Our Helpston Garden

Friday 26th June 2009

Iv'e spoken before about our small family of Common Lizards. I have counted 6 fully grown adults and about 10 juveniles this year, on our rockery at the bottom of the garden. I have tried photographing them but they sense the slightist movement. I did manage to get this shot of a fully grown female top right. Paler and fatter than the male. The general colour is typically dull brown but can be tinged with red, yellow, grey or green.

It has been well documented about the large number of Painted Lady butterflies around early this year. I would like to add The Small Skipper. At the moment they seem to be everywhere even in good numbers in the garden. They seem to be particularly attracted to the lavender and sweet william flowers. They are on the wing from June to Sept and like all sorts of grassy places.

Photo above top left. The general colour is golden orange both on the upper and underside. However only the male has the conspicuous black scent scales. There is a dusting of greyish-green scales on the underside of both sexes.