ABtrees

Here's a couple of pics. Interested to hear what the 2nd/ 3rd ones are (same thing) on a fallen Pop

…… and people will be relighting their stoves every night this week !

Thank you both (all) - your enjoyment is icing on the cake - and I hope you'd be sharing these too. I have a couple of real rarities (to quote my wife: 'for the UK, not here' ) - not butterflies as it happens. But I have decided to only post stuff as I come across it this year (a tiny lockdown silver lining - I'm seeing way more stuff by being 'at home'), so you'll have to wait till they turn up - fingers crossed !

Won't be posting any pictures of my veggies (or greenhouse) after seeing this !!!!

Hi Gary Apparently it is also called the White Petticoat and (the one I like best) for many years was known as The Grand Surprise !

Good that you got the Clouded Yellows I sent over - I'll point some others northwards ! Glad you're enjoying the pics. (I'll keep posting till someone tells me to stop (Steve?) - I do feel a bit like I have hijacked this thread though - sorry). I am into my wildlife (in case you haven't guessed) and a passion for butterflies - we are very, very fortunate in our 'little corner' of France to be inundated with so many and so many different species. I had a little competition last year to see how many species I could photograph in 2 hours - I got to 26. Then occasionally you get one like this - only 2 other butterflies had this effect on me : The Large Copper and the Lesser Purple Emperor.

Brilliant - spot on - how did you get that so easily ? Have you ever actually seen one ? For my part this was only the 2nd time in my entire life that I've had the privilege - stunningly beautiful. Here's a few more pics - including it sat on (taking salts off) my eldest's hand.

Hi Stuart. Can't open the picture for some reason but (courtesy of google images) the are a lovely tree/flower.

Evening. For me today was a bit special : it wasn't the second tree frog (defn. Arborea this time), it wasn't the cat (elephant) faced spider, it wasn't even the better picture of the ground beetle, but instead picture 4 - anyone want to guess ?

And a few other things as well …...

Butterflies coming thick and fast now !

Update : Pleased to report that we have leaves (terrible picture - sorry). On my walk early this am and took the photo(s) below. I reckon JSN nailed it - Poplar (possibly Black? - its pretty boggy there atm). Hopefully you guys will confirm this pls. Other 2 pics for completeness are the Robinia up the road and a walnut taken a few days ago.

Here's a few different ones (last 2 pics are the same thing - though I'm not even sure it's even a fungus ?!!!).

Mick, do you have these guys ? They are seriously noisy as well. Unfortunately they are very good at catching damsel/dragonflies.

That's what I thought Mick but it isn't or if it is it has happened very, very quickly. Here's a close up of the end of the branches - this years catkins and this year's buds - maybe ???

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.