Ravenous wee beasties..............

 

 

 

These creatures are new to me but can only be described as ravenous wee beasties. They are called Hornet Robber Flies and catch and eat other small insects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They can be found in the UK as well as here and feed mainly on crickets, dung beetles and flies.
The Cricket below is less than a centimetre long and would be an ideal meal for one of the flies above. 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Yet another new wee beasty on me were these tiny little black bees who are part of the miner bee family - they are only about six millimetres long and were emerging and foraging then returning loaded down with pollen.

 

 

 

 

 

Here you can clearly see the feathery legs on the bottom bee who is trying to get out, while the ones returning have very orange legs covered with pollen some arrive with so much they cannot get back in the hole.

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Not a great video but I hope you can get an idea of the size of them.

 

 

 

Lastly here is a Damselfly tucking into another insect - sorry not a perfect shot but I was being bitten all over by other winged creatures feasting on me and only had on shorts and T-shirt so was giving them lots to go at, but as they say one must suffer for one's art.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On our walk today - Roe Deer and more

Here is a short précis of what we saw on our walk down the lane today.

The first thing we came across were our Swallow pair's new fledglings form their second clutch, these  have obviously chosen to go to the hedge along our agricultural rail line to sit and wait to be fed rather than use the telephone lines in the courtyard.

 

 

You can clearly see the yellow at the mouth and lack of long tail feathers.

 

 

I have watched the feeding for hours but it is done so swiftly that you can't really see what is going on, so I was amazed to see in this shot that the young one almost looks as though it is swallowing the parent - it's head goes so far into the fledgling's mouth to deposit its collection of insects.

 

   

 

 
 
 
 

Then came a quick glimpse of these two: a Red Legged Partridge and then a male Stone Chat.

 

Then just as we were almost home I spotted the ears and horns of this Roe Buck. I waited until it came onto the track and this shot was taken just as he got his bearings, immediately he saw us he ran across the lane and into the maize crop opposite to disappear like a ghost.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and there he was gone - I have often seen these creatures around the area but this was my first opportunity to get any shots so I hope you like them............. 

 

IN THE WILDLIFE GARDENS OF LA CHABOTTERIE: Bastille and Butterflies

IN THE WILDLIFE GARDENS OF LA CHABOTTERIE: Bastille and Butterflies: Here are some of the the visitors to our Buddliha. These are often referred to as the butterfly bush for obvious reasons. Most are seen on...

Bastille and Butterflies

Here are some of the the visitors to our Buddliha. These are often referred to as the butterfly bush for obvious reasons. Most are seen on the Buddliha but others were found around the garden........

 

 

 

 

The wonderfully named Brimstone, this is a male of the species has an amazing likeness to a yellow green leaf with the body being it's stem / petiole and even what look like the blades and veins on a real leaf. 

 





Here we have a Grayling feeding on the buddleia, they drop their proboscis into the long slender flowers and suck up the nectar.

 

 

 

This male keeps returning to this one concrete fence post, it gives him a very warm place to rest plus a clear view to spot any passing females.

 

A Large White female. 

 a slow flying Meadow Brown male, they are rather large and very dark when wings are open

 

Here is a Comma female feeding on one of the rather ripe banana we leave out for them to feast on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The one above needs no introduction but the ones below are Common Blues

 

 

 

 

This was a new one to me - it is a Cloudy Yellow

 

 

 

and finally a couple of shots of the Bastille night Fireworks...............

 

 

Here we have the crowd dancing around the DJ stand in the towns Velodrome it is not a doctored shot just a long exposure.

 

 

IN THE WILDLIFE GARDENS OF LA CHABOTTERIE: Now we are a Nature Reserve

IN THE WILDLIFE GARDENS OF LA CHABOTTERIE: Now we are a Nature Reserve: As you can see from the sign on our gates we have now become a League pour la Protection des Oiseaux Refuge, in other words we are now a r...

Now we are a Nature Reserve

As you can see from the sign on our gates we have now become a League pour la Protection des Oiseaux Refuge, in other words we are now a registered Nature Reserve.

 

We must be doing something right as we are attracting new species all the time and here are a few more..........................

 

A Broad-Bodied Chaser

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a member of the Cicada family - we have looked for the creature that was in the trees around the garden making a noise that I can only describe as an electrical short circuit. We called it the electrical bird thinking it was a bird until yesterday when I found it was caused by this little one.

It is about the size of my thumb and is extremely loud. Now I know what it is it makes sense as it sounds like one of the common cicada on speed..............  

After leaving the tree where it came into the world on, it can spend up to seventeen years underground sucking the sap via the trees roots before coming back out, shedding its exoskeleton and turning into this not-so-little adult beastie. 

 

 

and so to some of our birds - here is a Red Legged Partridge who often pops up on our wall or the roof of one of the buildings to have a look around and in mating season to call for his girls.

 

 

These three landed in a melon field at the side of us; they are Little Egrets and look like a couple with one young one. 

 

Another frequent visitor as regular readers will know are Grey Herons, this one is always hanging around. These pictures clearly show how the wing feathers can be manipulated whilst flying.