Blog moving over to a new site

Please note that if you still wish to follow my blog it will now be at this address, located within the portfolio at:  ko-wildlifephotography.com

I will also move the existing posts over so nothing will be lost. I will start posting new blogs at the new site shortly

Thank you for your support

Karla

Telephoto Lens: Practice Day II.

Birds in flight at NWT Holme Dunes

Today it was rather windy at the coast, there were just a few birds showing in the dunes.  A flock of eight Magpies, many Wood Pigeons, four Linnets and then I have found the two beauties below...

Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus)

I have spent some time with this lovely kestrel.  She took me on a round trip around the dunes, always choosing to hunt and rest close by. 

Here she looked at me as if saying: "This is my best side!"

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta)

It soon started to get dark so I moved nearer to the car park.  I sat on the bench for a while and looked over the marshes.  I have seen five Little Egrets flying from one creek to another.  This egret came quite close, just under the bank on which the main path runs.

I could see that a dog walker was approaching through the marsh.

And the egret flew...

Finally! A Photo of a wild owl!

Dear Santa,

Thank you so very much for my Christmas present, the new telephoto lens is just fantastic!

Look, what I managed to get when I took it out for the first time.  I believe it will only improve as I learn what it can do.  

It also helped that Mr Barn Owl was not too bothered by my presence.  He sat just 50 or so metres from where I stood in the middle of the path.

 Barn Owl (Tyto alba) at the back of Drove Orchards Wood (between Holme and Thornham)

Barn Owl on a post by the pathway

Bee Houses (Helping Solitary Bees)

Over the past two summers I have noticed that someone has been filling old screw holes in the wood in my porch.

First year there was brown dust below an old doorbell hole in the door frame, I thought: “Who has been doing this?” Then one day I have found the culprit, there was a small bee face looking out of the hole, checking all was safe before flying out again.  A bee has been excavating the drilled and rotten wood of the door frame  a bit more in attempt to build a nest chamber. I  was able to identify it as Red Mason Bee (Osmia rufa/Osmia bicornis)  Unfortunately, she never got to lay its egg because the rotten door was not very safe and had to be replaced.

Red Mason Bee (Osmia rufa/Osmia bicornis)

The next year I have noticed another bee activity concentrated around a small hole in the bannister left after a tiny knot fallen out.  It was a much smaller hole than the previous year.  One day I stood on the porch and saw a little bottom sticking out. Really it looked more like as though someone stuck a black sunflower seed into the hole.  I waited and soon discovered that it is a bee again.  This time it was the Blue Mason Bee (Osmia caerulescens) and it was able to successfully fill couple of holes in the bannister and one in the main corner post. 

Blue Mason Bee (Osmia caerulescens)

Summer went and soon it was winter, spring and summer again.  Holes remained filled and nothing was moving.  Early June, and I eagerly anticipated the babies hatching.  Alas I have missed all three of them coming out to the world. Only neat little holes were left where they slept all that time.

Good time to take an action!  

I went to Morrison’s and purchased a purpose built Bee House (it only cost £3 but was the best looking house on the market. Even better looking than some much more pricey ones)  I installed it on the main corner post of the porch on the side I have seen bee activity already. Soon bees came and started investigating the little bamboo openings.  

The Bee House

Success! 

Red Mason Bees approved of the house and in a very short time four were getting on with the building work. 

Red Mason Bee (Osmia rufa/Osmia bicornis)

They kept at it all June and July and were seen flying at first with yellow fringe on their abdomens, bringing pollen and later carrying small balls of mud to fill in the completed chamber.  I watched them for some time every day and could see that they are really good at filling holes.  When they offloaded the pollen they would come out of the hole and turn around to use their abdomen to pack it all down.  In the end they have filled in thirty chambers.  

 Red Mason Bee: Carrying a ball of mud

 Red Mason Bee: Ready to do some plastering

Red Mason Bee: Nearly finished this one

 Red Mason Bee: Busy as a bee

One bee decided to branch out a bit.  It found an old drilled out hole in the mortar between the bricks, and promptly filled it in (no excavation signs so I was quite happy for it to build there)   

Red Mason Bee: Keeping to its name

At that time I have purchased another Bee House (this time with slightly larger holes) just to be sure there was enough space for everyone.  I also created an 'Emergency House' from a tomato purée tin and some reed stalks. Alas the bees stopped coming.  

Bee Houses I. and II.

During the last few weeks of the Red Mason Bee activity I have noticed much smaller bees checking out the houses and sniffing around the tiniest of bamboo canes.  These bees were a bit less confident and did not do any building.  They kept going into the various holes just to come out again.  I have counted three and later identified them as most likely to be Red Mason Bee males (I noticed they had small white moustaches), they must have been making sure the girls are doing it right.

