As I just said....

It is enough to drive you up the wall...

I was coming back to the house from the longére and saw this little fellow on the step...

That spider had better watch out...

 ...a Tree Frog [Hyla arborea] Rainette verte. I find the tree frogs a fascinating set of creatures... and this fellow was no exception. I dived indoors to get the camera and captured these shots...

but no, he had other things on his mind!

...but the weather was obviously driving him up the wall too!!

There are more pictures of one here.

It's enough to drive you up the wall...

We've had some very wet weather recently...
[213mm between 22nd September and the 22nd of this month]
followed by some unseasonably warm afternoons.
Then damp, foggy evenings and cold misty mornings.

Everything is getting confused...
we've a red Cowslip, from Niall and Antoinette, that has decided to come into bloom....
On Wednesday night, as I was walking  from one building to the other, a car came down the road, lighting  the evening fog...
and in the glow I saw something flitting around....
a bat was out feeding....

We had lizards out sunning themselves on the wall...
and, as I had camera in hand I started to take some pictures.

But the first thing I saw was not a lizard...

                                                                it was a little snake...

                                                                                                  three foot up the wall.

You can see how it is pushing its body into available cracks....

....and threading the tail into crevasses

It was a young Western Whiptail [Heirophis viridiflavus] Couleuvre verte et jaune...
presumably it was light enough to have climbed up there using its scales.
The scales underneath can be 'opened' outward slightly...
like a louvred window...
when you're legless, there is always some way to cling on!

I had to move another one out of the way of the car before leaving for the shops on Wednesday...
it was really lovely close up...
big round doe eyes....
the body about 20cm long, and as I picked it up, it coiled its tail around my fingers and lay along my arm, tongue flicking in and out, scenting the air.
No pictures of that one, though...
I didn't dare nip indoors to grab a camera... although it probably would have stayed put!

But here is a lizard picture...

There were a lot of flies on the wall and spiders in nooks and crannies....
so that was probably their reason for hunting in the vertical.

Strange?... [and THIS is called bird WATCHING.]

We have Black Redstarts [Phoenicurus ochruros var. gibraltariensis] Rougequeue noire here but we seem to lose the male each summer... The book shows the male in all his dinner suited glory like this photo....

Picture taken July 4th '06

and this is how he arrives... [there is another picture here from March of this year]

And then he and the female bounce around a bit in their courtship... lots of "ball bearings" being heard... and then the male seems to go invisible... still hearing the "ball bearings"... but we seem to have two females chasing each other around. And one "female" feeding the other that is begging... typical courtship behaviour... so one female must be a 1st summer male. [According to the book]

Female, male, first year male? Who knows...
whichever, this bird was sitting where our kitchen sink now is...
behind the newly installed double-glazed windows.
The only way in was via the owl-slot in the gable end.
This brood was raised successfully and so was a second.
[Picture taken 17th July '07]
The 2008 broods were raised in what is now our guest room!
The loft hatch was in place by 2009!!

We've noticed this occurrence now for two years running... either we are very unfortunate and have lost the mature male twice, or something else is going on.

But, do the books always get it right? These are just my thoughts...

Does the male have his main moult at the end of summer, just before migration... which makes sense as it gives the bird new feathers just before the  long flight... and a moult of the worn primaries just after mating. And it would make sense for two reasons... firstly, he renews his feathers just before he has to do a lot of hunting... and secondly, he can get into a plumage that makes him less obvious!
I ask this because we find the black wing primaries up in the longère's grenier... a reasonably safe place to "undress"! With a food supply on hand amongst the beams, too.

In which case, the female may well have a moult whilst she is sitting and being fed by the male... it makes evolutionary sense... she wouldn't waste energy moulting before, as all her spare energy is going into the eggs. But, as she remains the same colour all year, we can't really tell.

The Black Redstart is a 'short distance' migrant... like the Robin... if we see them here in winter, they won't be 'our' Black Redstarts. Ours are probably in Spain... but no further south than Morocco or Algieria.

And, whilst mentioning migration, which is now in full swing, we have a very colourful visitor at the moment.... just passing through on the way to Africa... a male  Redstart [Phoenicurus phoenicurus] Rougequeue á front blanc.
Now as you can see from Pauline's picture here... he is glorious!

