Wildlife June 2010

[Stephenb]

Mark that first photo is incredible dragonfly eyeing up his hoverfly dinner,and i love the colour of the wasp in the second photo.

I'll second that!

[johnw]

A lurker has this butterfly fluttering about her garden, too bashful to post for an identification so I step in.

johnw

[Maggi Young]

I have no notion what these very smart butterflies might be but I do thank your shy friend for getting you to post them here, John. They are lovely!

 
To John's friend : It's a shame you are so shy, but I hope you enjoy the forum, even from behind the curtains! Your garden must be a super place to attract such fine creatures.

[Anthony Darby]

A lurker has this butterfly fluttering about her garden, too bashful to post for an identification so I step in.

johnw

Liminitis arthemis, the American White Admiral. The blue form (L. a. astyanax) is even more beautiful.

[angie]

Three dead baby blackbirds...if only I had took the time to get a ladder and tie my Hydrangea back on the wall, it had come adrift and I thought I would do it tomorrow but i forgot and we have had terrible winds here. I hate myself

Angie

[Kees Green]

New Zealand is currently looking at introducing the White Admiral to New Zealand as a biological control, the beautiful addition will not only be admired from lepidopterists.
The only problem so far is they have not survived our Winters, fingers crossed.

[mark smyth]

to do what Kees?

Angie, they will nest again

The goldfinches in my garden lost their just fledged chicks during the wind

[Anthony Darby]

New Zealand is currently looking at introducing the White Admiral to New Zealand as a biological control, the beautiful addition will not only be admired from lepidopterists.
The only problem so far is they have not survived our Winters, fingers crossed.

There are white admirals and white admirals. I don't think any would act as a biological control as the caterpillars are solitary and would have little or no effect on their food plant. The European species (Limenitis camilla and L. reducta) feed on honeysuckle (Lonicera spp.) and the American species (Limenitis arthemis) feeds on the leaves of many species of trees and shrubs including wild cherry (Prunus spp.), aspen, poplar, cottonwood (Populus spp.), oaks (Quercus spp.), hawthorn (Crataegus spp.), deerberry (Vaccinium stamineum), birch (Betula spp.), willows (Salix spp.), and lime (Tilia spp.). They are fantastic butterflies with a lovely blue iridescence on their wings. Alas, the only British species (camilla) is not found in Scotland. I think in the past mistakes have been made by introducing biological control that has affected non-target species. This happened when the parasitoid wasps Pteromalus puparum and Echthromorpha intricatoria were introduced to NZ to control the small white butterfly. They now parasitise more than 50% of Bassaris gonerilla and cause undue pressure on the unique New Zealand red admiral.

[angie]

Angie, they will nest again

The goldfinches in my garden lost their just fledged chicks during the wind

Mark I do hope so, sorry about your goldfinches.
We have no wind here today but when its windy in Aberdeen its gale force with me I am at the top of the hill .
I have tied everything up again, so lets hope she comes back

Angie

[Gail]

Three dead baby blackbirds...if only I had took the time to get a ladder and tie my Hydrangea back on the wall, it had come adrift and I thought I would do it tomorrow but i forgot and we have had terrible winds here. I hate myself

Angie

I think we all feel like that at times Angie.  I very nearly stepped on a fledgling blackbird today.  Fortunately it fluttered off squawking and I just had to endure a severe scolding from its parents.  I still feel haunted by a frog I skewered with the garden fork once...

[mark smyth]

I drove over a newly fledged robin today. Not squashed thankfully

[angie]

Gail I stood on a frog once or maybe it was a toad ...I wont describe how it felt but I take a torch with me now.

Angie

[TheOnionMan]

Does anyone know what this beetle is?  As beetles go, it was very large; it was crossing over a dwarf hosta, didn't appear to be eating anything.  While the flash went off, it is actually daytime, late afternoon.

[johnw]

Does anyone know what this beetle is?  As beetles go, it was very large; it was crossing over a dwarf hosta, didn't appear to be eating anything.  While the flash went off, it is actually daytime, late afternoon.

Mark

Is this what we call a ground beetle?  We see lots of them, oftentimes upside down and having real diffuclty righting itself.  If so it is a predator and eats earwig babies, NS is infested with earwigs and leave clematis flowers in tatters.  These beetles can be seen all round the garden at night usually off on some unknown mission.

johnw

[Kees Green]

Hi, Pretty sure it is to control the honey suckle in the North Island.
I must admit that the Red admiral does get parasitised a bit by the wasp, it does not seem to trouble the yellow admiral much.
We still have plenty of both though, thank goodness-these two are the most common native butterflies in most gardens in Dunedin only beaten by the annoying cabbage white.