Coal tit

There's not a lot of birdsong to be heard at the moment but one little fellow has been singing his song, "fitchew, fitchew, fitchew"

Coal tits, like goldcests, seem to like conifers so we have planted a few at Filnore to make them feel at home.  

I'm sure you could find a video of a coal tit singing on youtube by yourself, but in case you want a quick link try this:-

Coal tit calling

Insect whispering

 If you are a bird enthusiast you are known as an ornithologist or a birder. 

Alan is too modest to call himself an entomologist because he likes bugs but he thinks bug whisperer would be preferable to b*gger.

Sitting on Alan's watch strap we have a 'nymph' of the common green shield bug.  They start off round and then each time they shed their outer skeleton they get a bit more shield-shaped.  Some shield bugs also change colour at each stage or 'instar'.  

There are several species of grasshopper in Britain but I think this is a common field grasshopper.  Like bugs they do not go through a larval stage but after over-wintering as eggs, they have several instars as nymphs until they are finally mature grasshoppers.

You can see the little pegs on the femur of the hind leg, which the hopper rubs against a ridge on its wing to produce the chirrupping noise so typical of a grassy field in summer.  It's just like rubbing you thumbnail along a plastic comb - but faster.

Butterfliesand moths

One of the advantages of having a conservatory is that you see a great variety of insects who fly in during hot weather and get trapped.  Unfortunately a lot of them die before we can rescue them.  But we do get a chance to look at them close-to.

So for example you can see the club-ended antennae of this small white butterfly

and we can clearly see why this little bundle of moth is called the Silver-Y 
from the mark on its underwing.

Berried treasure

 The season of berries is upon us

The Haws on the Hawthorn will turn to a richer reddish brown as they ripen, colouring the whole bush.  

Excellent food for blackbirds, thrushes and woodmice in winter.

Rosehips rich in vitamin C.

Berries of the Wayfaring Tree are not spherical but slightly flattened

 They will turn from green through almost white to red and eventually black - nature's traffic lights - - - sort of.

And Elderberries. 

 

Cooked with apples they make a delicious jelly

Leaf cutters

The picture below is of some leaves on a Norway Maple in my garden.  Can you notice the large number of semi-circular scallops cut out of the leaf edges?

I'm sorry I wasn't quick enough to photograph the artist.  In a few seconds, before my very eyes, a leaf-cutter bee cut out a neat piece of leaf and flew off with it.  She was obviously finding the thin leaf of the Norway Maple just right to make the sausage shaped tubes to lay her eggs in.  Leaf cutter bees often use pieces cut from rose leaves.

I waited for her to come back for more but in vain.

This video on the link below is American but shows leaf cutting bees at their nests and in the act of cutting, though they are on flower petals rather than leaves.  

Just as I noticed in my garden, when the bee gets to the end of cutting the piece out it can no longer balance and falls over before zooming off.  Very entertaining to watch.  Thank you Pat R, whoever you are.

Leaf cutting bee in action

Blackberries ready

With a drop of rain to make the berries swell and some sun to ripen them, the bramble bushes are offering up their harvest.  Make sure you pick yours before October when the Devil spits on the fruit and turns it sour.

It was on September 29th, St Michael's Day or Michaelmas, that the Archangel Michael defeated Lucifer who fell from Heaven and landed on a thorny bramble bush in Hell.  Now, as the Devil, he was so cross that he spat on the fruit.

Apparently he does it every year so get and pick your blackberries as soon as they are ripe.

Here be dragons

Alan sent me this email with several photos of an impressive dragon fly.

'While I was raking down the woods this afternoon I was accosted by a hawker. Not one trying to sell something but a rather splendid dragonfly that I think is a male Southern Hawker (blue form) (Aeshna cyanea).

It circled me a few times then headed towards the hedgerow near post 19 where presumably being worn out by chasing around me it perched on a convenient stalk and had a rest in the sun.

It has amazingly big eyes which seem to touch each other on top of its head and I think it kept looking at me.'

It uses its legs as a sort of basket to catch other flying insects.  You can see the spines on the legs and the beautiful venation of the wings.  What a creature.