As sure as eggs is eggs!

 I thought I'd begin this update with a disclaimer; we all know what these items  below are, right?

Yes, EGGS! And as sure as eggs is eggs (idiom), September means one thing to me. Oh! Hang on though, I'd better revise that already by saying it means two things to me, or else I'll end up with egg on my face (idiom) in a very short time.

And what is the one(ish) thing that this month means to me? Spiders! Yep: it's the month when giant house spiders can be seen scurrying around your home, and the female garden-cross spiders seem to be omnipresent in our gardens. You have been warned; at some point in this update I shall be adding an image or two.

The other one(ish) thing? Take a look at the following photo for a big clue...

Yes, September is hop-picking month. Well it is here in my little corner of the universe, and so to kick things off, here's a hopper!

I couldn't be more precise than Delphacidae for this tiny hopper. I have recorded Javesella species in the garden before, but it doesn't look quite right for that. I guess it was no more than 3mm

This butterfly (above) was an interesting find because just for half a Nano-second I considered it might be a large copper, rather than a small copper.

Of course I quickly put that idea into the recycle bin when I checked and found that large coppers are extinct here in the UK. It was very large for a small copper though; larger than any I have seen or photographed before, and that amounts to plenty.

Well, it's a caterpillar, even I know that much. But caterpillars, especially green ones, can be really tricky to identify with any confidence at times. But this one I can ID with certainty. Why? Because I found it munching on some willow and observed it until it became a pupa, and finally, an adult moth. Here is the rather beautiful moth it transformed into...

It's called The Herald

The adults overwinter in caves, barns or outbuildings. They are most often found feeding after dark on flowers and overripe berries. The caterpillars can be found from May to July and again in August in the south.

I'll leave the spiders until the end of this post so that you can skip them if you need to!

Another moth related photograph next...

I spotted these moth eggs on some sorrel recently. I think they may be yellow underwing; but that's only based on very similar ones found in previous years which turned out to be that species.

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I was so pleased to find box bugs in a fairly new local wood: not only were there adults present on the hawthorn, but various stages of instars too...

I didn't crop this last photo to show just how small the nymphs are.

And finally, an adult bug...

Those were all garden-cross spiders by the way. If you find them scary, perhaps it's because they are all female? Well, if you weren't offended by the spiders, at least you can be offended by that comment!