Wildlife July 2010

[Roma]

On Thursday I was lucky enough to see a red squirrel moving her babies to a new drey.  i was collecting horse muck in thpine wood where my ponies live when I heard the scuffling noise of a squirrel coming down a tree.  She was at the other side of the tree from me so I couldn't see her till she reached the ground and started to run or rather bounce (as squirrels do).  She was carrying a fairly large baby in her mouth and stopped every few bounces to rest for a second or two then bounced off again.  She crossed a small patch of birch wood then ran up apine tree in the next group.  I was looking up into the trees to see if I could see the original drey when she came back again and up a tree quite close to me.  If you do not move they come quite close and do not appear to notice you are there.  A few minutes later she came back down the tree and bounced off to her new home with another baby.  She came back for a third but my husband appeared and started talking to me so she did not come back down the tree while we were there.  Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me.  It is fairly bulky so I only take it with me when I am going to take photographs.  Must get a smaller one so I can carry it in my pocket.
   

[Lesley Cox]

What a wonderful experience Roma. What would have made her change homes? Babies too big or perhaps some perceived danger in the old one?

The puss moth caterpiller is beautifully camouflaged isn't it? And the adult is really beautiful.

[Anthony Darby]

That's the puss moth caterpillar being 'Mr Angry' with its head withdrawn to puff out its front and emphasise the false eye spots and its twin pink tail whips extended.

[KentGardener]

This is a long shot as most of the action was over by the time I ran inside and fetched my camera.  But this critter flew in on Sunday and landed on a pot next to where I was sitting.  It was carrying what looked like a brown thing with wings that was about half the size of the flying critter itself.  It then proceeded to push it's way under some of the slate/stone top dressing on the pot and when it came out it no longer had it's passenger.  Then it turned round and push lots of dirt over the 'hole' where it had deposited the brown thing. 

Does anyone know what the critter is?  Also I was wondering it the cargo was a baby or whether it was food?

(Sorry about the rubbish photos - I really wish I had my camera with me when it first arrived carrying it's cargo as it was very interesting to watch).

[Anthony Darby]

Looks like a digger wasp John. These species dig hole which they stock with paralysed flies, weevils or other insects according to species. They then lay an egg on the stock pile of sleeping insects and cover the hole.

[KentGardener]

Thanks Anthony - I hoped someone would know the answer.  I've never seen one before and found it fascinating.

[ArnoldT]

We have these here and they are called "bee wolves".  They catch flying circadias and lay eggs in the body.  The buried carcass serves as a food source for hatching your.  They are very ominous looking but do not offer any danger to people.

[Anthony Darby]

There is a big species found in the south of England called a bee-killer (Philanthus triangulum), which specialises in honey bees, but it has an orange abdomen. There are some really spectacular species called tarantula hawks that have dark blue wings. I saw one with a tarantula in Croatia in 2008. I'll try an dig out the pics. The biggest ones come from across the pond as there are bigger spiders there!

[FrazerHenderson]

A moth..don't know what it is, I just liked the colouration.

[FrazerHenderson]

and a caterpillar  - possibly of a hawk moth? Someone will doubtless know

[mark smyth]

Fraser the moth is one I have not seen for many years - Magpie moth Abraxas grossulariata

[mark smyth]

WE all hopefully know that swifts are almost totally reliant on buildings and other structures for their nests. Way back they were cliff nesters just like house martins

Following a lead I found four pairs using a fracture on two limestone cliffs

[Anthony Darby]

and a caterpillar  - possibly of a hawk moth? Someone will doubtless know

Emperor moth (Saturnia pavonia) caterpillar. Don't often see them with pink tubercules - usually yellow. It is Britain's only silk moth. Hawk moth caterpillars invariably have a spike at their rear end (in the US they are called 'Hornworms') and are usually smooth skinned.

[mark smyth]

A few weeks ago I saw a ?flock of about 20 green-veined white butterflies feeding on dung. I had a camcorder with me but didnt think of taking a video of the butterfies

[Ragged Robin]

A few weeks ago I saw a ?flock of about 20 green-veined white butterflies feeding on dung

Mark is it minerals they are after?

BTW there have been loads and loads of Swifts screaming overhead arching over evening skies recently - great to watch