British Insects (Peregrine Productions)

Recorded by the BBC again!

2011-09-22T09:15:00.000-07:00

After a long silence, I would like to prove that I still exist!

Having been filmed some years ago for a BBC4 programme on insects, I have now been interviewed by the BBC for a Radio 4 programme called 'A Life with ...'

Our new cows also featured. Not sure when it will air yet.

Spoony needs your vote! | BirdLife Community

2010-12-02T13:26:00.001-08:00

This seems very worthwhile. A delightful bird in major trouble!

Spoony needs your vote! | BirdLife Community

The RSPB: Save the Sumatran rainforest: Million tree appeal

2010-12-02T02:21:00.001-08:00

The RSPB’s Harapan Rainforest seems to be going from strength to strength. This is a very worthwhile cause to support.

The RSPB: Save the Sumatran rainforest: Million tree appeal

Update

2010-12-02T02:12:00.000-08:00

Still alive!
Snowing again. Managed to plant 450+ hedging plants though, for some native hedges to split the big field prior to cows coming.
Not much work on Peregrine Productions recently.

Tree-planting

2010-02-16T16:22:00.001-08:00

We have started planting a few trees - pictured here is a Spindle. We have also planted a Field Maple and a Wild Service Tree.

Hopefully a lot more to come.

I have also started to remove some of the Horse Chestnuts - there are too many for the site. I am trying to ringbark them, to leave dead wood habitat.

Stockton, Norfolk

2010-02-16T12:08:00.000-08:00

Well, after a delay, here is some more about the new house and grounds!

The photo shows one of a pair of very tame Pied Wagtails that frequent the garden. Though a young male seems intent on chasing off the male of the two.

So far the bird list includes:

Robin, Wren, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Long-tailed Tit, Dunnock, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Redwing, Fieldfare, Pied Wagtail, Woodpigeon, Collared Dove, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Jay, Jackdaw, Herring Gull, Black-headed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, Moorhen, Mallard, Pheasant, Red-legged Partridge.

I don't think that's a bad list for a few weeks of intermittent visits and not looking properly yet.

Several Mallards seem resident on the pond and the Moorhens come very close to the house. Large flocks of winter thrushes in the field.

First photos of new house

2010-02-03T04:52:00.001-08:00

As promised, here are the first photos of the land around the new house in Stockton, Norfolk.

Very picturesque in the snow!

Included here are some general views and the 'lake'. More to follow as well as details of sightings.

It's been a long time!

2010-01-27T08:44:00.000-08:00

Not posted for a long time, but hope to soon. Moving to Norfolk. New project - 4 acres to turn into a mini nature reserve.
Hope to update soon, with pictures!

Moth Twitch

2008-11-03T14:01:00.000-08:00

Photo by Keith Tailby copyright 2008
Our garden is becoming famous amongst 'Moth Twitchers'. I now regularly catch Pale Lemon Sallow Xanthia ocellaris. This is only a moderately rare moth, but it apparently it rarely turns up at the same spot twice. I get it each year! This year on 27th September, 2 intrepid 'moth-ers' from Leicestershire turned up with about 10 traps and camped out overnight. Initially, things did not look promising...

However, we finally caught 2 specimens. One of these is immortalised above, from Keith's Mothshots website http://www.mothshots.com/

We are TV stars!!!

2008-07-13T12:49:00.000-07:00

Well, 'Born to be Wild' was finally on BBC4 on 10th July 2008. It was over a year ago that we filmed it. The production company did a good job and overall it was a pretty good programme.

I have found a review in the Independant which was favourable, including the phrase - 'The attention to detail, especially in Phil Wilkins's beautiful paintings of insects, and ...'

At the top of this post are some of the bee paintings I was working on when they were filming.

Young birds fledging

2008-07-05T13:03:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of activity on the bird front around our garden. Several nest-boxes were used. The young have been feeding away from their nests.
As well as the usual robins, tits and starlings, we have had a few slightly more out-of-the-ordinary fledglings.
For the first year, the swallows nested in our barn. A single bird showed interest last year. A pair returned this year. They laid eggs in the artificial nest, but only one hatched. We were worried about that one at first, but it did fine.
We also found a stock dove chick in our field. It let me approach very close for a photo before flying off. The green woodpecker was on our telegraph pole. It is an adult, I just liked the photo.

We are going to be on TV!!!

2008-06-26T10:47:00.000-07:00

Last year the BBC filmed us for a series about amateur naturalists. The programme is finally appearing on BBC4 on the evening of 10th July.
The whole family will be starring (for about 5 minutes) on 'Born to be Wild'.

