ABtrees

Afternoon Can anyone help me out with an id on this one please ? The only thing i can think of is some sort of Paulownia - the leaves are big (25x16 cm) but don't quite look right to me. Ideas ?

Do you all see what i mean ? I'd be delighted with Pete's Whitethroat picture ! PW I do get what you mean though, but all modesty to one side, if the subject is in sharp focus, that's half the battle for me. Once I'm getting consistent results on that I can start thinking about composition. Not sure I'll ever get to worrying about light levels - don't think I've got 30 years left !!!!

As Difflock says an Emperor Moth - a male I believe with the fluffy antennae

Every spring seems to bring something new ............... never seen one of these before (and still haven't - I'm in the UK atm !). Mrs B's poor quality pic on her i-phone

..... unless you're @Pete W !!!! Loved the ducklings btw

Nothing to apologise for there - we're all still learning - and you definitely seem to have it sussed ! Love the last nuthatch one.

Only after I'd loaded it into the stove did I realise how sad I'd made this log !

It is something called Aflatoxin. It's not uncommon and there are generally fairly stringent tests for imports. You guys are absolutely right it is produced by a fungus developing if the peanuts get wet (usually whilst they are still in their shells). It pretty nasty stuff and once in the food chain can be passed on. Here's your wiki link : Aflatoxin - Wikipedia

We have far fewer squirrels where we are in the middle of France - but all of them are Red. (As far as I can make out, apart from a few very isolated colonies in the Paris suburbs, there are no greys in France.) The lack of squirrels in general is almost certainly down to there being a lot of 'Fouine' These are a top predatory omnivore - a cousin of the Pine Martin only a much heftier beast - officially up to 54cms and up to 2.3kg ! I'm not sure that I've seen them that size but Tufty is certainly always going to be the loser !!! Consequently tree/ sapling damage is much reduced, all of my bit of woodland is self regen and has been for the last 30+years - roe deer are the only real headache !

Spent the afternoon disentangling / pollarding (!) trees from the telephone line in 17 degrees, when sure enough along comes (my last sighting for the year) - a queen hornet buzzing past and a comma butterfly - it's New Year's Eve for God's sake - nuts ! Tomorrow is going to be 16+ over here so maybe my first hornet of the year sighting on Jan 1st whilst I'm clearing up ! Happy New Year everyone.

Yeah good alternative call

There's only several 100s (1000s) of wood boring beetle to choose from ! Did you manage to take some pics that you can post to narrow it down a bit? There's a number of extremely knowledgeable people on here who may be able to ID them. As a general guide the larvae won't change logs - they will just keep munching until they pupate - that's when your problems could start ! While the larval stage can last anything from 1 year to 7+years, there's only one thing on the beetle's mind when it emerges - procreation ! A lot of adults are happy to walk to find a suitable egg laying site, but most if not all are able to fly and happy to cover several hundred metres to do so. With one female able to lay 200+ eggs, that's when infestation follows - said from bitter experience - good old Deathwatch ! After all of that doom and gloom, they're really fascinating to study (but not while they eat your house !) - have a look on the old iggly thread for some pics !

Mick, I totally agree with you. 85% of what I burn is oak, 10% hornbeam the remaining 5% 'other' (alder, cherry acaica etc) but I think it's different over here. This summer was sooooo dry. I air-dried newly cut/split (fallen over) oak down to 10% on the ends and 12-14% in the centre and these are big logs (45+cms x 10-15 cms). 8-10 weeks of 34+ degrees, stacked in the sun with good air circulation makes all the difference Pic below. I take pride in lighting the stove (Jotul 6) on a bit of newspaper and a single match - it just goes. Having a Charnwood put in in the other fireplace next week so it will be interesting to compare the two.

I've got (quite) a few ! Quality is a bit dodgy tho - all my usual excuses apply !

Might save this one for Halloween

Hi. I've done exactly the same at our place - followed the flightpath and found nothing. I followed then into the wood and then stood on the other side and there's nothing flying out ! It gets the adrenaline going a bit - you know you must be close but ...... ! Apparently they need water nearby for the nest - there's a brook in our wood. Don't know if you guys could do this but our frelon exterminator uses a paint ball gun for the inaccessible ones - don't know where he gets the balls of insecticide from though, presumably they'd be restricted/ licensed.

Been quite good this year .......

That is superb - I'm going to have to get one of my daughters to learn how to do that

Very lucky there Mick - not quite sure how you would have got out of that - if you had dropped the top and were still up the tree whilst they were down by your ropes looking for the 'culprit', you could have had an 'interesting' afternoon. I was talking to the 'frelon' man last week - a couple of useless bits of info about the Asians : they have four independent wings so can hover (unlike the European versions). They can (and do) squirt poison at you if angry and perhaps oddest of all - they don't like the heat : above 42 degrees they start dying (Euros can take up to 46 degrees apparently !). He had just taken out an Asian nest 30+ feet up about a metre across !!!

And just in case some of you have yet to see an Asian hornet - here's a pic from a few days ago of one hanging upside down whilst munching its way through one of my honey bees !!!

Stunning pictures David (as usual !) - the Meripilus is beautiful

Anyone come across this 'scale' of infestation before ? Treatments ?

OK here's a (rather large) Beastie. Terrible pic -sorry it was this or nothing - and yes that's my thumb I think I know what it is - but anyone want to hazard a guess ? As a clue : yes, it's in France but you might expect to find them here in the UK !

Planted 3 or 4 traditional apple trees on the edge of our bit of woodland (in France) and every year they get mullered by the wasps and/or hornets. Can make for a few heart stopping moments when you reach up to pick an unblemished fruit only to feel something buzzing under your fingers as you realise it's been completely hollowed out on the blind side !!!! Mature/ ancient woods provide many more potential nest sites for wasps and hornets (and now to make matters worse the Asians have joined in - as well as stealing my bees !)

Not sure if it's applicable in this case but the old bloke that taught me to shoot (mainly woodpigeon) when I was young always maintained that woodys never look down ! I have put this to the test on numerous occasions. Go and stand under a tree that you know they often fly to. If you see one flying in don't move and sure enough it will come in and land. You can look up at it and it won't fly off but as soon as you step out from under the tree it will clatter away super fast. Try it - summer or winter - it still works - so it's not that it can't see you it's just that (maybe) it doesn't recognise from above !