Not much to look at, but-

 Every so often something new appears in the village and it is always worth checking to see if it has been recorded before. It was exciting therefore to find that a small, hardly noticeable, plant growing on the grass verge outside my house had not been. Here it is.

You will see why I put 'not much to look at' on the heading. My first thought was this must be a very stunted Dove's Foot Cranesbill going by the shape of the broad leaves, but on checking in the Flora it seems to be Small Flowered Cranesbill, Geranium pusillum. The lilac flowers, only a quarter of an inch wide, are stated to be common in the Poole Basin but rare in the west of Dorset. Click to enlarge the photo to find them.

Unsurprisingly there is no Dorset name for this plant, though its close Geranium relative, Herb Robert, has many. (Shortly after I took the photo the Dorset Council mower came along, but I hope they flower again.)

Hedgehog Pair feeding'

 Both Hedgehogs arrived tonight and soon finished of their food.

 

                                                        Hedgehogs in my wild back garden.

Speckled Wood.

 

                                          Speckled Wood. Photo. John Elliott. Click to enlarge.

 Normally a woodland species, as its name implies, the Speckled Wood does occur in shadier gardens such as mine, where this one has spent the day.. Most of our local ones are found at the bottom end of the Grove Hill wood however. The mating behaviour of individual male Speckled Woods shows marked variation. The three dark spots on each hind wing indicate that this butterfly is likely to be a 'patroller"which will patrol up and down looking for a mate; while specimens with four dark spots are likely to be "perchers" who will perch on a leaf waiting for a mate to come along. 

A serious decline in the numbers of Speckled Woods began in the 1860s, and was only reversed in the 1920s, starting here in Dorset. 

Rook.

 

Yesterdays young Rook was found dead this  morning in the back garden, the overnight rain being, probably. too much for it.  

Rookery.

 The six Rook's nests in the Horse Chestnut tree outside my bedroom window have now disappeared  beneath the abundant foliage, their presence only revealed by the occasional  'caw' until this morning when a young rook decided to leave the safety of its nest and flutter down into my front garden, where it sat around looking up towards the tree and hoping no doubt that its parents would come and feed it. No sign of that so far though.

Juvenile Rook. Photo. John Elliott, Click to enlarge.

  

Beautfull Demoiselles.

In the last few days my front garden has been visited by several Beautfull Demoiselle damselflies. These damselflies breed in running water, and are thus likely to have come from the South Winterborne stream and not my garden pond. A walk down the Weymouth Road on Sunday afternoon however didn't reveal any where they have been found in past years, so further research will be required to find out where they are coming from. Today I was able to photograph both male and female insects. The male is the bright blue one and the female the rather duller greenish one. The complete dark wing colouration of this species distinguishes it from the Banded Demoiselle in which only the outer half of the wing is dark. These do occur on the stream but not so far this year.  

Beatifull Demoiselle. Photo.John Elliott. click to enlarge. 

 

                                                           Beautifull Demoiselle. Photo.John Elliott. click to enlarge.

My garden's hedgehog.

 I have been putting out hedgehog food for about a week now, with it all gone by morning. Last night I managed to capture what looks like the smaller of last year's pair, on a short video. Shot through the kitchen window so not brilliant. 

                                                Hedgehog. Photo. John Elliott. click to view.