Magnificent Moth.

Privet Hawk Moth.   Click to enlarge.  Photo. John Elliott.

In the moth trap last night a Privet Hawk Moth,  Sphinx ligustri. There are half a dozen egg boxes in the bottom of the moth trap, and most of the moths attracted by the ultra violet light settle under the boxes and can be identified and counted next morning, but the larger moths, like the Privet Hawk Moth, have to settle on the outside like this one.

Damselflies

My small garden pond is still producing numerous Azure Damselflies. which appear on warmer days.

Azure Damselfly.  Click to enlarge.   Photo. John Elliott.

Very similar to the other species of blue damselflies, the Azure is distinguished by the much narrower blue stripes on the thorax, just behind the head, and by the black markings on the last segment of the tail. The females are mostly black with only a few blue markings.
A walk down the Weymouth road this afternoon, the first for several weeks, revealed only a single Beautiful Demoiselle damselfly which didn't linger long enough for a photo. Walkng back along the permissive path a Little Egret appeared making its way down the valley, occasionally dipping down into the stream, and a thin scattering of butterflies included Comma,  Large Skipper. Marbled White, Meadow Brown, Small Heath and Ringlet. All were very active in the warm sunshine, so no photos.

First Dragonfly.

The first dragonfly of the year, a Broad Bodied Chaser, has turned up in the garden. This may or may not have emerged from my garden pond, as this species is known to wander. The larvae can take between one and three years to emerge. Their food consists of insects, small fish and tadpoles. Is that where all my tadpoles went? There isn't one to be seen now.

Broad Bodied Chaser. Click to enlarge. Photo. John Elliott  

 

 

My family are keeping me well supplied with wildlife photos to lighten the darkness of lockdown. From Hampshire comes a most unusual photo of a Hawfinch visiting my daughter's garden. These birds usually inhabit the tops of woodland trees and I wonder if its usual food supplies are scarce, so making it visit village gardens.

Hawfinch Click to enlarge.  Photo. Ryan Bundy.

Magnificent Moths.

The moth trap has been yielding very low numbers recently, with perhaps two or three specimens of a couple of species., Heart and Dart and Hebrew Character being the most common. Things picked up a bit last night when two hawk moths were captured.

Private Hawkmoth and Small Elephant Hawkmoth.   Click to enlarge.  Phot. John Elliott

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Privat Hawkmoth has a 10cm. wingspan and must be a magnifent sight in flight, but is rarely seen in daylight. As well as both wild and garden Privat the larvae eat Ash leaves and many garden shrubs. The Privat they have to share with twnty three other species of moths.
The Small Elephant Hawkmoth is unmistakeable, being the only small pink and yellowish hawkmoth found in the British Isles. The bedstraws are its favourite foodplants.

More Damselflies

  Large Red Damselfly  Click to enlarge.   Photo. John Elliott

 

 

 

Damselflies are emerging from my small garden pond in larger numbers than usual this year, the warmer winter may have helped. To tell the difference between the Large Red Damselfly and the slightly smaller Small Red Damselfly  you have to look at the legs, in the Large they are black and in the Small they are redish/yellowish.

Azure Damselfly.  Click ot enlarge.  Photo. John Elliott   

 

 

 

 

Azure Damselflies Ovipositing..  click to enlarge.  Photo. John Elliott  

 Six pairs of damselflies egg laying in a very small area of the pond. The upright bright blue ones are the males, which in this species stay guarding the female from other males and possible predators such as fish, and the females are the greenish, doubled up ones

Damselfly Delight.

Being confined to house and garden its not without its pleasures if you are interested in wildlife. Inspection of my ultra violet moth trap which has run overnight was the first task of the day. Numbers of moths have been very low so far this year, both in total and in numbers of species. This has been a common feature of reports from other trappers in the area, so slightly better results than recently were very welcome. Species recorded were Brimstone Moth, Pale Tussock, Treble Lines, Muslin Moth and Hebrew Character. In addition one Cockchafer and a Caddis Fly were caught.
The pale blue flutter of the Holly Blue butterfly has been seen throughout the day, and as the temperature rose to the mid twenties two species of Damselfly emerged from my very small pond, the beautiful Azure which is difficult to separate from the Common Blue without the use of close focus binoculars or an enlarged photo, and the Large Red which requires the binoculars to check on the leg colour. If the legs are black it is a large red, and if they are reddish it is a Small Red. 

Bird life as usual dominated by the Rooks and Jackdaws, with my resident pair of Wood Pigeons getting the occasional look-in.

Large Red Damselfly      Click to enlarge.  Photo. John Elliott

 

Azure Damselfly.  Click to enlarge.  Photo. John Elliott

Conkers to Come

When I wake in the morning my first view of the outside world is the Horse Chestnut tree that stands in next door's garden, close to the boundary wall. Earlier in the year I can follow the activities of the six pairs of Rooks that nest in it. In the last couple of months they have been carefully rebuilding their nests ready for egg laying, but now the leaves are fully opened and the 'candles' in full bloom, completely filling my view from the window.

Horse Chestnut in full bloom

I estimate that there are around 600 candles, each with 50 individual flowers which makes a total of 30,000 potential conkers in the autumn!