Friday 17 July 2009

Painted Lady Caterpillars



There are hundreds, probably thousands of the caterpillars of Painted Lady in spinnings on thistles all along the coast here on the Llyn this year. Mainly on Cirsium vulgare (Spear Thistle) but also on C.arvense (Creeping or Field Thistle). These are bred from eggs laid by the huge influx of migrant Painted Ladies which arrived earlier in the summer. Sadly the adults cannot survive our winters but at least we should have good numbers of the adults flying until early autumn at least

No insects of any sort moving here today as we are battered in yet another severe westerly gale with torrential rain.....what happened to the dry hot bbq summer the met office forecast earlier this year !

Viviparous or Common Lizard's



The clawdd's (hedge/banks)of the local lane I walk most days have numerous colonies of Common lizards scattered all along the lane, no doubt providing at least one food source for the local Adder population which also exist in some numbers along the lane. One particular spot is almost certain to have Lizards most sunny days in spring, summer and early autumn basking. There are a couple of spots on the clawdd which have bare patches of soil and I trim the vegetation back regularly here to keep them open for lizards to bask and to give Sue and I a good view of them when we walk the lane. The lizards have obviously bred this year as we regularly see tiny lizards ranging from around 5cm up to 8cm basking in these spots. One thing we have noticed is that the young lizards never bask in company with the adults, perhaps they are viewed as a potential food source by the adults ? One photo shows two small lizard's hiding as I approached with the camera to take a photo and the image showing the close up of a lizard around 8 cm in length was taken on the way back down the lane in the same spot when I managed to creep up without disturbing them

Wednesday 15 July 2009

Snouty & the Cats

Snouty the resident male hedgehog in the garden is seen here feeding alongside a mother feral cat and one of her four kittens. I will be trying to catch the cat and her kittens over the next few weeks to get them neutered and safely re-homed. Judging by the number of these feral cats I have trapped and passed on to local cat rescue so far in the last 12 months its going to be a permanent ongoing operation