Woody's back!

 

This woodpecker is living up to his name. He is pecking lots of holes in this dead birch tree. Some are big enough for him to get right inside the tree. Others are smaller and shallower. Is he creating nest holes or are the holes just ways of getting to the wood boring beetle larvae that must surely inhabit the decaying wood? He (or another male) made a deep hole last year but did not use it as a nest.

Two more bugs

Another invasive foreigner here. This is the rhododendron leafhopper, graphocephala fennahi. It was introduced into Europe from the USA in the early 1900s. This one is an adult.

Both adult and nymph feed on the sap of rhododendron bushes. So it is one of the very few pests of rhododendrons. Some people would say we could do with a few more!













The pond skater, gerris lacustris, is another bug. These insects are carnivorous, preying mainly on other insects which fall onto the water surface. They rely on surface tension and non-wetting legs to walk on the water.

More darters

Freshly emerged overnight, two female common darters were still sitting on the bushes near the pond at midday today. From the evidence of their exuviae, left on the water iris stems, there must have been a third somewhere!

Bug and butterfly

I found this bug yesterday in the garden. It's a red legged shieldbug, pentatoma rufipes. The nymphs live on oak trees so it's not surprising really since there are oak trees overhanging the garden.

Today's visitor was a common blue butterfly. Apparently they are becoming scarcer so I'm pleased we still have them here.

Toad today!

I found this toad in my garage today. It seemed to be trapped in there so I brought it out and it walked off happily into the undergrowth near the pond.


Maybe it has friends in the garden. I hope so. I have an excess of slugs and snails which could do with some natural control.

Today at the pond

 I noticed a blue tailed damselfly, ischnura elegans, at the pond today. That's only the second one I've seen. This one is a female of the violet form.



There were also two more exuviae from common darters - but I have not seen any of the darters yet this year!

Darters have bred!

Last August I recorded common darters laying eggs in my front pond and posted a picture. The original large picture is here.







Today I found three exuviae of common darters on the leaves of my water iris. So the pond has successfully bred common darters along with a host of azure damsels and large red damsels.