More fox and an unusual wasp

10.30am this morning I noticed one of the adult foxes trotting down the track keeping close to the side for cover. This is the first time I have seen one of the foxes during the day.

I also noticed this unusual wasp on the hydrangea bush.

The fox cub appeared again just after 8.00pm. It trotted up the track on its own, then turned and looked down the track towards me.

It was then joined by both adults. One adult trotted of leaving what I think is the vixen with the cub. It looked like the cub might have been suckling.

Life down our lane.

I am now certain that the weaker herring gull chick from the nest site, seen from the front of our house, has died. The remains are still on the roof.

The bramble patch in the track opposite our house is alive with bees.

I spotted a small solitary I had not recorded previously It is probably Andrena Bicolor, visiting the mallow flowers


Just after 8.00pm I noticed the fox coming down the track. It spotted me and sat doen and we watched each other for a while before the fox slowly trotted off into one of the gardens.

Black ant mating flight

A hot sunny day ideal for black ant mating flight. These first two pictures are from a nest on the rockery in our back garden. This was  just about 1.00pm

I think this has been one of the most spectacular years for a long time. Generally the queens in our garden come of the nest and run along the ground and up the nearest wall or similar where the hesitate for ages before they fly off.

This year they poured forth straight onto the wing from two of the nests and was quite spectacular. These two pictures are from a nest underneath a toad ornament.

You can see the larger winged queens, smaller winged males and worker ants.

Interestingly this did not attract much attention from the many swifts and gulls we have nearby. Just this lone gull eating ants in the road.

As I watched I noticed this solitary bee coming out of a hole in the lawn, possible a nest hole.

Early evening I thought it would be safe now to move the toad ornament and mow the lawn. I have been avoiding moving it for some weeks.

However I noticed that the nest was full of cocoons and also some more winged queens. I put the ornament on loosely while the workers ushered the queens underground and carried off the cocoons.

I took a look later and you could see all the tunnels remaining



The green, green house

Things have been going very well in the green house.

Some dahlias for the window boxes and some gem lettuce - safe from the slugs and snails. As I don't use any pesticides in the garden, these lettuce would not last long at all. 

Strawberries ands raspberries are now all finished - a bumper crop this years thanks largely to the early bumblebee Bombus pratorum.

The blue berries are now ready to eat. The tomato plants are full of flower and a few tomatoes have started to develop.

And you can even recycle/reuse old dessert containers, as the make perfect starter pots and the plastic food containers and old washing up bowl are replace the pot saucers when watering.

First flight

After much flapping and holding its wings out in the wind, the herring gull chick took its first flight today.

Rather ungainly and unstable, each short flight lasting about 20 seconds and travelling a distance of a few feet.

The chick seemed to be experimenting with its wings and soon started to get a hang of the fine adjustments needed to fly.

Fox home

As I walked back from the shops early evening, down the track I kept an eye out for the foxes. I passed the garden that I thought they came from and there underneath a low hanging tree, just behind the wall was an adult fox, almost close enough to touch.

It watched me warily so I carried on back I home. I came back with my camera and as I expected it was gone.

This is where I saw the fox.

Fox family and swift flock

The foxes have begun to appear earlier in the evening - today the first appeared at 6.50am.

It was soon joined by the cub

The foxes were way down the track and the pictures taken on full zoom in low light so they are not brilliant quality.

After about 15 minutes the foxes trotted off and disappeared from view.

While this was going on a large flock of about 30 plus swifts screamed overhead. This maybe the nighttime aggregation as swifts flock together and cat nap on the wing at high altitudes. The nesting swifts next door may already have joined this group.

At 8.15pm the foxes reappeared down the track and were joined by a third fox, the other parent, possibly the male as he is bigger than the female. This one also has a bushier tail. The adult foxes seemed to be playing with the cub chasing each other. Eventually they disappeared again.

9.10pm and the foxes were visible in the gloom. Now the adults were actively hunting. The cub was investigating things but more, it seemed, out of curiosity. The cub came down to within about 10 feet of where I was standing at our wall. The fox eventually lay down on the track looking out towards the road. Then it sat up. I took the chance of taking a photograph using flash.

The reflection of the foxes eyes makes it look more alien in nature!

It did not seem to disturb the fox at all. I watched it for about another 10 minutes before it trotted back up the track. When I went back into the house, I could still see the shapes of hunting foxes in the track.