Home Page
   Articles
       links
About Us    
Traders        
Recipes            
Latest Articles
Wildlife
Page Previous  1, 2, 3 ... 25, 26, 27 ... 188, 189, 190  Next
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Downsizer Forum Index -> Conservation and Environment
Author 
 Message
Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Fri Jul 26, 19 7:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    



We occasionally get hummingbird hawkmoths in the south. I have only seen them one year in our garden, but they do turn up around here fairly frequently. They do hover when feeding, they were on buddleia in our garden. They also move very quickly and suddenly in the same way as real hummingbirds. Very hard to photograph.

gz



Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8576
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland
PostPosted: Fri Jul 26, 19 7:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

They are fascinating..I had one in the garden in Nantlle in a hot summer in the 80s...we had a very nice letter back from BBC Bristol when we said about it

buzzy



Joined: 04 Jan 2011
Posts: 3708
Location: In a small wood on the edge of the Huntingdonshire Wolds
PostPosted: Fri Jul 26, 19 10:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

There are Hummingbird Moths (Probably Hemaris thysbe) which we don't have in the UK, and Hummingbird Hawk Moths (Macroglossum stellatarum) which we do get from time to time in the UK, and do hover to feed, and are sometimes mistaken for Hummingbirds

Henry

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45374
Location: yes
PostPosted: Fri Jul 26, 19 11:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    



moths have better taste in hairdo's than they do

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Sat Jul 27, 19 6:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

You are right Buzzy. I didn't realise that there were the two different types.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45374
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sat Jul 27, 19 11:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

ah so they do feed on the wing, never seen it happen but they do look as though they could when flying past

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2501
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Sun Jul 28, 19 3:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Flutterbys


Monarch butterfly


Tiger swallowtail butterfly

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45374
Location: yes
PostPosted: Sun Jul 28, 19 4:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

nice, tis butterfly season here at the mo.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Mon Jul 29, 19 7:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Lovely Jam Lady. I don't think we get the monarch at all here, and only one variety of swallowtail, which is rare and I have never seen.

We currently have quite a lot of our normal species, although it doesn't seem to be an exceptional year here. I saw a couple of holly blues in the garden yesterday and the whites have been laying on my cabbages. I had a go at the eggs and think I am being aided by some sort of wasp, so we may get all the little blighters between us.

sgt.colon



Joined: 27 Jul 2009
Posts: 7380
Location: Just south of north.
PostPosted: Mon Jul 29, 19 9:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Nice photos JL.

I've only seen whites this year. That's all we tend to get around where we live, though I did see a red admiral a few years ago.

dpack



Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 45374
Location: yes
PostPosted: Fri Aug 02, 19 7:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

i met one of these this aft, friendly enough but it came to visit me , most seem nice guests and rather poor hosts

mine was a worker so i guess there is another spp in the biodiversity list.

that id was quite lucky as i managed to remember enough details in 20 seconds and they are rather distinctive.

separating some of the yellow ones into spp and q w d is a camera job, for me anyway

"ooooh its a wasp" is a bit of an over simplification, i had no idea how many spp there are or properly considered how the 3 forms look and behave differently.

i'm starting to rather like wasps and bees and hoverflies , i never new much about them ( and still don't ) but they are very pretty and delightfully alien to get to know

i have a feeling there are quite a few spp out there.

a wise scientist said if you want to discover a new species it is easier in your back yard than on an expedition or words to that effect.
not my goal but there are odd things in that there jungle and lots of

even trying to get my head around recording what lives in 20 ' of urban bramble is quite a logistic and techy problem when i can see it from here.
fun working out how, i think i have actionable intel for camera and lenses, i might have a few ideas of how to use that and what to use it for but i need to play with the kit and add that into how i define parameters and method.

i wonder how much folk miss when they have a month in a strange and challenging environment and most of the time they are just trying to stay alive find more gaffer tape or a satphone signal or work out why they have gone there:lol:

ps small blue and several small and medium white/yellow ones to add to the tally of assorted others over the last couple of months.
there are less wood whites this year than last but there were a lot of painted ladies.
lots of predator larvae, i think i must be up to about ten lady bird spp, then there are the lace wings and assorted other bitey beasts.

biodiverse is perhaps just getting to know it well but i have lived in nature and few places seem to have such a rich fauna in such a tiny area.

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2501
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Sat Aug 03, 19 12:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Another flutterby



Black swallowtail butterfly

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Sat Aug 03, 19 6:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

That's rather lovely Jam Lady. On the whole I don't think our butterflies are quite as spectacular as yours, but we love them all the same. I have seen a fair number of silver washed fritillaries around, as well as some lovely peacocks and assorted whites. Most have been at a distance, so not able to get a really good look.

Dpack, I think you are right about getting intimate with the wildlife in a very small area. When you are passing through, you might notice a few things, but sitting still in the same place for a long time you will get to know a lot more. Although I know pretty well where to find most plants in our wood, it is not until we work a coup of perhaps 1 acre that we really get to know even the trees and shrubs in it, and I never really get to know the small buggies and beasties.

lowri



Joined: 18 Oct 2006
Posts: 1322
Location: ceredigion
PostPosted: Sat Aug 03, 19 10:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I've seen masses and masses of butterflies this summer, far more than usual. Red Admirals. peacocks, gatekeepers (or are they meadow browns?), small whites, small tortoiseshells, I saw one Common Blue earlier on in the summer, but the majority have been Painted Ladies! My drive, on a south slope, is not tarmac but some sort of aggregate, and when its sunny (very often recently!) they fly up off the road in droves, up to a dozen at a time, as I drive out in the van, and then they come back down again. I don't know if they actually bred here or are they migrants?

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2501
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Sat Aug 03, 19 2:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

BBC says it is a once in a decade eruption of butterflies Lowri. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-49210010

Post new topic   Reply to topic    Downsizer Forum Index -> Conservation and Environment All times are GMT
Page Previous  1, 2, 3 ... 25, 26, 27 ... 188, 189, 190  Next
Page 26 of 190
View Latest Posts View Latest Posts

 

Archive
Powered by php-BB © 2001, 2005 php-BB Group
Style by marsjupiter.com, released under GNU (GNU/GPL) license.
Copyright © 2004 marsjupiter.com