Common blue damselfly

This is the first update in a while as a planned weekend in Chester turned into an unplanned 10 days.

Anyway, not much to update at the moment apart from a few shots of common blue damselflies taken at Stapeley Water Gardens in Nantwich.

Butterflies & Bumblebees

Just a few random images from today in the garden.

If anyone ever spots any mistakes on the site with my IDing of butterflies/bees, etc., please correct me!

I'm still practising with the macro lens so excuse any shoddy attempts :o)

Red-tailed bumblebee - you can see the pollen the bee has collected just above the leg

Buff-tailed bumblebee

Meadow brown


Large white

Scotch Thistle (at my local patch)

BTO/CJ Garden Birdwatch 9-16 July

1. Blue Tit (3 - fledglings)
2. Dunnock (2 - parent & baby)
3. Blackbird (2)
4. House Sparrow (12)
5. Starling (3)
6. Chaffinch (7)
7. Greenfinch (5)
8. Goldfinch (1)
9. Siskin (2)
10. Woodpigeon (2)
11. Collared Dove (1)

Butterflies and Ladybirds

At last! A butterfly on the buddleia!

Also seen in the garden this week: Orange Tip (female), Large White & Red Admiral.

Small Tortoiseshell

Cream 14-spot ladybird (recorded previously: 7-spot, 2-spot and 22-spot)

Reach for the skies! Birdboy's sunflowers are just over 6ft tall at the moment.

Odds and Ends

Hoverfly on the Buddleia (Nanho Blue) in the garden
Buff-tailed bumblebee on one of the hebes
Common carder bumblebee
Small tortoiseshell at Ford Nursery this afternoon
(taken at Ford Nursery)
Red-tailed bumblebee (Ford Nursery)
(Ford)

Latest Moth Catch

A few moths from the past couple of nights. We have ordered a book so we'll be able to start trying to ID them soon!

Thanks, once again, to Dean for the IDs.


1.Smoky Wainscot

2.Barred Yellow

3.Mottled Beauty

4.Double Square-spot

5.Snout

Baby Dunnock, Window Strike?

I was watching a couple of Woodpigeons 'sunbathing' on the lawn this morning when I noticed something flapping in one of the borders. I didn't take much notice at first thinking it was probably a Sparrow having a dust bath in the soil. When I saw the flapping for a second time I went to see what it was.

It turned out to be a young Dunnock (possibly the one I've been watching exploring the garden for the past few days). He was totally paralysed down one side and had a couple of dislodged/missing feathers. Maybe he'd flown into a window?

He was in a very bad way and I couldn't leave him like that - he clearly wasn't just 'stunned'. I passed the job on to Birdman and then I dug a little hole in the garden.

(These photos were taken while the bird was alive)

Garden Flora - July

Red Currant (already being devoured by our Blackbirds)


Whitebeam

Honeysuckle
Sweet pea
Cape Daisy
Hebe (loved by bees - must get some pics tomorrow)

Campanula

One of the buddleias, Nanho Blue, is in bloom but proving difficult to photograph. Will try again tomorrow. The alernifolia has already bloomed, and the Black Knight is yet to bloom. None seem to be attracting butterflies!

Less Wind, More Moths!

We finally had slightly calmer weather last night so we put the sheet out to see what we could attract (not that we'd know what they were, but you have to start somewhere!). Even though we brought the moths into the kitchen for better lighting (and so the moths couldn't escape!), photographing them was still tricky. Dean, at Mostly Macro, makes it look so easy:

http://mostlymacro.blogspot.com/

I think the next step is to check the photos on the computer before releasing the moths back into the garden!

These photos were taken by Birdman.

Many thanks to Dean for the IDs.


1. Brimstone Moth


2. Willow Beauty


3. Marbled Minor

4. Dotted Border Wave

5. Bright-line Brown-eye

And 6. a Caddis fly!

We are currently looking for a new/decent moth book. This one appears to be the book of choice, so we'll get it from somewhere. I'd have ordered one last night, but I got distracted by a new pair of boots ... :o)

BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch 2-8 July

Not much garden watching happened this week, but the highlight came on Saturday morning when three baby Siskins arrived with their Dad and fed near the kitchen door.

Another visitor on Saturday morning was a baby Blue Tit who fed, somewhat acrobatically, on the peanut ball feeder.

We haven't recorded a Pheasant in the garden for four weeks now.

We abandoned our plan to attract and photograph moths last night due to quite high winds - it's windy again this evening so it might be abandoned again!

