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MONARCH BUTTERFLY

I took this photo of a Monarch whilst on a recent visit to Tenerife in the Canary Islands. This majestic butterfly, the largest on the island, gracefully soars and glides through the air, before settling down for a short while on colourful blossom.

After wasting vital seconds fumbling around in my rucksack for the camera, I haphazardly managed a few clicks before it took off again, way out of reach of the zoom!

Unlike the species found in the US and Canada, the Monarch found in this area are non-migratory so unfortunately will not be seen resting on flowers or blossoming shrubs in the UK. To see this butterfly has been a rare privilege for me.

See more photos from Tenerife on my home blog.

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DEAD WOOD

Wood piles around the garden are a perfect home for hibernating frogs, toads and newts, as well as insects like woodlice. I do wonder which insect may take up residence in the hollow stems of grass.



Areas of the garden are given up to ivy! Our garden is like a bowl, with banking all around. Although it could be said the ivy has somewhat taken over in parts, it does hold the bank together, and it encourages lots of wildlife too.



I leave an old branch or two amidst the foliage, they make a really good perch for robins, wrens and blackbirds.



This is a tree stump, and where it is slowly rotting down, great crevices have appeared, a perfect place for the stag beetle to lay its eggs, and where their larvae will spend up to seven years inside. Adult stag beetles are short-lived and more often die after mating.

The stag beetle is Britain's largest native ground-dwelling beetle and generally seen in Southern England. I have been lucky enough to spot them in my garden, and last year I saw a large one in flight.

These insects are in decline, click here to see how you can encourage them into your garden.