebells with purple bells and green leaves, covering the floor of a woodland with outgrown coppice in the background.

Chunky old coppice stools and a sea of beautiful bluebells in a woodland.

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· Apr 7

All we are saying, is give bees a chance…🌍❤️

A common carder bumble bee taking nectar from a rosemary flower.

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· Apr 5

A few different wildflowers for #wildflowerhour, all these from the woodland at Wallington, Northumberland over the last week. Butterbur, Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage, Moschatel and Lady’s Smock.

Weird alien form of butterbur with pale purple spikes poking out of the ground surrounded by smaller heart-shaped green leaves.

Petal-less opposite-leaved golden saxifrage sepals in a bright yellow colour sit above the darker green leaves.🍃

Creamy yellow flower heads of moschatel stand above the mix of leaves and grass.

White petals of cuckoo flower in a patch of sunlight on the woodland floor, next to the mossy trunk of a tree.

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· Apr 5

#Wildflowerhour #Cowslipchallenge So many cowslips around now, some naturalised in our garden and nearby verges using locally collected wild seed.

Cowslips among daisies, red dead nettles and other greenery on the bank of a pond.

Clare Rayner@clareacrayner· Mar 31

Enjoying a bit of beach mooching, as well as collecting these shells I also spotted some Ruddy Turnstones and Redshanks along the shore.