Many discoveries of insects large and small. We’re loving the Lime Hawkmoth that landed on Simon’s workbench at first we thought it was a camo moth. With 3 huge Lime trees nearby it makes sense that the Lime moth would be close by. Fascinating shapes and colours.
Alex has been on the ant hunt, as usual, finding some enormous ant colonies and eagerly awaiting the ant flight for 2019.
Another discovery from Sarah’s garden in the UK. We think it’s got to be a Death head hawkmoth? We checked online at the Butterfly Conservation website and leaned that;
Acherontia atropos ‘adults emit a squeak when alarmed, made by expelling air through its proboscis (tongue), which has a structure that vibrates like the reed of a wind instrument’ (Butterfly Conservation Website)
Don’t want to alarm the moth but I was interested to hear that sound? Found a recording on BBC SoundCloud here. These moths love honey and emit a soothing chemical to calm the bees in the hive while feeding.
Alex woke up to find a female hornet moth in the hallway. I think this was the first time that he actually couldn’t believe his eyes. He thought it was a flying mouse. It also looked like a hornet as its name suggests. It was the middle of the night, he thought it might have one hell of a sting. The moth decided to visit us as we had the poplar tree felled and so it thought it would move in with us instead NOPE! Alex and Simon removed Mrs. Hornet Moth OUTSIDE back to the poplar tree. Pics below show the size but not the hornet stripes. I think that’s enough insect finds now thank you.
Fire Salamander
Glad Coco didn’t decide to eat this poisonous creature. It’s a beauty. Apparently they come out when it rains. Nice, but, preferably not in my kitchen thank you. Most dogs won’t try to eat them but when they run about they could be irresistible to a JR Terrier. I don’t think Coco has the eyes for the job, the nose is his department and Bertie, well? He just can’t be bothered to move from his comfy seat.
