It’s been fairly quiet on the wildlife front this past few weeks, however there have been some lovely surprises. A few weeks ago we heard squealing and grunting coming from the back garden and saw two hedgehogs circling each other on the garden path. I managed to capture this one as it headed towards the flower border. Wonderful! I’ve not seen a live one for years. Then I came across this toad on the back lane. It was the size of the palm of my hand. I tried togently nudge it along off the road with my foot but it wouldn’t budge. I’m afraid I didn’t fance picking it up!
Butterflies were a common sight on the buddelia bushes in September. But an exciting insect to see on them was the hummingbird hawk moth. It’s so called because it looks like a tiny hummingbird, the size of a thimble! This is the first time I’ve observed one in Scotland. Several neighbours had seen one and told me about it, this photo is from Simon Jones. Can you see its long straw like proboscis?
Another surprise for me this month has been discovering that there is a barn owl hunting at dusk just at the top of our lane. We first saw it when we went to watch the nearly full harvest moon rise above the hillside.We’ve now seen it two more times when we’ve actively gone looking for it.
I tried to photograph it the other evening with my medium lens, alas all I got was a black image!! But an image of a silent winged ghostly apparition remains in my memory as it flew past us very close.
I wonder what other surprises might lie in store in the coming months?