You can clearly see the rusty-red breast and the white forehead that identify him as a male Redstart.

I've seen Redstarts only in Spring and they've never been this bright... is a similar moult pattern going on here too? We don't get Redstarts here, and this is a first sighting for us at La Forge, so I've nothing on which to base a comparison.

But, on another tack.... is the male Black Redstart also like the Robin in that he can have a number of wives? But that wouldn't explain the begging behaviour... this though is what birdWATCHING is all about... observations and records... followed by ponder and discuss!


The book: Collins Bird Guide [Le Guide Ornitho] Mullarney, Svensson, Zetterstrom & Grant [1999]

There's something under my piles! Don't ask....

I was shifting some of my piles...
of grass....
the other day when I came across some amazing lines in the exposed grass and moss.

This is one of my piles with the nearest part removed...
you can just make out the dark shadow of two runs in the foreground.

Which once all the grass is removed reveals a network...

... and this is a closer view of the network in the foreground...

...and, by the blade of grass in the middle of the previous picture was the entrance to the underground world.

These are the runways of voles [campagnols] who seem to occupy around 90% of our land. They have taken advantage of where I raked the grass into rows ready for collection, to move under cover between areas of forage.
They have also eaten undercover... there are places where they've made cosy, moss-lined nests.

This is a "day bed"... a place where the vole can lay up and eat fresh gatherings whilst under cover.

Another indicator that tells me these are voles, are the latrines. Mice eat and 'go' on the run, as it were! Voles are tidier.

A latrine.... The bright green droppings are the freshest.

Which particular vole, I cannot be certain.... but both Short-tailed Field Vole [Microtus agrestis] Campagnol agreste and Bank Vole [Clethryonomus glareoulus] Campagnol roussâtre are present in this particular area... as is the "Mining Vole" Common Pine Vole [Microtus subterraneus] Campagnol souterrain. Unfortunately our best collector of evidence always starts at the head end!!

I also found this wonderful nest when I was cutting back bramble on the fence line between us and our neighbours.

It is the nest of a Harvest Mouse [Micromys minutus] Rat des moissons.

• It is a loose woven ball of grass.
• There are no signs of an exit/entrance hole. 
• It is also exceptionally clean.

These are all indicators to me of what it was...
Its position, quite high up in the brambles, isn't really an indicator as this would have been a very good site for many birds.
No hole? Yes, no hole. The harvest mouse pushes its way in and out, the hole closing behind it. This leaves the young in a secure, invisible package.

All animals leave signs of where they've been, but they are not always so clear as these. Amelia on A French Garden blogged about damage to hazelnuts... voles again probably... or possibly dormice.
Click on the last photo of hers to enlarge it... you will see a small hole in the nearest... just behind that beautifully shaped opening. This seems to indicate that the initial thief was probably a woodpecker or a jay [see the pictures below] and the nut was left in the crook of the branch and then eaten by a rodent. The more I look at this picture, the more "dormouse" shouts at me... the nibbling just looks too 'polished' for a vole! [The French Garden site opens into a new tab or window... you will be able to compare the picture with those below by clicking between the two.]

Most of the hazelnuts below have been damaged by a woodpecker or Jay, some have had further "rodent" enlargement.

From top...
1] Probable Jay or Woodpecker
2] Again bird damage... Jay? But with a bit of nibbling.
3] Rodent... very untidy... Rat or Squirrel
4] Rodent... neater... probably Field Mouse [voles are even tidier!]

Squirrels split nuts from the top... they also chew all round a pine/spruce cone... as opposed to nibbling... and leave it very untidy. But splits in the scales like these...

You can see clearly where the sharp tip of the upper mandible has pierced the scale.

... are the work of a crossbill. The photo above is from this post about crossbills.

Winter tracks and signs are often easier to spot... we wrote about some here.

Seeing a man about a trogne

On Monday night we went over to La Rabiniere at Betz-le-Chateau to a book talk organised by the “Champs des Livres” association. Mainly because I am fascinated by trees...

The author was a man passionate about “Les trognes” which is the main title of his book.

