Wildlife summer 2012

[daveyp1970]

Good pic though Ron i will go back and try and get some  Banded Demoiselle pics for you.

[ronm]

i will go back and try and get some  Banded Demoiselle pics for you.

And if it leads you to some more unusual orchids ........

[daveyp1970]

  ..They are my good luck charm now!

[ronm]

They certainly are your 'truffle pigs' . 

I'm thinking mine may be Troglodytes troglodytes or perhaps Vanessa atalanta.

[Anthony Darby]

The Black Darter. Afraid so Anthony, its become a syn. of S. danae. A particular favourite of yours?

Yes. At a duck flight pond made from two remodelled curling ponds at Kilmahog, just outside Callander it was the commonest dragonfly.

Those parasites on the puss moth caterpillar looked like the external type. Would removing them have saved the caterpillar?

[ronm]

Those parasites on the puss moth caterpillar looked like the external type. Would removing them have saved the caterpillar?

 ......... and killed the parasites . Not something I would ever do Anthony.

[Anthony Darby]

......... and killed the parasites . Not something I would ever do Anthony.

Alas many species, the success of parasites has tipped the balance. Climate change probably reduced the numbers of large tortoiseshell butterflies in England to critical levels, but the species suffered huge losses to parasites and it's now gone.

Addition: many years ago I was sent a dozen Bassaris gonerilla pupae from New Zealand. 11 of them produced parasitic wasps.

[daveyp1970]

A pair of lovely skippers on a thistle.

Can somebody confirm this as a leopard slug.

 i managed to get a shot of some swallow chicks on the nest.

[ronm]

"Can somebody confirm this as a leopard slug.?"

It certainly is, Limax maximus. each individual has its own unique skin patterning. An incredible creature in so many ways, and its mating behaviour, well...

Great pics Davey.

[Anthony Darby]

Unusual colour for swallow chicks?

[daveyp1970]

Unusual colour for swallow chicks?

I really couldn't say Anthony.
I think this is a banded demoiselle

A black tailed skimmer

and a mating pair

a mating pair of green veined whites

[ronm]

Unusual colour for swallow chicks?

They seem very normal to me  . Why are you thinking they are unusual for SWALLOWS Anthony? The one on the right is just beginning to show the pink breast. Are we missing something??

Thanks for getting a Banded Demoiselle, Calopteryx splendens, Davey. Was this from the same site? The one you show is the male.

Fantastic Skimmer pics and the much persecuted ( wrongly ) Green Veined White. 

[daveyp1970]

Same site Ron and i found another epipactis so that makes it 21 plants in totall.

[ronm]

  What an amazing area. I really don't know anywhere else with such a diversity of habitats and associated flora and fauna in such an accessible locale. 

[Anthony Darby]

They seem very normal to me  . Why are you thinking they are unusual for SWALLOWS Anthony? The one on the right is just beginning to show the pink breast. Are we missing something??

Just very subdued colours.