Flying ant day

 

We termed Wednesday, 'Flying ant day' as hundreds of ants, flying and otherwise were everywhere.  I expect  it was the same in many other places this far south.  The weather has been warm and close for a while, but with not very much rain.   Mr C took some pictures of the flying ants.  This one is of them mating.  Sadly it seems after mating, the drone then dies...

 

 

This made me think of the hundreds of different insects in our garden.  I can't even name a lot of them, but I find them fascinating.  If the garden belongs to anyone, it belongs to them!

 

 

We found this one above, inside the house on some roses, but put it back outside.

Ladybird and ant combination!

Cinnabar moth sat in the grass. 

 

 

Hover flies mating.  A wonderful photo from Mr C.

 

 

The  garden is looking slightly messy and overblown now.  I'm entirely behind with deadheading roses, and the lack of rain is making the grass look yellow.     Excitingly, we seem to have at least two hedgehogs in the garden, so hopefully they are eating lots of snails and slugs.  Getting a photo of them is a far more complex issue without night vision goggles....