garden flocks

While I watched a sparrowhawk being mobbed by martins today as it hovered over the garden looking for sparrows, and a humming bird moth on the garden phlox something else caught my eye. Large bumblebees kept on disappearing into the heads of garden phlox (see top photo). On closer inspection it transpired that the bees were feeding from the base of the flower, between sepal and petal tube (see lower photo) rather than from the flower heads themselves. Is this common? I haven't found a reference to this behaviour on some brief internet searches. It would seem to negate the normal method of pollination.

PS I have found a reference now to this behaviour, it is called nectar robbing (see link). The reason it did not come up at first is that this site does not mention phlox. Looking at the flower one can see it has a very long petal tube, and I guess these bumblebees cannot reach the nectar at the bottom, so have to drill a hole in the petal tube... fascinating.

Collies can swim

Photographic proof that some collies can swim! Meg will do anything to get hold of a stick before Harriet and Spot. Most collies we know won't even get their toes wet.

15 in one day 2

It was all getting a bit crowded. Bramble and knapweed have almost stopped flowering, and the meadows are full of devil's bit scabeous. The patches of scabeous were covered with a variety of pollinators getting their last top ups of the summer, drunk with nectar they were very docile allowing this sumptuous aerial view of a peacock.

15 in one day

We saw 15 species of butterfly today on our walk along the Inny, including several more clouded yellows. They always close their wings at rest, but the top picture shows quite clearly the black edging on the upper surface of the wings of these distinctive butterflies when seen on the wing.

a magic day

We went for a walk along the Lynher below Golberdon this morning with Charlie, a young member of Spot's human family. We saw some common blue butterflies, some dragonflies and a hornet, all very interesting, but then we saw 4 kingfishers all in a little group flying towards us and then around the banks before eventually this one perched on a branch above the river.... magic!! This must be the second brood of the year, and the young must have just fledged as the adults usually drive the young away after a couple of days.

Oh, and the joys of mucking about in the river!

in the woods

a lovely sunny luminous morning in Luckett woods

no blood on the tracks

this is the bloody nosed beetle, so named because of its habit of exuding foul smelling red coloured fluid from its mouth when annoyed (see link). This specimen was not sufficiently annoyed by us to do anything more than wave an antenna somewhat feebly in our direction.

clouded arrival

Yesterday was a dreary wet day so I read the morning newspaper more thoroughly than usual. In it, Simon Barnes, sports writer and naturalist, wrote an article (link) in which he described the pleasure  of watching birds and butterflies with his young son, Eddie, who happens to have Downs.They are holidaying somewhere on the coast further west in Cornwall. He reported seeing several clouded yellows, an occasional migrant from Southern Europe, and not for the first time I felt quite envious of him. Lo and behold we saw several today on our walk, the first I have ever seen locally. They are very skittish and almost always fold up their wings at rest, which is a pity because the black edged pattern on the upper surface of the wings is quite striking.

There were also a lot of common (but not so common) blues around.

butterfly heaven

the meadows were teeming with butterflies again today including this handsome painted lady, the first one I have seen this year.

white hot

Not the most popular sight, I guess, large white female (butterfly that is!) preparing to mate with male. She has two dark spots on upper surface of fore wing, he only has two paler spots on lower surface. Both have prominent black tips to wings. There is a ragged comma in the background.

one white one, one black one

earlier in the year we reported the arrival of two new ducks, Jemima and Chloe, to join Francis and Elizabeth (see duck label). Sadly this did not go well because the drake behaved very aggressively to the two smaller ducklings. Eventually they had to be rescued, and after a short sojourn in a neighbour's garden they were given to a farm park at New Mills (see link), at the end of the Launceston Steam Railway line (see previous page). They have settled in well and seem to believe that they are Shetland ducks. Photo by Jo Edwards, thank you!

volunteer food

Slightly blurred through the safety fence, the lioness is looking forward to tea.

