Blue tit fledgling, Christophstal June 2016
This heron was trying to land in the tree where the crows have been nesting. They weren't having any of it and he was chased away immediately.
Early this afternoon, we went down the valley as I wanted to take some photos of the Aruncus dioicus that is flowering nicely at the moment. We stopped off on the way to photograph the common butterbur leaves, which are spectacularly huge.
Further on, we finally rediscovered the lesser butterfly orchids we first saw a couple of years ago and haven't seen since. There were seven flower heads up there now.
On the way home, we saw these mating roman snails.
Beside the Forbach, we came across a pearl-bordered fritillary and these striped shieldbugs, which we've previously only seen in Klosterreichenbach.
These stonecrops are doing well this year - the rain has really brought them out.
We were surprised to see a few dianthus flowers beside the road.
Towards the evening, I spent some time watching the birds and got another chance to photograph the buzzard with the dangly leg.
There are a lot of jays mid-moult at the moment. This one looked like he had a mohican.
I've included yet another picture of a blue tit fledgling as I was impressed by both his bright blue legs and his iridescent blue tail feathers.
Today we noticed that the blackbirds were no longer flying in and out of the field maple beside the patio. I had a look at the nest in there and the two young birds I'd seen on Friday were gone. Hopefully they fledged, but we missed it.
I've been trying to take a decent photo of a chiffchaff on the rare occasions that I actually see as well as hear one. My camera seems to struggle with their lack of features as the photos I get are invariably not quite in focus. The photo here is the best I've managed yet.
There was a slug festival under one of the bird feeders today. I can count 21 slugs in this photo.
Chiffchaff, Christophstal June 2016
Slugfest, Christophstal June 2016
Blue tit fledgling being fed, Christophstal June 2016
Red-legged ground beetle, Carabus cancellatus, Christophstal June 2016
It was dry overnight last night for the first time in two months so I ran the moth trap. I put it up by the sheds so as not to disturb the blackbirds nesting beside the patio. There were 29 species in the trap this morning, but no new species.
The warmer weather has brought out a few butterflies. There were a few black-veined whites and some common blues about.
There are still a lot of blue tit and great tit fledglings coming to the feeders too.
In the afternoon, this beautiful bronze beetle ran across the patio. I managed to get some photos, but he was really quite speedy. This species, the red-legged ground beetle, Carabus cancellatus, is known for being a fast moving beetle.
We've not seen many red-backed shrikes this year and we've seen none since the beginning of June. Today there was a female down by the pond catching dragonflies, but she was only around for a short while.
Female Red-backed shrike, Christophstal June 2016
Today I saw what seemed to be a really large swift flying with the other swifts. On examination of the photos this becomes our 78th bird species seen from the garden; a hobby.
Hobby, Christophstal June 2016
Blackbird with food for the nest, Christophstal June 2016
Bullfinch "Spartacus", Christophstal June 2016
First thing this morning, we went for a run in Tonbach. It actually didn't rain! We saw lots of winged broom and a new plant for us; Crimson Clover - which as the name suggests is a fantastic crimson-coloured clover.
I spent the afternoon watching fledglings and adult birds collecting food for their nests. This blackbird's choice of food isn't everyone's cup-of-tea, but I'm sure it goes down well back at the nest.
This bullfinch has been coming to the garden with his partner for a few months. We've called him Spartacus in honour of his dimple. As you can see, he enjoys his food.
I had to strim the paths again today. The rain makes everything grow quickly.
We walked up to town this morning and saw this large weevil on the Steige. I've identified it as Liparus germanus. It feeds on common butterbur of which there are some large patches in the forest.
A family of great spotted woodpeckers visited today. I got some really poor photos of the adult female and this, even poorer, photo of the fledgling.
In the last couple of weeks, I've noticed a buzzard flying around with a leg dangling down. I saw him again today, but he was already off down the valley when I got my camera. Nevertheless, you can see the problem leg.
Liparus germanus, Christophstal June 2016
Great spotted woodpecker fledgling, Christophstal June 2016
Buzzard with gammy leg, Christophstal June 2016
Red deer, Christophstal June 2016
Red deer, Christophstal June 2016
Too many mushrooms, Christophstal June 2016
We've seen a young red deer around the valley a few times this week. They're usually shot as soon as they get too close to the town. Here, he/she is right over the other side of the valley. There's also an even younger deer in the deerpark. I'm not sure if it's safer there. As the deerpark is owned by the town, I presume this one could end up "in the pot" for some bigwig's banquet.
The wet weather has meant that lots of fungi has sprouted. These mushrooms on a tree stump are a bit too much to be honest.