 Red Mason Bee: Mr Bee

Red Mason Bee: Mr Bee in profile

Red Mason Bee: Mr Bee in one of the reeds of the 'Emergency House'

A problem arrives! 

 

During the hotter summer days I have seen a Ruby Tailed Wasp (Chrysis ignita) prowling around. She was waiting for the bees to leave their chamber unguarded to quickly lay its egg into the chamber next to the bee’s egg.  I tried to catch and move it on but it was quicker and sneaky enough to do as it pleased.  So there may be some altogether different type of babies growing in the odd hole.

 Ruby Tailed Wasp (Chrysis ignita)

Ruby Tailed Wasp (Chrysis ignita)

New interest in the larger holes...

Another species of solitary bee had found the house irresistible. Two Patchwork Leaf Cutter Bees (Megachile centuncularis)  decided that the house is perfect for their purposes. They are quite a large insects and could be seen throughout the day bringing small discs of leaves that they have chewed out of the roses in the garden below.  Before they disappeared they stuffed the leaves into five bamboo canes. 

 Patchwork Leaf Cutter Bee (Megachile centuncularis)

 Patchwork Leaf Cutter Bee: Leaf transport

Patchwork Leaf Cutter Bee: Leaf stuffing

Patchwork Leaf Cutter Bee: The finished article

All remains now, is to wait and see if I can catch any of the new bees emerging next summer.  Or will it all be Ruby Tails?

  

 Bee Houses as they are now

 Hope that my bees will hatch and some will return and use the houses again next summer…

MothTrap: Improvised

My Lepidopterology Beginnings

After seeing the beautiful moths caught every night at Holme NOA I too quickly became addicted. No longer content waiting until I get to the observatory and have chance to photograph the night visitors, I urgently needed my own way of attracting and temporarily detaining those beautiful butterflies of the night.

It would be interesting to see what is around the city centre at night (other than loud club revellers) A plan started to form in my head. What is the quickest way to get some moths? Leaving the window in my bathroom open and the light on! Fantastic, the 100 watt equivalent bulb is really bright and coupled with the white, floor to ceiling, tiles make it real moth magnet.

Also needed were some containers, so I can examine the moths properly. Being a complete novice, this is crucial for me. I  have no clue about the majority of moths (apparently 1,500 can be found in Norfolk and 2,500 nationally) I will have to take photographs and then try to identify what I actually caught. Pots sourced from Hobbycraft (needed them fast, no time to get proper entomologists/lepidopterists equipment) - the small bead containers are just the thing.

So I did it! 

However, by any means this is not the simplest way to catch moths. There is just too many places for the little 'monkeys' to hide. Undiscovered ones keep appearing throughout the day, bouncing off the closed window and getting a headache.

Need to invent something better and easier

The Improvised Moth Trap officially opened on the evening of 19th May, 2015.
Light was on from 22:00 to 04:00. Location: first floor, about 4 meters above ground.

All moths released after photo session some distance away from the house to avoid recapture.

A problem. The night was so damn cold (just 11°C) that only the few moths (photos below) made an appearance.

1x Dark Groundling (Bryotropha affinis) 

6x Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner (Cameraria ohridella)

1x Twenty-plume Moth (Alucita hexadactila)

1x White-shouldered House Moth (Endrosis sarcitrella)

Since that night I neglected my sleep. Between the hours of 21:00 and 04:00 i can be found periodically chasing moths around the bathroom with a pot in my hand. Me: up on the bath, then in the bath, reaching to the ceiling, peering behind the toilet roll... Where else could they be hiding?

20th May: (average temp 6.8°C)

1x Brimstone (Opisthograptis luteolata)

1x Garden Pebble (Evergestis forficalis)

and:
7x Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner (Horse Chestnut tree close by explains this)
1x White-shouldered House Moth (probably have a 'factory' for them in my house plants)

21st May : (average temp 9.7°C)

2x Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner
1x White-shouldered House Moth

22nd May: (average temp 13.0°C)

3x Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner
1x Twenty-plume Moth
1x White-shouldered House Moth

23rd May: (average temp 12.7°C)

2x Common Pug (Eupithecia vulgata)

1x Double Striped Pug (Gymnoscelis rufisciata)

1x Light Brown Apple Moth (Epiphyas posvittana)

1x Scalloped Hazel (Odonopteta bidentata)

and:
3x White-shouldered House Moth
1x Garden Pebble
1x Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner

24th May: (average temp 8.0°C)

1x Angle Shades (Phlogophora meticulosa)

1x Silver Y (Autographa gamma)

1x Vine's Rustic (Hoplodina ambigua)

Really slow start, the nights are very cold. Will definitely be plotting some sort of a graphical representation of the relationship between temperature and moth/species number.

... to be continued ...

Disclaimer: some moths may be identified incorrectly due to me still learning. If so please let me know and I will correct and thus improve my identification skills. Thank you