At DZP 2 (link)

Burning bright at Dartmoor Zoological Park (DZP)

A few of the animals to be seen at the DZP, at Sparkwell near Plymouth (link), the story of which was told in the film  "We bought a zoo". Keeping animals in captivity, especially large animals like tigers, is always questionable but this is a small, friendly, slightly unkempt zoo with seemingly very content animals and warm friendly staff.  The amur tigers are under extreme pressure in the wild from loss of habitat, and use of their powdered bones and other parts in Chinese so called medicines. The tiger is eating meat from Dartmoor ponies culled during the autumn round ups. They are magnificent beasts and to see them so close up in an open enclosure is breathtaking. This is a fun day out at a very reasonable cost and it has a good spacious restaurant.

done fightin'

It is amazing that this tattered male silver washed fritillary could still fly but it could, and it was recharging for another day's battle. Its dilapidated state is in sharp contrast to the sharp edges and bright colours of a newly hatched red admiral.

one blue

the first and only blue I have seen this year. I have am not sure what the insect below is called but it looks very odd! I think it is called the garden pebble (evergestis forficalis) and is a common pest of cultivated gardens.

munch time

more scrumptious scenes from the flower show

the mysteries of Judgement

 

at Stoke Climsland Flower Show 2013, spared by the rain, blessed by a huge entry and a happy gathering. It's not the winning but the eating that matters.

golden rings

close up of golden ringed dragonfly and its amazing eyes.

something from the dark side

 It was butterfly heaven in the meadows today. Above is a peacock feeding on knapweed, showing the stark contrast between its colorful upper wings and dark under wings. Below is a silver washed fritillary.

fearsum beastie

The awesome water boatman heading for a hapless fruitfly. This variety is safe (see link). They seem to be in every puddle just now. They must be able to fly.

juvenile goldfinch showing the almost complete absence of adult colouring in its feathers

cool as a rabbit

a fox trying to look innocent stalking rabbits, and a young blackbird unflustered by the camera

nursery news

Behind the Martinot line, George Martin is getting a mouthful. Note the rather dainty white feathers on the adult bird's leg, something you don't see when they are flitting about but it is a characteristic feature of martins.

Wainscots and waves

Out doing big butterfly count today (link) for third or fourth year in a row. The meadows were bursting with meadow browns, whites, skippers and ringlets, a few silver washed fritillaries and the occasional red admiral, tortoiseshell and small copper. In amongst all these butterflies it is easy to miss the moths. Most moths (of which there are thousands of species) are extraordinarily difficult to identify, mainly because no one appears to have come up with a colour coded identification chart or web page for simple minded people. The top photo is a common Wainscot (I don't know how they get their names), and the bottom photo is probably a smoky wave (both on the balance of probability rather than certainty!).

And above is a close up of a small skipper. No blue butterflies at all again for the second year in a row.

the whites of their eyes

swift attack, don't shoot until you see the whites of their eyes

agrions

Two dainty fairies clad in blue, and the first of this year's comma butterflies

singing post

Yellowhammers seem to become more vocal at this time of year. It may be due to the first brood practising the characteristic song as it often comes out a bit garbled. They like to find the highest point in hedges etc to sing and more and more they have started to favour telegraph poles. It certainly adds a bit of colour to an iconic piece of modern drab design.

One tattered tortoiseshell, and one red admiral spotted today. perhaps the warmth is bringing them out.

Meadow dogs

Hard though it is to believe it has been hot and sunny for almost two weeks now. This is the first spell of decent summer weather we have had since 2005. We spent this morning ambling through the meadows by the river Inny. There were hundreds of meadow browns and ringlets and I spent a long time trying to capture them on a photo to convey some idea of what our meadows are like now. This is the nearest I got (guest dog:- Meg from next door). Apart from one marbled white, a few small whites and some small skippers there were no other species of butterfly despite the warmth. However, at least a kingfisher appeared four times in quick succession, flying towards me and then up and away to give a flash of its brilliant orange breast plumage. The fish were biting, and so were the horse flies. There were several species of dragonfly and damsel fly. Always of course followed by the meadow dogs!