Pauline

[David M]

Good luck with the 'baby' Brimstones, Pauline. It'll be interesting to see how you get on with them once they've hatched.

[Pauline]

Thanks David - no sign of any Brimstone yet but quite a few of the OT eggs around the garden have hatched:

[David M]

Thanks David - no sign of any Brimstone yet but quite a few of the OT eggs around the garden have hatched...

Fabulous, Pauline. Two sets of desirable early stages for you to keep your eye on during lockdown.

[Pauline]

Mmmm - not sure David. They seem to be disappearing almost before they appear . It makes a nice change to be able to post a few shots of an actual butterfly tho' with the weather being so good I was never going to get the wings closed or even an elegant pose - next time perhaps:

[trevor]

Lovely Pearl Bordered Fritillaries, Pauline. I am fortunate to have them close to home.
I envy your recent Dukes, I wont see those this year. Hopefully things will ease by High Summer.

You might be interested to know, I get a visit from a Fox, just after dusk, most evenings
probably because he/she gets a snack which I place on my drive. It is very nervous though.

Stay well,
Trevor.

[Wurzel]

Great to see the Pearls Pauline I was at Bentley again this morning and the cloudier weather made them a bit more amenable but the last time they were a complete nightmare

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[Maximus]

Lovely Pearls, Pauline, glad you got to see them sadly that's another species that I won't see this year

Mike.

[Pauline]

Thank you Trevor .... but you got closed wing shots Don't be envious about the Dukes - they'll still be there next year (at least that's what I'm telling myself about loads of species ). Good on you for helping out Foxy - a few shots wouldn't go amiss

Cheers Wurzel - seems to be quite a delicate balance: I probably wouldn't see them at all today it's so dull and drizzly.

Thank you Mike. My journey was 21 minutes from door to door and that was dawdling and keeping well within all speed limits. I still felt guilty tho'! Not sure why because I haven't been in a shop since Feb or even put petrol in the car since then so you can see I haven't been far at all.

[Pauline]

Today was like old times - going out in the rain with my camera stuffed under my jacket, but it was so good to get out. Not a butterfly in sight so I thought I'd do a quick Duke egg survey. The first dozen I found surprised me in 2 ways - first, they were all singletons like the one below which looks ready to hatch, and second, they were almost all, without exception, on plants exactly where I have found them in the past. I have found this previously with White Admirals who seem to lay in the same place generation after generation:

It wasn't long before I started to find clusters of eggs:

Still getting covered with ticks but the disposable gloves worn for the virus work equally well for them. Found a quite distinctive moth(?) larva and if anyone can put a name to it that would be good. Likewise, but less likely, some unidentified eggs:

It is early days still for the Duke but I am hoping that this year I will be able to track some of these larva through to pupation:

[Pauline]

I was about to water some houseplants earlier and found an amazing beetle sitting on one of them. I believe it is a Musk Beetle, one of the UK's longest beetles and a type of Longhorn. I have read they are widespread but scarce and take 3 years to mature on Willow. How it managed to get in will remain a mystery:

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[David M]

Glad to see you're keeping busy, Pauline. I've only filled up once myself since early March (shame that it coincides with petrol being so cheap!)

Nice work with the PBFs. My chances of seeing them this year largely depend on what's announced next week.

[Goldie M]

Great shots of the Pearls Pauline, your making me long for the Lake's and Kent and just to travel Goldie

[Pauline]

Always busy David - just depends whether it's painting fences, mucking out animals or searching for eggs

Thank you Goldie. I, too, would love to travel but today's Pearls were even closer than the first ones - 16 mins even keeping to the 30 limit and navigating winding country lanes:

[Pauline]

A few posts ago I promised a shot of the resident Nuthatches. Every year I have 2 pairs nesting in the garden - here's one to be going on with:

[bugboy]

Your Nuthatches had a good old time mudding up the hole to the right size, looks like a tight fit too! Nice Pearls in your earlier posts, I think that's about as close as I'll get to them this year

[Wurzel]

Lovely set of Pearls Pauline Especially like the last but one - I've not been able to get a stained glass shot yet

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurel

[trevor]

Last evening I discovered that there are two Foxes visiting my drive for a tit-bit!
As the usual one visits after dark it's not possible to grab a shot.
However, back in 2004, we had a ' tame ' young Fox at the Bluebell Railway.
Amazingly he/she would appear from nowhere, and settle down at a safe
distance and watch us at work. This lasted for several months, then it was
not seen again. The image here shows just how close it was possible to get
to these usually timid animals.
A great set of Pearl images, where is your Pearl colony?.

Stay safe and well,
Trevor.

[Pauline]

Cheers Paul. It was some years ago that they plastered up the hole with mud and that was fascinating to watch - more recently they just give it a little tweak!

Cheers Wurzel - I am sure that it will happen with a little perseverance

Thank you for the photo Trevor - a young dog fox by the looks of it. Trouble with 'tame' foxes is that many have neurological problems or have been clipped by a car etc. - can impact on natural instincts and make survival difficult. Don't want to get into that argument but I love these creatures (saw a cub today on Noar) so would urge you to continue to put out some bits out for them. I get loads of wild foxes in my garden - here's one from last year:

[trevor]

Thanks Pauline. My theory at the time with that young Fox was that
it might have been hand reared and released, in what was a very
secluded location.
The one that visits me usually has a slice of corned beef, or a digestive biscuit.

Trevor.

[Padfield]

HI Pauline. I've often noticed that young foxes show little fear of humans and wondered if the adult fear was learnt (or in some cases, not). I've also observed that my various dogs have taken little notice of cubs or youngsters and so I presume they lack the smell of adults. A little earlier this year, this young chap watched Minnie and me quite fearlessly as we went on our evening walk and Minnie ignored him completely:



A few posts back, I think your mystery eggs are shield bug eggs - I couldn't say which species.

Guy