NOVEMBER 14th MEETING RESCHEDULED TO 28th NOVEMBER DUE TO FLOODING

Following the cancellation at short notice of the meeting on November 14th our Chairman, Brian, has rescheduled the meeting to be on November 28th - details on the 'Meetings Programme' page.

Look Out For Winter Visitors!

Yesterday (30th October) we had our first Brambling of the winter visiting our garden. There were two of them.

If you feed the birds in your garden, or if you have trees with berries, the birds that visit in winter are now arriving in good numbers, and it's time to look out for them, and maybe supplement what you normally have on offer. Birds such the thrushes (Fieldfare, Redwing, Song Thrush, and even Blackbird) will probably be grateful for half-apples left on the ground or stuck on the ends of branches or canes. Siskin, Brambling, and Lesser Redpoll will appreciate sunflower hearts.

Brambling (Fringilla montifringilla) - Ashby de la Zouch garden on 30th October, 2019

Black Slip Wasp

Group member Katherine Moore has found a Black Slip Wasp and sent a photo. This fierce-looking ichneumonid is parasitic, laying its eggs in the caterpillars of butterflies and moths. This one is a female and the 'spike' on the tail-end of the abdomen is an ovipositor, rather than a sting. It is a species mainly seen in the autumn.

Black Slip Wasp (Pimpla rufipes) (female) - Blackfordby garden

Painted Lady

Here's an image of a Painted Lady (under wing), taken here in Blackfordby earlier this year.

They really are lovely visitors.

Spreading northwards to the UK and Ireland from the desert  of North Africa and the Middle East, in some years they are abundant, frequenting gardens and other flowery places in late sum They feed on thistles, mallow and common or garden nettles.

David Tideswell's Garden Bird Goo Recipe

On Thursday 17th October, the group was treated to an excellent talk (informative, and highly entertaining!) by David Tideswell on 'Garden Birds in Autumn and Winter'. In that talk, David mentioned his home-made 'Log Goo' - greatly enamoured by birds. Afterwards, it was suggested by several members that, with David's permission, the recipe for his goo be published here - well here it is!

Thank you again, David, for the recipe and for a wonderful and inspiring talk!

The Nuthatch

As winter approaches, the Nuthatch seems to get more attracted to the garden bird feeders. Although its favourite food is probably peanuts, it is also rather fond of sunflower hearts and some mixed seeds too.

The Nuthatch is the only British bird that can descend a vertical tree trunk on foot! 

Nuthatch (Sitta europaea) - Ashby de la Zouch

Bedroom Moths

Last week I accidentally left the bedroom light on in the evening, when the the top light window was open. My wife was not amused at bed time when we found that three moths had found their way into the bedroom - although I was quite excited, particularly as two of them were the fabulously spectacular Angle Shades. I have never had one of these come to my moth trap, but I did have another one a few days previous to this which had also found its way into the house - presumably through the bedroom window also, as it was on the landing.

Angle Shades (Phlogophora meticulosa) - Ashby de la Zouch bedroom

The other moth was a specimen of the intriguingly-named Setaceous Hebrew Character

Setaceous Hebrew Character (Xestia c-nigrum) - Ashby de la Zouch bedroom

I suspect that my wife won't let me get away with this ploy again. However, if you don't have a moth trap and you want to see a few moths, why not leave a light on and a window open, in an uncluttered room?!  If you do, please let us know how you get on!

 

Holly Blues Egg-laying - early August, 2019

We have an Ivy-clad wall to one side of the garden, and Holly Blue butterflies have been with us for most of the past week. At one time we had three of them, which is more than I've ever seen together anywhere! They were all busy ovipositing on the Ivy flower buds, which the caterpillars will feed on after hatching.

Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) (female, ovipositing) - Ashby de la Zouch garden

Exciting Finds on the Ashby Bypass - early July, 2019

Early in July, Brian Hammond, our group Chairman, was travelling along the Ashby de la Zouch bypass when an interesting-looking flower at the roadside caught his eye. He later made a return visit and made some very interesting discoveries, which he later publicised to the group. I was more than a little interested, and Brian very kindly offered to meet me on the evening of Friday 12th July and show me what he had found. Here's how the evening unfolded.

I arrived at the appointed lay bye to find Brian waiting there - his son had dropped him off a little earlier.  We set off along the northern grass verge and things soon started to get interesting, with plenty of insect life including many grasshoppers.

Six-spot Burnet (Zygaena philipendulae stephensi f. unitella) - Ashby bypass

Lesser Marsh Grasshopper (Chorthippus albomarginatus) - Ashby bypass

There were two plants that had caught Brian's eye. The first was an unusually dark pink form of  Common Hogweed (usually white or pale pink) and the second was a white form of Musk Mallow (more commonly pink).

Common Hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) - Ashby bypass

Musk Mallow (Malva Moschata) - Ashby bypass

The real botanical find that Brian had made, however, as far as I was concerned, was a colony of Bee Orchids. Sadly these were now way past their best. There was some variation between flowers, partly through age, but also in markings.

Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera) - Ashby bypass

We'd seen Common Spotted Orchid on the embankment on the south side of the road, so crossed over to investigate. I'm no expert, but I believe these all to be Common Spotted Orchid, although there was much variation in flower colour and markings.

Common Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) - Ashby bypass

Brian had told me he'd also seen Marbled White butterfly here and this, in fact, had been my main target for this visit. We had, however, not seen any and were thinking it was too late in the day. I'd seen a set of steps ascending the bank and decided to take a look, closely followed by Brian. It proved to be a good move as we found several Marbled White flying around at the top.

The first, below, is a female - you can tell by the brownish leading edge to the forewings, and they also show some brown underneath. The other two are males - showing no brown. Very smart butterflies!

Marbled White (Melanargia galathea) (female) - by Ashby bypass

Marbled White (Melanargia galathea) (male) - by Ashby bypass

In the past, I've travelled to Ketton Quarry, the other side of Oakham, to get my annual Marbled White fix (and also for Bee Orchid), so I'm delighted to know that there's a colony almost on my doorstep. Thank you, Brian - I shall be looking out for these next year.