ABtrees

Hi Tom I thought I'd seen this topic before. If you put Harkie Defiance in the search box, there already quite a bit of opinion on them on here. Not having a go - just trying to help ! AB

However ..... a few more interesting fauna !

As we're now on flowers, here are some 'Whitebells' and some 'Pinkbells'

You know spring is here when these guys turn up !

Hi Beth, I'm no expert but those do look like Alder Leaf Beetle (Agelastica Alni), and you certainly seem to have plenty of them ! And it seems once you've got them, you've got them ! Roughly whereabouts are you (in the UK ?)? I'm not sure what you aim is - to 'protect' the trees / other plants or just to get rid of the beetles ? I am in France and we have loads of these but don't notice so much because we also have loads of Alder trees (200 +) along the brook. Because they're endemic here we also have loads of predators (and therefore a nice ecological balance). These beetles were (very) rare in the UK until a decade or so ago and it may well take time for the local predators to catch on ! I attach a link to the RHS website which basically says that it is unlikely that they will kill mature trees, spraying anything other than small trees / shrubs is likely to be ineffective as well as damaging to other (possibly predatory) insects. It also mentions other host plants . Good luck ! AB https://www.rhs.org.uk/biodiversity/alder-leaf-beetle

A few follow up pics Oily, adult slow worms then youngster. And a butterfly found in a tree (i know it doesn't really belong here).

I have a few dodgy phone pictures - will try to get out with the proper camera tomorrow. 20+ degrees here (in central France) today and suddenly loads of stuff turning up. Was out in the woods this pm and in no particular order in 2 hours i saw all 3 spotted woodpeckers (my wife saw the black one on Tuesday), Oil beetle, Lots of early season butterflies (Red Admiral, Peacock, Brimstone, Large Tortoiseshell and male Orange Tip) and finally under a bit of matting a mum and 2 baby slow worms. Not bad for one afternoon. Oh and one of my daughters saw loads of Palmate newts in the old millstream !

Hi All Mick, I have to pick you up on that - we had a guy come round and he had done exactly that , (as described) last year. Took out an Asian hornet nest (at about 40-50 feet up) in a field on the outskirts of a local village with said paintball gun. We passed by a few days later - no activity at all. To be fair it wasn't your average gun, some higher powered version and surprisingly accurate. It does work. On a separate note, we have had Asians for (at least) the last 4 years - never had any trouble from them apart from grabbing my bees as they returned to the hive. I found letting some grass stalks grow tall in front of the hive seriously reduced their chances of catching one though, and must confess to an adrenaline fuelled 20 minutes with a badminton racquet !!!!!

Must have missed this post AJ. Here's my version of the same thing just about to depart !

I just thought it looked like an early version trail camera - put there by the council to see if they could spot any wrongdoing - you know dropping litter, in a traffic jam with your engine running, going over 20mph etc etc !!!!!

Morning - busy week ! I think they go as follows: Southern White Admiral Swallowtail Queen of Spain fritillary Map (these butterflies are really curious - i think these are 2nd or possibly 3rd generation but i have never seen so many together at once). Then: Black veined white Large skipper Sooty copper Map (underside - which gives them their name) - landed on my glove ! And yes, the elusive wood white Finally: Hummingbird hawk Common blue Weavers (AKA violet) fritillary Southern white admiral again - underside v. similar to Purple Emperor and Lesser Purple Emperor (which we also have !). I have (so) many more butterfly pics (of varying quality it has to be said) - maybe I'll dig out some of the rarer stuff and post it - if you'd like ? !!!!

I think i know what this is but feel free to have a guess - it was a first for me.

OK final final pic. Saw this very odd butterfly in flight (apparently upside down) - never seen anything like it before and had no idea what it was till it landed !

Final batch

Trying to go for things of interest