Wildlife early 2009

[cohan]

The words are interchangeable in my dictionary, but I suppose it would be a marsh as there were marsh marigolds and not bog beans growing there. What ever it is called, it was boggy the day I was there, or was it marshy?

hmm--could get tricky--here, marsh marigolds (caltha) and bog beans (buckbean-menyanthes) grow together...
of course, locally, any wet area is called a 'slough' pronounced 'slew'

[Maggi Young]

Who called me  bolshie? 

An interesting word Maggi.

I find all words interesting, Anthony....have done since I was first published at the age of seven......way back in the last century!!

[ashley]

Are you sure Ashley? I would have thought only males are here.

I think so yes Mark.  The bird is back and forth with bill-fulls of larvae & grubs, and I understand that males take no part in building, brooding or rearing.

[Roma]

Anthony, the orange tip I saw yesterday was flitting along the edge of the wood at the back of the house as I was eating my lunch. I saw another today about quarter of a mile awayin a field. Both places are fairly near to boggy ground.

A rather scruffy peacock enjoying the rhododenrons yesterday.

[Lori S.]

A black-capped chickadee collecting moss for nest building; they finally selected one of the nest boxes above our fence gate, after doing a lot of tapping in all three boxes!  (The moss patch is in a disgracefully neglected area, the space between the spruce and the fence.)  Note the full beak in the second photo!

[Ragged Robin]

Lori, the chickadee is very busy - imagine the wonderful nest with that beak full of moss - your 'neglected area' must be the perfect place for collecting DIY building material. 

[Anthony Darby]

Anthony, the orange tip I saw yesterday was flitting along the edge of the wood at the back of the house as I was eating my lunch. I saw another today about quarter of a mile away in a field. Both places are fairly near to boggy ground.

A rather scruffy peacock enjoying the rhododendrons yesterday.

I haven't seen any orange tips yet. Both species are a real Scottish success story. Your peacock will mate and lay eggs next month. The resulting larvae feed on nettles and the butterflies will emerge in July/August. These will fly until September/October and then hibernate in an outhouse garage etc until next March. The orange tips will lay eggs on cuckoo flower or Jack-by-the-hedge and only one larva per plant will survive as they are fiercely cannibalistic (a Cardamine plant would only support one caterpillar anyway). They will pupate in June on a stem someway from the foodplant and emerge next April/May.

At the weekend I was down in the Wirral returning some squeaking silkmoth larvae and a huge Hercules moth larva from PNG that I was looking after for a friend. Holly blue butterflies were out. They haven't spread this far north yet.

[Armin]

Nice pictures from everybody and stories behind.

You may remember that I several times deplored on the forum the decreasing number of honey bees / pollinators in my area.

Last autuum I built a bee hotel for solitary bees to help somehow.
I drilled hundreds of holes in an oak plate, put a roof on it and fixed it on a far post.

During winter I got a bit sceptical whether it would be accept.
The moreover I'm getting surprised how quickly the new accommodation has been occupied and pleased about the increasing number of pollinators for my garden flowers:D

I would like to motivate each of you to do the same and put one bee hotel in a sunny position in your garden. Beside the support for nature it is very interesting to observe the activities around the hotel entrance(s) 

And, don't worry they won't sting you

[Armin]

more bee pictures...

If anybody knows the species name I'm glad to know.
Thanks in advance.

[Ragged Robin]

Looks like your Bee Hotel is 5 star, Armin - how deep are the holes?  Will take up your challenge when I find a suitable cut of wood 

[Armin]

Robin,

my oak plate has a thickness of ~12cm, better would be 15cm.
I drilled holes from Ø 3mm to 10mm in steps of 0.5mm using standard driller sortiment.
As deeper the hole as more larvae can develop.
Drill as deep as possible but do not drill through!
Cheers.

[tonyg]

Robin - you could go into business with your offcuts   The postage might be a bit steep though!

[Ragged Robin]

They do good rates on FlyB

[Maggi Young]

They do good rates on FlyB

 

Armin, a simple plan to follow to make your bee hotel.... I hink it is a  very good idea for us all to make such a thing.... these bees are precious to our future... this is an important project!

[Armin]

Maggi,
thanks for your support