Creatures: update 2

I've been amazed at how the birdlife has increased since we started the garden.

When we were first here there was a collared dove who used to drink in the tub that catches rainwater from the roof, and a pair of redstarts.

Oh, and the owl who took up residence for a while in the grenier!

I'm glad he's moved on (but I don't think he's gone far; there have been owl pellets in the barn! Oh, and hedgehog droppings), as I didn't want to have to move him from our "guest accomodation", but his mess was a bit off-putting...

Now, I have seen some goldfinches on the seed heads in the garden and we have a family of sparrows, several great tits (well, they look a bit yellow, but I think they're great tits), some blue tits and a whole bunch of restarts!

The redstarts are currently acting like humming birds, and hovering as they pluck berries of the elderberry.

Very entertaining!

Thinking of humming birds sadly reminds me of the dead hummingbird hawk moth I found...

I had seen one (or three, I'm not sure which) get stuck 3 times in the flowers of a pink evening primrose.

I know that sounds odd, but he definitely didn't seem to be able to extract his proboscis.

I thought I'd "rescue" him/them, so gently prised the flower apart. The fact that he/they didn't fly off until I had separated the tube at the base of the flower leads me to believe I was right that he/they were trapped.

I'd been checking the clumps of "Twilight" (that's the name of the oenothera; sadly apt in this case) in case I saw any more apparently stuck, when I found this one dead.

His proboscis was still attached to the flower.

So now I'm left wondering whether this was one hummingbird hawk moth with something wrong with him, or whether pink evening primroses are fatal?!

On a (much) happier note: I found the chap who left the mystery poo in the barn!

Well, the droppings were a mystery till I'd described them to mum over the phone and she said "hedgehog!".

I have moved an old oil barrel and he was there underneath it asleep.

I didn't dare roll the barrel back to where it was, in case I crushed him, but he'd wandered off a little while later, so I'm guessing he'll be OK.