Monthly Archives: June 2019

30 Days Wild 2019 – Day 20

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Again I spent my evening in the garden planting out some more of the seedlings.  I was predominantly working in the raised beds trying to fit in more of the wildflowers I have to put out.  I noticed a few 7-spot ladybird larvae on a rose bush and then a small bug on a daisy type plant (I have no idea what the plant actually is as it just turned up in the garden!).  The small bug was a common froghopper; but of a different colouring to what I have been used to seeing.  It was black of the body and beige/yellow of its head.  It sat quite happily to have its photo taken 🙂

   

30 Days Wild 2019 – Day 19

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For Day 19 I was taking advantage of the good weather and planted out some of my seedlings. I was hoping I would discover something interesting in the garden for 30 Days Wild.  What I wasn’t expecting to find was a tiny fungi attached to one of the newspaper pots containing a zinnia! 

I had no idea what the fungi was but put it on Twitter as my interesting find for the day.  I wasn’t expecting so many people to like it! Thank you everyone 🙂 Pete (@dnannerbetep) replied to say he thinks it is a Little Japanese Umbrella, Parasola plicatillis.  I still have a lot to learn when it comes to fungi.

30 Days Wild 2019 – Day 18

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On June 18th I put three eggs in the garden to see if the fox was still about.  I placed them near the entrance / exit route I think they use and put the trailcam out to see what happened. 

I was expecting the young fox from the other day but a different fox turned up first and took the eggs!  

To me this looks like an older fox and maybe even a family member of the young fox.  She took them all in a 8 minute window. 

As you can see the last segment of the video shows a younger fox, though I can’t be 100% certain if it’s the same one who was eating the bird food earlier in the week.  I need to gain more footage to work out who is who, but it is exciting to know there is more than fox using the garden 🙂 

30 Days Wild 2019 – Day 17

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This evening I was determined to get some of the flowers planted in the garden while the rain stayed away.  I always have a look around the garden first to make sure everyone is happy and tend to any plants that need a little extra care.  I noticed that the red campion had started to go over. 

What I have never seen before is the little pod filled with seeds.      

I think it is a great example of evolutionary design; when the wind blows the seeds are spilt from the pod and dispersed.

I decided to give the plant a helping hand and took a few of the seeds and spread them in the garden and field.  What I wouldn’t have noticed if I hadn’t taken a photo of the seeds in my hand is the texture of the seed; like a tiny lychee!

30 Days Wild 2019 – Day 16

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This afternoon I spotted this Buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) on the garden path. 

My first thought was ‘he needs sugar water!’ Then I realised all I needed to do was pick him up and put him with the others that were buzzing around a plant that hangs over the garden fence from next door.

I picked up a feather, one of the doves had left on the lawn and gently got him to crawl onto it.

He happily transitioned to the flowers and fed with the other bees.

30 Days Wild 2019 – Day 15

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I saw on Twitter that volunteers are needed to spot insect ‘spittle’; my initial thought was ‘there is loads in the garden, I can do that’.  Last year on June 1st I wrote about cuckoo spit and froghoppers; so carrying on from last year’s blog, today I went out into the garden to take part in the survey. 

The reason for the survey taking place is the UK is on high alert for the Xylella fastidiosa disease which has been found in several locations in the EU.  The disease is moved from plant to plant by plant-sucking insects such as froghoppers.  By people submitting data of where they have seen either cuckoo spit or froghoppers themselves a distribution map of the potential path of the disease can be made.  I think it is important to be clear that the disease isn’t in the UK and the map created from the data will be used to make an action plan if it does ever arrive here.  Please don’t remove any of the cuckoo spit you might find as the nymph growing inside is doing no harm, it will grow into a very cute little bug 🙂

To complete the survey all you need to do is..

Log the amount of time you spend looking for spittle/spittle bugs, take note of how many spittle only / spittle with insect / adult you find on what type of plant and how many square metres you have searched.  It is also important to take a photo of the nymph if you can to submit with your data. 

To be able to see if there is an insect in the spittle you need to tease them out.  I used a bit of grass to slowly move through the spittle; the nymph leaves the spittle enough to be able to have a look at it.  Some would run off down the steam and others would move a little and freeze.

When you enter the data online, each plant species is a separate data entry so make sure you have your data separated out for each plant species.  In total I found..

Plant Spittle only Spittle with insect Adult
Lavender 15 26 0
Penstemon 0 1 0
Rosemary 3 9 0

All of the nymphs found were Meadow Spittlebug (Philaenus spumarius), you can use the ID sheet provided online to help with your identifications. 

When complete make sure you add all your data to the iRecord entry form 🙂

30 Days Wild 2019 – Day 14

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I got home late this evening so didn’t get into the garden until the light was starting to fade.  I wasn’t sure what I would find, after a little searching I found what I think is a garden spider (Araneus diadematus), it was in the lavender where it had built its web.  It is tiny; only a little bigger than the aphid it was eating. 

Garden spiders are seen between June and November. 

30 Days Wild 2019 – Day 13

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The fox turned up again this evening at exactly the same time, 5.31pm!  She is the same fox as there is a patch of black fur on the top section of her tail. 

I say she; I think she’s a girl but I haven’t had a clear look at her back end to find out!  She started off at the same bird feeder as yesterday but didn’t find much to eat.  I thought she had vanished behind the shed but she reappeared next to the porch and made her way in front of the door and over to the other feeder.  She found more food there as the seed the birds drop falls in between the paving slabs that I have not yet concreted in!  She stayed for a little while looking for food.  She must be really hungry to be back trying to lick up the food. 

I think she might be one of this years cubs as she seems quite small and looks very young.  Cubs of about her size have been seen out on the road – 5 of them with one of the parents!  Thankfully this one seems to be navigating the roads okay.  I don’t know if she is having issues catching food or if there just isn’t enough food about for her to catch; I have left some dog food out so she can have a little meal tonight 🙂         

 

30 Days Wild 2019 – Day 12

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Over the past few weeks there has been a fox seen in the patch garden.  It has either been finishing off the cat food next to the front door or been spooked when it has been in the back garden.  No one has got a good look at it other than to say it was a fox! 

This evening I happened to look out of the window and saw it under the bird feeders. 

I quickly ran upstairs with a camera to get a photo out of one of the windows.  Thankfully I didn’t spook her by opening the window.  She looked but didn’t run. 

The birds had cleared the feeder earlier in the day so all she had to eat was scraps she could find in the grass.  I guess she must be hungry to be picking at the meagre left overs. 

She kept looking up at the feeder like she knew there was food there, but she couldn’t get at it.