Wildlife in nature and in the garden 2019

[shelagh]

Found 3 Lily beetles this morning, only little ones and they won't be getting any bigger. Ha.

[Gail]

I've not managed to get a photo, they move far too fast, but the swifts are back in the village now and screaming over the garden, such a delight. Neighbours opposite have them nesting under the roof tiles.

A friend in the village is a sculptor and has created a couple of swift pieces;

https://alisonhenry.weebly.com/swift-drinking.html

[ArnoldT]

Here's a plum tree pest, aphids.

Also a predator of the aphids, lady bugs.

Egg and larva stage.  The larva stage are voracious aphid consumers.

[ian mcdonald]

Found a dead young blackbird, no feathers, on the lawn yesterday. Also a dead young in the nest. Both buried today. Suspect grey squirrels.

[Roma]

Found these babies in the greenhouse a couple of weeks ago.  They were there for a few days, spread out on the web during the day and clustered together at night.  They have since dispersed.

[annew]

Anybody know what species this is visiting our poached egg patch? Bee or wasp?

[ArnoldT]

Ann

My guess is a bee.  Wasps are carnivores and would be looking for pollen.

[philsfog]

i only seen one squirrel on my banana tree. i love to see more smalls animals on my backyard makes me feel that my place is healthy

[Gail]

I would guess honey bee but the Italian subspecies (Apis mellifera ligustica) which is more yellow in colour than our native one. Any beekeepers locally?

http://barnsleybeekeepers.org.uk/species.html

[annew]

That does look like it, Gail. thank you. There are a lot of them. Anyone know if they are common in the UK?

[jomowi]

Think I should re-name this thread 'Indoor Wildlife'!  Just found this creature on my curtain. It stayed still enough for me to measure it, though I couldn't hold the ruler and camera at the same time to include it in the pic.  Body length approx. 1 and one eighth" (3 cm), overall length including antennae and ovipositor 3.25" (8.3cm). Friend or foe, please, before I decide what to do with it?  Maureen

[jomowi]

Just had a thought.  Is it a wood wasp? Maureen

[annew]

Friend 

[Paul Cumbleton]

Hi Maureen,
It is an Ichneumonid wasp, probably Rhyssa persuasoria (the Sabre Wasp) - though identification to species can be tricky with around 2500 species of Ichneumonids in the UK! They parasite other invertebrates, laying their eggs inside the larvae of their hosts. Anyway, definitely not a pest.

Paul

[jomowi]

Thank you Annew and Paul.  I will release it into the garden when I have relocated it.  It is no longer on my curtain. Maureen