That passionate man, Dominique Mansion, founded and runs the Maison Botanique at Boursay in Loir et Cher.




He spoke of the history of the trogne, the reasons, the wildlife… he spoke quietly, intensely and with burst of loud emphasis. He was utterly captivating… so much so that I would have bought the book afterwards… if I hadn’t already bought a copy as we went in!!
His illustrations are marvelous… both detailed where needed and beautifully freely drawn where the impression is what counts.


The trogne goes back to prehistory… but for more of that follow this link to Art en Saule our website about the "Pre de la Forge" as well as discovering the reason behind his continued fascination with "Les Trognes"

I pollarded our old willows because I love trees and knew that they were old and needed a haircut… I was also aware of the wildlife that a pollarded tree supports… but my knowledge pales beside Dominique’s!

A photopost of strange things

First up is this yellow Crab Spider [Misumena vatia]....

"Perhaps no one will spot me... will they?"

now Crab spiders are renowned for their camouflage... Misumena is usually found on flowers. This one was probably hunting in the flowerheads of the yellow Compositae [Dandelion family] ... mainly Hawkbits/weeds... that are below this Spindle. [She also comes in White or Pale Pink... the male is smaller and quite dark.]
But... this is her egg sac... hidden inside those folded leaves....
She is meant to stay guarding her valuable deposit until her death...
which given this colour combination will probably be sooner rather than later.
And the seed head of the Spindle is well on its way to becoming bright pink...

Perhaps she is hoping that the pink will confuse predators....

Then there was this little weevil on the window yesterday evening....

The weave on my handkerchief will give you some idea of how small a weevil it is.

...some weevils, despite the damage that they can do to plants and fruits, just seem to look rather cuddly in close-up. This could be one of three Curculio sp. weevils... most probably C. nucum which feeds on Hazel nuts... with the other weevil pictures that I have recently taken, a Weevilly Recognized post is on its way.


Then there was this American import... the Buffalo Treehopper [Stictocephalus bisonia] Cicadelle bubale or Membracide bison.. a truly alien looking, alien import. And for the damage it can do take a look at A French Garden where its egg laying harms the vines and leaves red leaves!

Come on then! Have a go...

Going cuckoo!

A juvenile Cuckoo [Cuculus canorus] Coucou gris came to our window yesterday evening... very fleeting. It took something off the wall between the kitchen and the lounge and then sat for a moment in the cherry tree... looking straight at us!
How do I know that it is a juvenile... it was still around this morning [but vanished each time before I could photograph it!]... it had a telltale spot of white on the nape of the neck. No photographs... but what follows is a LOT of interesting links.

The Cuckoo is a Red List bird and a number of British nesting Cuckoos have been radio tagged and you can follow some of them on the BTO website on this page.

Two, both back in Africa now, are Lyster [who has a BBC article about him here] who can be followed here and Chris [named after Chris Packham] who can be followed here.
These two have been "followed" now for two journeys south and one back.

A female named Idemili who was tagged this year, was found injured and nursed back to health and has now been given a "lift" to Italy to help her on her way.
These two links have the story:
Cityplanter: Cuckoo hitches lift on a plane after missing migration.
Daily Mail: Freedom cuckoo with business Class BA flight to Italy [This article has the fuller story... the first shows what a sorry state she was in.]
The BTO have not re-tagged her... probably because, as a breeding female, she is too valuable to lose.

I shall see if it is around tomorrow morning, given the wind today... very strong and from the east... it may well have stayed, sheltered in our willows [the last place I saw it disappear] or in the trees along the riverbank. I'm sure that it won't have wanted to waste energy trying to fly into that!

Just think...
it has never seen another Cuckoo...
it is flying alone....
it has around another three and a half thousand miles to go to get to the Congo...
apart from the gross parental neglect, how the **** does it know where to go...
it thinks it is a Reed Warbler or whatever species the mother specialized in imitating the eggs of...
some evolution!

Bonne chance, CouCou!!

Darwin Syndrome

There is a website dedicated to people who have done idiotic things and have died in the process... The Darwin Awards...    [this Video is the 2012 winner].  
But today I found a Peacock butterfly caterpillar that deserves it's place in the Darwin Awards record....

