Wildlife March 2011

[daveyp1970]

Mark they are very life like,do they do all british bird eggs,yellow hammers are very pretty or the very rare stone curlew,as a kid birds(the feathered kind)butterflies,moths,small mammals was every thing i did,i have a badgers skull in the garage that i bleached for one of my nephews.

[Anthony Darby]

The preferred host plant for the red admiral is the native nettle Urtica ferox which has not gained a lot of popularity as a garden plant despite being the runner up for New Zealand's favourite plant for 2010.  

  Really? How come it's so popular? I think I read once that someone once fell into a bed of this nettle and subsequently died - the stingers are certainly ferocious looking...

Must get an Urtica ferox bush (yet to see one)! I quite fancy rearing the red admiral, although I have heard it is not easy. I have few a large black nylon net cages that would be ideal. Do my bit for conservation as it is heavily parasitised and thus declining. I bought a sedum so ever hopeful of attracting passing butterflies.

[Stephenb]

There has been one recorded human fatality in 1961 from Urtica ferox poisoning. I have had numerous brushes with this plant and have lived to tell the tale. A good hit is quite painful and the effects can last up to about a week. It is very common here on the Otago Peninsula especially as an understory shrub in coastal forest. Most people manage to steer well clear of it except botanists who inevitably blunder into it. The participants in the competition for New Zealand's favourite plant are conservationists, ecologists and persons of that ilk who are interested in preserving native biodiversity rather than the better house and garden set. However I doubt in these risk adverse times, that children will be encouraged to grow indigenous Urtica ferox to raise red admiral butterflies in the same way that swan plants (an exotic) are marketed to feed exotic monarch butterfly caterpillars. I saw both red and yellow admiral butterflies feeding on a Sedum today.

The NZ tourist board doesn't do much to warn the tourists though! I remember walking in to some caves on the west coast and the path in to the cave was lined with high Urtica ferox plants hanging over the path. I gingerly edged my way up the path to avoid getting stung. Suddenly an oriental guy came running down the path apparently oblivious to the "danger" - he must have got stung or do you avoid getting stung if brushing the plants at speed? 

[Stephenb]

Saw my first migrants yesterday - Oystercatcher and Starling!

[Anthony Darby]

Took a pic of this Golden Bell-frog (Litoria aurea) on the lawn today. I returned it to its patch of rushes this evening.

[Anthony Darby]

Not sure what these monarchs were doing as they are both male!

[Anthony Darby]

This is the tiniest damsel fly I've every seen - the Gossamer damsel fly (Ischnura aurora). I will try to get a better pic, but it landed on our lounge wall before floating away. It is less than 25mm long.

[mark smyth]

Davey Emerald Eggs made them but they have now stopped. There was a series of 100. Those that have them are keeping them. Like snowdrops they sell for stupid money

Stephen do all 'your' starlings come to the UK or maybe Scotland for the winter? Aberdeen has impressive winter roosts

Anthony what has happened to your photography? It's brilliant. The frog and gay butterflies are brilliant

[Anthony Darby]

Anthony what has happened to your photography? It's brilliant. The frog and gay butterflies are brilliant

New lens and something called (at least round here) "sunshine". Not figured out how to reduce the shutter speed and increase the depth of field yet.

[Stephenb]

Stephen do all 'your' starlings come to the UK or maybe Scotland for the winter? Aberdeen has impressive winter roosts

Yes, most of our starlings overwinter in the UK, either migrating over the North Sea or via Denmark. A few hang on in the outer coast - it's colder within the Trondheimsfjord area where I live and I don't remember ever seeing a starling in winter.

[David Lyttle]

The preferred host plant for the red admiral is the native nettle Urtica ferox which has not gained a lot of popularity as a garden plant despite being the runner up for New Zealand's favourite plant for 2010.  

  Really? How come it's so popular? I think I read once that someone once fell into a bed of this nettle and subsequently died - the stingers are certainly ferocious looking...

Must get an Urtica ferox bush (yet to see one)! I quite fancy rearing the red admiral, although I have heard it is not easy. I have few a large black nylon net cages that would be ideal. Do my bit for conservation as it is heavily parasitised and thus declining. I bought a sedum so ever hopeful of attracting passing butterflies.

Anthony,

You can get one from Oratia  Native Plant Nursery which is in West Auckland for the trifling sum of $15.00

[mark smyth]

60 sand martins are at the Chew Lakes near Bristol

[Michael J Campbell]

Swallows in Cork and Waterfrod today.

[David Lyttle]

A day at the beach and some megafauna

1 The beach. The elongated lump in the middle distance is a Hooker's sea lion.

2. Close up they can be quite cute. (they can also jump up and bite you) Shot with my 60mm macro lens.

3,4, 5,6,7 Posing for the camera. The light coloured one is a juvenile female and is enjoying the attention.

8 Mum is looking about

9 but cannot really be bothered

10 off looking for those interesting visitors. Once we had left she made quite a bit of fuss and headed up the creek away from the beach. when she did not find anything she came back and settled down again

[mark smyth]

The blonde seal reminds me of a labrador