Local sites were visited near the end of the month with the usual species still present, a pair of yellow wagtails alongside 3 young pied wagtails and corn bunting were showing well and the ever present but flighty linnets kept their distance.
The 3 young pied wagtails visited the small watering hole a few times and when not feeding decided to just sun themselves and doze off on the hard standing amongst the few weeds around the water hole.
A year ago whilst trapping and photographing moths i had a Lime hawkmoth lay some eggs in a specimen container, i set it aside and forgot about it till a day or so later when i noticed tiny caterpillars moving inside. I transferred them to a larger container and knowing they were from the Lime hawkmoth went about searching around my abode for lime trees.
A good row of lime trees were found just around the corner in the church yard and the feeding began. And scoff they did, myself and sarah were continually gathering fresh leaves, and after some time they changed to pupae and buried themselves in the layer of earth in the container. They were then left in my shed until this year and then placed outside under cover. And as of the end of june between 15 and 20 have emerged from the pupae cases and after the final transformation to adult have all flown off.
It was great to see so many emerge and leave and as the photos show the wings upon emerging are small and curled in, within minutes they have grown full size and then dry and rest until night then depart. It is amazing how fast they transform you can see the wings extending larger right infront of your eyes, but so quick are they at emerging from the earth that i never caught one doing so, i looked for movement and nothing and would literally return within minutes to find one hanging from a twig drying out. A lovely experience though. 