Still no hornets.

[PoppyD]

Today I have been all over the place. But no hornets. Good day for seeing many things though. First I saw this caterpillar and butterfly, which I’m going to investigate and see what they are. I have loads of field guides and it’s great fun, so don’t tell me what they are yet please.



Next I found a big frog sitting right in the middle of the path. In direct sunlight too. Moms favourites are frogs.



No hornets, but I watched this wasp scraping pulp for ages. They don’t half make a racket when they are doing this.



and then a beautiful dragonfly. Which I will look up too in a bit. So don’t tell me.



Some fallow deer, too far to get a good photo. I did try to sneak around them from behind, but someone’s big dog chased them across the field before I could get there



some silly snakes



and best of all a natterers bat in a hole in one of the rock houses. I hope he moves tonight as some idiot will poke him out. I have seen them here before though. And sometimes you get a rare barbastelle.

 

[Mesquite]

You certainly do find lots of wildlife when you're out and about

 

[PoppyD]

It was a good day today.

 

[Hedge Monkey]

Brilliant Poppy,
You see some great things.
I usually see Hornets when the fruit is rotting on the floor.
You obviously keep your eyes open. As you demonstrate, you just have to know where to look.

John

 

[daveO]

It's kind of illegal to take photos of roosting bats just so you know. I'm sure you were careful not to disturb it but some people get funny about these things. I got a telling off for photographing a dormouse once.

 

[Robson Valley]

Poppy, you're very adept at finding and photographing wildlife with very little disturbance. As it should be.

Just the other day, the first Asian Murder Hornet nest of 2021 has been discovered in WA, east of Blaine, down near the Can/US border. Whack that and one fewer source of queens.
Recall that these are invasive and enjoy killing all the honey bees in a hive in a matter of a few hours.

 

[TLM]

Web info very sporadic, looks like some 10 to 30 people a year might be killed in Japan by the Asian giant hornet.

 

[PoppyD]

Poppy, you're very adept at finding and photographing wildlife with very little disturbance. As it should be.

Just the other day, the first Asian Murder Hornet nest of 2021 has been discovered in WA, east of Blaine, down near the Can/US border. Whack that and one fewer source of queens.
Recall that these are invasive and enjoy killing all the honey bees in a hive in a matter of a few hours.

That is why I like going out on my own. You never disturb animals and see much more that way.

Non native animals cause chaos everywhere. And these giant hornets sound really naughty.

 

[Toddy]

Folks look at you funnily sometimes if they come across you out for a walk like that. It used to really annoy me; their opinion that I was somehow doing something wrong
I still enjoy finding the silent spaces of the day/dawn/evening, when most folks are stuck indoors watching the goggle box and no one else is using the world.

You get a good walk, lot of interesting stuff to spot, widens the world up for you too. It's healthy for the mind as well as the body, I reckon.

Thank you for sharing I loved the photos, good on you spotting the bat and getting one of those on the quiet too.

M

 

[Broch]

That's one of my favourite butterflies of woodland glades!

I am very fond of wasps and hornets (despite having a severe allergic reaction to their sting). I find their head movement fascinating; almost mechanical and robotic.

I would be more than pleased to see the snakes though - in 27 years of living here in Mid Wales I've not found a single grass snake or adder. I used to be quite adept at finding them as a kid.

 

[Broch]

It's kind of illegal to take photos of roosting bats just so you know. I'm sure you were careful not to disturb it but some people get funny about these things. I got a telling off for photographing a dormouse once.

Is that right? My interpretation of the laws is that it is illegal to "Intentionally or recklessly disturb a bat in its roost or deliberately disturb a group of bats". Taking a photograph is not necessarily disturbing it. However, I would agree that one needs to be careful.

 

[PoppyD]

I am very careful when taking pictures of bats. You can’t put the flash on. The chances of some other person coming across him and doing something bad was very high where he was. It would have been good to move him, but you can’t. I guess it was dark and quiet when he flew in there. Not like that in the day though.

Toddy, I don’t really have a problem with anybody wondering about what I am up to. I hardly see any one, and when I do, they are nice and say hello. I got followed by some boys a few times which was annoying, but they are the kind that get scared when you ask them what they want. If I see anyone that looks dodgy, I disappear before they see me. And like the animals, I usually see them first. People make so much noise and don’t see what is going on around them.

 

[daveO]

Is that right? My interpretation of the laws is that it is illegal to "Intentionally or recklessly disturb a bat in its roost or deliberately disturb a group of bats". Taking a photograph is not necessarily disturbing it. However, I would agree that one needs to be careful.

Grey area but generally it's assumed that photography is intentional disturbance. I work in a lot of old buildings where bats can be present and the ecologists we work with say that we can't go in anywhere that's an active roost without licenced supervision. In reality blind eyes are often turned to this kind of thing as long as no one finds out and proper care is taken not to disturb them. One of our ecologists threatened to call the police over my dormouse photo and I was only asking him the best way to provide habitat for them. He has a reputation as a trouble maker though.
We have been told though that anyone who might come into contact with bats or bat roosts at the moment should wear a covid mask to reduce the chance of transmission from humans to bats.

 

[slowworm]

Well, back to hornets, the workers have only just started appearing around here in the last week or two. I've been keeping an eye on where they nested last year and they're back, I don't know how common it is to reuse an old nesting place? I'm sure the nest is much later than last year too.

 

[JonathanD]

Piccies. Pops will want to see that.

 

[PoppyD]

Piccies. Pops will want to see that.

Yes I would. I have been on huge adventures today in all the wet. Nobody else about except for me. But hornets don’t like it either so i obviously didn’t see any

I found a big dead badger though. So I will be back for his skull next week. I hid him.

 

[PoppyD]

Shnufty-pig.

 

[Tengu]

Those are great pictures. You are a very talented photographer.

Im sure you are mortified at the pics in my Bustard article

(He was the other side of the valley)

 

[PoppyD]

Same more crits. Saw some hornets but I couldn’t follow them quick enough. And I think they may be on private property.

 

[JonathanD]

You’ve been out all hours for a whole week, and all you have are two pictures