Excited to have tigers in the garden this week!

Scarlet Tiger, Callimorpha dominula

#teamMoth #UKMoths #mothsMatter

https://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/scarlet-tiger-moth-callimorpha-dominula.html

A new song written as an anthem for a mental health campaign

https://davebradley.bandcamp.com/track/ask-for-padra

Had the rather UK-rare Goat Moth in my garden a couple of nights ago. #teamMoth #mothsMatter

So, why's it called the Goat? You'll have to read my article to find out!

https://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/getting-my-goat-moth.html

My dragonfly expert friend David Chandler gave me Hairy Dragonfly as an ID for the prey!

So, the Dartford Warblers I mentioned yesterday. A few of them photographed and blogged...

https://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/dartford-warbler-curruca-undata.html

The song title came from a short story of the same name, I suspect the author, knowing that this species would be very unlikely to be heard in central London was being somewhat ironic or else alluding to something just won't ever happen for the sake of the story...

Last time we listened to Nightingales was June 2024 in northern Greece, they were everywhere.

Incidentally, the song...A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square...by Eric Maschwitz and music by Manning Sherwin. Was written in France. Nighingales just didn't turn up in the centre of cities like London, even back before the war...

Here's another with dragonfly prey

This time yesterday morning, we were standing in the sun on a Suffolk heath listening to a Nightingale singing in the woodland border along with Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Wren, and Blackcap, before heading out to see Dartford Warblers (we counted 10)

As of today, record number of Hobbies on this patch, most for Cambridgeshire

There are also reportedly a couple of female Red-footed Falcons among them, but they weren't obvious among the birds I photographed

There are a couple of dozen Hobbies hunting and feeding over one of our local nature reserves. This one is giving me side-eye while discarding the inedible bits of some poor unfortunate flying invertebrate

@Grantscheam "Abbey Road" meets #Rush "Signals" via Goscinny and Uderzo?

@cobalt123 Glad you liked the photos. They're on the rise in our local wetlands

@statsguy What was that about hanging Jesus from a tree? I thought he was supposed to have been crucified...

Different part of the same reserve network we saw six Bitterns briefly airborne in the same place from a reed patch! Amazing sight!

@madrobin Thank you

Got great views of a Bittern as it flew out from its roosting place, realised it was flying over a dry patch, did a double take, a U-turn, saw me and took a detour back to whence it came...

https://www.sciencebase.com/science-blog/when-the-bittern-booms.html

@ubi I get what you meant now. Only lepidopterists as opposed to beetlers

@ubi haha, okay. The thing with moths is the method of attracting them to see what's in the neighbourhood. Not so easy with beetles or flies