A moth named after not one but two birds

The Hummingbird Hawk-Moth. I've only seen these twice before, but the same day that I read they are popping up in many a garden this year and what should happen?

I first noticed it hovering around a verbena bonariensis plant in the forest garden, but ti quickly turned its attention to a flowering buddleia. In fact I had plenty of time to phone Sue and drag in the house to come and see it. Occasionally it darted off, presumably to another feed plant, but it kept coming back to these same few flowers.

It was impossible to get a picture with my phone. The things never stop moving and even if it did pause long enough, the wings just make the whole thing a blur. So I decided to pick one flower and wait to see if I could shoot a bit of video. Actual views were much better, but hopefully the video I've attached: 1 - works and 2 - gives a good general impression of our visit.

So if you've any suitable flowers in your garden, workplace, local park, wherever, then do keep an eye open and you might just be lucky enough to meet one of these little fellas.

 

Swarmzzeee!

April was extremely dry and cold.

May was extremely wet, but the last week at least saw temperatures rising. 

This has made for an insanely busy half term for me here on the smallholding. The logjam of young plants is finally starting to clear and the garden is filling up, but my efforts have been somewhat disrupted by the honey bees who have been waiting for this weather to swarm.

In fact I have taken on the pseudonym SWARMZZEEE!

Since the first swarm which I mentioned in my last blog, we've had quite a few more, peaking at three in one day. Our plans to reduce the number of bee hives we keep have been well and truly scuppered. The smaller and medium swarms we offer to other beekeepers or we house them in a small hive known as a nucleus. As the old queen who left with the swarm continues to lay in the nucleus hive, we transfer the eggs into the original hive which is waiting for its new queen to hatch, undertake her mating flight and start laying.

The whole swarming phenomenon is amazing. It's like snow, I never tire of seeing it and just sit and watch in awe. We don't always see the whole process, but when I'm working in the garden I'll hear the bees being unusually noisy. A quick look will reveal many more bees than normal swirling around the hive and flying over the garden near the apiary. Gradually they'll start congregating on their chosen perch where the queen has landed and the tight swarm steadily grows as more and more bees settle. It's possible to get within feet of the swarm if you're brave enough (and ready to leg it if one gets too defensive!)

Once they are settled, they send out scouts in search of a permanent home. Sometimes they leave after a couple of hours, sometimes a couple of days. If we want to catch them, it's a matter of getting them into a nucleus or more usually a cardboard box. If they're hanging on a branch it's easy. You just give the branch a sharp shake so the swarm drops into the box. If they're on the trunk, you have to scoop them in.

If you've got the queen, the rest will head into the box. Some will position themselves at the entrance to the hive, point their abdomens into the air and vibrate their wings. They are fanning the pheromones from the queen as a signal to the other bees. It really is quite astonishing.

If you've missed the queen, they'll go back to the branch and you start the whole process again.

A couple of swarms this year have been absolutely massive, too good to give away. 

The long and the short of it is that we are now up to ten hives, all doing extremely well. With no honey to collect after a disappointing April and May, they are finally starting to make enough to share some with us.

A wet May has meant a larger than usual slug population in the veg plot. I need to encourage more ground beetles in. Until I manage this though, slug hunts are the order of the day. My motto is Show No Mercy! They really can do a lot of damage to tender young plants which I've spent ages raising. So I've developed a routine.

First I clear the ground and scrape off any mulch. I mow the surrounding grass short and clear the edges. This gives the slugs nowhere to hide. Ideally I leave it for a day in the sun. Basically I am removing the slug habitat. 

When the ground is ready for planting, the more vulnerable plants get a pair of woolly slippers made from scrap fleece. I'm using organic slug pellets too, though I only use these sparingly. I'd rather not.

Fortunately we are not short of scrap fleece. The sheep were sheared last week which is one of those annual events which marks the passing of the year. We had to bring them in for shearing as it was a day of heavy showers. For a few days afterwards they were quite cold but when the hot weather arrived they will have been thankful for the trim.

Insects have started appearing in the garden now too. I am seeing lots more butterflies, with orange-tips and brimstones predominant. If I notice anything different I like to take a snap and identify it. This glorious specimen is a red cardinal beetle I found. The variety of insect life never ceases to amaze me. If they were large animals they would be astonishing (and quite fearsome).

