Tuesday 4 September 2018

Plagues.

Up here in the Yorkshire Dales there seem to have been plagues of some things and an absolute lack of others.   Although Simon in Newark speaks of the many lady birds he has seen around his neck of the woods, up here I have honestly not seen one.

On Saturday morning at our Church Coffee Morning I was speaking to L who told me that they had had a plague of toads.   There has been a distinct lack of water up here this year and the forty or so toads a member of her family found were all clustered together but nowhere near water.   In fact a couple of them found their way into her house much to her horror.   Presumably they were searching for water, without which they would probably die.  Before they reached that stage a member of her family took them all in a bucket down to the side of the village beck - well beyond where it runs alongside the road and where they will be safe from the traffic - so good luck to them. 

Last year I saw hardly a single Crane Fly (Daddy Long Legs).   This year already as we are hardly into September there are Daddy Long Legs clustered around my front door, basking in the sun.

And last but by no means least, to the left of my front door I obviously have an ants' nest.   My bungalow faces due South and when the sun is out and the stone wall warms up it is soon covered with ants scurrying in and out of an air brick.   I have just been into town and bought a puffer of ant killer - now I can't get the top off the canister
and need to wait for my son to get home from his job to ask him to nip round and do the job for me.

What has been plentiful where you are?  What about butterflies?   Early on in the year I saw a lot of orange tips, but none lately and only the odd red admiral and/or peacock.   Some years there have been so many.   And mushrooms? The fields here have been full of them.   I can only assume that the hot, dry summer followed by some good rain falls suddenly brought them on.

  Some apple trees are laden, some have none.   The crab apples all seem heavy with fruit but the hawthorn bushes are quite sparsely fruited which doesn't bode well for over wintering fieldfares.   What a strange year it has been.

18 comments:

jinxxxygirl said...

Love this kind of post Pat.. I think in another life i should have been a biologist of some kind... because i find all this fascinating... I think the hummingbirds left early this year.. I still have some stragglers coming through but the bulk of them are gone.. It felt like at least 2 weeks early.. Lots and lots of cobwebs and that feels early too.. The ladybugs have not tried to come inside yet but they will and when they do i put them on a paper towel i wet with sugar water and they LOVE it.. I have not heard the geese come over yet.. I saw the last bluebirds fledge and leave.. The squirrels who were so numerous in my yard are off collecting their store for winter.. I have not seen as many butterflies this year.. but i have this Abelia bush in the back yard..huge...and the butterflies love it.. but we went for a time this summer without rain and i don't think it bloomed as well.. Its the Spicebush Swallowtail.. brownish with gorgeous blue.. Look forward to reading the comments your sure to receive.. I think all signs point to a harsh winter.. but we will see.. Hugs! deb

Jules said...

We have lots of ladybirds. Lily and I had great fun looking at the different species the other day. X

Derek Faulkner said...

Toads, nice to know they still exist, they used to be found in most gardens here on Sheppey until about thirty years ago, since then I haven't seen one. Would love to get a couple for my garden, I have frogs and newts in the pond but no toads. We have had few if any, mushrooms the last two years due to the long drought that we had and this year is going the same way, the ground is rock hard and dry again. That would also explain the absence of Crane Flies, the dry soil has prevented the Leather jackets from emerging and turning into Crane Flies.

John "By Stargoose And Hanglands" said...

Very few butterflies here this year - Meadow browns and Speckled Woods fairly numerous but I've only seen one Painted lady and very few Commas or Brimstones. Lots of Whites still around though, much to the disgust of cabbage growers. I haven't been aware of any plagues, though many small schoolchildren getting haircuts in the barbers' yesterday!

Gwil W said...

Can't say we've had much of anything up to now. I think the 3 day deluge we've just had, a whole months worth of rain, after the 5th hottest August on record, will have done something. Not sure what though. An absence of mosquitoes by the Danube in the summer was a blessing! There they can be a real plague.

Sue in Suffolk said...

2 Buddlias - No butterflies, but lots of frogs in the mini pond. No daddy longlegs yet

donna baker said...

The butterflies love my phlox and are happy to show up this summer. It has been strange this year so far. Abnormal. I only hope we have no ice storms this winter. I can pretty much take anything else. Oh, and the mosquitos are happily feasting on my when I go outside.

wherethejourneytakesme said...

We have loads of butterflies this year, plenty of wasps and apples - only a few ladybirds.
I hear many people have encountered stray snakes in their houses this summer - when owners have let them out in their gardens in the hot weather and they have escaped!

Sals View said...

In Lincolnshire we've had lots of butterflies and what seems like hundreds of ladybirds.

walking in beauty carmarthenshire said...

We have frogs and toads , but mainly stay hidden near our ponds.few ladybirds, no crane flies or horseflies. Very few wasps usually we have at least 2, cabbage whites, painted ladies, comma, admiral and small tortoise shell and hardly any flies, no hornets. Very unusual on a small holding to have so few flies.I should think fly strike is less which pleases the sheep.

Elizabeth said...

Just popped by your blog to see how you were doing.
Warmest greetings from too warm New York.

Sooze said...

Now you come to mention it, no ladybirds here either! No crane flies yet either. We do, however, have 100s of wasps, far more than previous years.

Bovey Belle said...

Lots of frogs and toads (and spawn), no wasps, butterflies mostly Cabbage Whites, a few Red Admirals, a couple of Peacocks, a Blue, a Fritillery who didn't stay for ID, Meadow Browns and Speckled Woods. Hornets seem to be absent. Our brood nest of bats went and brooded somewhere cooler than under our roof tiles but are back again now (and have found a new inlet into the house on occasion). Lots of Damselflies but a shortage of Dragonflies. Not noticed any crane flies yet, but was stood by a post in Hay-on-Wye last week and there were a dozen or so Ladybirds on it. Good crop of apples on all trees, damsons just a few pounds, raspberries zilch, few gooseberries or currants.

Cro Magnon said...

I hope I'm not tempting fate, but we've had no Mosquitoes this year!

Heather said...

I would welcome plagues of mushroom, ladybirds and butterflies but our plague this year was flies during the heat. The local shops kept selling out of fly swats and fly papers. I was expecting wasps last month, maybe they'll still arrive, but so far only the odd one or two.
I remember one very damp spring when our lawn was alive with tiny froglets. They seemed to be everywhere, enjoying their freedom from the pond and hopping about in the wet grass.

Derek Faulkner said...

On the subject of froglets, I've been experiencing a lot of Marsh froglets in the grass this last week on the nature reserve. Seems to occur every early autumn.

thelma said...

Well speckled wood, red admirals, painted ladies and peacocks butterflies but sadly not a lot at one time.
My favourites are the bumble bees, and I just buy plants for them ;), though the three buddleias have done their jobs of attracting butterflies. One frog lives in our damp bed snaffling the slugs hopefully.
Not any plagues though, the wasps are around for the ripening plums and I must say ladybirds have been seen in numbers, so maybe there is a plague there.

The Weaver of Grass said...

I forgot about bumble bees Thelma - I have never seen so many as this year. I bought a perennnial wallflower (not E A Bowles, a fawn/pink one, I have forgotten its name) and it has flowered all Summer and is always covered in bumbles.

Thanks everyone for helping to build up such a picture of what is around all over the country.