Blackberrying, Books and Garden Butterflies and Moths

Blackberrying


D and I went blackberrying last weekend at our usual location along a public footpath near a river.




We spotted this Robin's Pincushion or Bedeguar Gall near the car park. These are caused by the larvae of a tiny (4mm long) gall wasp - Dipoloepis rosae. The grubs secrete chemicals which causes the abnormal growth of roses forming the pin-cushion. They are found in late summer are widespread and common and the galls contain many chambers each containing a larva. It gains the red colour as it matures during the autumn and the larvae feed on the plant over the course of the winter and spring eventually emerging as adults which reproduce asexually.

Haws and elderberries are ripening in the hedgerow and we managed to collect

a large container of blackberries.

The next day we made 3 jars of blackberry jam and

an apple and blackberry crumble.

Thankfully, this year I was careful where I walked and didn't manage to twist my ankle again down an entrance to a badger sett - I did get covered in insect bites though :(




Recent Reading

"The January Man A Year of Walking Britain" by Christopher Somerville has been shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize and I really did love this book. The book was inspired by a song of the same name by Dave Goulder and is the story of a year of walking in various parts of the British Isles. The walks follow routes that remind the author of his father and the many walking holidays they shared. The author describes the people he meets, the history, the wildlife and the landscape as he searches for the truth about the sort of person his father really was. Christopher Somerville writes beautifully and the book is a poignant and moving tribute to his father. Highly recommended.

The 6th Ruth Galloway mystery book - only 4 to go and I am up to date! Easy and fun reading and I enjoyed this as much as others in the series. I find these books hard to put down and Ruth Galloway is a very engaging character.

Martin Edwards is a new author to me - I think I was tempted to buy the book because the series is set in the Lake District although I may have seen the books on someone else's blog - Rosie or Codlins and Cream?? The main characters in the book are are Daniel Kind, an Oxford Historian, and his new girlfriend Miranda who escape to renovate a cottage in the Lake District in search of a new lifestyle and DCI Hannah Scarlet who has a new job in charge of a department that has been set up to review old crime cases. The first case she reviews involves the murder of a woman tourist on the Sacrifice Stone near to Daniel's cottage and Daniel and other characters in the story all knew the person originally suspected of committing the crime. The book does take quite a long time to get going although presumably it is to introduce several of the people who will feature in future novels. The ending has an unexpected twist and I have already uploaded the second in the series to my Kindle.



Garden Butterflies and Moths

A rubbish photo but the first garden Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) of the year spotted last week didn't linger long! In fact, I have seen very few of this species at all this year.

For various reasons I haven't put out my moth trap much this year so these two species were found in the garage.



Last night I spotted what initially looked like a Red Admiral fluttering around the garage light. This morning I spotted a large moth on the garage wall and was really chuffed to find a Red Underwing (Catocala nupta) - this is a species I have never managed to trap. In the photo below you can just see a glimpse of its red underskirt.

D managed to get a much better photo below as I released it.

Straw Underwing (Thalpophila matura)

Garden Sparrowhawk and Christmas Pudding Time

What connection do sparrowhawks have with Christmas pudding you may wonder? Well, there is a tenuous connection as I was grating an orange and lemon for the Christmas pudding this morning, I glanced out of the kitchen window and there was a large bird bathing in the pond. It flew into the whitebeam tree and started preening - a sparrowhawk (juvenile, I think). It stayed long enough for me to change the lens on the camera and get out onto the patio to take a few very record shots (well it was 50 foot away!). It was a great encounter that made my day.





and a slightly cropped version



I managed to miss "Stir-up Sunday" last weekend so am a week behind with my Christmas baking. I do love Christmas especially the preparation and anticipation which I sometimes think are more enjoyable than the actual event!

I broke with tradition this year and tried a new pudding recipe - here's the dried fruit, cherries and candied peel prepared last night and left to soak in lots of alcohol.



Here's the Christmas pudding all mixed and ready to go in the bowls



Ready for steaming - yes, I know there should be a string handle to make it easy to get out of the steamer but I haven't yet worked out to create one! Brian usually helps (he is far more practical than me!) but he'd gone out to fetch the Sunday papers.



I decided to experiment with cooking methods this year - I steamed the larger of the puddings on top of the cooker as usual but the two smaller puddings I put in a roasting dish containing about 2 inches of water which I covered with a double layer of foil and cooked in the oven on a low temperature. It will be interesting to see if there is any difference in the cooking methods and also how the recipe compares with my usual one.

Next weekend I'll be making the Christmas cake followed by mincemeat the weekend after.

Warbler, Grebe and Plum Chutney!

My daughter Emily wanted to go for a pub lunch today and happily she agreed to go to The Plough. The Plough just happens to be situated just over the road from Shustoke Reservoir where a Black-necked Grebe (which would be a local tick for me) had been seen early evening yesterday! Sadly, my history of "dipping" on most unusual bird visitors at this location continued today and the only grebes I could see were great crested and little. Although to be fair I only did a quick scan of the reservoir from the car park and the bird could well have moved on as I haven't seen any reports of further sightings today.

A quick drive round the lanes on the way there produced a lot of pheasants and red-legged partridges in the hedgerows and a kestrel hunting over a field of stubble.

Had our usual lunch in the Plough of "cheesy chips" with the addition this time of a plate of cheesy garlic bread. Healthy not!

Yesterday watched another willow warbler passing through on migration catching insects in the garden.

