Firstly here are some of the elephant hawkmoths from one of our mothing sessions this summer - along with some poplar hawkmoths - the elephants are the pink ones!
and here is today's Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillar
Friday, 21 August 2015
Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillar
After the large numbers of elephant hawkmoths we have had in our traps this summer I shouldn't have been surprised to find an elephant hawkmoth caterpillar in our garden, but wow! what a treat - I almost didn't go over to investigate when I spotted i,t as the sun was shining behind it from where I was standing so it just looked like a large dark shrivelled leaf, which wouldn't have been unexpected as the caterpillar was a fuchsia plant which is still waiting to be planted and I keep forgetting to water it! - Any way something made me go back and take a closer look - I am so pleased I did - this is my first ever Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillar and it has not disappointed me!
Firstly here are some of the elephant hawkmoths from one of our mothing sessions this summer - along with some poplar hawkmoths - the elephants are the pink ones!
and here is today's Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillar
photography by Angela Smith
Firstly here are some of the elephant hawkmoths from one of our mothing sessions this summer - along with some poplar hawkmoths - the elephants are the pink ones!
and here is today's Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillar
Sunday, 3 May 2015
Saturday, 25 April 2015
It's nest building time
This week the cattle returned to the common and it hasn't taken the jackdaws long to discover them! This morning when we were checking the moths from last nights trap, the cattle decided to walk over to see what was going on, at first they all lined up along the fence watching us, but soon realised not a lot was happening so then most of them lay down on the grass and chilled.
That was when the jackdaws arrived, there were at least 3 pairs , but they weren't landing on the grass, instead they were landing on the cattle! - they then proceeded to peck out large beak fulls of hair and then fly off - some to our chimneys, with their wonderful new nesting material, fresh from the cows backs.
That was when the jackdaws arrived, there were at least 3 pairs , but they weren't landing on the grass, instead they were landing on the cattle! - they then proceeded to peck out large beak fulls of hair and then fly off - some to our chimneys, with their wonderful new nesting material, fresh from the cows backs.
Sunday, 22 February 2015
Even on the dullest of days our back yard is filled with colour
This morning, I managed to grab a few photos of the birds visiting our feeders from our dining room just before the sleety raindrops started pouring down our windows .....
fed on a sunflower hearts and a fat slab!
we also had a wren, dunnocks, blackbirds, goldfinch and robins visiting - even on the dullest of days our back yard is filled with colour
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| blue tit |
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| long-tailed tit |
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| lesser redpole |
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| chaffinch |
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| great tit |
we also had a wren, dunnocks, blackbirds, goldfinch and robins visiting - even on the dullest of days our back yard is filled with colour
Thursday, 8 January 2015
catkins
I have just been reminded that it has been a while since I posted any photos on here - so just for you Stan, if you find them, here are my catkins from last week!
In the frost
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In the frost
the thaw
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