Yesterday, Christine saved a beetle, Lygistopterus sanguineus, from a spider's web (even though she initially thought it was a lily beetle). So enthused was this beetle with his new chance in life, I couldn't keep him still to take a photo. After several unsuccessful attempts at quelling his enthusiasm with a short session in the fridge, I resolved to leave him in there overnight. As it was going to be cold outside anyway, this didn't seem too cruel.
This morning, he was still active and the photos reflect this. It's such a nice beetle, I really wanted some nice images but these will have to do.
I spotted this micro moth in our field maple this afternoon. I've seen this species twice before and never managed to get a photo. Today, it was really windy so I had to go for a fast shutter speed and this reduces the depth of field which makes it really hard to achieve a decent focus. This is Incurvaria masculella, which is a hawthorn feeder.
We found some goat's beard about to flower on the path behind our house. We haven't seen that species here before. It'll be interesting to see if it is a garden escapee or a native.
There were a lot of garden chafers flying around today, including this one who got caught on one of our cushions.
I spent an hour or so watching the birds as we'd seen a pair of red-backed shrikes in our birch this morning. I didn't see them, but I did see three red kites mobbing what looked like a vulture (it was distant). I got some photos and I think this was actually a tail-less black or red kite which is a thing apparently. I'm not sure if that is a moult or whether it is congenital.
Sketchbook Red Clover, Christophstal May 2020
Here's another sketchbook page. The red clover is looking very good this year and we have already seen Mazarine Blues laying eggs on it. One reason why we don't cut the grass too early.
The weather was good enough to put my moth trap out last night. It fell below 5oC overnight, so it wasn't that successful. There were no new species, but I did get a photo of a first generation clay triple-lines moth. Previously I've only had second generation examples and they are subtly different.
Once again, our front door has provided some interesting insects. This time, a caddis fly, Philopotamus ludificatus, our second Philopotamus species.
Clay triple-lines, first generation, Christophstal May 2020
Philopotamus ludificatus, Christophstal May 2020
Forester moth, Christophstal May 2020
Mazarine blue, Christophstal May 2020
Small heath, Christophstal May 2020
We've had some very nice weather this week and this has brought out a few butterflies and moths.
We took a walk up to our meadow. It is looking really nice at the moment, but the cows are due to come in the next week or so and it will be trashed.
We saw the first heath fritillary of the year up there.
On the way back we took some blossom from our snowball tree and found this jewel beetle, a female Anthaxia quadripunctata, wandering around on the flowers. The only way I could get her to settle for the photograph was to tap the grey card I'd posed her on whereat she immediately played dead. Despite looking like she'd expired, she was running about again a few seconds after the photos were taken.
Our meadow, Christophstal May 2020
Heath fritillary, Christophstal May 2020
Anthaxia quadripunctata, Christophstal May 2020
Anthaxia quadripunctata, Christophstal May 2020
Otiorhynchus singularis, Christophstal May 2020
Otiorhynchus singularis, Christophstal May 2020
Otiorhynchus singularis, Christophstal May 2020
This fine weevil, Otiorhynchus singularis, was on our front door this morning.
Sketchbook Daisy, Christophstal May 2020
Daisies are such robust plants but they also look so pretty in the lawn. They contrast beautifully with the purple-red of the Red Clover at the moment.
Yesterday evening we'd watched the blue tits still flying in and out of the bird box. This morning, there was no activity at all and no sign of the fledglings or their parents. A blue tit did briefly visit the box, took a quick look in and flew off. We don't know what happened, but maybe they fledgled early this morning.
A female red-backed shrike was singing near the house.
The eggs I collected from our hazel tree a couple of days ago, hatched today. They do appear to be ladybird larvae. I deployed them on our hop which is suffering from a really bad aphid problem this year. We noticed that a lot of beech trees in the valley have really bad white fly this year and some of them look like they're very stressed with this and the lack of rain.
Female red-backed shrike, Christophstal May 2020
Ladybird hatchlings, Christophstal May 2020
House martin, Christophstal May 2020
We had some strange weather today. It was 16oC first thing in the morning and it was raining. We haven't seen rain for ages. By the afternoon, the temperature was 6oC.
There were lots of house martins flying around the house in the afternoon and I managed a close-up photo of this individual as he flew close.
