Friday at the Flicks - Feathered Squabblers

What a week! Can only think of one thing which has gone right over the past five days but as a failed political party used to say - things can only get better.

In spite of several cleaning sessions this Summer the pond waterfall is more than a little covered in blanket weed so the Starlings have returned to the bird bath:



It has been great to see the amount of visiting Goldfinches increase. Their numbers had dropped drastically after two years of finch disease but this year they seem to have been breeding well and arrive with their youngsters which have the occasional altercation:



Wherever you may be have a great weekend observing the wildlife around you.

Anagrams

This has got to be one of the cleverest
E-mails I've received in awhile.
Someone out there
Must be "deadly" at Scrabble.
(Wait till you see the last one)!



PRESBYTERIAN:
When you rearrange the letters:
BEST IN PRAYER

ASTRONOMER:
When you rearrange the letters:
MOON STARER

DESPERATION:
When you rearrange the letters:
A ROPE ENDS IT

THE EYES:
When you rearrange the letters:
THEY SEE

GEORGE BUSH:
When you rearrange the letters:
HE BUGS GORE

THE MORSE CODE :
When you rearrange the letters:
HERE COME DOTS

DORMITORY:
When you rearrange the letters:
DIRTY ROOM

SLOT MACHINES:
When you rearrange the letters:
CASH LOST IN ME

ANIMOSITY:
When you rearrange the letters:
IS NO AMITY

ELECTION RESULTS :
When you rearrange the letters:
LIES - LET'S RECOUNT

SNOOZE ALARMS :
When you rearrange the letters:
ALAS! NO MORE Z'S

A DECIMAL POINT :
When you rearrange the letters:
I'M A DOT IN PLACE

THE EARTHQUAKES:
When you rearrange the letters:
THAT QUEER SHAKE

ELEVEN PLUS TWO:
When you rearrange the letters:
TWELVE PLUS ONE


AND FOR THE GRAND FINALE:


MOTHER-IN-LAW:
When you rearrange the letters:
WOMAN HITLER

Wings for Wednesday

Lots of winged insects about the garden and house at the moment.

A small Cranefly on the kitchen window.



One sunny day there were three Common Darter Dragonflies around the garden pond. All were males. One stayed for several hours and chased away any others which dared to make an appearance.





There continue to be Blue-tailed Damsel Flies from time to time which are still breeding.



I have a wasp nest under my front hedge so I don't hang about there. Occasionally one strays indoors where my rule is 'The only good wasp is a dead one'.




Also found dead in the kitchen was this which was about 6mm long.
Probably an ichneumon wasp though no idea which.



Back outdoors found several Greenbottles



and this black bee.



Not sure what type it is - a miner bee maybe.

Finally there were plenty of hoverflies doing their best to thwart me snapping one in flight.

I Really Shouldn't Laugh at Them

Just a link today. This is a section from the wildlife film 'Animals Are Beautiful People' so be warned it is in CinemaScope type format. While watching this tears of laughter were rolling down my face.

You can see the four and a half minute clip by clicking HERE for the link.

We shoudn't laugh at the misfortunes of others but this is well worth a look.

Macro on Monday - Guess What

Congratulations and virtual gold stars go to Glo, Keith and Wilma. Yes indeed they were different parts of a Chinese Lantern Plant.

   

Another plant from my garden for this week's mystery object.

Guess What:


No prizes, just for fun.

The collage pictures are put together using Comic Life which I have found to be versatile enough to use for more than just making comics.

Bumblebees Sleeping on Flowers - Update

After my observations last Friday I did a bit of Googling on the subject of Bumblebees apparently sleeping on or in flowers overnight.. It turns out that some do, especially males towards the end of the breeding season when the females have no use for them. As for my observation that they sometimes seem to freeze while feeding on flowers. Again this can and does happen. They need an internal body temperature of 30C to be able to fly and when cold they will stop and appear to shiver as we do to raise their temperature. The day I was watching them the air temperature was about 14C so the bees were having their work cut out to get enough nourishment to enable them to maintain their body temperature. In fact it will take a bee about 5 minutes to raise its temperature in those conditions.

A good source of information can be found HERE at bumblebee.org.

How to stop Bobby using part of the garden.
Yesterday I noticed that Bobby was avoiding visiting his favourite barking position in the garden. It seems that he wouldn't use the path as there was a dead male Blackbird blocking his route. The bird must have flown in to the wall of a shed, probably during one of the many altercations they have over territory. Once the offending corpse had been removed Bobby was quite happy to use all his garden again.

Unidentified Black Caterpillar

While clearing a patch of weeds this morning I spotted this caterpillar. I've looked at photos of black caterpillars until my eyes blurred over but haven't managed to positively trace it as yet. Length nearly 2in (50mm). My best guess is Elephant Hawk Moth.