Saturday 29 September 2012

Not all have spines

Saturday 29 September 2012
After taking delivery of 15 hedgehogs from Tiggywinkles last Tuesday I thought I would put out the camera to see if they were still around and how they were doing.


Wednesday 19 September 2012

Ivy is out!

Tuesday 18 September 2012
With a good sunny day and the Ivy in flower it seemed ideal for a Butterfly transect at Ewelme. Never mind the quality - feel the width! The total for this rather short transect amounted to 19 Small Whites, 14 Red Admirals, 13 Commas and a single Small Tortoiseshell. 


The Ivy was buzzing with bees and hover flies including this huge Volucella zonaria.

Tuesday 18 September 2012

Dorchester WeBS count

Monday 17 September 2012
Hardly the most exciting of visits with 1102 birds of 16 species. Some signs of "winter arrivals" with 14 Wigeon and an increase in Canada Geese to 242. One of these was colour ringed which I am about to report. Apart from these and 6 Egyption Geese little else of note.

Saturday 8 September 2012

House Moths

Saturday 8 September 2012
A couple of moths found their way into the house yesterday, a Square-spot Rustic


















and the micro-moth Amblyptilia acanthadactyla



If anyone has an explanation of how you tell a micro from a macro I would love to know as it has little to do with size!  There has also been a Silver Y trying to get in but it hasn't succeed as yet.







Friday 7 September 2012

Humbug

Thursday 6 September 2012

All somewhat quiet period or rather no time with flower meadows to cut in Ewelme and Benson but found time for a quick look round Millbrook Mead and managed a photo of this beauty - a hoverfly that goes by the name of Helophilus pendulus, apparently!
I have now received the list of moths trapped on 17th August at the same site. A total of 235 individuals of 53 species were identified - many thanks to Mike Wilkins for the ID's