I have been woken up by something like a willow warbler the last few mornings. It sits on the roof near my window and trills. A beautiful sound, new to me, among the aeroplanes and sirens.
Can you see it or just hear it? The wrens seem to be the only birds singing around here now. The rest are probably coughing or lost their voices from smoke inhilation.
I take it that isn't the moth from your pupa?
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Hi, no, the the pupa is still a pupa, but moving still.
I could hear the warbler in my sleep and then through the curtain into waking. By the time I had got wake enough to get recording equipment ready it had flown off. A sleepy search at 4.30am on Youtube seemed to suggest the bird was a willow warbler or something similar. I rarely ever hear unusual things at my house, so my ears prick up when I hear a newbie. We have blackcaps around - such a gorgeous song - and the occasional greenfinch, but that's about it for 'exotics' (apart from the parrots).
Sir John Lister-Kaye rates the blackcap as a rival for the nightingale in terms of its song. I don't hear either signing around here sadly but the blackcaps do pop by occasionally for a travel snack on their way somewhere else.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
The advantage of black caps is that they are doing pretty well in numbers (very unlike the nightingale) so you can hear their gorgeous song all over the place. To me their song is more melodious - or 'my ones' at least. Continuous, mellifluous singing. No clicks and whirs. Long arcs, like this one, but not as manic.
My sea hollies are absolutely covered in insects today. Bees, wasps, beetles and flies of about 20 different species. The most interesting though are some huge hairy flies that are apparently parasites of caterpillars.
This one is the size of a large bumblebee and very aggressive:
This one is a bit smaller but is even more hairy:
A drone fly and a blow fly
A great plant to have in the garden if you want some unusual bugs to pop by. They also seem to thrive in this weather as well as shrugging off the Beast from the East and previous wet summers. Climate change hardy plants.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
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