ABtrees

May I introduce to you (all 2 inches) of Hyla Arborea (although there is a vague possibility it might be H. Meridionalis instead?). I thought they only existed in Central American Jungles or Papua New Guinea and places like that. Clues in the name : The European Tree Frog I'm sure someone on here is going to go : 'Yeah we get those all the time' - why the fuss ! It's a first for me and I was well pleased - in case you hadn't guessed !

Yesterday I wrote "Who knows what tomorrow brings?" Well today I have been totally blown away with a spectacular (for me) find - an animal I am sorry to admit I didn't even know existed. But first today's pics : an unusual wasp; a cricket; an everyday spider and a Lackey caterpillar. But the outright winner is ………… (and the good news is it actually has a connection with trees - just for a change !).

We're pretty much fully green now. By that I mean most of the trees are now 'in leaf'. We have a Mulberry that is always one of the last and a Rowan that has only come out in the last week. But having a walk around yesterday I came across this one (pic below) and in my ignorance I don't know what it is. So it got me thinking what species is (generally) the last tree to come in to leaf ?

Lime Hawk moth would be my best guess. Really nice find.

Thanks for your likes. Can anyone help me out on #4 ? About 12-15mm on an old oak trunk. The rest (as I'm sure you guessed) are : Broad-bodied chaser (I'm sure we've all experienced those at some point!) ; Marbled Fritillary ??? ; Drinker Moth ; ??????; and Red and Black Leafhopper. Also saw a Glanville Fritillary and a Stonefly and happy, happy days my Golden Orioles arrived back today as well. Who knows what tomorrow brings ?

My pics of the day

They are great to find - catch you out at first. I would defn go for the Longhorn then - mine were running (very fast) all over a large fallen oak. Got one to slow up long enough for a pic (second photo). First photo is a (terrible) picture of the UK one showing the different markings.

Hi Darrin. Where (geographically) did you find this? I had never seen one until last year and then saw literally 40 or 50 exactly like the one (two !) in your picture (in France). I believe they are Plagionotus arcuatus which is the Yellow-bowed Longhorn. Then literally 2 weeks later by complete coincidence I found the UK Wasp beetle Clytus arietis (in the UK). They are unbelievably alike. C.A. has three spots at the top of the wingcase and the first stripe is a chevron. P.A. has (as yours) 4 spots and the first stripe is broken - oh yeah and long orange antennae. That's my best guess but as always I welcome being corrected - every day is ……….

I've had a similar thing (and had the same last year). Those trees fully recovered. We have endless bugs and beasties here and, though I could easily be wrong (and I have lost some Oaks & Hornbeams to those recently), I think it might be frost damage. I have a big old Oak (around 25m+ and 1.2m DBH) and last year the I noticed the leaf buds open a couple of days before a significant frost (-5C or more) - a week later it looked the same as your photo. About that time the Oaks next to it came into leaf and they were fine. The damaged one lost most of its leaves but then grew some more about a month later. Interestingly this year I noticed it was late opening (a week or more behind the others) - I like to think it learned a lesson but far more likely it was still recovering from last years setback ! All of this is pure conjecture on my part - I would love someone on here to confirm my oddball theory with a bit of science - pls.

No pictures (unfortunately) but yesterday was a real spring day - Cuckoos, Hoopoes and our first wild (honey) bee swarm. Today ever more butterflies turning up including Dingy Skipper, Mazarine Blues, Bee Wing Hawk moth and Glanville Fritillary - I do have pictures of those.

Excellent. Its a Bagworm (moth). Almost certainly female, wingless and never leaves the 'bag' apparently. I had never even heard of them before yesterday let alone seen one, so all credit to you. Below is the photo taken a couple of minutes later once it poked its head out. Reminded me of Caddis fly larva that we would find in little brooks and streams in our youth. Enjoy your weekend.

What do you think this is ? It's about 6-7cm long and I found it in the yard.

