Wildlife summer 2012

[daveyp1970]

Davey I'm getting this box made for me but thicker than 4mm
http://www.meades.org/moths/moths.html scroll to the bottom

Thank you Mark,what has been your best capture?,i might see of one my friends will knock one up for me,Ron was telling me  they(when i say they i am not sure who governs this) are trying to pass a law,that you have to have a licence to Moth trap 

[Anthony Darby]

I get all my moth trap supplies from Paul Batty pwbelg@clara.co.uk, http://www.pwbelg.clara.net/mercury/index.html.  I wish I hadn't sold my Robinson MV trap (got over £200 on Ebay for it), which had done me proud since 1971.

[daveyp1970]

I get all my moth trap supplies from Paul Batty pwbelg@clara.co.uk, http://www.pwbelg.clara.net/mercury/index.html.  I wish I hadn't sold my Robinson MV trap (got over £200 on Ebay for it), which had done me proud since 1971.

Thank you Anthony you are a star.

[mark smyth]

I can understand that Davey. Some people I know are trapping 100s of moths a night. Nothing specatular in my trap so far

[Hoy]

What do you do with the trapped moths except filing the observations?

A friend of mine in the youth was out every night with a butterfly net. He used a small boat and visited all the lamps on the piers. He had an excellent collection.


BTW here's picture of the female. She had to rest a while after the coupling that lasted several hours. She is resting on a Solidago virgaurea

[ArnoldT]

A large caterpillar of Luna moth.

Actias luna

[Natalia]

Hui, excellent photo!

ArnoldT, very interesting

This young toad-alpinist   on  stones tops  in shady garden.

[ronm]

Visited the RSPB reserve at Bempton Cliffs, East Yorkshire today, home to the largest colony of Gannets, Morus bassanus, on mainland UK. We like to visit at least a couple of times per year and can thoroughly recommend it to anyone with an interest in nature and wildlife. Access to view the seabird colonies is easy and because of the sheer cliff faces, incredibly spectacular. Huge numbers of birds can be seen including Puffins, Fratercula arctica, at the right time of year.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/b/bemptoncliffs/index.aspx

Some of what we saw -

[ronm]

To round off a 'big smiley' type of day, we got home to find this male Great Spotted Woodpecker, Dendrocopos major, helping himself to peanuts. We find these are shy, nervous birds. Apologies for the poor picture, but I was at full zoom with our little camera.
The numbers have been growing in our area recently,  . Such a beautiful bird.

[daveyp1970]

A large caterpillar of Luna moth.

Actias luna

Arnold do you raise Lunas?

[ronm]

A few minutes ago, the local Crows were going crazy and mobbed this bird viciously. But it wouldn't be put off seeking a bed for the night on our island in the pond  .
They often visit us during the day for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but it's the first time we've noticed one roost with us .
The Grey Heron, Ardea cinerea.
What a great birding day we've had

[daveyp1970]

Superb birding day Ron. Grey heron in the garden incredible.

[Roma]

A few squirrel pictures.  Some were taken early July and the rest in the last few days.  Their tails are interesting just now.  Most of them have blonde tails in summer but they are getting in their winter tail hair now and most are very dark.  Image 19 is a young squirrel.  The tail hair is evenly short and looks much tidier than the adults.

[Roma]

More pics

[Paul T]

The squirrels are SOoooooooo cute!!    I love the Puffins as well.  Must be amazing to see them in real life rather than on a nature programme.