1. Greenfinch (5)
2. Chaffinch (10)
3. House Sparrow (10)
4. Blackbird (4)
5. Woodpigeon (5)
6. Siskin (4)
7. Goldfinch (1)
8. Dunnock (1)
9. Blue Tit (1)
10. Collared Dove (1)
11. Starling (5)

A Watched Sheet Gathers No Moth!

... Not strictly true ...

Firstly, we couldn't find any of our white sheets (those old ones you keep for when you're decorating) apart from the one on the bed ... So our bedsheet it currently hanging on the washing line, covered in bugs in the rain :o) Nice!

Secondly, it's really hard to photograph moths outside at night time! Must practice more!

Anyway, before the rain came (about fifteen minutes after the lamp was switched on!) we managed to get a few (poor) pics of two moths:

1. Fan-foot?


2. Burnished Brass

We'll try again tomorrow night, weather permitting, but we might try catching the moths and bringing them in the kitchen to photograph.

We attracted a variety of other insects but most of the pictures are too poor to bother posting this time.

3. Black-and-yellow cranefly?

I have realised that my 'butterflies, moths and other insects' book is total crap. I have to go and buy a better one!

Hopefully tomorrow we won't get washed out!

Tonight was short, but sweet!

Moths!

Excuse the bad photos - I hope to do better next time!

We've had these two moths in the kitchen this week but I don't know what they are. ID help would be gratefully recieved (Dean, Andy?!). I have looked through my butterflies & moths book but I don't think either are in it.

Moths are very alien to me - but I'm going to give them a go and run a primitive moth trap tomorrow night (Friday) - we're going to hang a white sheet on the washing line and shine a bright lamp at it (or behind it - not sure which!). Obviously not as good as a proper moth trap (I've seen how much those cost!!), but I'll be interested to see what happens - and if we actually manage to attract anything!

Maybe I could start a garden moth list!

Bee Moth (thanks Dean!)

Light Arches (thanks Dean!)

Juvenile Siskin

The hot weather kept most birds away today, but we did get this little lady - a baby Siskin, seemingly straight from the nest. Mum and Dad were on the same feeder at the same time.

"Whoops. I'll get the hang of landing soon"

"What is this thing?!"

"What's that in there?"

"Look what I found!"

"Dad! Come and look!"

"Yummy!"


She took exception to a male Chaffinch landing next to her









An hour or so later she was back, and this time she had a little help from her Dad

BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch 25 June - 1 July

The highlight in the garden this week was, of course, the juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker who visited on Thursday. He or she appeared just in time for me to take part in the BTO's GSW Survey which is being run in conjunction with Radio 4's Shattered Earth programme. More information on the survey can be seen here.

Whilst mowing the lawn earlier this week I found some hedgehog poo - so we watched the garden that night and sure enough we have an adult hedgehog visiting us. Tonight he gets some dog food! The number of mammals recorded in our garden is currently very low: Only hedgehog and rabbit. We have also had one single toad.

I found a two-spotted ladybird on one of Birdboy's sunflowers.

I received this year's Mammals on Roads Survey forms from the Mammals Trust UK this week. The survey runs from July to September and I record all roadkill seen on any journey longer than 20 miles. More info on the survey can be found on this page here. It sounds a bit grim, but it gives the Mammals Trust a good idea of which mammals are where and how well they are doing. Also, if they get many deaths recorded on a single stretch of road they may put up warning signs.

I think the only survey I don't do is the National Shopper's Survey. I'm too busy doing other surveys ;o)

1. Greenfinch (5)
2. Chaffinch (8)
3. Siskin (2)
4. Blackbird (6)
5. Woodpigeon (3)
6. House Sparrow (5)
7. Starling (8)
8. Dunnock (1)
9. Blue Tit (1)
10. Pied Wagtail (1)
11. Goldfinch (2)
12. Great Spotted Woodpecker (1)
13. Collared Dove (1)
14. Jackdaw (1)
15. Sparrowhawk (1)

Swallow's Nest at Lilliesleaf Nursery

We needed to kill a few hours this afternoon before the England match started so we had a drive over to Lilliesleaf Nursery. Last time we were there a pair of Swallows were building a nest inside the shed where you pay for your plants. Today there were nestlings! Neither of the parents visited whilst we were paying but we got a few shots of the babies. To exit the shed, the parents fly over the counter and through a small window which is now open at all times.

There are at least four babies in the nest: