Three's a Crowd

 

Common blue damselflies on the lilypond at Bodnant Garden. 

The Common blue damselfly is our most common damselfly and can be found around almost any waterbody, or away from breeding sites in grassland and woodland. It is a regular visitor to gardens and is on the wing from April to September. The Common blue damselfly is an aggressive species: males will defend their females as they lay their eggs, both from their own kind and other species. As with other damselflies, when Common blues mate they form a 'mating wheel' in which the male clasps the female by the neck and she bends her body around to his reproductive organs.

Cemlyn Bay

Cemlyn’s curved bay is unique with its shingle ridge known as Esgair Cemlyn dividing the open sea from a saline coastal lagoon. In the summer months, the lagoon provides a home to the only breeding colony of sandwich terns in Wales.

Meadow Butterflies

 

An enjoyable hour in the wildflower meadow at Bodnant, I think this is a Meadow Brown.

Damselflies at Bodnant

 

We spent an afternoon trying to photograph the damselflies on the lily pads down at Pin Mill. Not the easiest of insects to photograph, in fact, they proved quite a challenge. I think this is a common blue damselfly but I could be wrong I never realised how many different species there were. As with other damselflies, when common blues mate they form a 'mating wheel' in which the male clasps the female by the neck and she bends her body around to his reproductive organs.

Holker Hall

The time I visited Holker Hall was with mum and dad when I was about 10 years old so I guess another visit was well overdue.

 

RHS Bridgewater

My first visit ever to a Royal Horticultural Society garden. RHS Bridgewater opened in May and I cannot wait to go back again.

It is the first Royal Horticultural Society garden in an urban area. The 154-acre site opened a year later than planned, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The garden has been built on the former grounds of Worsley New Hall, the estate once owned by the Earl of Ellesmere which was itself home to "glorious, formal landscaped gardens". However, during the early 20th Century, the hall fell into disrepair and following a fire in 1943 it was finally demolished by a scrap merchant, who had bought it for just £2,500.

All Day Bodnant