Most choose sensible places to hang around for the pupal stage... like these.

Tucked safely away behind a spider's web...

But occasionally the brain-cell must have "gone fishing".... look at this fellow...

This is the start of the process... yesterday.
Look at the top right... it should show where it has hung itself.

Yes... it has attached itself to a petal on a Pelargonium
A down-to-earth move!

He's going to drop off soon!

But all is immaterial... look closer at the above picture of the pupa and you will see that he's got visitors.

Two small parasitic wasps looking for a soft spot!
The old skin is bunched up at the top.

Even the one that was behind the spider's web isn't safe....

The ovipositor is indicated by the red arrow.
This is the caterpillar on the right of the first photo.

Susan of Days on the Claise and Loire Valley Nature will probably be able to furnish the name of the wasp and I'll update the entry from her comment.

This is the email that Susan sent: "Based on some quick internet research, your parasitoid wasp is the Chalcid (Pteromalidae) Pteromalus puparum. They are widely used as a biocontrol for Pierids and are known to go for Vanessids (like Peacocks and Admirals) as well. They only lay in newly formed soft chrysalises."

Why somethings take longer.............. to do!!

July fifth, twenty twelve.
There I was, sitting in a chair on the bridge with a glass of Munster* in hand, listening to Deep Purple's "Concerto for Group and Orchestra" and watching the sun go down.
No... one better, I was grabbing the warmth of the last rays whilst watching mayflies dancing in July, when.... suddenly... the view through the "macronoculars" was momentarily obliterated by a huge dark object.
Focus....
You might think that the ant-eating cat had blocked my view.... but you'd've been wrong. A male Blackcap [Sylvia artricapilla] Fauvette à tête noire had snatched a tasty morsel to feed a young-un.
Re-focus...
The next ten minutes were spent watching the Blackcap feeding a chick. Flit, feed, flit, feed.... on and on!

Also, there were a couple of Moorhen [Gallinula chloropus] Poule d'eau chicks chugging around below me... feeding themselves now... there was an adult around, up by the walnut. Probably a last feed before retiring to their "veranda" for the night.
Re-focus....
The "city-boys"... Grand Pressigny's House Martins came through, feeding low.... a sure sign of bad weather. The sun was behind Grandmont now anyway and it was getting quite chilly.... so I decided to head indoors... the Munster was finished anyway!!

As I turned round I saw a 'short' rainbow over the Bois du Favier.

Just a shower... just that cloud!

The day had started badly.... the intention was to carry on with the maintenance of the meadow and potager after returning from the market. [ie... mowing!]

We never made it to the market... it started raining and nothing on the list was too important to hasten for [but we always feel sorry for the traders when it is miserable]... and it put a kybosh on the mowing too... grass, now wet, won't cut properly! Find something 'indoors' to do...

I started to write out a long intended, bird species list.... finished it too! There are about 120 species we could/should see here... we've seen about eighty. There are some.... Tree Sparrow and Coal Tit being a couple... that we should see but haven't. And yet others... Wood Sandpiper in Summer, Cattle Egret and Great Egret in mid-winter... that we shouldn't have.

Then, later, the weather turned for the better, so..... all intended up the spout.... I took a stroll round the meadow to see if there were any major patches of Creeping Thistle [Cirsium arvense]chardon des champs that I'd missed the previous day. I have no intention of trying to eradicate the Creeping Thistle.... it is too important a food plant for the wildlife around here.... I just want to control it enough to stop huge clouds of seed blowing over the neigbouring fields!!

The sun came out and brought with it a host of insects that had been sheltering in the nooks and crannies of tree bark, or under leaves.... dashed back in for the camera.... and managed to grab a few shots before it clouded over again.

One of the first in the frame was this Map butterfly [Araschinia levana] la Carte géographique which obliged by posing with its wings open.... I've got enough shots of the underwing to publish my own atlas.

The 'Summer' wings

And the underwing!

These are the summer brood.... spring [overwintered] specimens are so different on the upper wing as to appear a different species.


Susan of "Days on the Claise" blogged about them here and there seem to be an awful lot more around here than last year.

