Autumn Almanac - The Kinks

From the dew-soaked hedge creeps a crawly caterpillar

 when the dawn begins to crack. It's all part of my autumn almanac! 

It is doubtful if the content of today's Post will enthral any but the keenest of Entomologists but the magical World of Nature stretches far beyond Birds and Killer Whales! In the first instance we would ask you to cast your mind back to the Post of Wednesday 09/11/2022 when we secured only our second ever

GOLDEN TWIN-SPOT

In the first instance there was the matter of a correct identification as there are confussion species and the fact that the Insect is something of a scarcity. With that in mind and to be certain, it was considered a wise decission to drive it to Weymouth and let one of "3 far more knowledable than I gentlemen" to take a look to confirm or otherwise. Of the 3 it was Dave Foot who sprung to mind as sure to be at work and able to take a few moments to confirm as was the case. As a bonus to himself it was found that en-root SHE had laid a batch of eggs which was right up his street as also being an excellent enthusiast as to nurturing such things to adulthood. In true Dave fashion it was of no surprise to recieve from him yesterday morning what is now presented to our Valued Readership the Life Cycle of your Average Insect!

Hi Bagsy, hope this works. The following are photos of your Golden Twin-spot first and second instar larva and videos of a larva hatching and taking its first meal, its own egg shell.

The majority of British macro moths have 5 instars, the final one being the pupa.

 (Unfortunately this system does not favour the 'cut of the jib' of those there videos)

 Instar’s are the stages of a larva’s life where it feeds until it needs to change its skin. The skin doesn’t grow, so when it gets to a stage when it no longer fits, it is shed and the new skin is a little more loose and baggy.

 The majority of British Macro Moths have 5 instars, the final one being the pupa.

The larva is transparent and the green line through the middle of its body is the food it has eaten and the small dark area at the end is frass / excrement being expelled. 

Our First One  

Extract from the man himself

We have limited the precis mainly

to the southern counties of

Great Britain

We don't want His Dave-Ship on our tail so as ever Many Thanks Mate!!

Funny How Love Can Be - The Rockin' Berries

 

With the temperature having shifted from Zero°C to +10°C over the past 24 hours, you might be forgiven for thinking something new may appear in the Moth Traps - so did we!

Almost the last of the
Waxing Crescent Moon

and from the traps
CHESTNUT

DOUBLE-STRIPED PUG
another

MOTTLED UMBER
and c4

DECEMBER MOTHs
maybe not exactly 'floating your boat' but a boon to us 'ere Unmarried Mother's!

 Also within the Solar Panel Compounds and maybe only a tad more interesting

firstly a single

HERRING GULL
then joined by a second

and then a brave

WOOD PIGEON

Again not a classic
RAINBOW
but the accompanying precipitation being enough to deter us from a visit to the Heath.
A scan across the Moors River, now almost a full Flood Plain, is holding a decent number of various Waterfowl mostly obscured by the surrounding vegetation but not blocking the view of this

seemingly young

ABERDEEN ANGUS

bullock.
Still keen to confirm that the 'chacking calls' of yesterday were infact what was thought

another visit to the Manor Car Park

where we found

just what we had thought

a small host of about a dozen

FIELDFARE

where some were given to  skirmishing the 'fallers' along with a lone

MISTLE THRUSH

with surely more to come - watch this space!
Such sights remind me of my many visits to Estonia where in the parks of the unscathed capital

TALLINN

they breed prolifically

as they also did along with many other spiecies at my former Ladyfriends redundant farm in

 

ILLE

 

THEMZ WUZ the DAYZ!