Larch

Most of the time I go out looking for wildlife, but sometimes it finds me first. I'd been for a quick circuit through the graveyard (one Speckled Wood) and community garden (one Peacock) and returned home to find this creature had attached itself to me somewhere along the way.

It looked like a ladybird, but had a stripe. I didn't recall seeing such a thing before, nor remember it from bug books, but sure enough there is such a thing as a Larch Ladybird, and this is one of them.

Earlier, the kids and I had popped into town so that 10yo could pick up a copy of the new Tom Gates book, of which a good chunk was read on the bus home. 13yo acquired a smart bouncy ball which counts his bounces and challenges him to reach a million. It has an app which connects him to a global league table and various intermediate achievement badges. If he maintains today's pace he'll hit a million in about three years. There was time to paddle in the mirror pool in City Park too.

Later, after dropping the kids back at their Mum's, I took advantage of the fine evening to walk over the moor to the cabins and back. No Barn Owls today, but I saw my first Wheatear of the year and heard my first Cuckoo, back in its regular spot at Sconce. Deer and rabbits represented the four-footed kingdom.