bugs!

It has all gone rather quiet on the mealworm front, definitively not the frenzy it had been at times recently, with mostly just the woodpecker and some great tits picking them for their second brood(s). Seeds, peanuts and fat are going quite fast though.
One of the reasons might be that a lot of tree leaves are covered in small green flies (if anyone can tell me what they are... Every year when we first moved in they infested our living room in the evenings for a while)




The slightest disturbance and they fly off, I learned very quickly to be very careful when taking the photos above... I have seen some of the young blue and great tits flutter among the leaves and then all they have to do is open their beak, gobble and start again. Juicy! Easy meal! :)

Last Saturday morning, I went for a walk in Margravine Cemetery and I ended up admiring for a while one lime tree which had started flowering, pondering, as I do every year at this time, on cultural differences. You see, in France, lime herbal tea (tilleul) is probably the most common herbal tea you'll find, and it surprised me when I arrived in the UK 16 years ago that I couldn't find any anywhere. For me, the smell of lime flowers means 2 things: illness and school holidays. Illness, because it would be the beverage of choice when in bed with the flu for example. School holidays, because towards the end of June (which is when summer holidays start in France) my Dad would cut a few branches from our lime trees and we would pick the flowers and leave them to dry up in the attic or the hay loft for another year supply of tea. But I digress. I noticed then what I was pretty sure were Harlequin ladybird larvae, which proved to be indeed the case. 'Good' numbers of them in fact, and a few pupae as well. I have now reported them to the Harlequin Ladybird Survey. I don't think I have seen a 'classic' ladybird around home for about 2 years now. But, at least, we seem to have good numbers of another native ladybird, the orange ladybird.





On that same tree, I also found 2 of these, which I hope I have correctly identified as Forest Bug nymph(Pentatoma rufipes):


There were also lots of bumblebees, 2 or 3 different species, but I didn't manage to get any decent photo.

Finally, last week, I found this moth on our bedroom curtain, which (once again) I hope to have correctly id'd as a Brown Plume Moth . My knowledge of moths is rather limited and I'd never heard of plume moths before (and my other half admitted when he saw this photo on my screen to have thought it was some kind of dady-long-legs) but I thought it was rather intriguing.

Bento is back!

Last year, we had a real character among the great tits coming for mealworms. We'd nicknamed it Bento, for a fairly obvious reason, clearly visible on the photo below, taken as he was visiting one of the feeders (before customisation): the feather at the edge of its left wing was bent.



But it was also recognisable by its character, very confident, forward, demanding... He was always very quick to let me know I was late in refilling the feeders. I'll never forget (well I might, but it'll take some time), one day I was at the sink when I saw it appear and then hover in front of me looking me straight in the eyes while calling loudly. I obeyed pronto! He managed to have 2 broods, so I guess his approach worked.

This year, we were wondering if we would see him again. Early on, there was this one, nicknamed Thumper by my other half, as it would often arrive on the feeder rather heavily, with a big thump, and being generally a bit of a bully to the other birds. But nothing decisive.



Them, last Wednesday, I was on the balcony taking photos of the passionflower which had started flowering, and chatting with a neighbour, when I heard a light metallic sound and my neighbour said "Don't move, a bird has landed right above you". I move very slowly, and this great tit was on the flue, less than a metre from me...



You may notice the small feather sticking out? on its left wing? I actually got to get an even better look on Friday afternoon and the feather at the edge is missing... My other half was working at home and to give him some peace and quiet I had removed the feeder in the front room and put mealworms on the window sill by my desk, giving me very clear and closer views. That evening, I texted the neighbour I share the mealworm feeding with about it, and she replied immediately "Funny you should mention Bento, I saw one today reminded me very much of him". She feeds the robins by throwing mealworms on the ground [when they don't come and help themselved in her kitchen], and it would come and pick them up in front of them, and more than one at a time (which most tits don't). I saw him take 5, almost 6, albeit rather small ones, at once, quite a feat! He now takes 2 of the big ones almost every time. To finish, this morning, I had not even finished putting the feeder back on its hooks after refilling that it had already landed on it...

I think, odds are it is the same bird. And I am very pleased it's back :) On its second brood already more than likely, all the fledged young great tits have been fairly independent for a while now.

4 April 2009

I didn't feel like going to the Thames this morning, but I went and spent an hour wandering in Margravine Cemetery in the afternoon. For a while I watched this robin catching worms:

This was happening by the magnolia, the flowers of which have now started to fade:


Then I observed this crow which, after trying to extract marrow from a big bone, started hoovering insects which were hovering right above the grass:



Then I sat by a grave on which I had seen a honey bee yesterday in the hope to take a photo of one. I saw a few bumble bees, hover flies (or at least I think so, my insect id skills are not terribly developed), but no honey bee. So I amused myself taking macro photos of the flowers instead, such as the one above. I'd be interested in those flowers too if I was an insect I think...
Then, as I was almost home, I noticed a lot of insects around one of the bushes in the car park, and, among them, this honey bee (or at least I hope, it's been years since I've seen one):

17 March 2009

I spent more than 5 minutes watching this pair mating this morning in Margravine Cemetery. Certainly no quicky :)

Otherwise, there were lots of singing robins, great tits, blackbirds, goldfinch, as well as a pair of chaffinches, a few greenfinches, and the great spotted woodpecker was drumming.

I don't know if it's my memory playing tricks, but there seems to be much more violets this year. Small carpets everywhere.

The magnolia is finally in full bloom.

1 March 2009

I had my suspicions last year but I never managed to get him in the act. This time I was in the cemetery with my camera when I heard what sounded like a mixture between woodpecker drumming and door creaking. I followed the noise and found the male great spotted woodpecker drumming on a mobile phone aerial on the council estate building next to the cemetery. I then only managed a very distant photo before it flew away. A little while later I had found the female 'singing' in a tree next to their old nest when I hear him again, so I rushed back and managed some better photos and a few movies (which I have yet to process). At one point it got chased away by a crow who thought that this was the ideal place to eat its monkey nut, and went to another one and started again. All the while, the female was continuing her calls and getting closer.

Near to the female I also saw a pair of greenfinches mating. Spring is definitely in the air. Colours are appearing everywhere: yellow of daffodils, crocus, and the "tits' tree" (box), purple and white of the crocus, pink and purple of prunus. Even one hyacinth was flowering, albeit a well sheltered one, but still it was flowering. There is still no pink on the magnolia, which is much later than the previous 2 years, but the buds are definitely getting bigger. The snowdrops are however on their way out now.

I spotted my first ladybird of the year. Not a 'classic' one, but a 16-Spot orange ladybird (Halyzia sedecimguttata), and not where I have seen them in previous years, which would be difficult at this time since it is on the underneath of the pink chestnut tree leaves. It was on a pine tree, and as I was taking a few photos, I heard a high pitch note, looked up and found a goldcrest happily feeding up in the tree. I tried taking a few photos but it was definitely not as cooperative as the ladybird :)
I spotted my first ladybird of the year. Not a 'classic' one, but a 16-Spot orange ladybird (Halyzia sedecimguttata), and not where I have seen them in previous years, which would be difficult at this time since it is on the underneath of the pink chestnut tree leaves. It was on a pine tree, and as I was taking a few photos, I heard a high pitch note, looked up and found a goldcrest happily feeding up in the tree. I tried taking a few photos but it was definitely not as cooperative as the ladybird :)

Happy Birthday to me!

My favourite flowers on my birthday, what more could I ask for? ;)