The end of this summer ! ?

It is getting cooler and darker day by day and when the clouds start to look like this, I think it is time to leave Svångemåla and move to warmer regions.

Sunflowers

Sunflowers always make me happy. They look like big sunny smiles and it is no wonder that butterflies love them. This year we have had various kinds of sunflowers going from bright yellow to lovely red.

From the stone age?

I found this stone a couple of years ago and the more I look at it, the more intrigued I get. Is it man made? Has someone had a house on my plot thousands of years ago or is it just a natural piece of rock? I you have any idea, please let me know!

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Beetles

There are a large number of beetles in Svångemåla. Some of them are well known even to me but several of them are total strangers. If you know the names of the ones below, please let me know!

Update: This is some sort of leaf beetle.

This one I know!  It is a female stag beatle (Lucanus cervus ). 

This one looks like a some sort of stink bug but I am not sure. They are called "berry farts" in Sweden :) Update: This nice looking beetle is an Italian Striped Bug (Graphosoma lineatum )

It really looks like a AC Milan fan!

RIO !

The Olympic Games are soon here and I have started to see signs :) Or is there another message to me?

One of my neighbours

This is an abandoned house close to where our house is in Svångemåla. It is called Goliatsmålen and from what I have been told a tailor lived here. He was unusually short, maybe a dwarf and was therefore called "the short tailor" since a taller tailor actually lived in our house at that time. No one lives here any longer and the house is slowly falling apart but is still beautiful in its own way.

As always, click on the picture to enlarge it!

Humulus lupulus (common hop or hop)

Our hop is unusually green and big this year. Its total height is now over 4.5 meter and if the pole had been higher it would easily have reached 5 meters. Maybe it will be enough hops to make some beer??

Butterfly - Purple Emperor

I don't think this butterfly will make me faster or jogging easier but it sure looks nice! Unfortunately I don't know what kind of butterfly it is so if you happen to know, please let me know! 

PS. Thanks to a good friend I am now more or less convinced that this is a Purple Emperor (Apatura iris) The purple color does not show very clearly in the angle I took the first picture from but it is visible in the one below. Click on the picture to make it larger!

Slow worm

It looks like a snake but is a limbless lizard. Due to its color it is in Swedish called "kopparorm" which means "cupper snake". It is totally harmless. In English it is called slow worm (Anguis fragilis) or blindworm. It is famous for its ability to shed its tail when an enemy grabs it. It is common in Svångemåla as well as in most of southern Sweden.

Very late evening, 26th of June