| Welcome - garden - beasties | 31 October 2006 |
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A few beasties that I've seen in my garden...
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| I found this little frog in a pile of bay tree trimmings in the front garden when I finally got round to clearing them up for the bonfire. I promptly re-located it to the back where its probability of a long and happy life was a bit higher. The first picture shows it in the bay leaves, to give an idea of the size. |
frog in leaves |
frog |
Gull plus two chicks. |
The local squadron of gulls, with the new intake being briefed from the roof top next door. Those ridge capping tiles are 18 inches long. My back garden is fairly safe from these big birds - they learn they can't get out if they venture in. Well they do after the first time. The easiest way I've found to catch a learner chick is to herd it into a corner using a big dark open towel. When it gets there, drape the towel over it and pick up both towel and bird. Release the bird where it has enough runway to take off, and wash the towel. | |
| The nursery web was fairly easy to see, but it took me a while to notice the little spiders inside it. Then I found mummy spider, not far away. Well, I assumed it was mummy... |
Nursery-web |
Nursery-web spider |
Garden Spider |
The garden spider position in 2006 is occupied by a seven legged individual, inconveniently hanging from the washing line. Good excuse not to do any washing, though, since I couldn't bring myself to spoil this web. |
Garden Spider web |
Mr. Blackbird. |
The baby Blackbirds. |
Mrs. Blackbird. |
| These blackbirds chose to nest behind my fig tree, but outside my cat defences. So one morning I had to fend off a couple of meow-rauding moggies. The blackbird chicks were so agitated that the family decamped to my garden. The parents put a lot of effort into feeding the chicks - note Mr Blackbird's beakful of grub(s). But I lost track of how many of my figs they ate subsequently... | ||
| Just a slug. On ordinary slug. But which one of the many ordinary slugs is it? Hero or villain? Not all are destructive of the plants we want. |
A brown slug. |
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Mouse eating my tayberries. |
I caught this villain red handed - well, red pawed! I didn't mind too much as it and it's companion were quite entertaining. But I didn't leave the door open while they were aroound. I suspect they were refugees from a neighbouring house that was being refurbished. | |
| This big moth expired in my front yard in mid-September. I don't know what it is, yet, but I've never seen one flying round my candles. It is about 65mm across the wings as seen in this picture. |
A big(ish) moth. |
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The wall |
The bee |
I think this is a leaf-cutter bee, busy making a home in my wall. I couldn't get a picture of it in flight with a leaf though. Maybe next year... |
| A bee. Helping to make sure I get some tayberries this year. Thank you, gorgeous! |
Bee on tayberry. |
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Shield bug |
These bugs are annual visitors to my blackberry bushes. They seem to come in a variety of trim colours, but are all basically leaf green. About half an inch long. | |
Bush crickets |
These creatures are bush crickets. There are usually a few of them in the garden each year. The picture on the right is of a female. No crickets were harmed in the taking of this photograph. In fact, these crickets are amazingly docile. |
A cricket |
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And a few beasties that were not in my garden, but not far away...
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| A strange (to me) grey caterpillar, seen crossing the pavement in front of me as I was walking home one evening. Possibly a variety of hawkmoth? It looked like a piece of paper that had been rolled up at an angle. Note the blue horny thing at the tail end. Yes, that is the tail, unless it was walking backwards. |
grey caterpillar or slug? |
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Lesser spotted rubble pecker |
The lesser spotted rubble pecker, often called a Herring Gull, is as common as (and cause of) dirt in Brighton. But obviously bird-brained. Can't tell the difference between a bin liner and a rubble sack. | |
Where'd the sand come from?. |
Something's happening here. |
The cause - ants. |
| A common lizard caught wandering around indoors where it ought not to have been. So I evicted it - but gently. |
Common lizard. |
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Young grey squirrel |
A grey squirrel. The reddish patches suggest it is young. Female, I think, but I didn't ask it. It is probably from the family that planted one of my little oak trees. | |
Some links to really useful sites providing more information about the sort of beasties featured above.
www.uksafari.com - a UK centred site, very easy to find your way around and with very good photographs.