Susie

[Susie]

Hi Jack,

Fortunately as I work in the area I can get overto the site regularly and plan to over the coming months. My main concern is being able distinguish between purple, white letter and black hairstreak as I am fairly certain the former two are in the area.

[Paul Wetton]

Hi Susie

I hope you don't mind me butting in here but I was interested on the video comments. One thing I would say is for all those who wish to use a video camera the more zoom used the more stability one requires. I would suggest the use of a tripod to anyone who uses a video camera. I know it's a bind to carry one around but even a light weight video camera will benefit massively from the stability of a tripod. You have some lovely HD footage. I like the slow/moderately fast Worm.

[Susie]

Thanks Paul, and no need to apologise, your comments are very welcome. I was thinking something similar the other day when I took a 360 shoot of the view from the top of kingley vale which I had hoped to put on here cos it is a lovely sight on a clear day but the footage was so wobbly it made me feel seasick just watching it.

[Paul Wetton]

Hi Susie

I know exactly what you mean. I took my first video camera to Lesvos on a bird watching holiday and when I got home I watched a lot of shots of great birds that were ruined by the wobbles. After that I vowed never to take another shot without a tripod.
What type of video camera do you have as the picture quality looks excellent.

[Jack Harrison]

Susie said that her:

main concern is being able distinguish between purple, white letter and black hairstreak

I would suggest a rule of thumb. If a hairstreak is seen before the middle of June, then it is most likely to be a Black. The other two species emerge about two weeks later. But of course, Purple and White letter might not have read the rule book and emerge earlier than the are supposed to just to annoy you.

The corollary is that a hairstreak seen after middle of July will definitely not be a Black (unless it too hasn't read the rules!)

Jack

[Susie]

Thanks, Jack, I shall bear that in mind.

Hi Paul, I use the Panasonic Lumix FZ38 that several people on this site have.

I've been checking the potted blackthorn in the garden on which brown hairstreaks laid eggs last year. I didn't tag all the eggs but of those I did, on one bush five of the six eggs have disappeared over winter and on the other three out of six. I must remember to put black cotton around the plants to keep the birds off.

[Susie]

Having lunch at the Shelley this afternoon I saw brimstone, orange tip and some other kind of small white butterfly (either small white or green veined I guess) flying around in the beer garden.

[Susie]

There was cloud cover almost all day today but when the sun did come out this afternoon there were a few butterflies out locally. I saw a couple of commas, a peacock and this little chap, patrolling the drainage ditch along the bypass.

Blink and you'll miss it

www.facebook.com/v/10150174798311972[/video]

In the garden was a wretched lily beetle. These aren't such a problem now as I no longer grow lilies (I had to admit defeat cos I couldn't keep up with the nasty little pests). Grrrrr. It wasn't in the garden for long though.

There was a Osmia rufus in the garden too, it's nice to see these little chappies. I met a chap a few years back who takes colonies of these around the country to pollenate crops (cherries in particular if I remember rightly). Apparently they are far more efficient at doing the job than honey bees.

There's a jenny wren nesting in a roosting pouch I put in the front garden. I saw her today taking moss in. I hope she has better luck than the wren who nested in the back garden as her brood fried in the hot May weather we had a couple of years ago. As long as the cat doesn't get her the new site should be a far more suitable position.

[Paul Wetton]

Here's a little Wren gathering moss for you.

Wren with moss

[David M]

So, it's official, Orange Tips are OUT.

[Susie]

Thanks Paul, that's a gorgeous picture.

OTs have been out since last week. For all those people who said to me (not on this forum I hasten to add where people are lovely) that I didn't see an OT last week cos it's too early I have one word "swivel".

[Mark Lyman]

...I've seen two OT now - best of all, the second was in our garden yesterday.

Cheers, Mark.

[Paul Wetton]

Glad you like it and you tell em Susie.

I've not seen OT yet but they may be out a bit later up here in the Midlands.

[Jack Harrison]

Susie uses the phrase:

...one word "swivel".

It's obviously a girlie expression. My wife also uses it but believe it or not, I've never heard it from a male:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/

Explains the meaning of this and other jargon.

Jack

[Susie]

Thanks for the linkage, Jack.

I admit to thinking at times but I'd never say it to anyone!

I'm very envious of your garden OT, Mark. I keep checking out the garden but I haven't found any emerging yet.

[Jack Harrison]

Susie admits

to thinking at times but I'd never say it to anyone!

That shows excellent self-restraint. My dear wife has been known to reinforce the word with a gesture

Jack

[Susie]

Susie admits

to thinking at times but I'd never say it to anyone!

That shows excellent self-restraint. My dear wife has been known to reinforce the word with a gesture

Jack

She must be quite a character!

I was taught that if I don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all. As a result I am quite quiet and keep my thoughts to myself, unless I'm with people I like or on the internet!

[Susie]

I went to check on the Brontes this afternoon at Marlpost Woods as it continued to be grey and unpromising for butterflies. After losing so many of my brown hairstreak eggs that are on the potted blackthorn I wasn't expecting a high rate of survival so I was extremely pleased to see that all four of them were still there.

The road verges were full of cuckoo flower, lesser celendine, violets, primroses and wood anenomes and very pretty they looked too. In the woods I found yet more wild daffodils and the very first bluebell almost in bloom.

Oh, and there was some kind of weird fungus on a rotting hazel stump. it looked a bit like a cauliflower floret. I'll try and upload a photo later.

[Matsukaze]

WLH can be out and about in early June, particularly in the south-east. Here's a flight times chart from the WLH Project website:

http://www.hertsmiddx-butterflies.org.u ... flight.php

I went to a talk on bumblebees some years ago given by Paul Williams, the bee expert from the Natural History Museum. The venue was on the Somerset Levels which still has a fair number of small orchards fringing it (cider country!). He was recommending Osmia rufa as the best pollinator for the apples, particularly as its flight season is well synchronised with the apple trees being in blossom. Unlike honeybees and bumblebees, because the flight season is brief it does not require different sources of forage in other months of the year.

[Piers]

...which explains why preparatory mason bee homes are reccommended for apple orchards. Is B. sylvarum still present around Shapwick to your knowledge Matsukaze?

(sorry Susie )