Also around were Red Admiral, Peacock, Marbled White, Silver-Washed Fritillary, Meadow Brown and a White Admiral.

However, around in even greater numbers were the Damselflies. Plenty of male Banded Demoiselles and some brilliant emerald green females...

The strange 'nostril' is the wing of a rapidly vanishing fly!

... and a few Beautiful Demoiselle males up near the wier.


One damsel that caught my eye was this male Blue Featherleg [Platycnemis penepipes] l'Agrion à larges pattes which was posing nicely at the edge of one of the new "Paths"#, but there were also Bluets and Bluetails around, males definitely, females probably, but I need to go out deliberately to photograph as many as possible and then sit down in fron of this screen with the "bible" - Dijkstra & Lewington, to identify what we do have. I wonder how long before I acheive that?

The 'feathering' on the hind leg is very clear in this picture.

Also around were Gomphidae, possibly a Western Clubtail as Susan has seen them here, but when it got close enough to see more clearly, the tail seemed to be very markedly "clubbed" and it could have been a Pincertail [Also seen here by Susan and mentioned in the "Days on the Claise" entry.]

So, no mowing.... but a provisional Bird List under the belt... after about six years of deliberating!!


*The Alsace beer... not the cheese!
# One advantage of cutting through beds of chest-high nettle is that it falls cleanly, leaving a high, sharp-cut edge that all sorts of insects like to perch upon!!

Orioles

We had a couple of Orioles in the dead willow on the bank opposite the bedroom the other morning. A juvenile [all greeny with a black eye-mask] which stayed in the top of the willow for a while, and an adult in black and yellow that sat there in full view for about five minutes before going and skulking around in the ash that was next door. It thought it was under cover, but we could both see it quite clearly. Sorry, no photographs. It was just too far away to catch!

Proud parents

For the second time this year Pinknose the moorhen and her compagne have made it through a successful hatching and are now leading a little convoy of tiny bald black scribbles up and down the millstream.

On the nest.

Peep?

Peep-peep!!

With the first brood we saw four chicks. Two were slightly larger than the others, and it was most unlikely that all four would survive, due to a combination of predators such as pike, inclement weather and their own general gormlessness. The millstream flows quite fast under the bridge next door to the nest, but given a normal rate of flow even the smallest chick seems capable of paddling itself back upstream. In the end we only seemed to see two fully mature juveniles around.

Moorhens are very attentive parents, and they share all child care duties. When the chicks are away from the nest, there is always at least one parent with them, while the other forages for tasty snacks. The parent-in-charge makes a regular beep-beep which reminds me of the rather unimpressive horn on the tricycle I had at the age of five. It is quite a soothing call and seems to make the chicks follow the parent and not go wandering off. Whereas the growling noise from Pinknose on her nest when Tim went too close with the camera warned the chicks to dive under her feathers and hide from the perceived threat. She made the same noise when Baron the tom cat went to sit on the parapet. He doesn't much mind getting wet when it comes to rain, but he hasn't tried swimming - yet.

Declaration de Travaux:-  Patio and Apero area

Dad built a 'patio' to make room for the growing chicks, but that was the cue for the rains to start and we don't think they ever got the barbecue lit! As a result of the much greater growth of vegetation, we are not sure whether or not the old nest was used for the second clutch, or if it was the patio that seemed more suited. We only saw the little balls of fluff today and haven't yet managed to count them.

Dad! Can we have a barbecue, Dad? Can we? Can we?
Shurrup! I've told you... it's raining! Again!!

All these photos are from the first brood.

Influences....

What stimulates an interest in Nature?

My first memorable moment was when I was four or five and my parents caught someones pet Jackdaw and shut it in the coal shed so that the owner could collect it.

I was fascinated by this bird and, when the man came to retrieve his bird, he placed it on my shoulder... so for a few minutes I was eye to steely blue eye with a tame Jackdaw. I've had a very soft spot for these smart and intelligent beasts ever since. That was '54 or '55.

Then there were the books that I was allowed to look at once I could read properly. Among these were my father's old schoolday "Rambler" books...

Yes... I've still got them!!