The two young turkeys have finally vacated the old shed in the veg plot, along with just two young chicks. Unfortunately one was not strong enough to make it through the first night, so we now have two turkey hens looking after just one chick. I managed to lure them into a temporary set-up in the stables where they have settled in nicely.

Meanwhile the older clutches are growing fast. Here they are trying to establish the threat level of a lettuce.

Insects galore

With the temperature nudging up very close to 100 a week or so back, insect life on the farm has been abundant. The leek heads and umbellifers (fennel, parsnips left to flower and lovage) are covered in bees, hoverflies, flies and other bugs.

At night-time, leave the windows open and a light on and the upstairs hall becomes a giant moth trap.

So I have started taking snaps of some of the insects that I notice. Identifying them takes quite a bit of time, especially as I often don't really know where to start. It's surprising how often a Google image search for something like 'spotty red beetle yellow antennae uk' comes up trumps!
But even better, a new button which recently appeared on Google Photos on my phone finds matching images on the internet. Over 50% of the time it has left me straight to an identification, and if not it often gets me looking at the right insect family.

I find insects absolutely amazing. They come in so many forms, with a multitude of appendages, fascinating life cycles, in all shapes and colours. If they were the size of humans they would put Doctor Who's range of alien baddies to shame.

Of course, I welcome (most) insects into the garden (althought the weevils which I found by the dozen inside my calabrese heads the other day were not quite so welcome.

The weevil that munched my calabrese!(left)

A freshly opened globe artichoke flower with honey bees burrowing down to get at the pollen.

But at the end of the day there are two approaches to take with bugs. Either aim to wipe them all out, goodies and baddies, as industrial scale farmers mostly do, or let nature help with growing. Ground beetles, ladybirds, lacewings and hoverflies in particular are predators which help control other insects, and slugs in the case of beetles. Yes, there may be the occasional population explosion of some insect which all but ruins a crop, but it's never a total disaster and nature rebalances itself in the end. Of course I give a helping hand by growing plants and flowers specifically to attract or repel certain insects. I use physical barriers (netting) too where this is unavoidable, and I give my plants a healthy and organic soil to grow in so they can withstand attack.

Anyway, onto the good bit, the photos. It's not all about what helps the veg to grow. It's about creating a wonderful space in which to work and occasionally stop to admire the hive of activity going on about you.

So most days now I try to meet and snap a new insect. Here are just a few of them. I won't go all Latin on you with the names. Better to just admire them in blissful ignorance, though I do like to put a name to them if I can and do a little research on their habits.

Moths in many forms flumble (flutter and stumble) into the upstairs hallway.

Top left - One of many hoverfly species - this was a giant. 

Meanwhile a bumblebee visits one of my sunflowers

Comma is one of my favourite butterflies, though the sight of
ragwort in full flower and covered in Ringlets stopped me in my tracks

Marmalade Hoverflies and a  

Swollen-thighed Beetle (aka Thick-legged Flower Beetle or False Oil Beetle)

I initially thought this was a spider until I realised I was looking

at it the wrong way round and it was a fly.

But the way it moved was clearly aimed at deception.

Yellow Dung Fly                                       Noon Fly

A Loveliness of Ladybirds

Saturday 5th January 2019
A while ago I wrote that I try to notice something nature-related, however small, every day on the smallholding. But today it was Sue with the sharp eyes.
She noticed this conglomeration of ladybirds huddled together in the crook of a sheep hurdle.
Rather delightfully, the collective noun for a group of ladybirds is a loveliness. How lovely!
I feel a bit guilty as they may well have been displaced by my path clearing yesterday. But I can't leave everything untouched all year and at least if I do disturb them there are plenty of alternative places for insects to hide away for the winter.
These ladybirds are most welcome on the smallholding as it is their larvae which will be munching away on aphids next summer. A Seven-spot ladybird can eat about 5000 aphids in its life.

My day was spent at the bottom of the land knocking in a line of fence posts. I drive them in by hand using a very heavy and chunky metal tool known for some obscure reason as a post basher. It is hard work, so in between posts I removed some of the tree guards from the saplings. They should be old enough to withstand any nibbling now and I think they are better off with air flowing around their trunks.

