Wildlife and Gardens Thread

[Foxdiamond]

Quite a few Hummingbird Hawk Moths around this year which must be a good thing

[Trav Le Bleu]

2 hours ago, Foxdiamond said:

Quite a few Hummingbird Hawk Moths around this year which must be a good thing

Well they migrate from continental Europe, they like it warm, so there's the reason.

 

Not necessarily a good thing, though they're amazing to watch. The first time we had one in our garden years ago my wife told me when I got home from work that there had been a hummingbird in our garden, which I knew couldn't be true, then we saw it a few days later and you can understand the mistake, especially if you know that hummingbirds are tiny, smaller than any of our native birds.

[CornwallFox]

I moved down here 9 months ago. It's interesting that we get insects I've never seen in Leicester. And my garden sounds like the south of France for crickets in the evening. 

[Samilktray]

2 minutes ago, CornwallFox said:

I moved down here 9 months ago. It's interesting that we get insects I've never seen in Leicester. And my garden sounds like the south of France for crickets in the evening. 

Anything exciting?

[CornwallFox]

8 minutes ago, Samilktray said:

Anything exciting?

Tbh I wouldn't have a clue, I've noticed, but I'm not particular knowledgeable in this area. We've had flying things that look like nothing I've ever seen, there was a completely white moth, big centipedes, just things I didn't tend to get in the house in Leicester appear every time I open the door at night!

[Samilktray]

19 minutes ago, CornwallFox said:

Tbh I wouldn't have a clue, I've noticed, but I'm not particular knowledgeable in this area. We've had flying things that look like nothing I've ever seen, there was a completely white moth, big centipedes, just things I didn't tend to get in the house in Leicester appear every time I open the door at night!

Fair play pal. I read once that Cornwall have wild stick insects knocking about which is crazy

[Trav Le Bleu]

14 minutes ago, Samilktray said:

Fair play pal. I read once that Cornwall have wild stick insects knocking about which is crazy

They do. They're officially now our largest insect.

 

I've always wanted to see a Death's Head Hawkmoth.

[Foxdiamond]

3 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Well they migrate from continental Europe, they like it warm, so there's the reason.

 

Not necessarily a good thing, though they're amazing to watch. The first time we had one in our garden years ago my wife told me when I got home from work that there had been a hummingbird in our garden, which I knew couldn't be true, then we saw it a few days later and you can understand the mistake, especially if you know that hummingbirds are tiny, smaller than any of our native birds.

I'm hoping it was just a normal migration rather than the climate crisis. We've quite a bit of red valerian and verbena bonariensis in the garden and they seem to love those. Some people worry about these plants becoming invasive but I think free plants do your thing I won't have buy other plants etc

[Trav Le Bleu]

8 minutes ago, Foxdiamond said:

I'm hoping it was just a normal migration rather than the climate crisis. We've quite a bit of red valerian and verbena bonariensis in the garden and they seem to love those. Some people worry about these plants becoming invasive but I think free plants do your thing I won't have buy other plants etc

We have loads of verbena

[Trav Le Bleu]

10 minutes ago, Foxdiamond said:

I'm hoping it was just a normal migration rather than the climate crisis. We've quite a bit of red valerian and verbena bonariensis in the garden and they seem to love those. Some people worry about these plants becoming invasive but I think free plants do your thing I won't have buy other plants etc

I just Googled red valerian cos I wasn't sure what it was and the first Google pic of it also had a Hummingbird Hawk-moth in it

 

[Free Falling Foxes]

8 hours ago, Milo said:

That’s pretty grim - do you know what the metric used is to measure this? 

Just 53% of the UK's original nature is left intact - far below the Index's safe limit of 90% and the global average of 79%

[Foxdiamond]

1 hour ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

I just Googled red valerian cos I wasn't sure what it was and the first Google pic of it also had a Hummingbird Hawk-moth in it

 

It is a wonderful plant. Butterflies and bees like it too 

[Trav Le Bleu]

2 hours ago, Foxdiamond said:

It is a wonderful plant. Butterflies and bees like it too 

After looking at a few more pictures I think it's the plant I often see growing in uncared for driveways and gardens. Also, it stinks something horrible.

[Free Falling Foxes]

I saw a grape vine with loads of yet to ripen fruit, hanging over a fence alongside a path in that renowned vineyard region of Glenfield yesterday.

[Samilktray]

Making it my mission to see a hummingbird moth before the summers over 

[Foxdiamond]

52 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

After looking at a few more pictures I think it's the plant I often see growing in uncared for driveways and gardens. Also, it stinks something horrible.

You won't need to worry about the smell wafting across the garden. Perhaps if you put your nose up against it and sniff hard. It self seeds and happy in poor gritty soil. Having said that my garden is loamy and it grows well. A big plus is it is drought resistant. It looks after itself pretty much.

[Foxdiamond]

3 minutes ago, Foxdiamond said:

You won't need to worry about the smell wafting across the garden. Perhaps if you put your nose up against it and sniff hard. It self seeds and happy in poor gritty soil. Having said that my garden is loamy and it grows well. A big plus is it is drought resistant. It looks after itself pretty much.

Just to add although not a native plant it has been in the UK since about 1600