Jump to content

Sheffields Flora and Fauna


Guest Trefcon

Recommended Posts

This stuff seems to be everywhere nowadays, waste ground, gardens, even growing in walls and pavements. Someone told me it was called Ground Lilac but I don't think that's correct. Whatever it is, it's on the increase over the last 5 years or so, and is getting to be the "new Budlia".

(I should have taken a close-up I suppose.)

attachicon.gifFlowers-Springvale.jpg

Red Valerian

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A Hot Blackbird, or is it delousing itself in the sun ?

attachicon.gifbb_garden_pp.jpg

This is fairly typical blackbird behaviour in hot weather.

We have one that frequently does this on our back lawn, - and always in exactly the same spot for some reason

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Moths, you either love em or hate em.

I like to take photos of them, here is one of our largest (wingspan 40-50 mm).

It will be evicted from the comfort of my kitchen at nightfall, untouched by human hands.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Beautiful. I haven't seen a swallow-tailed moth (ourapteryx sambucaria) for many years. Used to see them regularly in my parents' garden in Gleadless.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Beautiful. I haven't seen a swallow-tailed moth (ourapteryx sambucaria) for many years. Used to see them regularly in my parents' garden in Gleadless.

Common in my area over the last few years, but this year seems to be a boom in the population, had three in my kitchen last night, with plenty of others knocking at the window.

http://ukmoths.org.uk/show.php?bf=1922

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In my kitchen today.

Tiny and harmless you may think ... You would be wrong !

The moth, not the Pound coin ^_^

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In my kitchen today.

Tiny and harmless you may think ... You would be wrong !

attachicon.gifsmall_.jpg

The moth, not the Pound coin ^_^

The moth is harmless: it is the caterpillars which can be a bit destructive.

Perhaps there are too many cherry trees anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The moth is harmless: it is the caterpillars which can be a bit destructive.

Perhaps there are too many cherry trees anyway.

Not as bad as I first thought,

apparently the caterpillars strip the leaves off the trees, and most trees survive the attack,

but people have been known to avoid going into infested areas, due to the spooky appearance that is produced by the caterpillars.

www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/Spooky-caterpillars-shroud-trees-in-cobwebs

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not as bad as I first thought,

apparently the caterpillars strip the leaves off the trees, and most trees survive the attack,

but people have been known to avoid going into infested areas, due to the spooky appearance that is produced by the caterpillars.

www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/Spooky-caterpillars-shroud-trees-in-cobwebs

I have seen smaller examples than those in the Telegraph article and found them rather creepy. The thought of thousands of tiny caterpillars inside wreaking havoc to a tree is something I find very weird.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A few weeks ago I was going to chop down this dead Elder bush in my garden and burn it,

but decided to leave it for the wildlife, I'm pleased I did.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We've had loads of these butterflies over the last couple of weeks, swarms of them, and they seem to be particularly attracted to this one type of plant.



Link to comment
Share on other sites

Peacocks and buddleia, a winning combination! We usually get a lot of Peacocks, but last year nary a one. This year though they seem back to normal. What we have had for the last few weeks is small whites, dozens of 'em! I counted 15 on the buddleia at the same time a couple of weeks ago.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Peacocks and buddleia, a winning combination! We ususally gor a lot od Peacocks, but last year nary a one. This yeat though they seem back to normal. What we have had for the last few weeks is small whites, dozens of 'em! I counted 15 on the buddleia at the same time a couple of weeks ago.

It was a mixture of peacocks and whites on the buddleia, but interestingly this year, far more peacocks than whites. Usually we get mainly whites.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

'Twas the same when I was at my parents' in Gleadless a couple of weeks ago. There was a glut of peacocks and plenty of large whites, small whites and green-veined whites. I only saw one small tortoiseshell, however, and I haven't seen a red admiral anywhere this year.

Another visitor to my parents' back garden was this: the first time I saw one of these was about 30 years ago in Devon, at which time they would not have been seen regularly in Sheffield, if at all. They have spread a long way northwards in recent years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Haven't seen a tortoishell this year either, but did have a solitary red admiral yesterday, (the first for two years) and a solitary comma last week. We do see commas, but never more than one or two a season.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It is odd that there seems to be a shortage of small tortoiseshells in Sheffield, as there are loads of them up here in Cumbria.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The biggest shortage this year is ladybirds. I think I've only seen four or five this year. I understand it's a national thing, down to a shortage of greenfly because of the cold spring.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And in this green and pleasant land, where wild flowers grow freely,

adding their beauty to our estates,

where sunflowers bloom from concrete,

and tomato plants flourish in tarmac.

:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And in this green and pleasant land, where wild flowers grow freely,

adding their beauty to our estates,

plants_.jpg

where sunflowers bloom from concrete,

plant_02.jpg

and tomato plants flourish in tarmac.

plant_03.jpg

:)

Isn't this just another example of the City Council being incompetent at normal tidying up and repair and maintenance jobs by pleading lack of money?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Isn't this just another example of the City Council being incompetent at normal tidying up and repair and maintenance jobs by pleading lack of money?

Should be the responsibility of Amey now, surely?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Following the recent theft of a brand new car from a neighbours drive, ( he got it back, by the way ), I decided to install some CCTV.

One camera covers my drive with a peek through the gates to the pavement beyond.

To my surprise it is capturing images of numerous nefarious characters every night.

Urban foxes !

It's a very quiet night, if we dont see at least 4 different ones.

There's Wile E. Coyote, who seems to have had a major tussle with something above his class. He looks very dishevelled and limps badly, which slows him down a lot.

There's a dog fox with a brush so thick that it looks like a continuation of his body. There's another who seems to have lost all the fur off his brush which looks like a pipe cleaner.

There are some slightly smaller foxes which I presume are vixens or growing cubs.

One thing I have noticed is that they walk precisely down the centre of the pavement or my drive and appear to cross the road at right angles.

They must have been taking road safety lessons from "Tufty Fluffytail", the squirrel. :)

We have a naturewatch viewing each morning when we review the recordings.

HD

Apologies for the poor picture, taken by camera off the TV screen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...