wildlife

[Hoy]

Gorgeous scenery...Hoy. I love the blue ones too. Especially beautiful is the underside of the species I have here...

Thank you Leucogenes. The butterflies were sunbathing so I couldn't get picture of the underside. But I agree the underside is the most beautiful!

Here you can see both sides of the wings of both sexes! Lycaena virgaurea.

Female




Male




My finger!

[Leucogenes]

Wow...this lycaena virgaurea is terrific. I've never seen him in my home before.

Apparently, we have another passion in common... Hoy. Watching insects in my garden is a great pleasure for me.

Here are some more examples of the last few days...

[Leucogenes]

For several days I had been on the "hunt" for Vanessa atalanta... the "Admiral". In my childhood, I saw him often... but now he's rarely here.

Strangely enough, this one comes to my rockery every evening at 6:30 p.m. to be precise. I managed to get a photo... in combination with the beautiful foliage of Senecio incanus var. incanus.

It was a good day for me...😏

[Hoy]

Wow...this lycaena virgaurea is terrific. I've never seen him in my home before.

Apparently, we have another passion in common... Hoy. Watching insects in my garden is a great pleasure for me.

Here are some more examples of the last few days...

Nice pictures!

The Lycaena virgaurea (we call it 'gullvinge' (golden wing)) is common here. This summer I have seen many, especially at our mountain cabin.

The Admiralis is often seen here, although they say it doesn't stay here during winter. Last year they arrived in 1000s together with Vanessa cardui and Aglais io. I had hundreds in my garden at the same time. This year only one or two.

Photographs from last year in my garden.

[Maggi Young]

Elsewhere  in the  forum, Lesley  Cox in New Zealand  suggested  this  photo....

"A dozen fantails, and sometimes more, have started roosting in this Mosgiel shed. Photo / Stephen Jaquiery
Otago Daily Times

Mosgiel livestock vet Victoria Chapman has been delighted to discover more than a dozen fantails roosting snugly together on a jasmine vine in her shed.

Chapman has recently been living elsewhere while builders undertake renovations at her Bush Rd property, and was pleased to learn from them last week that the fantails had just started roosting in the brick farm shed.

The birds began roosting at dusk, shortly after 5pm, then flew off at dawn and, through the day, also visited the builders by flying into the nearby farmhouse while they worked, she said.

An old jasmine vine had grown not only on the shed's exterior wall, but had also ventured inside and through part of the roof, a loop of vine just below roof level providing a convenient indoor perch which was warmer than alternative roosts outside, exposed to winter winds."

[Tristan_He]

Here we call Lycaena virgauraea 'Scarce Copper'. It's actually very scarce as it doesn't breed in Britain, but I think there may be the occasional vagrant. I would love to have these beautiful jewels in the garden.

Leucogenes - Red Admirals were a bit hit and miss here when I was young, but are increasingly common in Britain due to the milder winters we get, meaning they now frequently overwinter successfully. A couple of years ago we had about 30 visit the garden to feed on Buddleia at the end of August.

What are yours feeding on Trond? Is it an Inula? Aglais io (Peacock) loves the flowers of Inula hookeri here.

[Hoy]

......

What are yours feeding on Trond? Is it an Inula? Aglais io (Peacock) loves the flowers of Inula hookeri here.

Tristan, they're feeding on Telekia speciosa, a garden plant that also has escaped into the wild.

[cohan]

Nice to see the butterflies, everyone I've realised this year that perhaps my greatest garden satisfaction (maybe especially now when everything is a 'bit' out of control ) is to see the vast variety of pollinators enjoying the flowers-- all sorts of flower flies, many native bees, butterflies, etc--  even got a glimpse of a hummingbird visiting a Dianthus the other day
Bee on Canadanthus modestus, a native aster which is now in the gardens in a few spots, I may have sprinkled seed there, or not, I forget



A fly (Drone Fly/ Flower Fly, I guess?) on Achillea I've been amazed to realize over the last few years how many wonderful flies there are, and how many are important pollinators!



Tachinid Fly on Anaphalis in the garden -- these are big flies but not keen to sit still for photos; larvae tend to be gruesome parasites on other insects/caterpillars etc.. adults feed on nectar or not at all



Tiny moth which I've only ever noticed on Tanacetum and Achillea, sometimes in good number, though only a couple around these plants... They are also very wary and tricky to shoot!

[Lesley Cox]

Hello Cohan, your photos are superb, a real pleasure to see, including their insecty subjects.
How are things chugging along in Canada? We hear so much garbage from the chief American mouth that not much else gets through. I hope you yourself are very well and the virus is under some kind of control too.
Keep on with those lovely photos.

[Hoy]

Nice to see the butterflies, everyone I've realised this year that perhaps my greatest garden satisfaction (maybe especially now when everything is a 'bit' out of control ) is to see the vast variety of pollinators enjoying the flowers-- all sorts of flower flies, many native bees, butterflies, etc--  even got a glimpse of a hummingbird visiting a Dianthus the other day

Cohan, do you think the number of insects are the same as ever?

I am a bit concerned as I think the number of all kind of insects  have diminished the last 10-20 years.

[Hoy]

This mountain hare (Lepus timidus) was born here in the spring and it has stayed around all summer.





This is the commonest "wild" animal here!

[Gail]

Any ideas as to what these very green eggs might be on the underside of a pelargonium leaf?

[Maggi Young]

Any ideas as to what these very green eggs might be on the underside of a pelargonium leaf?

No idea - but  it  seems  this  introduced butterfly is  a  pest  of  pelargonium and  geraniums  -so a  possibility ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geranium_bronze      - mentions  green eggs!

[Gail]

Interesting, thank you Maggi. I just went out to check on them but they have disappeared so not sure if they've hatched and walked off or,  we currently have a lot of ladybirds, who I suppose may like green eggs (and ham!).

[cohan]

Hello Cohan, your photos are superb, a real pleasure to see, including their insecty subjects.
How are things chugging along in Canada? We hear so much garbage from the chief American mouth that not much else gets through. I hope you yourself are very well and the virus is under some kind of control too.
Keep on with those lovely photos.

Thanks, Lesley. Like many places, the virus had been brought quite low here, then things were opened up more again ( though in the small town where I worked, it never felt that closed!) and the stats for my province are back up (nothing like the U.S. though)- mostly in the bigger cities, but the town I work in has a lot of tourists passing through on the way to the mountains, so I think locals are foolish to think that because we had virtually no cases earlier (when there were no tourists yet!) we are safe... oh well.. I am on the frontlines in food service...
Yes, the crazy goings on in the world and some of the crazy leaders seem to suck up all the attention of the world we can counteract that a little here, anyway! Hope you feel better and are able to get some gardening done!