Fathers' Day

2008-06-24T13:07:00.001-07:00

On Fathers' Day I get to choose what we do as a family. So this year on 15th June we headed to Weeting Heath in Norfolk http://www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/nature%20reserves/map-links/weeting.htm and Lakenheath RSPB Reserve http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/l/lakenheathfen/index.asp in Suffolk.

The former was for Stone Curlews. We just saw the one, but there was plenty about including nice views of Woodlark and a family of Spotted Flycatcher just by one of the hides. I took a photo of the Drinker Moth caterpillar above. These are quite impressive beasts. They are named after their habit of drinking dew in the mornings from grass.

Lakenheath was a bit wetter, but still plenty about. We did not manage to see the Golden Orioles.

Several Dragonflies about, though, including this Hairy Hawker, Brachytron pratense.

Click for the Forest

2008-06-19T13:03:00.000-07:00

This is an interesting site I discovered while surfing.
http://ettklickforskogen.se/index.php?option=com_aclickfortheforest&Itemid=54

The aim is to save ancient 'old growth' Swedish forest.

They have already saved a site located opposite the village of Årrenjaka, close to the Arctic Circle.
They are now attempting to save Verles old growth forest - a 82 hectare site.

The idea is simple - you click on the site and the sponsor pays a donation! You can also buy trees for about £5-£15.

The Bird Fair in August

2008-05-21T03:07:00.000-07:00

I will be running a workshop at the British Birdwatching Fair at Rutland in August. This will complement the Peregrine Productions stand at the fair.
The workshop is to help novices to start identifying insects. It will be on the Saturday (16th August 2008) and further details are on the Bird Fair website http://www.birdfair.org.uk/

Rumblings of Spring

2008-04-23T02:08:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since the last post, so I thought I should put something down!

Spring finally seems to be trying to burst through. This means that Bumble Bees and Butterflies are finally around. We visited my parents in Kent and saw a few Butterflies including a Clouded Yellow at Samphire Hoe, Folkestone. This seemed early to me. The picture of the Clouded Yellow shown here was taken on holiday in Corsica some years ago.

Over the last few days, Beeflies and Anthophora Flower Bees have also been around.

Insects at a Theme Park

2008-04-02T03:11:00.000-07:00

On Sunday 30th March, we Tom decided to go to Bewilderwood in the Norfolk Broads for his belated Birthday treat.
This is an 'eco-friendly' theme park in a wood and bog complex. It is based around a theme of some imaginary creatures called 'Boggles' and 'Twiggles' and their adventures. The website is at http://www.bewilderwood.co.uk/. It is not too bad as theme Parks go. The food is pretty good - makes a change!
The weather was much better than it had been the previous week. In fact it was so nice that numerous insects were about. There were at least 5 species of Ladybird - 7-spot, 10-spot, Larch, Pine and Eyed. Also several Brimstone and Peacock butterflies.
Lots of stoneflies were flying. I decided they were Nemoura cinerea. Unfortunately, we did not take a camera.

Easter snow

2008-03-24T09:30:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted anything on the blog.

Work has been busy, so not so much time for the important things like wildlife and painting. A snowy Easter caught our cows out - they were not too happy! The children enjoyed it though.

Some Bumble Bees have been out and about prior to this week, so they will hopefully be avoiding the cold snap.

Some insects for a change

2008-02-18T08:28:00.000-08:00

The children are rennovating their playhouse in the vegetable patch. At the weekend they found conglomerations of Harlequin Ladybirds Harmonia axyridis. They were obviously overwintering. Further information on this species and its invasion of Britain can be found at http://www.harlequin-survey.org/.
Also in the playhouse were some overwintering Lacewings.

North Norfolk and a Twitch(!)

2008-02-15T13:04:00.000-08:00

We went as a family to North Norfolk for a long weekend. The weather was glorious and birdwatching was good. We visited Titchwell RSPB http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/t/titchwellmarsh/index.asp, Snettisham RSPB http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/s/snettisham/index.asp, Cley NWT http://www.norfolkwildlifetrust.org.uk/nature%20reserves/map-links/cley.htm and Pensthorpe http://www.pensthorpe.com/. We even fitted in time for our second ever twitch - the long staying White-crowned Sparrow at Cley.

As this is supposed to be an insect blog, I will mention the insects we saw. Some 7 spot Ladybirds were around at Snettisham and most sites had various Bumble Bees (Mainly Bombus terrestris, with a few Bombus lucorum).

This cheeky little Robin was in the car park at Titchwell RSPB. It was very tame and came right up to us.

Numerous other birds were around at all the reserves we visited. Lots of Brent Geese, as well as Pink-footed at Snettisham.

Stonechats were much in evidence and we got good views. On the beach at Cley, a birdwatcher kindly pointed out a flock of Snow Buntings to us, much to the children's delight.

