Suddenly, the sky darkened and rain began, causing me to rush paper and pen indoors
and dash to bring in the washing. In the quiet of the conservatory I heard a scratching
noise, which proved to be yet another huge bumblebee attempting to extricate itself
from the plastic recycling box. Many insects get trapped in the conservatory, and I spend
a lot of time trying to catch and release them. 1 have observed that the brown butterflies
have a greater ability to find the way out than do the whites. And that's fine by me, I'm
tired of picking caterpillars off my brassicas.
Addendum
The following ten or so days were gloriously sunny and enjoyed by all. The Comma
butterflies were joined on the ivy by Red Admirals, and a Common Darter dragonfly
sunned itself near the pond.
Whilst passing the ivy I chanced to see the hornet abandoning the flowers to make a
sudden lunge at a close-passing wasp. The hornet then flew to the nearby holly, hung
head downwards from a stem and proceeded to make short work of the wasp. Firstly, it
cut the connection between thorax and abdomen, letting that part (plus sting!) fall, then
bit off the wings and ate the wasp starting with the head.
Years ago we made some bird nesting boxes from hollow logs. One of these, sadly never
used by birds but favoured by bees, suddenly sprouted a toadstool (see pictures below,
possibly a Pluteus sp.) last week. The box, probably poplar, is mounted on a post about
five feet off the ground amongst shrubs. We've had approximately 32 species of fungi
recorded from our garden, on soil, lawn, woodchips and stacked logs, but this one's
position was a bit of a surprise.
All this is written as a celebration of the varied wildlife which utilises our garden, with
particular emphasis on the benefits of late-flowering plants, both native and exotic. I
hope our garden enriches the lives of our fellow creatures as much as they enrich ours.
16
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 58, January 2009