The day flew by and before I knew it Sue and I were heading south deep into The Fens where we were due our annual meal out with the Grow Your Own group. Amazingly I founded this group five years ago and it is still going strong with many of its original members. A lovely evening was had by all. It is funny going out with fellow smallholders. Nobody orders chicken, duck, turkey or lamb as we have freezers full of the stuff. Instead the game pie was very popular, as was the fisherman's pie.
We did a gardening version of Secret Santa too. The presents were awarded at random and I got The Grumpy Gardener's Book. For some reason everybody thought this most appropriate.

Sunday 6th January 2019
I did unphotogenic jobs today. Drilling holes in wood in preparation for making some willow bird feeders. I put willow rods in soak too. They will just need a day to mellow and I can start making the feeders tomorrow night.
After this I started on the decking by the back pond. I broke the back of it and another day's work should have it almost finished. Pictures when it's done.

While I was busy with these tasks, Sue was cleaning out the chickens and then surprised me by clearing all the dead vegetation from the small wildlife pond in the middle of the veg patch. She uncovered some very nice fungi and a delicate mouse's nest.

After dark saw Sue preparing two dozen pheasants which we were kindly given by a friend. It's better than them going to waste and we do appreciate getting them.

ed. How could I forget? Our first duck egg from the new ducks. It's been well overdue and I was beginning to wonder what was going on. It may have something to do with the fact that we had a (very) late start today so the ducks were shut in their stable for longer than usual. But ducks normally lay early in the morning  so I would be surprised if they have been laying outside unbeknown to us.

River Cottage has come to the Lincolnshire Fens

Sunday 27th May 2018

With Sue's rapidly expanding apiary, I spent some of the morning knocking up some new brood frames and a new brood box. Meanwhile Sue was inspecting her bees.
While I was in a DIY sort of mood and with Sue annoying the bees (actually they seem very calm and peaceful this year) I spent some time in the garage cleaning and sharpening my tools.

Bee city

I got to work hoeing some of the veg beds. What a difference a sharp hoe makes.
But it wasn't long before bees took over my day again, for a giant swarm appeared on one of the willow arches. I've already posted about this so won't go into too much detail. But I can't resist posting the picture up again.

Today's outdoor work was intermittent, for I was having a bit of a lazy day. You can't work solidly every day. At my age the body needs a rest every now and then, even if the mind doesn't want it to!
Fortunately one of our Freeview channels was showing old episodes of River Cottage all day long.
I had seen most of these before, but before I was a smallholder, and it is only watching them again that I quite realise how much they affected my life. The first time round, Hugh F-W planted a dream in my head.
The second time around was more of a nostalgic experience. We've done that... and that... we tried that... that happened to us too.
Very notable is that the rules have changed. No kitchen scraps for the chooks and pigs any more. No burying fallen stock. No blood back from the abattoir for black pudding. Apart from these details though, it was inspiring to watch all the shows again. I wonder what seeds have been inadvertently planted in my mind this time.



With the new bees in the brood box (the new one which I constructed this morning), I spent a very pleasant hour weeding the strawberries with Sue. They are looking good this year and fingers crossed there is no sign of a return of the Strawberry Seed Beetle, a plague of which devastated our crop this year.
There was still plenty of the day left, enough time to mow and edge the paths in the veg plot (overgrown edges are where the slugs like to hide) and ridge up the potatoes.
Sue made another batch of asparagus soup which smells absolutely delicious. We have a few weeks of asparagus left now before we let the plants grow and gather the sun's energy to store in the crowns ready for next year. The spears are coming thick and fast and are hard to keep up with.
At the moment every meal is accompanied by fresh asparagus, new potatoes and mangetout. The potatoes will continue for a long, long while with different varieties coming along nicely, but the asparagus and mangetout will soon be replaced by broad beans, the next vegetable to come into crop.

I leave you with a few images from the smallholding today.

The yellow flowers of Scorzonera in its second year.

Behind, the beautiful blue flowers of its cousin, Salsify

 

Left: Honesty which I have left.to flower and go to seed.
Right: The lambs enjoying a few freshly cut willow branches.