Eleanor was practising her filming again and seems to be improving all the time. She got good footage of Redshank, ducks and Egrets, as well as some Marsh Harriers.

We rounded of the trip with a visit to Pensthorpe to see the Cranes and Corncrakes.

Species Champions - Birdlife Preventing Extinctions Programme

2008-02-03T08:27:00.000-08:00

As there is not a lot of insect life around at the moment (a few ladybirds today), I thought I would mention the Blue Throated Macaw.

At last year's British Birdwatching Fair in Rutland, money was being raised for Birdlife International's Preventing Extinctions Programme. A frightening number of bird species are threatened with extinction.

Each stand at the Fair was asked to promote a species. Peregrine Production's species was the Blue-throated Macaw, Ara glaucogularis.

More information on this endangered parrot from South America can be found at http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=1548&m=0

Early moths

2008-01-18T10:53:00.001-08:00

I put the moth trap out over the night of the 12th-13th January. It was quite mild and I caught this Spring Usher Agriopis leucophaeria as well as a Winter Moth Operophtera brumata.

Plates!!

2008-01-18T10:38:00.001-08:00

Over the Christmas period, I tried my hand at a different type of painting - ceramics. Whilst the children painted boxes and ornaments, I did this Jay on a plate. It seems to have come out not too bad, though some things did not work quite as well as I planned them.

The border is not very good and some of the background came out rather strange.

It is not the first plate I have done. Below is a Tiger Beetle I did a few years ago. Both of them show I have a lot to learn before I am happy with this technique!

First big beetle of the year!

2008-01-07T10:32:00.001-08:00

We visited Minsmere RSPB Reserve, http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/m/minsmere/index.asp, as a family on Saturday 5th January. Again, Eleanor was filming. She managed to capture footage of a very tame Muntjac in the picnic area. It took lettuce from our hands while we were eating. She also filmed a male Stonechat and views from the hides.

Walking through the woods, we were looking under logs and found a Devil's Coach Horse, Ocypus olens. Eleanor filmed this running around the ground.

Tom became an expert at finding Goldcrests amongst the Tit flocks, but we did not see the Firecrest that was supposed to be about. Sophie and Tom borrowed some RSPB rucksacks with binoculars in. They were much better than their own binoculars and both of them were observing the birds well. They have both decided Lapwings are one of their favourite birds.

North Warren RSPB reserve

2008-01-03T12:45:00.000-08:00

Visited North Warren http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/n/northwarren/index.asp, near Aldeburgh, Suffolk on New Year's Day. My daughter, Eleanor had her new camcorder to practise for her future career in wildlife filming (!)

Despite the cold, a fair amount was about to be immortalised on film. There were a couple of Barnacle Geese amongst the White-fronted Geese. North Warren is one of my favourite RSPB reserves and has a good variety of habitats. I hope to return in the summer for the insects.

We walked further than we anticipated - into Aldeburgh for a chip lunch, followed by ice cream.

A little bit about Peregrine Productions

2007-12-31T11:37:00.000-08:00

Peregrine Productions is a company specialising in British Insect identification plates. Products are available in the following formats:

A5 double-sided laminated identification plates

A4 posters - laminated or plain
A4 laminated double-sided plates - the 'Mini-beasts' series
A5 check-lists

All these ranges are currently expanding.

Peregrine Productions donates 20p from each Lepidoptera associated product sold to Butterfly Conservation (http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/) to aid with Lepidoptera conservation in the UK.

The company is very small (me, helped by my wife and the children at various times). This means that producing new plates takes a long time. However, it also means that the company is friendly and approachable.

We are based in rural Suffolk and maintain a few acres as a mini nature reserve. This area is home to a few rare insects. I hope to mention these species in future postings.

What I am working on

2007-12-30T12:41:00.001-08:00

I am currently working on the paintings for an A5 plate for the genera of British solitary bees. This is harder than I thought it would be! They are tricky insects to paint for a start. The research is not straightforward and trying to show them in a life-like pose is quite a challenge.

They take a long while, so I am not sure when the finished product will be available. So keep checking the website http://www.bombus.freeserve.co.uk/catalogue.htm for details of availability.

I have been painting the bees for some time already. I was even filmed by the BBC at work! This is for a new series to be shown on BBC4 in Spring 2008. The series features amateur naturalists and our family are on a programme about insects. I will put more on the Blog nearer the time.

First Posting

2007-12-30T11:55:00.000-08:00

This is the first posting for the site. I hope to have a random assortment of information on insects and Peregrine Productions. Peregrine Productions is my company that specialises in laminated insect identification sheets and insect illustration. I concentrate on British species.

If time allows, I may include articles on natural history in general and some of my other interests.

More later.