Late Ladybird - October 2020

I had time for a liesurely stroll around the garden this week for my photo shoot, but wasn't expecting to come across anything interesting to photograph, as it was a bit of a drab uninspiring sort of day. However, then I ran into this little lady.

I'd only seen a handful of Ladybirds (Coccinellidae) this year, and most of them had been seen at the height of summer. Believe it or not, this was the first one I'd grabbed a photo of. I certainly wasn't expecting to see one this late in the year, especially not as I'd just stepped out of the house and encountered her as she made her way along the rendered wall of my house.

Packing Lunch - October 2020

I'd only just taken the final shot of the Ladybird when I literally nearly ran into this Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus), as he finished packing up his lunch.

Grand Opening - October 2020

Next I went to investigate the Common Passion Flower (Passiflora caerulea) flower buds that were waiting to open last week. I was rewarded by this fabulous looking beast. Weird and wonderful are two words I always use to describe these unusual looking blooms.

Virginia Stock - October 2020

I was quite surprised to see that there were a couple of new floral additions to the garden this week, with some Virginia Stock (Malcolmia maritima) popping up through some cracks in the patio...

Snowtopia - October 2020

...and some Bacopa (Sutera cordata) 'Snowtopia' popping up in an old hanging basket. I wasn't so surprised to see the Bacopa as it had flowered pretty much all year around last year.

Pot Marigold - October 2020

I still had a few remaining Pot Marigold (Calendula) blooms remaining, but there weren't too many left to show themselves.

Fine Dandy - October 2020

The only other new flowers left in the garden were the weeds! This Dandelion (Taraxacum) was looking rather fine, and would provide good nourishment for the few insects that were still around.

Dandy-like Weed - October 2020

Similarly, this Dandelion lookalike was only being allowed to remain as it would benefit my bug buddies.

So this week I went with Late Ladybird as my Image of the Week simply because I wasn't expecting to see her, and she turned out to be a rather good model...