Clewer Garden Diary

A few birds feeding in our garden

janerc — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 18:33:43 +0000

This female blackcap (sylvia atricapilla) was feeding on honeysuckle berries outside our dining room window.

and we have had a robin on our fat feeder

and a blue tit on the seeds, but very few birds are interested in our garden at the moment.

janerc — Mon, 30 May 2011 09:04:18 +0000

Judging by the shorter antennae I think this is the female that the males were trying to attract yesterday with their dance. These nemophora degeerella are also known as “fairy” longhorns. The dance I saw yesterday was certainly reminiscent of fairies, so this is probably how they got their nickname.

Dancing day-moth

janerc — Sun, 29 May 2011 13:18:50 +0000

A group of insects had me baffled for a while this morning. Above the woodpile at the back of my pond they pirouetted whilst moving up and down about 2 feet at a time. Here is a short video of one of them:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKcYloz0E0Y

I watched for a while before one of them settled and I could identify it as a nemophora degeerella

Apparently swarms of males dance in the sun to attract females.

Finally succummed!

janerc — Sun, 29 May 2011 10:54:03 +0000

The greater spotted woodpecker who regularly feeds next door has finally succummed to the temptation of my nut feeder!

Last caterpillar

janerc — Thu, 19 May 2011 19:50:56 +0000

This was the last caterpillar this morning, and this evening there were none. No obvious chrysalids either. Mystery.

Mystery caterpillars leave the nursery

janerc — Sun, 15 May 2011 22:23:27 +0000

The mystery caterpillars are starting to move away from the leaf where they all spent so long, with one or two caterpillars to a leaf.

And some ladybird eggs I have been following hatched out yesterday while I was out for the day. I’ll have to wait for the next batch to film the eggs hatching.

These caterpillars just get better

janerc — Thu, 12 May 2011 21:29:00 +0000

1st and 2nd instars of the mystery caterpillars. I love the crossed bands.

Patience is rewarded

janerc — Wed, 11 May 2011 20:16:43 +0000

Iris finally flowering. I planted this in August 2008 and this is the first time it has shown any sign of flowering. I was sold it as a purple iris but it seems a bit late to complain now!

Something is happening to my caterpillars…

janerc — Tue, 10 May 2011 20:26:50 +0000

…and it doesn’t look good

But the commas are growing well, and there is a comma caterpillar under most leaves of the hop plant

Down at the Bottom of the Garden

janerc — Mon, 09 May 2011 22:02:20 +0000

At the bottom of the garden by the shed I lifted a plastic seed tray to find this caterpillar in a damp patch of ground elder. Identified via iSpot as a Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing (Noctua fimbriata) caterpillar.