Joined: 27 Jul 2009 Posts: 7380 Location: Just south of north.
Posted: Tue Jul 14, 20 8:32 am Post subject:
A few pictures I've taken. Done on my phone so not the best pq.
This young lady I watched laying eggs on some of our plants. It's amazing how picky she was about which leaf to use. Last picture is some of her eggs on a nasturtium leaf.
Sat and watch a bumble bee collecting for our antirrhinums.
That's what I though too Gz. The others look like cabbage whites, so expect your plants to be eaten. I am currently inspecting the kale and purple sprouters on a regular basis to try to squash any eggs before they hatch. I had to take the net off those as they were pushing against the top, as the net was over cloche rings. One day I will be round to making a tall netted cage to move round the garden over the cabbages.
youngi is looking buff
mikki is cute and tidy
stumpitu is not around
bird town news
plenty of young sparrows
the second small bracket is still with us
fat pigeons can be quite aggressive and nice to each other on a short cycle
invert times
there seem to be less than last year across many phyla
that might be due to some local changes(see move, demolitions and construction+ folk at home "making things tidy" or might be of broader origins
numbers and species are perhaps a quarter of last year, especially butterflies , hoverflies, wasps and bees,
less ladybirds but extra blackfly
tis been a bit dark for snaps and i have been a busy but i will find something fun to point glass at.
Shane
Joined: 31 Oct 2005 Posts: 3467 Location: Doha. Is hot.
Posted: Wed Jul 22, 20 4:57 am Post subject:
Our bulbuls took the bairns out for their first hop/flight around the garden yesterday. Managed to get a few pics, that I'll upload when I get the chance.
Although the buddleia are in flower there don't seem to be that many butterflies in the garden except the beastly cabbage whites. However, there are plenty in the woods and a reasonable range of species by the looks of it.
Was at son's place yesterday evening and saw a hawk of some sort, but too high to identify as no idea of size, as it was against a blue sky. There are plenty of pigeons round there, so would be good hunting for sparrowhawk or peregrine.
invertebrate numbers across the entire range seem down this year
so is the diversity count
anecdote is not data, many anecdotes can be used as data.
ummm
i did wonder if lots of folk at home "tidying the garden etc, fixing that etc"might have been a factor
the weather has not been very odd so that seems unlikely as a reason
if folk do have data it would be interesting to try to work out if there are less inverts and if so why?
I take it that bracket 1 has wandered off on its own now then. Something is digging in our sawdust heap, so I assume they are after beetle grubs, so must be some about. We are seeing a few adult beetles, but not seen too many yet. Some of the late summer plants haven't made their appearance yet either, so may be a bit early for them. Plenty of butterflies in the woods though.
Saw a few assorted butterflies on the buddleia today, but not as many as I would expect. No idea why it should be a bad butterfly year but it doesn't seem too good. I am not helping the cabbage white population for next year as I am de-egging my cabbages every couple of days.
Jam Lady
Joined: 28 Dec 2006 Posts: 2507 Location: New Jersey, USA
Posted: Sun Jul 26, 20 3:52 pm Post subject:
Tiger swallowtail on bottlebrush buckeye, Aesculus parviflora, today.
That is a pretty spectacular butterfly Jam Lady. I am familiar with the red buckeye; we tend to call them red horse chestnut as they are very similar to our own horse chestnut Aesculus hippocastanum but don't know that one.