wildlife

[Ian Y]

Just as Roma reported we have a pair of Bullfinches eating Viola seeds pictures taken through the kitchen window.

[brianw]

Raining again ;-(

What did I say ;-(

Taken, through the window, 5 minutes apart.

(Fine netting round birch is to keep deer from damaging the bark)

[t00lie]

Had some company recently with a flock of 4 NZ Fantails ,( Rhipidura fuliginosa), flitting from perch to perch close by while checking an area I sprayed a few weeks back in preparation for the upcoming local Landcare Group's planting day .....
Despite their near constant moment ,(especially of their tail feathers ),I managed to get a reasonable close up of one of them. 

Cheers Dave.

[Carolyn]

Super picture, Dave. But so difficult to photograph, I've never managed a decent shot yet! They seem unbothered by human company and will flit around quite close by. Quite magical.

[t00lie]

Super picture, Dave. But so difficult to photograph, I've never managed a decent shot yet! They seem unbothered by human company and will flit around quite close by. Quite magical.

Thanks Carolyn
They are quite inquisitive and often when working outside in the garden they will flit just above me showing off their acrobatic skills ,gliding ,stopping and changing direction in mid flight as well as hovering.. We have on occasions ,(Hild thinks close to a dozen instances), had them fly inside the house for brief periods during summer when the sliding doors are open ......

Cheers Dave.

[Lesley Cox]

We had one in the house a couple of days ago. Jolly useful as he cleaned up the spiders on our 10 ft high ceiling in the kitchen. No way I was getting up there!

[Darren]

Can anyone identify this luminous green spider in our garden yesterday? It is the exact colour of high-vis jackets and just less than 1cm long.

[Lesley Cox]

Nice little bloke, obviously not afraid to be noticed.

[Matt T]

Can anyone identify this luminous green spider in our garden yesterday? It is the exact colour of high-vis jackets and just less than 1cm long.

Your spider is Araneus cucurbitinus, Darren. This is a praticularly brightly coloured individual.

[Darren]

Thank you Matt, it was really quite striking in the sunshine. We had never seen one quite like it.

As you say Lesley - not afraid to be noticed, though it did drop off it's perch every time I pointed the camera at it!

[annew]

I can't resist it either - seriously adorable. Oops, I only got as far as the dormouse! 

[Gerdk]

Some insects in my garden

1.-3. A comma and a large white on Buddleia
4.     A bumblebee on African Blue Basil (Ocimum kilimandscharicum x basilicum 'Dark Opal',
       which acts like a magnet especially to several species of bumblebees
5.    Anthidium manicatum - a wool-unsing bee on Leonurus cardiaca -
       (if I googled the insect correctly)

Gerd

[Gerdk]

Some insects in my garden

This is one of my neighbours bees (he is able to identify them) drinking in my birth bath.

Gerd

[Maggi Young]

I love that your neighbour knows all his own bees, Gerd!

[Gerdk]

Maggi, after I showed him this picture, he told me that he identified 'Marie Louise',  his best honey collector 

Gerd