Wildlife February 2012

[Lesley Cox]

When a mouse is frozen its tail is the stick.

I love it even more.

[johnw]

just looks like a fox to me

As it moves right to left 00:03-00:06 the gait is unquestionably that of a fox. Who are these "experts"?

In southwestern Nova Scotia several years ago I saw a cougar crossing the road. They have been seen by quite a few people but no one has ever presented concrete evidence. So official policy - they are not here; the only native cats are wildcats and lynx, neither of which have the long swooping tail.

johnw

[Anthony Darby]

Can't think of any lynx between the last topic and this apart from it being furry. It's about 1 cm long but I've not identified the moth.

[RichardW]

just looks like a fox to me

As it moves right to left 00:03-00:06 the gait is unquestionably that of a fox. Who are these "experts"?

In southwestern Nova Scotia several years ago I saw a cougar crossing the road. They have been seen by quite a few people but no one has ever presented concrete evidence. So official policy - they are not here; the only native cats are wildcats and lynx, neither of which have the long swooping tail.

johnw

self publicists who make some sort of living spouting rubbish to anyone who will listen 

[ronm]

Are we all watching the BBC 2 , bees butterflies etc.? Maybe we should be and adding our collective weight behind Sarahs initiative. East Yorkshire ' Countryside' is a desert!

[Lesley Cox]

I'm thinking the first one might be an old faded female?

There are a lot of us about Anthony.

[daveyp1970]

Are we all watching the BBC 2 , bees butterflies etc.? Maybe we should be and adding our collective weight behind Sarahs initiative. East Yorkshire ' Countryside' is a desert!

I agree Ron

[ronm]

Two of us to start then Davey!
Unfortunately programme promised challenge and delivered nothing. This has to be one of the biggest challenges facing this country (and many others), and yet 'lawn politics' is allowed an equal say! Where are my Garden Tiger Moths? Thousands 30 years ago, now, here, none!
I thought given the initial publicity that this program would try to ignite passion, to poke people into action! Maybe it provoked them into planting a seed tray of marigolds!
Guess localised micro action has to be the way forward. Good luck to all who try.

[Anthony Darby]

Garden tigers used to be found on weeds growing under hedges. The muppets in the councils now strim or spray weed killer to "tidy them up" so there are none of these habitats left.

[Armin]

Garden tigers are typical culture escapees - they simply cannot cope with our urban conditions and our highly mechanized agriculture.

Beside poisons, traffic light traps and too early mowing of meadows (=loss of food plants & reduction of biodiversity) are fatal for them. They appear only in 1. Generation during the year, so their reproduction rate is comparatively small to other moths.

It is not a UK-trend only that the numbers of this beautiful moth decrease significantly.

[Anthony Darby]

I came across a pheromone trap for gypsy moths (Limantria dispar) on a small tree at Christmas. it used to be a British moth, but climate change did for it. It is a pest in the USA, having been introduced there. It is still found in Europe, but doesn't become a plague like it can in the USA. The common name for the tiger moth being garden tiger, so it is found in gardens. South, in his 1961 revision of his 1908 book "The Moths of the British Isles" says it "is not at all an uncommon object throughout the country, and is, perhaps, even more often noticed in garden, including those of suburban London.". I remember finding 'woolly bears' in my garden in Loughborough over 50 years ago. Pesticides then came in metal containers with a pump, but don't remember them being used except for flies.

I keep seeing this huge fish, nearly 2' long, in the storm water settling ponds, where the grass carp (which can grow huge) has been introduced to keep down aquatic vegetation. Couldn't get a good pic as it was being coy. This is not a grass carp.

[Graham Catlow]

Anthony,
If it was being coy - maybe it's a Koi

[Peter Maguire]

Saw my first Garden Tiger Moth for many years last summer on Lindisfarne. In my new (still shiny!) field guide to British moths, it mentions the tidying up of hedgerows as a cause for decline, but apparently there is also some statistical evidence that links declining adult numbers with the more frequently occuring mild, wet January/cold February weather increasing the mortality of overwintering larvae.

Just like this year in fact....

[Armin]

Peter,
the loss of hedgerows and unfavourable weather conditions are likely addtional causes.
I have no doubts if a population is already weakend one bad winter can extirpate them.

Continued losses of natural habitats and urbanisation don't get along with high biodiversity
It's time to change...but I'm not sure we can stop the species shrinkage

[Anthony Darby]

Here's the gypsy moth trap, the storm water sign and some views of the ponds (note the big grass carp), which have run off water entering and a (usually) small, steep, fast flowing channelled stream leaving. The paradise shell ducks have recently returned from their summer haunts and will stay until spring, feeding on the reserves nearby. The female has the white head. They both make weird, but different, sounds.