I had a day off work so we both spent all day gardening. While getting some tools out of the shed, I noticed that one of our red ant nests was quiet and there were lots of dead bodies around. I've no idea what happened here. There were a few body parts of black ants amongst the bodies so it may be that there was some kind of attack. I must admit that having been bitten a few times I thought that these red ants would be formidable fighters.
I found a bit of time to see what insects were around. This beetle is likely to be Agapanthia intermedia which is reasonably uncommon.
Red ant bodies, Christophstal May 2020
Agapanthia intermedia, Christophstal May 2020
Flesh fly, Christophstal May 2020
Small elephant hawk-moth, Christophstal May 2020
Unknown insect eggs on Hazel, Christophstal May 2020
Red-green carpet caterpillar on bird cherry, Christophstal May 2020
Unknown caterpillar on Hazel, Christophstal May 2020
Another public holiday in Germany, but today we had some gardening to do, so less time to watch the birds.
The blue tits still haven't fledged and today we saw Keef the woodpecker having a look in the box. Neither of us realized that woodpeckers will take a baby bird from a nest box if they can. They'll peck through a wooden box apparently, but Keef wasn't getting through our Schwegler.
A fine flesh fly was watching us weeding the beds with his bright red eyes.
A small elephant hawk-moth had recently emerged in the front garden and was hanging on the grass. Our untidy lawn is paying dividends.
I've found a few caterpillars over the last week or so and today I took some photos. I'm not going to speculate what the geometric is, but the other one is likely to be one of the Orthosia family, a clouded drab perhaps. I also found some eggs on our hazel thinking they might be moth eggs, but they don't really look right now I've seem them up close. They are probably ladybird eggs.
We watched the nesting blue tits as there was lots of noise again. As before, nothing happened, but this time I spotted two mating slow worms at the base of the birch.
Mating slow worms, Christophstal May 2020
Mating slow worms, Christophstal May 2020
Cautious blue tit, Christophstal May 2020
Treecreeper, Christophstal May 2020
We watched the nesting blue tits for a while in the evening as we were sure they were about to fledge. It seems that the parents were just being extra cautious going in and out of the nest as they were making lots of noise and not flying directly into the box. But, nothing happened tonight - except while we were watching, a treecreeper landed in the birch.
We had the first red-backed shrike visitor of this year today; this fine male.
The spotted flycatcher was around again too.
And so was Keef from The Prodigy.
Male red-backed shrike, Christophstal May 2020
Spotted flycatcher, Christophstal May 2020
Great spotted woodpecker, Christophstal May 2020
Spotted flycatcher, Christophstal May 2020
Nuthatch in hawthorn blossom, Christophstal May 2020
Yet again, the spotted flycatcher was close to the house.
Despite the rain earlier in the week, the hawthorn blossom is undamaged and looks and smells wonderful. Here's a photo of a nuthatch hiding in there.
Here's an unusual photo of the underside of a nuthatch.
The spotted flycatcher was around again.
For the past month or so, we've regularly seen a male and a female woodpecker (rarely at the same time though). Today we had a second male, who was sporting a double mohican similar to Keith from the Prodigy.
There were also two white wagtails around the house.
I'm finishing with a few photos of the blue tits coming and going from our nest box. Judging by the size of that fecal sac, the chicks must be getting quite big now.
Underside of a nuthatch, Christophstal May 2020
Spotted flycatcher, Christophstal May 2020
Twisted firestarter, Christophstal May 2020
White wagtail, Christophstal May 2020
Sketchbook Red Campion, Christophstal May 2020
Here's another page from my sketchbook. The Red Campion has a long flowering season and has done really well in our garden since we spread the seed a few years ago.
Spotted flycatcher, Christophstal May 2020
We saw our first spotted flycatcher of the year today, perched in the birch.
It was NABU bird count day today. In our chosen hour, there were very few birds about but we somehow managed 21 species for the NABU count. We watched our blue tits coming and going in and out of the bird box and just above them, it looks like a pair of marsh tits are nesting in a nook in the birch.
I've no photos of birds today. Just a red admiral butterfly enjoying the newly opened hawthorn blossom.