A Wasp Fly I found while planting bee seedlings.

A Scorpion Fly which got stuck in the polytunnel for a while.

Hedgehog Poo

28th August 2016
Little chicks set loose into big wide world
The little chickens, destined for the table, were let out of their pen today to take their chances with the rest of the poultry. We were not too worried about them, for the chicken enclosure is very large and there is plenty of space for everyone. With there being eleven of them, it was unlikely any one individual would get picked on.

As we expected, they made themselves at home very quickly. They are confident little things.

The reason for them losing their protective barrier is that the Muscovy ducks (also destined for the table, maybe sooner rather than later if they don't start behaving) have been a real pain to put to bed for a few nights. So we have moved their house to a corner and set up the barriers to funnel them toward the door.

A Reed Warbler stops off for a visit
Fresh easterly winds today were accompanied by sporadic showers, so it wasn't a surprise to spot a couple of migrant birds on the farm. Best was a smart Reed Warbler hopping around the herb patch. A close encounter with a Barn Owl at chicken bedtime was a welcome surprise too.

29th August
Run Rabbit, Run Rabbit...
I've been attempting to catch rabbits for ages but, despite me trying to get into the rabbit's mind, they are never tempted by what I put in the traps. In fact, I'd given up baiting the traps and shut all the doors, hoping that maybe they would become familiar with the traps and no longer be so wary of them.
But yesterday I decided to set up a couple of traps right next to one of the rabbit burrows under the hollow ash tree.
This morning, bingo! I've not handled wild rabbits much and it kicked more strongly than I thought and managed to escape. Sorry, but I'm not sentimental about rabbits.

My six monthly hospital check is coming up soon and it's always a bit of a worry. This one is a bigger three yearly 'investigation' so I've been wandering around not getting much done for the last couple of days.
At least it's been a chance to step back and spend some time appreciating our achievements here on the smallholding. I've been carrying the camera around too.

One of our honey bees deep inside a pumpkin flower

One of the sunflowers that made it, much appreciated by the bumble bees

The pumpkin patch is coming

along nicely

I think this is a Lesser Stag Beetle,

accidentally disturbed when I moved a large log

30th August
Vermin!
Another rabbit caught, or the same one again. This time it didn't get so lucky as I managed to quickly dispatch it. Arthur may be a sweet little dog, but the terrier in him appreciates a bit of wild food. Whereas Boris just wanted to play with his new rather macabre furry toy, Arthur soon claimed it for himself and set about tucking in.
Other rodents have been busy on the farm too. It's a shame they can be so destructive. They are very welcome to live in the young woodland or the long grass areas, the dykes or the sheep field, if they could only stay away from the farmhouse end of the smallholding. I have been trapping plenty of field mice and voles in the polytunnel. There must be thousands of them around for me to catch so many.
I topped up the rat bait stations yesterday too and the bait was all gone today. It is important to hit them hard when they move out of the fields so they don't start breeding and get established.
I have some excellent bait stations where you can monitor the amount of bait taken without having to disturb anything.


Welcome wildlife
Other wildlife is much, much more welcome though, even the hobby which had a successful raid today snatching one of the young swallows from the air. The swallows in the chicken feed shed have a very late brood, but it shouldn't be too long before they fledge. There were five eggs but I don't think there are five chicks in there now.
It is amazing that they will be flying to Africa so soon after they have taken to the wing for the first time.



Hedgehog poo!
Down in the young woodland I came across a rather unfamiliar dropping today. About 4cm long, all shiny and black and blue. It was obviously mostly composed of beetle wing cases. Back in the house I consulted a book which confirmed what I thought, HEDGEHOG POO! Fantastic!





31st August
An early start and an unwelcome drive down to London for my hospital check-up. It is not the most comfortable of procedures but it has to be done.

Back on the farm I had to take it easy for the day. The flowers in the veg patch are coming good now.

In the stable, Priscilla is enjoying clucking over her two chicks. Priscilla has always spent most of her time down near the stables and I suspect her two offspring will be the same.

Farewell summer
Tomorrow it is September. Even worse than the demise of summer is the fact that I have to go back to work!