wildlife

[ian mcdonald]

Intermediate sundew.



Long leaved sundew.



Sneezewort.





Brown beak sedge.

Dunlin and ringed plover.

[ian mcdonald]

Bitter vetch, Lathyrus montanus.



same thing happened here. I clicked on in-line full size image and it did not display as others.

[Maggi Young]

Some of the wildlife local to me here in Derbyshire. Not sure what I'm doing wrong but looking at the attached photos, it seems the forum changes the colour and reduces their sizes.

 The forum has an automatic sizing feature. Looking at the photos direct on Twitter I cannot say I see any difference in colours.
 

[Maggi Young]

Bitter vetch, Lathyrus montanus.


same thing happened here. I clicked on in-line full size image and it did not display as others.

  In your case, you used the attach code not the attachimg code, Ian.

[ian mcdonald]

Thanks Maggi, as my school reports used to say (the better ones that is) tries hard but could do better.

[Maggi Young]

Oh Ian, if I only had a pound for every time I've been described as "trying" !!!! 

[brianw]

Had to chase some squirrels out of the garden a few times this morning. Ignore them most of the time as they go round on the power lines, and only get annoyed when they try to get at the bird feeders, all of which are protected types. Today one came up to the house by the french window, and later I noticed some pots of Dianthus had all been grazed down. They have been there for some years and never touched before, but are in the neighbours garden: by deer we thought. Not been aware of deer that close to the house before although plenty around. A corpse has been slowly cleaned by Red Kytes or foxes over the last few weeks.

[FrazerHenderson]

Great start to the New Year:
a scould of Jays (three), a volery of Long-tailed Tits (12), two Goldcrests and a bellowing of Bullfinches (eight).

[ashley]

gathering pollen

[jomowi]

Found this shield bug underneath the hasp on my shed.  Looking at pictures on Google, it most closely resembles the hawthorn shield bug, but you can't always rely on the accuracy of Google and there are no hawthorns anywhere nearby.  I have a birch tree a few feet away, and the birch shield bug looks similar.  Can anyone be more positive, please?  Maureen

[Tristan_He]

Hi Maureen,

According to this key it looks to be hawthorn shieldbug. Presumably your shed is a really good place to hibernate, hawthorn or no hawthorn!

Tristan

[WSGR]

Lovely flitting tits

[brianw]

Hi. I have against the south wall of our house a narrow sheltered bed ( visible through the glazed doors) with display pots mainly, which include several pinks/carnations. These have rooted through and don’t get moved. A few months back these were eaten almost to the ground. Ragged gnarled stumps left. As I get deer in the garden many/most nights, I assumed this was them, but recently some large pots of cyclamen (in winter storage alongside) hederifolium and graecum, have had their leaf stems bitten through, leaving the actual leaves on the ground and longish stumps on the pots. I doubt deer would do this so assume it is mice, which I see the odd one of occasionally in the day time. There are many other cyclamen elsewhere in the open garden, and in odd pots, which don’t show any similar damage.

Anyone else had this problem with cyclamen?

[ashley]

Yes I've just had a similar experience.  Several large plants of C. mirabile in pots side-by-side on the greenhouse floor were suddenly shorn of every single leaf.  Other cyclamen nearby (persicum, libanoticum & coum) remain untouched, so far at least. 

In the garden, maturing cyclamen seed capsules are sometimes eaten too in late June/July.  When it happens it's remarkably thorough: every last capsule within an area taken and over just a night or two.  Mice may be responsible but I also suspect bank voles which are an invasive species here.  The latter certainly eat emerging flower shoots on hellebores in November or December, again very thoroughly, so that some years I'm left with not a single flower from many plants in one particular area.  Presumably the capsules/shoots are highly palatable when they reach a critical stage of development (e.g. sugar content).  No easy remedies unfortunately.

[brianw]

I posted too soon. Found a group of Cyclamen hederifolium with many leaves eaten off and deer prints right next to them. These were minus leaf and stem, unlike those near the house where they seem to drop most of the leaves but eat sections of the stem. So far they seem to have left the C. coum in full flower alongside. Seems I have very choosy/clumsy deer. I was going to plant some Fritillary imperialis in the same bed but having second thoughts now. Maybe the smell will put them off or is that just the actual flowers and they won't get that far?