It was really warm today, but the weather forecast is still predicting some really cold days from tomorrow onwards. It seems hard to believe.
Red admiral, Christophstal May 2020
Broad-bodied chaser, Christophstal May 2020
Swift, Christophstal May 2020
Hawthorn and rose chafer, Christophstal May 2020
Another warm day. A broad-bodied chaser landed on top of the field maple. I took two photos, this is the second one. You can see that he has turned to see what the noise was.
We heard swifts screeching above the house for the first time this year. Previously we've only had one or two at a time.
I took a photo of the hawthorn, zeroing in on an area I could see the first open flowers. When I viewed the photo, I realized there was a rose chafer on there.
I don't have a photo, but our injured willow tit came to the garden today with a partner. We now know our injured bird was a 'she' as she was fluttering her wings at her friend and he was feeding her.
Today was warm and sunny. We had a couple of swifts swooping over the pond so I tried to get some photos. These are extremely difficult and I've been trying to perfect the technique for a few years with mixed success. These two photos were the least terrible.
The lilac is about to flower, although the weather forecast says it is going to snow on Monday, so that might slow it down a bit.
The blue tits in our nest box are busy flying in and out with caterpillars and we've seen that a pair of great tits have taken up residence in our other bird box. Here's a photo of one of the blue tits taking a short rest.
A few greenfinches have been down by the pond eating dandelion seeds and another greenfinch was displaying on our sunflower seed feeder.
The injured willow tit (see early posts) is now nearly completely recovered and if he wasn't still struggling a bit with flying, I wouldn't have realised it was him.
Today we have two birds in the apple blossom; a greenfinch and a chaffinch.
We saw this fabulous beetle beside the driveway when we went for a walk in the afternoon. This is Chrysolina fastuosa, a new species for the garden.
Lastly, I've got another photo of the jay with a facial tumour. I've been photographing him regularly ever since we first saw him over a year ago. It seems to have worsened quite quickly. As before, I've made the initial photo as small as possible - don't click it unless you've got a strong stomach.
Swift, Christophstal May 2020
Swift, Christophstal May 2020
Lilac, Christophstal May 2020
Blue tit, Christophstal May 2020
Greenfinch eating dandelion seeds, Christophstal May 2020
Displaying greenfinch, Christophstal May 2020
Injured willow tit, Christophstal May 2020
Greenfinch and chaffinch in apple blossom, Christophstal May 2020
Chrysolina fastuosa, Christophstal May 2020
Jay with tumour, Christophstal May 2020
Pied Flycatcher, Christophstal May 2020
Pied Flycatcher, Christophstal May 2020
I've not had much time to watch what is happening around the garden, but today a pied flycatcher was down by the pond.
Not many photos today either. A male blackcap was hopping about in the hawthorn and a chiffchaff was singing in the hazel.
Any today's bird in the apple blossom is a greenfinch.
Male blackcap, Christophstal May 2020
Chiffchaff, Christophstal May 2020
Greenfinch in apple blossom, Christophstal May 2020
Spruce protocones, Christophstal May 2020
Hawthorn about to blossom, Christophstal May 2020
Jay in apple blossom, Christophstal May 2020
Not many photos for today. I'm starting with a photo of our spruce tree which is sporting some fine protocones right now.
The hawthorn is nearly flowering - probably another couple of days and it will be out.
And the apple tree blossom continues to provide excellent photo opportunities for any bird that happens to land in it. Today we have a jay.
There are a couple of photos today of the injured willow tit that has been around the garden for a couple of weeks now. His tail has regrown quite well but he still has to make a lot of effort to fly any distance. We saw him struggling to get from the hornbeams to the bird cherry today and he only just made it. The photos of him in the apple blossom are uncropped straight from the camera.
A raven attempted to cross the valley in the morning, but the nesting crows chased him off. The last photo in this sequence shows the raven is quite happy to fly upside-down when necessary.
Lastly, here's a dishevelled starling. He is one of a small flock of about 10 starlings that are regularly flying back and forth over the valley. They're collecting caterpillars on our side of the valley and they must be nesting over the other side.
Injured willow tit with regrowing tail, Christophstal May 2020
Injured willow tit in apple blossom, Christophstal May 2020
Injured willow tit in apple blossom, Christophstal May 2020