No pics I'm afraid, but I did witness an unusual occurrence at Bosherston Ponds this morning. While walking the dog, I noticed the head of something sticking up out of the weed, some 25m out into the pond near eight-arch bridge. At first glance it looked a bit Terrapin-like, but through binoculars it was clearly a Grey Squirrel (possibly a young animal) struggling its way towards the bank through the
Potamogeton crispus.
Interestingly, it appeared to have swam from the far bank of the pond - as the only open channel through the weed appeared to be directly behind it. The squirrel was clearly struggling to works its way through the weed and, as far as I could tell, was breaking the weed under the water with its front feet (hands - to all intents and purposes) to create an open channel to swim into. I watched this for 5-10 minutes, during which time the squirrel moved no more than 2m (more of a doggy-paddle than crawl or butterfly), with still some 25m to go before reaching the safety of the shore.
At this point, I decided to carry on with my walk, and leave the distressed squirrel to its ordeal. However, as befitting a bank holiday weekend, this story did have a happy ending as, when I returned some 90 minutes later, the channel through the weed was completely open, and the squirrel had clearly made it to shore.
I can only speculate as to why the squirrel was in the lake in the first place, but I guess that it was either a young animal that had misjudged a leap through the trees, or that it had been forced into the water to avoid predation. Either way, it was obviously well-adapted to surviving the ordeal.
These shiny beetles have been about up here for the past week. The males have these globular swellings on their rear upper legs. Presumably their purpose is to make them desirable to the females. The females thighs are disappointing.
Melvin Grey took the above photo. He has identified it as Misnumena vatica, a crab spider. Peter Byles.
24 .5 .11. I came across this 2cm long larva on a Common Knapweed leaf. It was swarming with tiny dark red beetles. Until I looked at the photo I thought they were ants! Can anyone throw some light on the subject?
I swerved and just missed this Garden Tigermoth larva. When they cross open ground they fairly bustle along. They make me think of a Porcupine shaking its quills threateningly.
The caterpillar was on Hazelnut. I've been through my Jim Porter book till my eyes watered. ID please. The little green spider is also without a name.
