Wildlife mid 2009

[Ragged Robin]

Ace shot of the roe deer leaping over the fence, Anthony, they move so quickly!  Heidi really is a character leaping to catch flies - ours used to snap at wasps - not such a good idea!

How do you cook puff balls?  I did know you could eat them but after eating a huge field mushroom in Scotland once I was desperately unwell - I should have know it was too perfect and obviously another variety - we picked them every year but they were smaller 

[Anthony Darby]

I love the smell of Valerian and found a couple of plants on my walk last night.

According to The Observer's Book of Mushrooms, Toadstools and Other Common Fungi "The flesh of young specimens is very tender and delicious. It should be sliced and fried in egg and bread crumbs and served with a good sauce (white parsley, or brown onion, etc.), but should be eaten before the flesh begins to turn yellow". I have tried the Common Puffball (Lycoperdon perlatum) and it tasted like omelette.

[Paddy Tobin]

Valerian is a very common wall plant here, growing wild, and some white-flowered plants are regularly seen.

Puffballs! - "Horse's Farts" to us!

Paddy

[Rodger Whitlock]

I love the smell of Valerian and found a couple of plants on my walk last night.

Valerian root is cat-attractive, in case anyone's pussycat is getting tired of being handed catnip when it wants to get stoned.

[mark smyth]

Anthony to my nose Valerian smells of stinking socks

[Anthony Darby]

You must have such nice socks Mark? You certainly can't be thinking of Valeriana officinilis, which is very sweetly scented.

[cohan]

Roma your Small tortoiseshell looks wonderful on the wild white Valerian and the wing patterns are so pretty - lucky the V survived so you had this wonderful sight!  Persanally I love seeing Valerian (white and pink) on the verge and in rough spots - it certainly attracts insects of all sorts. I bet Stephen grows it in his garden in Norway!

Couldn't resist this snippet from Wikipedia:

i knew the sedative properties, but warding off the envy of elves is quite interesting!

[Armin]

Roma,
nice colorful picture of Small Tortoiseshell. I'm pleased to see. So rare now in my area.

Anthony,
very good shots of the jumping roe deer and your dog.
You just pushed the botton at the right time
The puffball is realy large.

Today I bother you all with another moth I found by chance resting on my house wall.

Emmelia trabealis: Spotted Sulphur / Ackerwinden-Bunteulchen
-a species of small moth of the family Noctuidae. It is found in Europe, its range is bordered by the Ural Mountains.
It is said to be extinct in the UK? (Anthony - any comments?

The wingspan is 18-24 mm. The moth flies from May to August depending on the location.
The larvae feed on Convolvulus arvensis (Field-Bindweed / Ackerwinde).

In Germany the population numbers seem to shrink and the specis is set on a prewarning list of endangered species.

[Ragged Robin]

What a wonderful combination of colour and markings on that Spotted Sulphur Moth, Armin - Does it fly by day? 

[Armin]

Robin,
the moth is night active and hiding during day.
The larvae eats during the night on the flowers of Field-Bindweed.

[Anthony Darby]

Not one I've seen Armin. Spotted Sulphur (Emmelia trabealis)  was found in eastern counties (Breck district of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire) in the 19^th century (The Moths of the British Isles Richard South, 1907). Bernard Skinner (The Colour Identification Guide to Moths of the British Isles, 1984) confirms this, adding that it may have been resident only in Kent, around Darenth, Dover and Folkestone. It has not been seen in Britain since 1960.

[Roma]

I find the scent of valerian quite pleasant at a distance but not close to.

[Stephenb]

Persanally I love seeing Valerian (white and pink) on the verge and in rough spots - it certainly attracts insects of all sorts. I bet Stephen grows it in his garden in Norway!

I do indeed and here it is. It was covered in moths earlier this evening, but I've never seen butterflies on it. By the far the most popular butterfly plants in my garden are 1) Eupatorium cannabinum 2) Buddliea davidii

I tried to get our cat interested in valerian root a few years ago, but it was totally uninterested. It grazed my catnips to death though. It was less interested in Lemon Catnip,  Nepeta cataria citrata, but that one wasn't reliably hardy, so I have neither now...

The talk about Valerians reminded me of some pictures of misfit Valerians which I had been meaning to post - I'll post them in a more suitable place later.

[Anthony Darby]

Methinks Mark is referring to Centranthus ruber?

[Ragged Robin]

An absolutely appalling day here with thunderstorms, lightening, torrential rain but when I went for a walk in a forest clearing in a brief interlude this gorgeous butterfly was carrying on as normal 

I think it is a Large Ringlet and love its dark chocolate furry coat with orange pieces!