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Friday 3 June 2016

Randy goes home and moths from March and April

Aaarrrggghhhh!!! What a wasted week. I managed to pull a muscle in my lower back whilst gardening Sunday evening and have spent most of the last four days in bed. Lying down was the only way I could be fairly pain free, as standing or walking I had constant back pain and sciatic pain down one leg. Sitting was in between. It was doubly annoying as I was finally feeling raring to go in the garden. I'm now up but I'll have to leave the gardening for a few more days and take it very easy to start with. Hoping to get away for an overnighter in the Moho next week too.

OK so what's this about Randy? Well it all went horribly wrong. He started picking on one of my hens and to cut a long story short she had to be put down as he inflicted some horrible injuries on her, splitting her skin under her wings with his claws as he continually raped her. The other hens were starting to peck her too whilst he held her down, and he went for me claws flying when I yelled at him and chased him off.  This all happened not long before we went to England. Once poor Goldie had gone all went quiet and back to normal with the chickens! I mentioned it all to my neighbour who was looking after them whilst we were away and then we got a text from her whilst in England. He started it again with another hen, one of the older ones this time. So Randy got shut out of the run, on the garden side, with the old duck shed to sleep in at night. When we came back he'd worn down paths in the grass all the way along beside the run - I won't say 'poor guy' as we were really cross with him, but I did feel a little sorry for him as he was desperate for a shag! 

Anyway he was saved from being put down by his previous owner saying she would take him back. She wanted to see how he'd do with a larger flock, and her hens are much larger than mine too, being the same breed as he is, and she'd just lost a cockerel so the timing was right. So now I'm down to four hens but still getting three eggs most days, and hens being hens they don't seem to care or even notice whether there is a cockerel in with them or not!



Onto the moth trapping. I need to keep a record of moths that I catch though I am not counting numbers of individual species or overall totals. I had the trap out for two nights in March and just once in April, as there were very few opportunities when it was not likely to rain at night time.

March moths were few and far between and were common species, but April got a little more interesting. May species will be a separate post. Talk about getting behind with the blogging!

Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica).


Small Quaker (Orthosia cruda).


Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi).


I'm not sure what this moth is in the next two photos.



Now who is this lovely fluffy creature? (The following are April moths).


It's a Great Prominent (Peridea anceps). I caught several of them and they were very sleepy so great for photographing! They are big too. Sorry about the underneath of my fingernail. :-)


Muslin Moth (Diaphora mendica). This is a male - the females are white with black spots.


Suddenly a gust of wind blew it over so I captured its fluffy underneath bits. What lovely colours and markings.


Another don't know but it doesn't have its wings open enough for me to ID it.


There were also several Chafer Bugs which give me the creeps, but this little unknown beetley thing was really cute.


I had the trap out again a couple of times in May and caught a number of interesting looking moths plus one special one, so will share these soon.

15 comments:

  1. Poor you! Muscle pulls hurt to hell. (hugs)

    Hopefully the flock of chickens will get back to normal for ya.

    Beautiful moth photos. You must have an expensive camera! (wink wink)

    Love you

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    1. Thanks April, it's just annoying because it taks so long to get better again! Hens seem OK and hope it continues so. Glad you like the moth pics! :-) xx

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  2. Shame about your hen and back, that's the trouble sometimes when we feel better we do to much, small steps.

    Nice to see some moths as trapping here has been dismal, box empty most nights !
    Not liking the larger beetles my self too, but the smaller one looks a little like a Soldier Beetle.

    Garden bioblitz this weekend here so looking forward to having a root round the garden.
    Take care..
    Amanda xx

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    1. Thanks Amanda. I'm looking forward to getting the trap out again, just need to be up to bending over again checking it out. And no rain at night! Good luck this weekend! xx

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  3. Muslins can be hermaphrodite and be half white, half brown split down the middle!

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  4. I'm glad your back is better. It's a frustrating thing to happen at any time but when there's so much gardening to do - doubly so. You have my sympathy about the cockerel. We've only had one and he wasn't very nice. He'd pick on the hens and attack my legs (and embarrassingly, other people we asked to look after our chickens away when we were away). After that experience, we're not tempted to have another one!
    Your moth photos are stunning.

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    1. Thanks a lot Wendy. I'd heard about cockerels attacking humans and thought I was lucky having only had good natured ones.... just goes to show! Doubt if I'll have another one now.
      Back is on the mend and I've been doing some gentle gardening and K has done tons of edging, which is what I had been doing when my back went. So it's looking nice and tidy now, at least some of the garden! :-)

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  5. So sorry to hear about your pulled muscle Mandy (ouch) - they can be so very painful. Voltarol (sadly no longer available "over the counter" here but needs a prescription) was the only thing I found helped. Glad to hear it is a bit better now but take it slowly. So frustrating for you when you were so keen to garden :(

    Gorgeous photos of the moths - the Great Prominent is a beauty and one I have never seen. I think the last grey moth may be an Early Grey.

    Sorry to hear about Randy being so vicious but pleased he at least has been re-homed. If I ever keep hens will steer clear of cockerels!!

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    1. Thanks very much Caroline. I'll look into Voltarol as Roy in the comment below has mentioned it too. I nearly went to the doc but then it started to get better so seemed pointless!

      Thanks for the possible moth ID. I really liked the Great Prominent! And it certainly might be sensible to stick with hens. :-)

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  6. Regarding Randy (Sounds like the title of a film doesn't it), there is desperate and there is desperate, but I think you should have stretched his neck Mandy.
    Regarding your back, 'Voltarol' is the stuff for that.{:))

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    1. Further on Voltarol, I bought a big tube of it in a Pharmacy in Paris when I was last there Didn't need a prescription, or in UK for that matter.

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    2. I'm going to look into whether Voltarol is still available - if not I'll ask my doc about it next time I'm there. Cheers for that Roy. I like the film title too. Forgot to say, Sue has renamed him now she has him back, so hopefully as 'Flash' he will behave himself!

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  7. Interesting blog again Mandy. So Randy was desperate for a shag? Poor Randy...;-)
    Your mothing seems better than my feeble attempts. Most I have caught thus far in one night was...oh now let me see.....two! Your beetle is a Click Beetle (Elateridae) but I afraid I don't know the species you get there...;-) Maybe something like Agrypnus?

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    1. Hi there JJ! I've had some good moths in May - you may have been away when I posted my 'goodie'. :-) I thought it might have been a click beetle as I've seen some indoors as they come in with the firewood. I've not looked into specific species - can't say they really excite me enough to look into! :-) Cheers.

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