Wildlife 2007

[mark smyth]

yes you are correct
Elytra - The modified first pair of wings in a beetle, which fold down over the abdomen and protect the flight wings when not in use

[Lesley Cox]

And Anne, or anyone who has a bumble bees' nest in their garden, PLEASE don't water it if you can avoid. I once did, in a clay bank which I was trying to soften before digging. When the digging started, I found a nest which had been filled with water and all the bumbles were inside, drowned. I still feel terrible about it.

[annew]

Lesley - have you SEEN any newsreel pictures of this part of the world recently? I'm not going to be watering any time soon - but will avoid that area anyway. It's on a raised veg bed so stayed high and dryer during the monsoons. They haven't objected to my harvesting forays yet, and have built a little mound of fibrous vegetation over the nest, which I'm trying not to disturb.

[Anthony Darby]

Elytra it is. Carapace is the plate covering the thorax.

Your peacock butterflies are way ahead of ours Armin. Yesterday I found some fully grown larvae on some nettles half a mile up the Sheriffmuir track from my house.

[Lesley Cox]

Yes Anne, we have seen the UK flooding but I thought it was a bit south of you, more around the Midlands where Mick lives.

We have major flooding in the north too over recent days, some areas receiving 350mm of rain in just 36 hours. No loss of human life fortunately but massive landslips with power lines down, houses washed away and smashed by falling trees and general heatbreak and horror for those concerned. I moan about our southern weather but I'd much rather be having frost and snow which don't do much damage than the terrible flooding which is more and more becoming a frequent event in the country's far north.

[John Forrest]

Really jealous of the butterflies posted. This year there has been hardle any in the garden. Perhaps due to the weather but also my new neighbour took out all the nettles and other weeds that had been there for donkeys' ears. I used to curse the weeds because they spread to my garden but I will be sorry if it means no butterflies.The other downside is that the mare's tail has more light and is rampaging under the fence, marched 2 metres beneath cold frame and path and is coming up in borders. Incidentally, he does appear to have run out of steam and the weed population is on its way back.
Here are a few pics of things seen in the last week or 2.

1 How do you like the hat? (Pic taken through the double glazed window)

2 Black Headed Gull at the beach taken at sundown.

3 Cute Coot Chck and parent

These last 2 I need help with. I went to the St Annes Nature reserve to see what remained of the orchids after the dismal weather (shouldn't moan, we have escaped very lightly) but most were nearly over and rather tatty. The sun was very low and the birds were a long way off, hence the poor quality but can anyone put a name to them please. Ther is a possibility that it is the same bird taken in both shots as the lighting was very challenging.

Incidentally Anthony I got no reply from my email reminder about the Calypso

[Anthony Darby]

Triffic pics John. I'm just remembering the Calypso too, although I hope to be doing a real one soon

A sparrow hawk shot through my garden the other day, but it was clearly on a mission and didn't hang about. Seen loads of ringlets and tortoiseshells. Weather has been not bad (having to water the hanging baskets and pots). Amazing how memory plays tricks . I could have sworn that my Lilium nepalense was late this year, but checked and it is a week early.

[mark smyth]

John the last two are Meadow Pipit Anthus pratensis, I think, and female Reed Bunting Emberiza schoeniclus

[mark smyth]

Here is Green Bottle, Lucilia sericata, taken yesterday with the new camera

[mark smyth]

What is this nasty seen in National Botanic Gardens, Dublin?

[John Forrest]

Thanks Anthony and Mark for the ID. I will try to get a better shot next time I go.

[Lesley Cox]

What is this nasty seen in National Botanic Gardens, Dublin?

It looks like a perfectly innocent spider to me Mark. Aren't most spiders benign? in the garden at any rate and to humans of course. It's probably waiting for some little fly or beetle to become lunch

[mark smyth]

not when one is scared of them! Their bite is, allegedly, the same as a wasp sting - ahhhh!

[John Forrest]

My wife has arachnophobia but less than it used to be. I must have carried out countless thousands of spiders, by hand, during our nearly 40 years of marriage. I like spiders for the job they do keeping down the fly population. In all this time I have never been bitten. So don't worry.

Incidentally, Pat has one of those spider catchers with a long handle and a clear plastic pyramid shaped container at the end with a sliding door. She uses it when I'm not around.

[Anthony Darby]

Your spider is Pisaura mirabilis Mark, which is relatively common in England. Not seen it here. It sun bathes and lays its eggs in a tent in vegetation. The female guards the nest until the youngsters disperse.