Wildlife June 2011

[Anthony Darby]

Went for a walk with Heidi just after 4 p.m., so there was plenty of daylight left. Met Mrs Tiggywinkle snuffling through the short grass at the entrance to the football pitches up the road from our house. She was still there rooting around when I walked back 15 minutes later, so I took Heidi home and brought back my camera. By this time it was after 5 and the light was now starting to fade. She (he?) totally ignored me and continued to look for grubs and worms between the grass roots. Nearby there is a bank of New Zealand flax plants (Phormium tenax) which harbour hundreds of snails. What a pity someone saw fit to bring hedgehogs to New Zealand! Their niche is ably filled by the kiwi, even if a lot more secretively. Interestingly, I saw no fleas between the rows of spines. I would expect a Scottish one to be crawling with them.

[daveyp1970]

Anthony here's my pair of birdwings,they bought as a present for me.

[daveyp1970]

 

I checked the windowsill a couple of minutes later. The more I looked, the more the spider and fly weren't there, so I checked the ground under the window. I guess I underestimated its ability as a hunter!

how fantastic is that,lovely shots and what a spider

[ranunculus]

Bug on Orchis italica ... from a previous June in the Dolomites.

[Anthony Darby]

Looks like a chafer - possibly Oxythyrea funesta Cliff?

Beautiful birdwings Davey. I've seen similar in the wild in Bali.

[mark smyth]

Cliff I saw that beetle on Majorca last year

[ranunculus]

Cliff I saw that beetle on Majorca last year

Crikey, he gets about doesn't he!   

[mark smyth]

LOL

[Maggi Young]

Cliff I saw that beetle on Majorca last year

Crikey, he gets about doesn't he!   

He benefits from Frequent Flyer Miles, I expect 

[Anthony Darby]

Here's a frequent flier: a katydid or kiki pounamu (Caedicia simplex) and a springbok mantis (Miomantis caffra) I found today. I don't see many insects now, although I did hear one of the smaller cicadas singing away. Lovely in the sun - nice enough to sit outside a wee café with a long black and a newspaper while Lucy had her violin lesson, although the air temperature was only 13^o Celsius.

[Anthony Darby]

Delved into the archives and found these from Bali, 2004. Troides helena is wild on Bali; Ornithoptera priamus would have been imported as pupae from West Papua or bred elsewhere on Bali and hatched in the pupa cage. This subspecies is not found west of New Guinea. Both species of birdwing demonstrate different island forms and subspecies.

[mark smyth]

Is the mantis carrying eggs?

[mark smyth]

today a new swift checked out one of my nest boxes for 20 minutes. Hopefully it will return with a mate
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWF77Yt7a0s[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5jsYt2Lhwo[/youtube]

[alpines]

I'm not very good at identifying plants and even worse at identifying birds....but I believe these are Northern mockingbirds.
The baby was just sat on the grass....not sure how it got there....and the mother was up in the dwarf buddlieia, that is until she started buzzing me !!!!!

[Roma]

This chap doesn't know much about camouflage