Keeping Busy

 Sunday, March 21

The first day of spring.

The early potatoes, Lady Christl, (not a spelling mistake), are planted, the tomatoes have been potted on, cucumber and pepper seeds planted, and the back garden is full of yellow and white. Miniature daffodils and crocus.The front border shows Winter Aconites and Anemone Blanda, the newly planted roses look thriving too. 

Pam is in the greenhouse potting on the myriad flowers she planted, temporarily filling my propagator. Once the tomato plants have grown, the flower plants will all be ready to harden off, I hope. The leek seedlings are already out on the work surface, healthy green shoots.

The garden is also alive with Siskin chatter. They rival the Goldfinches as chatterboxes. I tried some photos yesterday. 

We got the idea for adding the plastic ties to both perch fitted feeders and those without, from a webcam. The birds seem to prefer the longer perch.

 

 

The Camellias have fat buds, the large camellia hedge near the greenhouse has a Blackbird nest again. Although we have seen birds prospecting the nestboxes, none seem to be occupied yet. The nesting material holder has been well used, the contents have been spread around the nearby tree and bushes.

 

The moth catch is slowly increasing. We had 24 moths of 8 species yeaterday, 19 of 8 to-day.  Twin-spotted Quaker and Clouded Drab were new for the year.

We also had a micro this morning,

	Acleris ferrugana
	Rusty Oak Button

 

And, a moth trap intruder. A small, dimpled, beetle, Chrysolina oricalcia, a member of the leaf beetle family. New for us.

 

Description

Size: 6.5-9.1mm
Basic colour: Dark blue, sometimes dark violet, very dark green, deep bronze or black with a bronze reflection.
Pattern colour: None
Number of spots: None
Other colour forms: Sometimes
Pronotoum: As basic colour
Leg colour: As basic colour
Confusion species: Chrysolina haemoptera

Biology

Status: Widespread but Scarce (Notable B) and may be declining in some parts of England.
Habitat: Various
Host plant: Various Apiaceae such as cow parsley
Overwintering: Unknown location, but adults do overwinter.
Food: Adults feed on leaves and possibly pollen; larvae feed on leaves at night and in the evening.
Other notes: Similar to C. haemoptera. Pronotum trapezoidal with longitudinal furrows towards the sides. Elytral striae formed of sparse punctures.

(Müller, O.F., 1776)