Moth Quiz 15
A feathered missile resembling the Enterprise, Challenger, and Columbia
Shuttle-shaped Dart
Moth Quiz 16
A well-kept lawn should look like this
Friday, May 22
Friday is an Adrian gardening day. Pam works alongside him, instructing, keeping the recommended distance apart. That means no birding. As it's a Bank Holiday weekend coming up, no birding then either. Too many people and their dogs. I would really like a week away, when we do nothing but keep ourselves fed, and spend all day, every day, out and about, exploring the countryside and its wildlife. It doesn't look as though our June week in Wales will happen, but the Yorkshire week in August looks a possibility.
Alerted by Pam, I spent some time studying our small pond yesterday. Two attached Blue Damselflies had already entered through the open Sunlounge door, made their self absorbed dancing flight towards an open window, and departed.
Seated near the pond, two Blue Damselflies soon appeared above a lily leaf, ovipositing before leaving. I didn't see them again. Same pair? I'll never know.
A large Red Damselfly rested on a plant leaf.
Usually, we would have had many damselflies by now, the pond clean-out seems to have put paid to that, but it's beginning to look healthier now that the marginals and the oxygenating plants have settled.
A bee species enjoyed this flowering Water Avens.
Again, alerted by Pam, at least three Newts, burrowed into a plant to lay eggs. I couldn't see them at first as other reflections were dominant on the water surface. When I did, a pair was swimming away near enough to the surface for me to try a photograph. The female has a wide middle. Did he just accompany her to lay the eggs or was he looking to do some more fertilising?
I've only ever seen Smooth Newts in our pond.
The smooth newt is the UK's most widespread newt species, found throughout Britain and Ireland. Like the common frog, smooth newts may colonise garden ponds
A feathered missile resembling the Enterprise, Challenger, and Columbia
Shuttle-shaped Dart
Moth Quiz 16
A well-kept lawn should look like this
Friday, May 22
Friday is an Adrian gardening day. Pam works alongside him, instructing, keeping the recommended distance apart. That means no birding. As it's a Bank Holiday weekend coming up, no birding then either. Too many people and their dogs. I would really like a week away, when we do nothing but keep ourselves fed, and spend all day, every day, out and about, exploring the countryside and its wildlife. It doesn't look as though our June week in Wales will happen, but the Yorkshire week in August looks a possibility.
Alerted by Pam, I spent some time studying our small pond yesterday. Two attached Blue Damselflies had already entered through the open Sunlounge door, made their self absorbed dancing flight towards an open window, and departed.
Seated near the pond, two Blue Damselflies soon appeared above a lily leaf, ovipositing before leaving. I didn't see them again. Same pair? I'll never know.
A large Red Damselfly rested on a plant leaf.
Usually, we would have had many damselflies by now, the pond clean-out seems to have put paid to that, but it's beginning to look healthier now that the marginals and the oxygenating plants have settled.
A bee species enjoyed this flowering Water Avens.
Again, alerted by Pam, at least three Newts, burrowed into a plant to lay eggs. I couldn't see them at first as other reflections were dominant on the water surface. When I did, a pair was swimming away near enough to the surface for me to try a photograph. The female has a wide middle. Did he just accompany her to lay the eggs or was he looking to do some more fertilising?
I've only ever seen Smooth Newts in our pond.
The smooth newt is the UK's most widespread newt species, found throughout Britain and Ireland. Like the common frog, smooth newts may colonise garden ponds
Smooth newts can grow to 10cm and are
generally brown in colour. Males develop a continuous wavy crest along
their back in the breeding season. The belly of both sexes is
yellow/orange with small black spots. The spots on the throat provide a
good way of telling this species apart from palmate newts (which lack
spots on their throat).
Adults are often found in ponds during
the breeding season and into summer (February – June). Spawn is laid as
individual eggs, each of which is wrapped carefully in a leaf of pond
weed, by the female newt. Unlike the tadpoles of frogs and toads, newt
larvae develop their front legs before their back legs. They breathe
through external feathery gills which sprout from behind the head.
Juvenile newts leave the water in later summer after losing their gills.
Smooth newts eat invertebrates either on land or in water. They also
prey on frog tadpoles. Outside of the breeding season, newts come onto
land and are often found in damp places, frequently underneath logs and
debris in the summer months.
Smooth newts are protected by law in Great Britain.
Amphibian and Reptile Conservation
For the reason mentioned above, we haven't had any frogspawn this year, we normally get quite a lot. The lack of marginals to anchor the clusters of spawn is what we surmise is the reason.
An adult frog was resting in one of the plant pots, keeping cool on a very hot, 28C max, day.
Many years ago, I bought a tree peony from Lathams in Potter Heigham. It's struggled until this year, producing only a few enormous flowers, so heavy that the heads need support
The individual flower heads are 15-18 cms in diameter - about 7 inches.
We need to go to Thorpe to collect some diet food this afternoon. Wroxham Broad is a definite possibility.
Our electricity went off in the middle of the night and didn't come back until 7.30. Not good for the moth trapping - apart from the Heath trap which works on battery.
Four new species for the year. Brown Rustic, Grey Dagger, Silver-ground Carpet, and the first of many, Large Yellow Underwing. Our third Eyed Hawkmoth, always a delight, and two more Poplar Hawkmoths
An adult frog was resting in one of the plant pots, keeping cool on a very hot, 28C max, day.
Many years ago, I bought a tree peony from Lathams in Potter Heigham. It's struggled until this year, producing only a few enormous flowers, so heavy that the heads need support
The individual flower heads are 15-18 cms in diameter - about 7 inches.
We need to go to Thorpe to collect some diet food this afternoon. Wroxham Broad is a definite possibility.
Our electricity went off in the middle of the night and didn't come back until 7.30. Not good for the moth trapping - apart from the Heath trap which works on battery.
Four new species for the year. Brown Rustic, Grey Dagger, Silver-ground Carpet, and the first of many, Large Yellow Underwing. Our third Eyed Hawkmoth, always a delight, and two more Poplar Hawkmoths
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