Wildlife photos please

[Martin H]

A very pretty moth in my weeding bucket
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This one is Angle Shades, Angle Shades - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[WPG]

Spotted this heron in the river Lagan in Belfast today, it was standing still as a statue.

[Verinda]

Great photo, I love herons.

[WPG]

Another autumn spider having its dinner. And a peacock butterfly

[Bigmallly]

I'm not very good with insects so stabbing a guess at a male dragonfly............

[Martin H]

I reckon you're right, BM. I think it's a male Southern Hawker, like the one on the cover of this guide:

http://www.british-dragonflies.org.u...gonflies_0.pdf

[Bigmallly]

It's lovely the difference a pond can make..............

[Bigmallly]

Just call me Mally Dolittle.................

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[Penellype]

Look who is snoozing on my roof today!


Its a rare Eurasian Eagle Owl which has been seen around our village recently Owner of rare York owl comes forward (From York Press)

[Verinda]

Today I spotted this large butterfly but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't see it's back only its front, it kept shooting off every time I tried to sneak round it!
I wondered if it could possibly be a large tortoise shell butterfly, which are quite rare. I managed to get this snap with a small tortoise shell beside it. Then I snapped this tortoise shell but couldn't decide if it was the same one or if it was as big as the one in the first photo! It looks beautiful anyway



Or maybe it's not a tortoise shell at all?

[Catseyes]

Large tortoiseshells seem duller in colour with yellow rather than white markings near the top of the wings. They are more than 6cm and smells are 4-6cm... Hard to see like you said, in your photos. Maybe someone can be more helpful


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[Martin H]

In your first picture, the butterfly at the bottom left is a Painted Lady (showing her underside, ooh er missus). You did well to get a picture, they are very strong fliers and seem quite restless. I find them quite easy to identify in flight though because from a distance the colours blend into a distinctive shade of peach. I have only seen one this summer, in some years they come to Britain and Ireland in quite large numbers from southern Europe and north Africa. I'll have to have a good lookout, they are lovely.

The butterfly at the top right of the first picture is less distinct but looks like a Small Tortoiseshell to me. The second picture is definitely a Small Tortoiseshell, a very fine specimen.

[Verinda]

Thank you for your interesting feed back Catseyes and Martin. Oh a painted lady, well it's the first one I've seen this year. I remember a few years back there was clouds of them everywhere, really loads of them. Pity though it's not a large tortoise shell, I'm always hoping to see a rare butterfly.

[PyreneesPlot]

Any thoughts on this odd dead moth? Has it been parasitised or is it just spiky?


This was first thing this morning, covered in dew and we were not sure if it was alive or not.

And this afternoon, a bit dry and crispy! The white spikes are a little shriveled now.

[Catseyes]

How odd, I would be with you on that and think the same but never seen it on a month. I have on a caterpillar, which was glued to the stem but alive... Nature can be so cruel


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