Yesterday afternoon I indulged in another favourite autumn pastime and made some chutney.

Nice simple recipe with not too many ingredients




The ingredients were soon in the pan and cooking



I haven't tried this recipe before but the chutney looks a lovely colour. The recipe only made one jar but if its any good I'll make double the amount next year.

Blackberrying with butterflies

We went blackberrying yesterday morning. I took my binoculars along in the hope of seeing some warblers feasting on the berries but not a sign. The only birds I saw were a great tit and 12 mallard on the river nearby.

There were butterflies galore though feasting on the ripe blackberries - speckled wood, small white, lots of commas and red admirals looking pristine. A shame I had left the camera at home!

We collected several pounds of blackberries



We froze loads but some were used to make a blackberry and apple crumble

Moths (Swift, Kitten, Snout and Underwings) and Cupcakes

I have been running my moth trap for a year now - have just checked my records and my very first trapping session was on 10th August, 2009. I honestly think it is one of the best purchases I have ever made as its provided hours of fun and absorbing moth study. I find moths absolutely fascinating and whenever you open the trap its exciting as you never know what you may have trapped and, although it is often the usual lbj's, there is always the hope of a hawkmoth or other attractive species.

I trapped quite a few new species for the garden last Sunday including a beautiful but worn sallow kitten and an orange swift - another attractive moth. I also caught a species of Snout - this was far too lively to attempt a photograph but with the shape of its wings and snout type "nose" it looked like a miniature Concorde. Finally managed to trap and identify a mint moth - Pyrausta purpularis(sorry for lack of italics for scientific name but I can't seem to get the italic feature to work). This has the gold markings on the wings split into three whereas P. aurata has just one gold mark. Tiny moths but very pretty. Lesser Broad-bordered yellow underwing, copper underwing, straw dot and light brown apple moth were all new species for this year.

A few photos below - all record shots only. Had to use the flash for these and they are as usual heavily cropped.

First, another picture of a common carpet very worn and ragged perhaps it had escaped an encounter with a bird intent on a moth meal.



Common Rustic - a typical lbj



Copper Underwing - its a pity I couldn't capture the beautiful copper coloured underwing.



One of several yellow underwing species - this is a Large Yellow. Again in flight when it shows the yellow underwing with black border it is transformed into a very pretty moth.



This is the Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing



Pyrausta purpularis



I am pretty sure this is the dark form of Orange Swift. Swifts according to Waring et al have short antennae and do not feed as adults.





Two photos of Sallow Kitten - a really pretty moth - afraid the photos don't do it justice. It looks quite docile in these photos as I had chilled it in the fridge for a few hours. This does not hurt the moths and half an hour after the photo was taken I had released it in the garden and it flew off quite happily.





Straw Dot



Straw Underwing - this species has pale straw yellow underwings with a brown border



And this week's mystery moth - haven't a clue! The hindwings were straw coloured.



Please feel free to correct any misidentifications - although my id skills are improving its a slow process!

Summary of Moths trapped on Sunday, 8th August

9.00 - Dawn Minimum temperature 10.8 degrees centigrade

Actinic 15w Skinner Trap

1 x Orange Swift
1 x Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
1 x Knot Grass
1 x Willow Beauty
2 x Large Yellow Underwing
3 x Straw Underwing
1 x Button Snout ?
1 x Common Carpet
1 x Lime-speck Pug
1 x Copper Underwing
9 x Shuttle-shaped Dart
1 x Riband Wave
1 x Marbled Beauty
1 x Straw Dot
1 x Sallow Kitten

Micros
1 x Pyrausta purpularis
1 x Light Brown Apple Moth

Total number of species trapped in garden 2009/10 = 89
Total number of species trapped in garden this year = 71
Total number of moths trapped this year = 371


And now for something entirely different - photo below of the results of the Cupcake Masterclass Course I attended Wednesday evening. I love cooking especially baking but prior to this course my cake decorating skills were zero. The course demonstrated several different ways of icing so I shall no longer be slathering on the icing when I bake cakes but will be creating swirls and stars with my icing bag!

Quick Update

I glanced out of the kitchen window today to see a female sparrowhawk gliding down the garden and alighting on top of the feeding station. She spent several minutes looking around but all of the garden birds had already dived for cover. This is the second sparrowhawk I have seen recently and I hope it isn't the reason why the number of juvenile blue and great tits and goldfinches on the feeders has recently dropped!

I will post a full update in a few days - am off on a Cup Cake course tomorrow evening - and have spent hours the last few nights trying to identify moths from the last trapping session. Have several new species for the garden including a beautiful moth called a Sallow Kitten. Its very worn but still very pretty - only hope I can get a photo. Have caught even more lbj's this time too which are proving very tricky to identify.

I must admit I have also spent several hours "lurking" in various football forums reading the latest gossip/rumours on why Martin O'Neill has resigned from Aston Villa and who the likely replacement might be. Must say I was a huge fan of MON and am really rather devastated at his sudden departure - don't admire his "immaculate" timing however!It will be interesting to see the type of manager Randy Lerner appoints and we may learn about his ambitions for the Club from the appointment. Even if a statement is issued by the Club I really do doubt if we will learn the real reasons behind MON's departure - although if Ashley Young suddenly departs for Spurs or another Club we will have a pretty good idea!

To return to the garden update I will leave you with a photo of a "baby" sunflower which was attracting a lot of hoverflies yesterday. I lost 5 sunflower plants due to lack of watering when we were on holiday in June and this is the only survivor.