Poppy Fairy Wings
Saturday 5 September 2009
Butterflies, lousy weather and other stuff!
Yet again it's been ages since I blogged. Not a case of not getting round to it but more weather stopping the nature watch and up to date photographs, that's my excuse anyway! Could have blogged before, but nice to have the witterings softened with a picture!Picture to the left is of an Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillar taken today, 5/9/09, feeding on willowherb. I think it's being affected by our autumnal weather as it's very sloth like in its behaviour and on the same leaf as yesterday. I have been watching out for Privet and Convolvulus Hawkmoth to no avail but for some reason did not expect to find this one.
Considering the lousy Summer we've had I am surprised at the quantity of butterflies that have managed to survive, though whether we will have so many next year will be interesting to see as I'm sure last year's late sunshine helped. Not much evidence of the weather stringing many good days together here, though we can but hope! We, and other farmers around, still have bales of hay waiting to be lugged in, if ever. To date I have recorded 11 different butterflies on the farm this year with Tortoiseshells and Peacocks being conspicuous by their low numbers. I have yet to record Red Admiral, Comma and Speckled Wood here this year yet we have had good numbers of Common Skipper and Small Copper and we have had days when the fields have been awash with Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper. For a few glorious days a haze of Green Veined White fluttered above our top field. As for the Painted Ladies, what happened to them? Having reported the seething mass of caterpillars I hoped to be dazzled by lots of beautiful newly painted ladies yet have only seen a poor average. Shiny, new Ringlet were about for less than a week and I have not seen one since. The verdict, enjoy them while you can! As for photographing butterflies, my best advice is don't take the dog with you! I have spent several hours stalking butterflies and other insects and even waited by strategic flowers such as Thistles and Hardheads only to have "help" arrive at the crucial moment.
I've mentioned before about the fantastic insect population here but I have never seen such a variety of hoverflies and bumblebees as we've had this year. We do have lots of wildflowers in the meadows and lots of umbels such as angelica, but every flower I've looked at is alive with insects. Sadly and more to the point, worryingly, the one insect hardly seen is honey bees.
At the beginning of August we finally found an effective overflow system for the long undammed pool. I was privately betting that within a week we'd see dragonflies over it and to my joy I was proved right. Not lots but hopefully next year there will be more. It totally fascinates me the way pondlife will appear from nowhere.
Many people reported the departure of their Swifts in early August, we were no exception, and it has been very quiet without their screams about the place, though one can't blame them for departing to sunnier places early! Surprisingly, it appears to have been a good year for the Swallows and House Martins. I know the Swallows have raised two broods. The other evening the air was full of whirling, chattering birds. It was lovely to see considering the poor number that returned in the Spring. Depressingly, though, they have started to gather and it will be two weeks, if we are lucky, before we say goodbye to them for this year.
On the subject of orchids yet again! Recently the local paper had an article about a local farmer who reckoned it was a fantastic year for orchids. He put his thriving population of heath spotteds down to close grazing by cattle. Interesting seeing as I'm saying the opposite, however, he doesn't say when those particular areas are grazed. Cutting for hay and close grazing equals the same thing if the timing is right.
Autumn has undoubtedly arrived here on the Welsh Borders. The hazels are definitely yellower than a couple of weeks ago and the oaks have the odd coloured leaf amongst the others. I have never seen a heavier crop of hazel nuts than this year but there'll be none for us as the squirrels have already totally demolished them. Bad luck for the dormice in the adjoining wood. The elderberries, although not truly ripe, are also being devoured already. It seems that it is quite a good blackberry year but their flavour reflects the weather. I have been picking the odd handful for a month now but yesterday was the first real harvest, so I'm looking forward to the crumble! It is a fantastic sloe and damson year so the gin is being purchased in readiness!
In the vegetable garden it has been a season of mixed fortunes. Peas, courgettes and french beans have done well as have sweet peas but potatoes have suffered badly from blight and the crop has been light because the foliage had to be cut off, though one maincrop variety, Sarpo Mira, has proved just how blight resistant it is and it is still thriving.
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