Text and photos Aare Lindt, www.loodusmuuseum.ee
Translation Liis
Scarlet tiger moth
Scarlet tiger molth Harilik piksepeni Callimorpha dominula
The scarlet tiger moth is very rarely seen in North Estonia and it is not particularly common southwards either. The moth flies in broadleaf forests and thickets with a variety of species.
Photos Arne Ader
Translation Liis
Lime tree flowering
Small-leaved lime Harilik pärn Tilia cordata
Among Estonian trees the small-leaved lime is the last to flower this summer.
Some ten foreign species are used in urban landscaping in addition to the naturally occurring small-leaved lime; they all have round or broadly ovate (egg-shaped) leaves, with a roughly cordate (heart) shape and sawtooth margins.
Image from webcam captured by Liz, LK forum
Translation Liis
The storklets grow incredibly fast
Black stork Must-toonekurg Ciconia nigra
On Friday Ain managed to get the camera in working order.
In South Estonia there are still many households without electricity and communications after the storm on Sunday. The largest damage to forests occurred in 13 parishes: Karula, Taheva, Otepää in Valga County; Antsla, Urvaste, Mõniste, Varstu, Võru and Sõmerpalu in Võru County; Kambja and Haaslava in Tartu County, and Kanepi and Valgjärve parishes in Põlva County.
I saw fox cubs at play around a chipping wood stack. This is also a bit of explanation to the fact that the fox burrows in the neighbourhood were empty this year. Why a fox family should prefer chips stacks to the burrows is not clear. In the stacks at field verges brown hares (Lepus europaeus), various rodents, weasels and stoats may also live, in addition to the above foxes and raccoon dogs. In forests there are also pine martens and several more rodent species besides those mentioned. Of birds I have come across wagtails, redbacked shrikes, whitethroats, blackbirds, wrens, robins etc.
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In addition to the badgers, sometimes also foxes and raccoon dogs live in badger setts but with the changes in the use of wood their choice of places for living has widened in recent years. A new phenomenon in our landscape are the stacks of wood chips. As ever, nature does not like empty space and so new inhabitants have quickly moved into these stacks too. Usually stacks left standing for a somewhat longer period are preferred. Furred as well as feathered species live there.
Webcam image captured by Hagnat, LK forum
Summary of buzzard camera events Hagnat, LK forum
Translation Liis
On July 2nd we saw the buzzards at the nest for the last time
Buzzard Hiireviu Buteo buteo
We always continue hoping to see the nest inhabitants visiting the birthplace. But for buzzards the ties to the nest break at once on leaving (although certainly there may be exceptions).
Buzzards start their autumn migration in September-October, and LK will have reports from the migration. The young buzzards that were hatched this year will begin nesting in their third calendar year.
Video recorded by Tuomokoo, LK forum
Translation Liis
White-tailed eagle Merikotkas Haliaeëtus albicilla
Small mishaps always happen to the eaglets hanging about in the nest tree – they cannot estimate a gust of wind, or become too daring. Large birds, wing span already a couple of metres, and so they need not particularly fear a fall. Calls can be heard from a couple of branch layers below.
Last year there was a similar accident in the white-tailed eagle nest, see the previous video as reminder LINK
Photos Arne Ader
Translation Liis
Meadowsweet
Meadowsweet Harilik angervaks Filipendula ulmaria
Sometimes we come across ”meadowsweet forests” growing in the moist soil at the banks of rivers, brooks and lakes. They may be the height of a ”small man”, one and a half metres, and can be a thicket that is quite difficult to get across.
The overwhelming density of plants occurs in suitably moist soils, and the several propagation modes of meadowsweet (a mighty rhizome, numerous seeds) fend off other plants from the area. In sites with less moisture it will not be quite as powerful.
An international photography contest, dedicated to historical sacred natural sites, is commencing. The goal of the contest is to commemorate the cultural and natural heritages of sacred natural sites, to record their current state, as well as to encourage people to visit and care for the sacred sites.
The theme of the contest is historical, natural (not built) sacred sites: sacred groves and hills, water bodies, trees, stones and other natural objects where our ancestors used to pray, heal, sacrifice, commune and perform other rituals.
Photo Arne Ader
Translation Liis
Caraway
Caraway Harilik köömen Carum carvi
The biennial caraway plants flower modestly everywhere with small elegant inflorescences in umbels.
In Estonia they are quite common but keep close to humans and grow in biotopes influenced by humans – near settlements or farms, in meadows, the verges of roads …
The stem of the plant is shorter and thinner than that of other umbellates, growing only some tens of centimetres high in poor growing conditions and less than a metre in favourable ones – so it is difficult in autumn to find the places where caraway grows for collecting caraway seeds.
Image from webcam captured by Birdfriend, LK forum
Translation Liis
Male feeding the storklets
Black stork Must-toonekurg Ciconia nigra
The interruption in transmission lasted for a couple of days; from Wednesday the system works again and transmits data to us.
Text and photos Urmas Tartes
Translation Liis
Female house mosquito (Culex pipiens) emerging from pupa
Can mosquitoes be regarded as friends? My answer is – Yes. A friend is somebody who will never deceive you, whom you can trust. Mosquitoes never deceive. If a ”lean” female mosquito flies around you, you know exactly what she wants. When you see a mosquito with a bulging red abdomen however, you know that for at least week it will not bother you. If a male mosquito with a high-pitched fine whine happens to fly around you, you are uninteresting to him.
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