... with easy script and attractive pictures.... but informative. Then I was bought volumes 2 & 3 of the Nature Field Series by H. Trevor Jones, a Warnes series published in 1952, and full of reasonably accurate but heavily precised information.... with pictures of some of the creatures, but not all.... and missing, amongst others, the Kestrel in volume 2 "Birds and Wild Animals".
Volume 3, my other copy was "Insects and Spiders".

The Field Series and page 55 in detail

There followed copies from, perhaps, the most famous Warnes series of books... The Observer's Series...I had the Book of Insects, [also as a set of cards in a folder.... which might actually be in a box in the barn, somewhere], then the Book of Wild Flowers and the Book of Birds.... and then there was the I-Spy Series.... all stimulating....especially the latter with challenges to go and find, rather than being solely an identification aid.

When I visited my Grandfather's house, he had a series of six nature books from the turn of the 20th Century.... these are now mine. The have informative articles on different aspects of Natural History.... and a 'fold-out' dissection in the front of each book!! These were opened carefully for me to look at.... NOT TOUCH! Which is why they are in such good condition now. My father's "Spring" Rambler book has had the black & white line drawings "coloured" by someone using wax crayons.... most probably me!! [Not too badly most of them... but the Larch is a right mess!!]

The spine of Vol 6 and the fold out Swallowtail

And now folded out.... but there is more!

Now the "dissections" are folded open.

Perhaps though the nail in the coffin.... or should that be the icing on the cake, was the boxed copy of Fabre's Book of Insects.
Fabre's writing and observation, carefully translated into English along with some beautiful illustrations, has kept my interest alive throughout the intervening years.... I dip in and out as the mood takes me.

Two of the illustrations are shown here as is the little biography mentioned below.

I was fortunate enough to spot a small biography of Fabre on a stall at the Fête de la Confiture at Abilly in 2011.... this now lives in the box as well!


Then I was bought a membership of the RSPB.... the badge that came with it I still possess and wear.... and my first equipment.... an old pair of opera glasses [magnification x3] and a large lens of around x4 that folded inside a leather case; these in a shoulder bag that had room for a book. No pencil, no notepad.... no one encouraged me to take notes or make sketches.... rather, I was encouraged to remember and describe. But describe "without using the hands".... perhaps paper was expensive in the late 50's... perhaps it was just Dad's way?

But, hey! The sun is shining at last and there is a Kestrel hovering over our potager.... now, where are my "macronoculars"?

Proserpina in the underworld

Yesterday I was harvesting shallots in the potager when a creature surged out of the freshly-broken ground in front of me. My first thought was that I had disturbed some kind of snake, with a pointed snout and a grey, apparently scaly, back. Any small predator such as a weasel would back off immediately when confronted by this display. Then the tail emerged revealing the animal to be a chubby critter just over two inches long, rather short for a snake, although at full stretch in "attack" mode it was a good three inches! Tim came over hastily from mowing and pronounced it to be a hawkmoth caterpillar, but not one he recognised. It has a single eye spot in the middle of its tail, tiny spots of blue and red in black rings on its sides, and lacks a tail spike.

Actually it's rather cute!

Shown against Tim's finger gives a scale to the beasty!

Consultation of the "oracle" (Michael Chinery) identified it as proserpinus proserpina, a species lacking an English common name but whose French name, Sphinx de l'épilobe, translates as the willowherb hawk moth. It also feeds on evening primrose and purple loosestrife, and has been identified as a pollinator of the greater butterfly orchid, platanthera chlorantha. The INPN web site informs us that this is a regulated species on the Red List of insect species for France. The Inventaire National du Patrimoine Naturel only has three records for Indre-et-Loire. Since its home had already been destroyed by accident, we placed it on a molehill in the meadow by some willowherb plants in the hope that it will be able to bury itself again if it so prefers, with its food species nearby but out of reach of large bipeds with gardening forks.

Back on the ground, "scales" showing up nicely.

