Wildlife July 2010

[arisaema]

Anyone know what this might be? It's munching on an elm.

Larvae of the comma butterfly?  Feeds on nettles, elm and willow.
http://www.whatsthatcaterpillar.co.uk/

Thank you, Gail, that does look like it!

[Ragged Robin]

This juvenile robin had got stuck in this bucket in the garden - couldn't quite manage to fly high enough to get out. Luck was on its side today!

Thank goodness you rescued it Steven!  I use old metal buckets to catch rainwater and will think again about placing them 

[Lesley Cox]

Lucky robin indeed. Occasionally I find a dead and dehydrated small lizard in a bucket.

[Calvin Becker]

Did anybody see/hear news about a southern right whale breaching on a yacht in Cape Town yesterday?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-10712323

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38339576/ns/world_news-africa/

[mark smyth]

wow in a good and bad way

[Gunilla]

A pair of blackbirds nested in a grapevine on the south wall of our house and we could watch the young birds closely. It's amazing how fast they grow.  They have now left the nest but are still in the garden. 

[Ragged Robin]

Gunilla, you have taken the most wonderful photos of those young blackbirds in your grapevine - they are divine and so appealing as to want to feed the open mouths oneself 

[daveyp1970]

puss moth caterpillar

[Maggi Young]

puss moth caterpillar

Now if they are as good a source of protein as they look, then Gunilla's baby blackbirds would get a good meal 
  I have never seen a pussmoth caterpillar in real life.... they're pretty big, aren't they?!

[daveyp1970]

Maggie i couldn't believe the size of it,it's the first one i've encounted in the flesh.My nephew was pestering me to take it home bless him.

[daveyp1970]

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_1dJJBBq8Dfo/Sjl0POtfeuI/AAAAAAAAA7I/aRsamQmBh-0/s400/Puss-Moth.jpg&imgrefurl=http://roblaughtonsmoths.blogspot.com/2009/06/moth-trapping-may.html&usg=__LqM0_nXX2JAwV52con50RhgHGbw=&h=400&w=267&sz=28&hl=en&start=20&sig2=VbqZcUtL1ORS1XCYEPgoHQ&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=UKPl05c_T-dsqM:&tbnh=124&tbnw=83&prev=/i heres a good link for moths

[Maggi Young]

good link, davey, thank you.

By the way, I'm so taken by the huge caterpillar that I can't think what plant it is he's eating.... help , please?

[Anthony Darby]

Puss moth - pussy willow of course! I found a dozen or so on Salix caprea in Glen Lonan near Oban a few years ago. Alas, some conservation movement had fenced off several plots and planted these and rowans in what was, until then, an excellent marsh fritillary habitat. BTW, there are several smaller species and they are called 'kitten' moths!

[Anthony Darby]

Just recorded the four species of butterfly (ringlet; small, large and green-veined white and small tortoiseshell) I saw in my garden yesterday (which was, I suspect, our one and only summery day for 2010) on the 'Big Butterfly Count' (http://www.bigbutterflycount.org/). Judging by some of the ludicrous 'records' (http://www.bigbutterflycount.org/results), some people can't identify what they have seen even with a photograph in front of them. I mean, one(?) lunatic has reported seeing multiples of southern species like white admirals (2 in North Shields in the middle of a housing estate called Monks Wood), silver-washed fritillaries (1 in Durham), purple emperors (3 in North Shields - same address as before) and marbled whites (3 in North Shields - same address as before) in north east England!  More people have seen Scotch arguses south of Birmingham and Lincolnshire (south of Hull), and another in Hertfordshire! They not only don't occur that far south (Arnside Knot is the only English colony) but aren't on the wing until August! No doubt these nonsensical records will be discarded.

[annew]

Some really great photos from everybody above. The owl is beautiful.