Microcosmic

Most people are unaware that one of the wonders of nature is going on above their  heads - quite possibly  at  this very moment.  Bird Migration. I’ve never grown out of  the thrill of witnessing migration in progress. I think it started during my wheelchair-bound days -  sitting in the garden watching this avian spectacle seemed like a taste of freedom as if a part of me fleetingly hitched a ride.   Birds on a long  journey…you look up and catch a glimpse.  This morning they might  have been in Cumbria, they may touch down in Staffordshire.  Like a stage of the Tour de France, you are the roadside spectator - the birds are Team Sky. Pink-footed Geese. I had been half expecting the first Pinkfeet of the winter on Thursday - in fact they showed up on Friday There’s the unexpected. Most of what you see are the common birds – Swallows, Pipits, Finches – but you keep on watching,  willing the sky to give...

Ground beetles, in the garden pitfall trap during a seven day period (nb these are not to scale). There were other kinds of beetles in the trap - several species of Rove beetles for example these are just the Carabidae - Ground Beetles The biologist J.B.S. Haldane is reputed to have been asked what could be concluded about the nature of god from a study of his creation -  his reply was that he has -  "An inordinate fondness for beetles." Yes there are a lot of beetle species - nature has got beetles coming out of its ears. I had my own taste of this during my week long 'beetle drive' (fans of pointless stuff your parents used to do should check out the beetle drive ). I put a pitfall trap in the garden - this being a glass jar placed into a hole in the ground. Beetles stumble into the trap and can't get out - simple, yet...erm...simple. Almost every time I inspected the trap - I would see one or two ground beetles scurrying around and bumping into each...

Buff Arches - it's moth masterpiece, it also exhibits a very convincing optical illusion. I think the Buff Arches is my favourite moth - it's a moth masterpiece! Even though you know you're looking at a flat wing, the optical illusion is so convincing that you can't help but see it as two surfaces. I like the way that evolution has provided it with a drop shadow, to give the illusion of depth, of the kind you'd produce if you were using photoshop. To see how closely I could mimic the effect I produced the image on the right. Why would coloration like this evolve? It seems clear that breaking up the outline is the 'objective' here. But what about the other markings? Why is it that colour? Why does it have the looped markings, why does it have the line along the wings' trailing edge? Is it possible to ever know? It's sometimes contended that every single marking on a moth or butterfly's wing, every tiny line and dot, must have an...

Clue A Woodland Bird Answer Jay (Garrulus glandarius) Images When doing my blog post on camouflage I was messing about with a couple of moth designs in photoshop. I found that I could simplify the design a lot and it would still suggest the moth. So I thought what's the minimum amount of information, that's needed to suggest a certain species? I've tried to use just geometric shapes. I've also tried to get as far away as possible from any kind of representation of the species and still have it be in some way recognisable. I also quite like these as wildlife art - I'm going to hang them on my wall! What do you think these are? They could be birds, mammals, insects, flowers or fungi Clue A common butterfly Answer Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) Images Clue A tree climbing mammal Answer Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) Images Clue A common small bird Answer Goldfinch (Carduelis ...

Common whitethroat - there were 38 singing males in 2016, as well as 33 Blackcaps, 7 Garden warblers, 2 Lesser whitethroats, 46 Willow warblers 36 Chiffchaffs and 7 Grasshopper warblers I monitor the warbler populations on my patch, which comprises 152 hectares in Roby Mill, South Lancashire.  Much of the patch (rough grassland 16%, open scrub 27%, closed scrub 16%) is derelict farmland in various stages of succession – good habitat for several warbler species. This year I’ve made a concerted effort to verify the accuracy of my warbler counts. These are my preliminary results – 'preliminary' as the season is still very much in full swing. I mapped warblers using an app on a tablet with GPS Method . This year I’ve been more systematic about things. Rather than merely counting them, I’ve been mapping singing males. I’ve been doing this to hopefully increase the accuracy of the results and, in particular, to rule out the possibili...