Autumn seems to be only just getting into full-swing here with many trees remaining quite green until the last few days when there does now seem to be a real change underway, even though I am not expecting a spectacular show, as some have already lost their leaves.This beech was looking nice though...
Click any image for a larger view
Of course as the year moves on, birds are finding it increasingly hard to find food and I've seen a few blue-tits feeding on the last of the apples in the old orchard...
We've had our fair share of rain in the last couple of weeks and now everywhere is saturated...
There's always a winner though, the slugs and snails are the beneficiaries this time and if bugs are elusive, then you don't need to be Holmes to seek out the latter...
I can't believe it has taken until well into November to find my first drinker moth larva. I usually see these in reasonable numbers but this is my first of the year and it's only a youngster too...
Here's another moth caterpillar, this time one I would expect to see later in the year...
Assuming my identity is correct-I think this is Angle shades (Phlogophora meticulosa.) Larvae that hatch in the autumn overwinter as caterpillars and then pupate in the soil in spring to produce the first generation of adults the same year.
The colder conditions don't seem to bother the spiders as much as other invertebrates and I was surprised by one I found a few days back that seemed to have some kind of, now how did my friend describe it? "Genetic mutation" in that it appeared to have a missing eye...
Well that's about it for this little update, more very soon and I'll leave you with another photograph of 7-spot ladybirds that I took just yesterday.
Until the next time then...
Until the next time then...
