Paul's Back Garden Safari

I watched this garden garden spider wrap up this honey bee for a number of minutes the other day in the garden. Another bee got caught in the web, but was able to escape just before the spider reached it. Then after a short pause it returned it it's original catch and continued to wrap it up a bit more. The word 'spider' derives from the Old English word 'spithra' and is related to the German 'spinne', both of which mean 'spinner'. This is never more true of the garden orb web spiders, and i n high summer and autumn the beautiful orb webs of the Garden Spider,  Araneus diadematus , can be found strung across paths, between shrubs and even in front of doors.  The web is spun overnight ready for the next day, and is often remade each day. The old web is consumed to retain important proteins necessary for the re-spinning process. The webs can be up to 40cm across, and are usually about 1-1.5m above ground. The garden spider spends most their ti...

I came across another shield bug today when I found this common green shield bug sitting on the the leaves of a phlox plant in the garden this afternoon. This is a large shield bug that is common throughout Britain, but less so in Scotland. There is one generation a year, with eggs laid in June and the larvae going through a series of instars, all slightly different in appearance. The barrel-shaped eggs are laid on the undersides of leaves. Both nymphs and adults feed on plant sap. The photograph below is of a 5th instar that I found in the garden in mid August, very near to the place I found the adult today. This developmental process from egg to adult through the series on instars is known as hemimetabolous development (1). Each of the instars resemble the adults but are wingless. Each instar stage has different colouration, and the final adult stage is reached in September. The adults then hibernate over winter and reemerge to breed in the late spring. The anatomy of the s...

It seems to be my week for finding plume moths. As I was mowing the lawn this weekend, this chap kept on flying ahead of the mower. It turned out to be a Common plume. Although "Common" I still think that it is a beautiful moth. No necessarily marked with any major contrasting features, but the subtly of the markings are still intriguing in their own right. Emmelina monodactyla LINNAEUS, 1758 Superfamily - PTEROPHOROIDEA Family - PTEROPHORIDAE It has a couple of alternative common names along with Common Plume, it is also known as the T Moth and Morning Glory Plume Moth. The habit of rolling up its wings at rest in the T shape is reflected in it's latin name which describes the wing shape very clearly when the moth is at rest as its appears to only have one (mono) finger (dactyl) although this is because the lightly coloured brown wing is highly rolled up and there are actually more fingers with thin feathery hairs which look much like the wings of a bird. It h...

I was called into the daughter's bedroom last night to rescue a Beautiful plume moth. Though I'm still not sure who I was rescuing from whom! I've always been fascinated by these moths, which when at rest furl up their wings like sails on a ship. It was a fast flying and unpredicatable beast, and difficult to photograph clearly. The Beautiful plume moth,  Amblyptilia acanthadactyla , is one of the commonest plume moths, usually recognisable by the warm rusty brown patches in the dark brown wing tip . I have to admit to have a little difficulty in identifying this for certain. A. acanthadactyla looks very similar to A. punctidactyla, the Brindled plume moth. However, with the help of the expert on iSpot it has been  confirmed  as  A. acanthadactyla. It has two generations each year in July and later in September-April (1). The second generation over winters as an adult. Larval food plants have been listed as hedge woundwort, restharrows, mints, gooseberries, ...

My first post on my new blog. This is a simple blog that I hope to use to record the wildlife of a medium sized urban garden in Caerffili, South Wales. There are three main sections to the garden comprising of a small east facing front garden, and west facing back garden split between a lawn and flower garden and the vegetable garden at the bottom. The back garden is surrounded by a fence, shrubs and 40m of privet, with 3 rowan trees and a hazel tree. There is also a small pond which is home to at least 7 palmate newts at the last count in July. I have been inspired to record the wildlife by reading about bioblitzs' published by local wildlife organisations. Although this cannot be described in any way as a bioblotz, it is more like a plodding marathon. In no way can I be described as an expert in anything, let alone nature. However, I do have a questioning mind, and hope to learn through this project. If anyone does read this blog, and has any advice and guidance, it would be gr...