There is also lots of slime mould on the driveway. I haven't taken a photo of that as I was still retching from the photo of the mushrooms.
There were a lot of great tit fledglings at the feeders today. Here are some photos of one of them perched on the gutters of our shed.
Great tit fledgling, Christophstal June 2016
Great tit fledgling, Christophstal June 2016
Colorado beetle, Christophstal June 2016
Perennial cornflower, Christophstal June 2016
Black redstart fledgling, Christophstal June 2016
We saw this colorado beetle sitting on stinging nettle beside the road just outside our house today. In Britain, we'd have had to call the department of agriculture as this is a reportable species. Here it is like the Japanese Knotweed - they've given up trying to control it.
There's a nice patch of perennial cornflower up towards the Finkenberg which we haven't seen before.
Towards dusk, we saw that the black redstarts that had been nesting in the roof of the house, had fledged. Here's a photo of one of them sitting in the birch.
The awful weather continues.....
We had a rare visit from a hawfinch today and he allowed me to take some photos.
The kestrel was in his usual place at the top of the tree but was eventually chased off by a jay.
This blue tit looked cheerful despite being soaked.
I managed to get a half-decent photo of a house martin in flight, probably as I was trying a new autofocus setting on my camera.
One of my lettuce shark moths emerged this morning. I collected about six caterpillars back in September, but most of them were parasitized. I didn't count the parasites that emerged so I'm not sure if there will be any more moths from my batch this year.
The emperor moth caterpillars from the eggs laid in May are now on their final instar and are really fat.
During a brief lull in the rain, we walked up to our meadow. We've seen the cows just down the valley, so they will probably be here in a few days and we wanted one last look before all the wild flowers are lost. We were happy to see that the helleborine we saw last year is back. This year we've put a fence around it, so hopefully it won't be eaten.
Hawfinch, Christophstal June 2016
Hawfinch, Christophstal June 2016
Kestrel, Christophstal June 2016
Wet blue tit, Christophstal June 2016
Grizzled skipper, Christophstal June 2016
Carpocoris sp. shield bug, Christophstal June 2016
Eyed hawk-moth, ex larva, Christophstal June 2016
Eyed hawk-moth caterpillar, Christophstal September 2015
The sun was out today and there were a fair number of butterflies flying around including this grizzled skipper.
While watching the butterflies, I noticed this bright orange and red shield bug. After a bit of research, I would guess that it is a member of the Carpocoris family, possibly C.purpureipennis. It's almost impossible to get a definitive ID from a live specimen.
Back in September last year, I collected a caterpillar from down by the pond and speculated that it was probably an eyed hawk-moth. Today, an eyed hawk-moth did indeed emerge. Unfortunately it was late in the day that I got some time to photograph it, so the light was already fading. I really wanted to get him to show his hindwing eyespots, but I didn't want to stress him too much either. The result was this rather fuzzy photo, which was the best I could manage. I've included a photo of the caterpillar from last year.
Star-of-Bethlehem, Christophstal June 2016
Sooty Copper butterfly, Christophstal June 2016
Pygmy Owl, Christophstal June 2016
Pygmy Owl, Christophstal June 2016
Black Redstarts, Christophstal June 2016
Female blackcap, Christophstal June 2016
Hawthorn blossom, Christophstal June 2016
The weather didn't look promising first thing this morning. It was raining really heavily and the forecast was for a lot more.
However, around 14:00, it brightened up and stopped raining.
I did some strimming as the recent warm, wet weather has made everything grow really quickly. The grass I strimmed last week was already in need of another trim.
I think it is fair to say that we've researched the plants on our little pieces of land quite thoroughly, so I was quite surprised to see something interesting flowering in our triangle of land just above the house. It turned out to be Star-of-Bethlehem, a perennial. It must have been there for some time, but we obviously missed it for the past three years.
While I was taking the photo of this new flower, we saw this recently emerged sooty copper butterfly hanging from some sorrel.
We spent a couple of hours watching the birds from the top floor of the house. We were pleased to welcome our 77th garden bird species today. This pygmy owl was accompanied by a small group of angry great tits who eventually chased him off. It was lovely to see this bird in the garden in daytime, but of course the real reason he was there was that he was hunting fledglings.
Shortly afterwards we saw these two black redstarts. It looks like a juvenile and an adult. It's nice to see that some species are breeding successfully. The blue tits in our bird box seem to have disappeared.
We haven't seen any blackcaps for a few days although we've heard them singing nearby. Today there was a male and a female in the beech opposite the house.
Finally, today I thought I'd post a photo of the hawthorn blossom. We thought the rain had trashed it, but today when the sun came out, it looked really nice. And it smells fantastic too.