The scientific name, considering that the caterpillar came out from under the ground, is interesting in itself. Proserpina (Persephone in Greek myth) was the daughter of the Roman goddess Ceres (the Greek Demeter), who was the Earth Mother and "the protectrice of agriculture, and of all the fruits of the earth". Proserpina was sleeping in a flowery meadow when Hades, the god of the underworld, saw her, fell madly in love and carried her off. Ceres pined for her and winter came into the world. Proserpina pined for her mother and her flowers, and generally made life hell for Hades. Eventually husband and mother came to an agreement: Proserpina would spend six months of the year with Hades and six months with Ceres. Winter ended, spring came and the cycle of the seasons began.

Another side view... showing the tail end.

The catterpillar getting an advanced look at what it will become.

Who's lookin' at you?

Who does this pair of eyes belong to.... a blog follows tomorrow.

And Susan or Elizabeth, if either of you know , please answer cryptically....

Things that go "BONK" in the night!

We've been amazed recently by things hitting the windows of an evening.... in this first post I'll concentrate on the moths [Papillons du Nuit].
The most exciting was a Giant Peacock Moth [Saturnia pyri] Grand-Paon-de-nuit which visited on the 11th... absolutely huge, it was at least 15cm [3"] across....

Now that's more my size of prey!

They don't normally have this sparkle, do they?

Hey, Mum... have you seen this!
The cat's heads and the Fox Moth give scale to this magnificent moth.

...it had the full attention of the cats... but was very difficult to photograph... it wouldn't stop flying around.
Most of the other moths have been far more sedentary... settling for long periods.
But it did eventually settle for a moment.... and I got a lovely shot of it on our step.

The step is 27cms left to right.

This male is at the North of its range... it is, like most of the Saturniidae born without mouthparts, so is on the way out the moment it emerges from the pupal case. The young feed on Blackthorn [Prunus spinosa] Epine Noire or Prunelle of which we have plenty, as well as Ash and various other trees.
I found the remains of another that had probably fed a bat, by the Mairie in Grand Pressigny - a full hindwing and a few shreds of the others. [27/05/12 - Also a front wing by our back door... the front rib of which is constructional strength steel.... by the feel of it. The colours of the two wings are much faded when compared with these pix, too.]

A second member of the Saturniidae that has been around is the Fox Moth [Macrothylacia rubi] Bombyx de la ronce... we get loads of these. They really are daft creatures... laying eggs on our doors like the Emperor Moth on our window [blogged about here  and one that Susan wrote about here]... the titchy caterpillars have to cross three metres of bare calcaire! An adult female can be seen in [above pic] which then went on to start laying much to the amazement of our RonRon as she had noticed a male that was still trying to mate... so she tried to separate them...

What's going on here?

That can't be right!
[the female is the lower one and the eggs are
the pale dots on the door frame beneath her.]

Better separate them then...?

fortunately there was glass in the way, as I think what she had on her mind was a bit more permanant than "Go away!" A mouth full of moth wing scales... yuck!

Another visitor was an Eyed Hawkmoth [Smerinthus ocellata] Sphinx Demi-Paon...

...we usually have our attention drawn to where the 'bonking' is coming from by the cats!!
This was no exception... RonRon the 'scientist' made a mad dash across the tops of the work surfaces to the kitchen window... before being told off... but by the time I'd managed to get the camera and get outside, it had moved to the lounge window... lower and more convenient for photography.

You can see here the eye is just visible...

Eyed Hawkmoth female.

This and the Poplar Hawkmoth have a strange wing profile.

and after taking a picture to show the upper wings better...
I risked holding the wings open to show the eyes more clearly....

Still not perfect, but I didn't want to damage her!

Surprisingly, she didn't object!!

As mentioned before, we get lots of 'night visitors' and here are a few more in no particular order!

Lunar Thorn or Purple Thorn moth [Selinia spp]

The same Lunar Thorn or Purple Thorn moth [Selinia spp],
a couple of ichneumon flies [Ophion luteus & Lissonota setosa] and a micromoth.

Ichneumon fly [Ophion luteus /Ophion sp.]

An Art Deco micromoth and some more night visitors including an ichneumon.

Moth in a smoking jacket!
Peach Blossom Moth [Thyatira batis] La Batis

The next night visitors post will be on beetles.... things that really go BONK on the glass, floor, lampshade, etc...etc...etc!