Thursday, October 23, 2014

Something a little different...

I thought I'd try and ring the changes and make this update a little different and so I am going to include a couple of things that I haven't tried before. Firstly though, I have no fresh news on the Death's-head Hawkmoths yet. I did however mean to include a close-up shot of their amazing clawed feet.

Hmmm...sorry, but this is how my mind works, just by writing the word 'feet' has reminded me of a recent conversation about the bible saying that insects have four feet? Hang on...I'll see if I can find a reference to the actual wording?

Here you are:

Lev. 11:20-3 All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you. Yet these may ye eat of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth; even these of them ye may eat; the locust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind. But all other flying creeping things, which have four feet, shall be an abomination unto you.

What do we all think about this? It's a rhetorical question by the way and not supposed to elicit a response, merely to ask you to have a think about it. Watch out for the fowl creeping about on all fours too.

Here's the photograph then...





Whilst ambling around one of my favourite haunts, Comfort's Wood recently.....Ooops! Here I go again, I have a new blog dedicated to these woods now and will include a link at the end of this post for anyone that might be interested. Erm...oh yes, Walking around the woods I saw lots of Common Darter dragonflies and it seemed a good idea (at the time) to have a go at catching one taking flight in slow-motion. I have a little Pentax camera that films in high speed to allow playback in slo-mo and this is the result of my first attempt...


You will need to view the blog online rather than the emailed version that doesn't show videos. You might also like to turn your sound on as this clip has a little toon added. But I understand that some of you don't like music behind the videos.


                       



Here's another using the same camera, of a honey bee in the garden-again slow motion with music...




Apologies for the annoying ads on this clip-you can delete them though.





Also in the garden I spotted a late season vapourer moth fluttering around. You might remember this flightless female from a while go...


Well this time it was a male...





But look closely at this picture and you might notice something underneath the moth.It was actually being attacked by a spider. I can't be certain but I think it might be a winter spider (Zygiella x-notata) and once I had realised what was taking place, I switched to video...




                      

Even if I had wanted to, it was too late to save the moth and after all, spiders have to eat too. I left nature to take its course.


The other thing I had a go at recently was underwater videoing. This isn't the most riveting nature film you'll ever see, but we all have to start somewhere and it was more about trying out the camera and technique  for now...







The camera did come out of the water with a little visitor attached though-I think this is a bloodworm...






I'll end this update with a couple of things pretending to be something else -well why not? I pretend to be a photographer. These two seem to be impersonating an owl...


Obviously the second picture is of fungi. The first is actually a moth.

Until the next time...


Ps. My latest article for The Wealden has been published and I have added to the relevant page.



Sunday, October 05, 2014

The Silence of the Lambs part ll......

This post begins with good news and bad news.

The good news is that one of my Death's-head Hawkmoths has unexpectedly emerged. The bad news is that  one of my Death's-head Hawkmoths has unexpectedly emerged.

If you find that confusing, then let me further befog the issue by adding that even since I typed those words, a second has now also emerged.








Why am I saying that the good news is also the bad news? Well because I only had four pupae and these two have now emerged and seem to be both female? Certainly the same sex anyhow. That means no chance of mating and egg laying. Furthermore, I now have just two chances left for a pairing and those have to be one of each! (Unless I know less than I thought about mother nature?) I am fairly sure that it is too late for the last two to emerge as moths this year now (yes, I know I said that once before) and so I will have to cross everything and wait the winter out.





And a closer look at that fantastic mask-the markings on the two moths are very similar to each other...






Knowing that these moths feed on honey directly from the hive I knew it might be challenging to get them to feed in an unnatural environment. I had read and seen videos of how you need to encourage at least the first feed, by gently unfurling the proboscis and placing it in the honey.
I tried everything I knew for days on end to encourage feeding with no luck. I then e.mailed a friend who'd raised some already and asked for advice/tips, but she informed me that she'd had no luck with all five of hers and never did get them to feed. I tried different mixtures ranging from neat honey to honey and water and even sugar water but it was all refused. Then on the seventh day after emerging, I finally persuaded the first moth to have a feed by soaking some cotton buds in honey...



Please remember that you will need to view the blog online to see these videos-they do not show in the e.mailed version

                     



     




These really are beautiful and impressive moths with quite powerful, large wings. In this little clip I allow the wing to beat against my finger to show the sound it makes. It then decides on a maiden flight around my studio. You can hear it squeaking and bumping into the light and is way faster than I can follow with the camera, before settling once again. I apologise for my rather hairy hand here too-I am not a particularly hairy person but for some reason my right hand seems so in this clip! Must have drunk too much potion last night?

                 

       


You can hear the squeaking noises they make better in this clip where I am encouraging it by gently moving the moth. It also displays the defensive posture of raising itself up. They achieve the noise by expelling air from their proboscis (the part that looks like a long nose), past a flap near the opening called the epipharynx.They make the sound when startled, but also do quite a lot of squeaking when conducting their honey raids.


      




          


And so all things being equal, that is where this update should have ended. Sans to say perhaps that I have learnt so much from being able to observe  these monster moths. I should also mention I suppose  that they are now in a roomy flight cage and are fed and warm.




But...time has been tight of late and this update has taken a while to compile. Today October 5th turned into a very warm day for the time of year and I guess the remaining two pupae thought it must be spring and low and behold, they too have now emerged within a few hours of each other!

Emerging Death's-head Hawkmoth


Emerging Death's-head Hawkmoth


This one was last to emerge-this was about 15 mins later

I think the first photos show a male emerging? That's what I hope anyhow, with the final one being yet another female. I am not too sure about the last one as you can see the wings have yet to inflate fully (this can take about an hour) and the antenna are still folded down making it tricky to tell if they are the larger ones sported by the males.

And so now I have two that have fed okay and two to yet persuade to do so. Hopefully it will get easier with each one.

Once they are fed and ready I shall put these into the flight cage with the others, plus some food-plant and hope for a pairing. 
Watch this space because there could be more to add to the story yet.


Until the next time...