Spring Flowers in Hardwick Wood

The spring flowers are at their best at the moment in our local wood. Aside from masses of Primroses, the wood is one of those in this area with Oxlips, a flower that thrives on boulder clay. Also shown: Primroses  male and female flowers, Celandine, Wood Anemone, Blackthorn, Dog Violet, Dog's Mercury. 

Nesting in Full Swing in the Wood

We spent a long time watching a pair of Long-Tailed Tits filling their cobweb and lichen nest with feathers. Only the ?female appeared to be collecting feathers though the male was in close attendance the whole time. A pair of Bluetits had a nest in a very tall stump and appeared to be bringing out pieces of egg shell. Have added a short time-lapse video of a L-t-tit rearranging an added feather.

Moths Hatch from our Overwintered Pupae

So far we have two moths emerged from the cocoons that were made last summer by the caterpillars that we had found and reared. The Pale Tussock Moth is a wonderfully hairy moth in gentle colours - very different to the yellow caterpillar with red tuft. sSimilarly the Mullein moth caterpillar is a very striking animal while the moth is wonderfully camouflaged in shades of brown and buff.

Projects for Lockdown

At our CCC Wednesday Workshop yesterday evening (on-line of course), we looked at table top miniatures to keep our cameras active during Lockdown. Here is one image I prepared for the evening and the set up I used.

Experiments in Shutterspeed and Insect Flight

With a few bees and flies around in the sunshine, I attempted to get some flight shots and determine how fast the wings were beating. As most of these were taken under a tree canopy with intermittent sunlight, some were taken at iso3200 so are a bit noisy. A lot of room for improvement on focusing! The first five were taken at 1/2000th second and the last three of a Bee Fly in the open at 1/4000th second (all f8, the minimum aperture for100-400 plus 1.4 extender). Even at 1/4000th second, there is still movement in the wings. (Hairy-footed Bee (Anthophora plumipes), Early Bumble Bee (Bombus pratorum), Hoverfly (Platycheirus albimanus), Bee Fly (Bombylius major))

 

Our Leaf Insects Have Matured

Two days ago our female (1-4,6) leaf insect and, about a week ago, the male (5,7) made their last moults and now have splendid wings. The female is also now quite plump so we are hoping for some egg laying - females will lay eggs without males present (parthenogenetic). They are stacks of 25 images at f8 stacked with Zerene stacker (no blemish removal in Zerene). I experimented a bit with lighting - all have an overhead lightbox and some have an led light from the front which has reduced the colour saturation. 

No Problem Keeping Social Distances

During our walk from Toft across to Caldecote, we only met one couple and with a beautiful sky, the larks singing and the oil seed rape coming into flower, it felt a long way from the corona virus crisis. The wild garden leading to the Church has some very fine cowslips, Snake's Head Fritillary and Snowflakes. We feel truly fortunate.

 

Insects Active in the Warmer Temperatures

Yesterday was the first day in my garden and on my local walk that I have recorded a significant number of insect species active from the mating Harlequin ladybird, ichmeumon wasp, Andrena solitary bee, Marmalade hoverfly, Bee fly, Juniper Shield bug (a new one for me), Large Red-tailed Bumblebee to the Hairy -footed Bee (a favourite)