I agree with that - Lily has a black head. Below are pictures of the 2 Cardinals and then one (which is really similar but) I believe it to be an Oak Longhorn, Pyrrhidium Sanguineum, (sorry phone photos !). The Lily tend to be a lot rounder both in terms of size and shape of the wing cases - I'll try to find a photo later. Not sure but it might be a bit early for Lily beetles??? Btw by far the most obvious way of telling them apart is at the larval stage : The Lily larvae are on Lilies (obv.), leeks or onions and are basically a ball of crap (within which is the larva) whilst the Cardinals are flat and found under the bark of recently dead trees (1-2 yrs). Final photo taken yesterday was exactly this (whilst moving an old Poplar log). You can see the little area each one has cut in order to pupate - which is what the odd looking things at the top are. The longhorn larva are totally different. Shame I disturbed them. I

Today's offerings

Really good - I think. Only.... I was hoping 1. was a Gothic moth - v. similar 2. Definitely NOT VGB - we have those and the Blue GB and the Golden GB. I don't know what it is but it was found on our blueberry bushes if that helps anyone ? 3. Yes. Not rare round here -apparently. We also have Wood crickets and something much rarer (in the UK anyway) - later 4. Yes - Cardinal 5. Yes - Oil 6. Yes - Rufous-shouldered Longhorn 7. Yes (Ruby) 8. Yes - very early for this fella I thought Do we want some more ???

Evening. Some great pics on here recently. Been out and about (in the wood/field) and got a few bug pics on my phone (quality not great) but thought I'd share them anyway. Shall we do a quiz ? No prizes - just for fun - please tell me if you get bored.

Hi AJS Yeah - not silly though - a 300mm but with a 1.4x converter. Tbh they seem tame enough - hide at about 15-20 m and within 2-3 minutes after going in, they're there. Reckon I could get to 10-12m and they'd still be OK. The Green is way more flighty - walking 40m from the tree and he's off. Heard that super fast drumming one again this am but just cannot see it, now its gone a bit greener in the wood. Hoopoe heard yesterday. Expect to have the Orioles back here within 10-14 days - now there's a bird I can never spot. Always just a fleeting glimpse - a flash of yellow (on the male) and they're gone.

Not so much 'up north' as way further south - central (rural) France. We have no Greys. As for the peckers, we have Greater, Middle and Lesser Spotted along with the Green (I'll get a picture tomorrow). The 5th is an 'occasional' visitor - The Black. A truly awesome bird - huge at circa 45cm - you tend to hear them before you see them - seriously loud and unmistakable. Hopefully we'll be lucky again this year. Today it's possible I have heard (not seen) a 6th variety - a Grey Headed - like a Green but you guessed it …. ! Super fast drumming - goes on for 2-3 seconds. Below is one of the 2nd pair of MSWs (in the Alder) along with a male Blackcap and a Willow Warbler (or Chiffchaf ???).

Very good Paul. Clandestine is exactly what it is. I like the idea it is a holoparasite (according to Wiki) - it has neither leaves or chlorophyll and gets all the nutrients it requires from the host. It favours Willow or Poplar but will parasite many other species apparently. ( The wiki link is here : Lathraea clandestina - Wikipedia EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG if anyone is interested). For me it is almost fungus-like it flowers only appear in the spring and a bit like a truffle, it attaches to the root of the tree and the largest part of it remains below ground.

Thanks. We're very fortunate to have 5 different woodpeckers where we live. It's actually neither of the above but somewhere in between ! It's a Middle Spotted Woodpecker in an old dead Sweet Chestnut. We also have a Green in another tree (Indian Bean) in the garden and the Lesser is around but I have yet to find the nest. Since posting this I have in fact found another MSW pair in the garden in a dead Alder - I'll set the hide up and try to get a pic later on. Whilst waiting for the pic above, I had 2 pair of Nuthatch and a Treecreeper in the trees above and then a Red Squirrel came past about 10m in front of me. Yesterday was one of my best days ever in the hide. Unfortunately the camera was rigged up on the tripod (aimed at the hole) so I couldn't get any of them - tough call tho !

The sizes can be a bit variable tho - can make the timing for 'dippy eggs' a bit tricky !

OK here's the owner. Can't be sure I've ever seen / had chance to study them before but I guess I will now !

Do you know your hole ?!!! Woodpecker hole - obviously - but which one ? OK the clue is in the 2nd photo

Spring in full flow, here in lockdown France. Took my daily exercise tramping through the wood yesterday - flowers abound - couple of photos - although I've posted before, anyone want to have a guess at the last one (I now know what they are - v. interesting plant tho). Just about to post on show us ya birds thread - guess it's spring related - may be of interest

You mean something like this ?!!!