Wildlife round-up

I’ve actually done quite a lot of birding this spring, making the most of the freakishly hot weather, but I haven’t really blogged about it. So here are some pictures and whatnot.

First, some audio; this is all recorded with the built-in microphone on my phone, so apologies for the quality. These are marsh frogs, Rana ridibunda, at Rainham Marshes in Essex.

[haiku url=’https://heracliteanfire.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Marsh-frogs.mp3′]

A nightingale, at Brede High Woods in Sussex, with what I think must be a blackcap in the background.

[haiku url=’https://heracliteanfire.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Nightingale-Brede.mp3′]

Birdsong in the evening at my local train station. A mixture of chiffchaff, song thrush, blackbird, and automated train announcement.

[haiku url=’https://heracliteanfire.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/North-Dulwich.mp3′]

Another nightingale, this time from the Lee Valley, with ducks and geese in the background.

[haiku url=’https://heracliteanfire.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/NIghtingale-Lee-Valley.mp3′]

Man Orchid. So called because the flowers look like little men, although it’s hard to see that on this photo (even more amusingly man-like is the Italian Orchid, which isn’t actually Orchis berlusconii, but probably should be).

Some kind of broomrape. Maybe Ivy Broomrape? There’s something deeply fascinating about these parasitic plants.

A couple of Little Grebes.

An out of focus peacock on blackthorn.

Some sea-kale, growing down on the shingle by the sea-side at Rye.

And bringing us right up to date, a beetle I found in the garden today which I don’t remember seeing before. This is the Wasp Beetle, Clytus arietis. I initially thought it was some kind of parasitic wasp hunting for food or somewhere to lay its eggs, so I guess the mimicry is working.