Paul Brownjohn
@paulbj
Woodworker, computer programmer, photographer & Anglo/Francophone. Anti-Brexit. Detest f**king filthy tory & reform scum. Live in Luxembourg but a citizen of the benighted shit-hole known as the United Kingdom! A radical socialist with green leanings.
Probably my favourite butterfly pic Two marbled whites for the price of one!
I have been trying to catch one of these taking off for some time and finally... This is the dramatic black winged electric blue bodied male version
There's a stream near where I live in Luxembourg which supports a population of "Beautiful Demoiselle" damsel flies (Calopteryx virgo). Until recently, I had only ever observed males with their almost black wings and electric blue bodies but a few days ago females started appearing.
Looks like a Jersey Tiger to me - Euplagia quadripunctaria. Not usually seen as far north as Britain but with climate change... Gorgeous colourful chaps when they reveal their scarlet waistcoat!
Good to see that for once, butterflies seem to be doing well this year. This one is a Brimstone
I have been hoping to catch one taking off ever since I have been photographing these chaps
My hobby is photography & my favourite prey is the Beautiful demoiselle (Calopteryx virgo). I have loads of shots of males with their black wings & electric blue bodies but not a single shot of the light brown females - until today when I went down to the stream & found 4 or 5 females & some males
No! The sort of snails in our garden at least, numerous though they may be, are not of the sort that are usually eaten. Some of them are rather handsome though compared to the standard British snail
On my morning wander around the bucolic block, I cam across a cat that had just caught a mouse (poor thing) that was still alive and trying to get away - I don't think it made it! Also a few metres further on a marbled white feeding on a thistle.
Seems to be a very good year for the "Beautiful Demoiselle" Calopteryx virgo. They seem quite numerous this year compared to past years. Usually, I find one solitary one hunting around our local stream but this year I have seen several males together fighting over territory.
Photo taken at the Lallenger open cast mining site, now a nature reserve. The site is either forest, where there is sufficient topsoil or dry heathland with only about 1 - 5 cm of soil over the bedrock which is where I found this. Apparently it is: Himantoglossum hircinum The Lizard Orchid
Snapped today in the Lallenger open cast mining site in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg, which is now a nature reserve incorporating scores of hectares of dry grassland/heathland (pelouse seche); quite a rare habitat. A wild Pyramidal Orchid.
We have a pair who nest high on the spire of the church opposite me. One of them deigned to pose for me a couple of years back
Ahhhhh - this year's first strawberry flower has appeared despite us still having some very sharp night-time frosts.
Every year we see 100s of these bright red bugs in our garden. They are called Firebugs (Pyrrhocoris apterus) for reasons best known to themselves they form huge agglomerations of 100s of individuals. In this case, they accumulated on some charred timber which shows them up rather well!