The weasel has a takeaway

My previous attempts at filming a weasel collecting food were thwarted by its high speed smash-and-grab technique - all we could see was a blur as it departed.  This time I had two mice and I thought if I put them both out the weasel might be spoilt for choice.  And it worked.

The mice were fresh and only four hours after I put them in the camera box a male weasel turned up.  As you will see in the video, he was very undecided but eventually took one mouse away.  He was back very early next morning and brought the rather chewed mouse with him.  He obviously knew the second mouse was there but left again with the first one.

Four hours later he was back and took the second mouse, seeming to play fight with it before he left.  Another two hours later he returned, apparently without the mouse, but I think it was just outside because after another minute he threw it back in, just as an ambulance went by.  After checking to see whether it was an ambulance or a police car he returned for his prize and left.

I knew weasels were in the habit of carrying their food around but it is fascinating to see it. Because of their small size, body shape and hyperactive lifestyle weasels need to eat one third of their body weight in a day, roughly one mouse a day.  If they are able to catch more than this they will cache food for later, presumably not bothered if it is a bit ripe.

I can tell this is all the same animal from his gular spots (the under-chin markings).  Rather like the bib patterns in pine martens they are specific to an individual but I haven't been able to see before that they are not symmetrical, meaning we have to see the same side of the face to be able to tell if it is the same weasel.  This one spent a lot of time looking around and making his mind up so we can see both sides of his face.

Ten years of blogging

I'm not one for birthdays or anniversaries or big round numbers but I did notice that today it is 10 years since my first post on this blog.  That was on great spotted woodpeckers feeding their young, a subject that has been repeated several times at this time of year.  To come full circle the young woodpeckers have once again appeared outside my kitchen window this week so here are a couple of photos taken through the kitchen window yesterday.

In the last ten years there have been over 1500 posts on this blog but it isn't possible to say how many views or readers.  In 2017 the blog was targeted by French spambots and something similar has been happening over the past year, although this time I can't tell the source.  Blogger removes all the spam so I never see it, but strangely it still counts all the "views".  The real readership is about 2500 views a month so it is probable that there have been about 300,000 real views rather than the 425,000+ that Blogger lists.  Still quite a big number.  I hope I'll be able to complete another 10 years, probably always with woodpeckers in the second week of June.

Daylight robbery

I have seen bumblebees robbing nectar from comfrey flowers before but as far as I remember I haven't seen this behaviour from solitary bees.  Nectar robbing is when a bee takes nectar from the flower through a hole bitten in the side rather than entering normally and offering pollination, especially a bee with a tongue too short to reach the nectary.  I suspect the holes were made by bumblebees and the others were just taking advantage.  This is a Buff-tailed Bumblebee

and an Early Bumblebee.

A Common Carder Bee was doing it properly.

This was earlier in the week on the comfrey in the corner of the kitchen garden.  The most numerous bees were male red mason bees.

They were also patrolling the flowers in the vain hope of finding a new female.  In reality all the females are busy provisioning their nests and the males don't have long to live but that didn't stop them challenging and knocking each other off the flowers.

Female red masons were also robbing, obviously getting just nectar here and collecting their pollen elsewhere.

The most surprising to me was a nomad bee, a cuckoo that lays its eggs in solitary bees nests (usually mining bees).

It all goes to show that sometimes crime does pay.  You can read more about the biology of nectar robbing here.

First moths of the year

This was the first time I have set up the moth trap this year.  Previously it has been in the corner of the walled flower garden, just over the wall from the golf course.  This time it was 50m away, at the edge of the meadow and close to the copse, so a slightly different environment.

There weren't many moths but they included some real beauties.  New to me was this Pebble Prominent.

This is one I have seen before, a Common Swift.

Another star was a White Ermine.

It has these amazing colours underneath.  I wonder why as they are hidden and it lives mostly in the dark.

Another new one was a Buff Ermine.  I didn't get to see what colour this one is underneath.

And one of my favourites, a Poplar Hawk-moth.

When I tried to move it for a better photo it got a firm hold of my finger and wouldn't let go.  I could feel the tiny claws on its feet.