On to 1500!

A view across one of the flower beds

And just like that, we've hit our second goal — 1000 species recorded in the garden! It crept up on us a bit, to the point that we were actually well over the benchmark before we realized it. A bunch of new plants (including a pair of Common Spotted Orchids that recently emerged among the rank grasses on the bank), a night's mothing that netted us a handful of new visitors, a few additional hoverflies identified, and suddenly we're at 1050.

One of our recent visitors: a Comma (Polygonia c-album) on a Shasta Daisy (Leucanthemum x superbum)

We've been enjoying the sheer volume of insects in the garden lately. Hundreds of bumblebees and hoverflies swarm across the flower beds, scores of ladybirds trundle up grass stems (and their pupae cases dot the nettle leaves), dozens of grasshoppers rasp from our pocket meadow, and butterflies play tag over the garden. The only thing we're wishing weren't quite so common are the flies that make their way into the house and buzz around the place trying to get out again. Can we get to 1500 species? Follow along and see!

Another bed view