Chaos Squared

Chaos theory about to take wing.... ; )

More on the subject of butterflies as after a couple of warm days the weather has yet again taken a turn for the worse. Some suggest this is the work of La Nina. This time very strong winds and torrential rain so was drenched within ten steps going to work : (

Anyway, nature thought for the day. If the flapping of a butterfly wing can change the course of a hurricane, then imagine the consequences of four........

Mothra Returns

Went for the first long bicycle ride of the year with Professor Ewan a couple of days ago. We found a large moth on a tree by accident as we were looking around. I say by accident, because it was very difficult to spot as it was perfectly camoflaged, having the same color and pattern as the tree. It seemed to be watching a bundle of small blue eggs which I'm guessing will hatch as soon as the weather gets warmer. It'll be interesting to see what comes out, but we'll have to get the timing right.

Mothra with her brood of millions........!

Went back again this morning. Still no action on the eggs but the moths wings are starting to tear. It was very windy yesterday, perhaps that's the reason. Am guessing this is a kind of hawk moth, but I'm really not sure.

Macro Chocho

Man! That nectar is goooood!

Weather seems to be alternating with a cold day, warm day, cold, warm......! Still really can't say Spring has begun yet, especially as today saw a freezing cold north wind blow. For this reason we still haven't seen many of our usual spring visitors yet. Having said that, a couple of days ago, it was warm enough for the chocho (butterflies) to be out, with this brightly colored specimen raiding the dandelions for pollen. Took some video footage of a large moth and eggs with Professor Ewan which will be in the next post.

Catching Your Cormorant

Cormorant on a break from fishing

 Catching your cormorant, with of course a camera, though in Japan, there are parts of the country where these spectacular birds are used to catch fish. The birds are controlled with a snare tied around the throat. this allows the bird to swallow small fish, but prevents it from eating the larger fish which the bird's trainer will take for his own.

Today, we went on a family hike through the local bird sanctuary where we found one of these diving for fish in the river - a wild one so he ate whatever he could catch! They are interesting to watch because they sit quite low in the water with basically just their neck protuding, very different to most waterfowl which seem to bob along on top. Managed to catch it taking off from the river which made Professor Ewan's day.

Wonderful day with warm weather, but back to howling wind and freezing temperatures again from tomorrow : (

Video was taken of today's trip and is one of the Family Pet series.

Lion of the Macro Plains

Adorable little creature but not if you're an aphid!

Yippee! warmer weather forecast from tomorrow, but for the moment it's still wet, cold and miserable : (  So going through some past photos of previous springs and this came up. These ladybirds - 'tentomushi' in Japanese - always look so pretty, but in reality they are voracious hunters. They eat aphids, sometimes thousands in a day, and hence the title I've given this. Lions of the Macro Plains ; )

Turtles Rock !

The turtles all looking in the same direction is a good thing!

This photo was actually taken last year at about this time. Haven't seen any turtles so far this spring, probably because it's a lot, lot colder. The one other standout about last year and the reason I decided to post this is that we have just had the first anniversary of the giant earthquake that struck the north of Japan on March 11th 2011. It was a terrible time and for the people living in that area, still is. The aftershocks continued for many months after the event, and recently they have started up again, several in the last few days of increasing intensity. There is an old tale that says that the world was created on the back of 6 turtles and that earthquakes happen when they disagree and move in different directions. I would be really happy to see them all in agreement again................

Toad in the Road

This is from popular YouTube blogger softypapa, who makes some great videos about nature and other aspects of Japan. In this case he finds a large toad in some mountains near Tokyo. Reminded me that although this giant city seems very unfriendly to nature, there are spots that actually teem with life in all it's variety. In fact, I've seen animals, usually late at night, in this concrete jungle that I've never seen out in the country. I recall one evening on my way back from work I was walking up a hill in a very built up area of Yotsuya, central Tokyo, when in the opposite direction crawling very determinedly down the hill was a toad about the same size as the one in this video. I was too astonished to do anything except watch as it disappeared into a meter wide strip of bushes outside a giant apartment building. On other occasions I've seen racoon dogs, large snakes and kingfishers. I have no idea how they manage to survive, but they do!

Birds Bushes and Bicycles

 A mashup of some of the video footage I took with Professor Ewan when we went on our mini safari. The warm weather was very short lived, a couple of hours, with a freezing wind blowing us back home later in the afternoon. Still, wasn't a bad day. Apart from the surprise of seeing the lizards out this early in the year we also found half a dozen herons in residence at the local bird sanctuary. A wonderful place that was only opened last summer. There will be more news from there as the weather clears up and we can get about without being blown from our bicycles ; )

"Odd Couple/Lunch Break" by Ted Busby | RedBubble

Not one of mine, but occasionally I will post exceptional nature photos. This was taken in Canada. Brilliant!

"Odd Couple/Lunch Break" by Ted Busby | RedBubble:

Knock on Wood

Only clear shot I got out of several dozen!

 Another sign that spring is just around the corner. This, which I think is a kind of woodpecker - a 'kogera' in Japanese, was around at the same time last year. Both me and Professor Ewan were dodging around the tree they were in trying to get a good photo. They weren't afraid of us at all and they had a safe distance of about 3 meters. The problem was they weren't stopping in the same place long enough for us to focus and get a decent shot, or when they did, there'd be a branch in the way! Still, it was good to see them back again as it means the warm weather is coming. On a side note, the earthquakes seem to be back again. Two today and 4~5 in the past week. Getting stronger as well : (

The Finger Dragon

Professor Ewan with his first exhibit of the year.

Couldn't believe this lizard was out and about. Have had a miserable, rainy, freezing cold winter this year, but yesterday the sun came out for an hour and it was slightly warm - about 12C. Found this little beauty sunning himself on a wall. Professor Ewan - so named because he's always lecturing me on various topics - was beside himself as we weren't expecting anything to be awake for a good few weeks yet!

Loved the pattern of his scales and beautiful yellow eye.

We spent 15 minutes taking photographs and having a good look at him. Usually, it's very hard to catch these because in the summer they're like little streaks of lightning. Most of the time all you see is the end of a tail disappearing into the long grass. On the rare occasions we've caught one, we've had to hold on tight otherwise they're off! However, because of the cool weather and an empty stomach after 4 months hibernation this one was very easy to catch and handle. Great for taking photos, but a pity we didn't have the video with us.

We put him him back on the wall and he disappeared into the leaves.

We didn't have much success in keeping these last summer. We caught several, but they refused to eat and would rapidly lose weight. Sadly, we lost two, and then decided just to keep any more we caught  for a few days before returning them to the place we found them. This summer we're planning to do some research into the best environment for them and make a larger and hopefully more suitable home for the lizards and any other wildlife we catch.

Here is a video of the first lizard we kept back when Professor Ewan was around 5 or 6. At that time, he'd just got his first camera and I started taking videos of the animals we caught and various mini safari's we took together. The six or seven I made became a series on Youtube called 'The Family Pet'. These can be seen by clicking on the link.

The First Post

One week ago in Tokyo. A chilly end to winter.

 I hadn't planned to start this blog for a week or two, but plans change and as spring has been making baby steps towards showing it's face I thought I'd make my first post. Just a word of introduction. My name is Paul and this blog is a yearlong project with two aims. The first is introducing the wildlife and nature of Japan through it's four seasons. The second and most important to me is to encourage my young son Ewan's interest in animals and nature. For some time now we've enjoyed taking photos and making wildlife movies together and over the year we will be making more and showcasing these. I hope there are others out there who will find this blog interesting and worth following. Please comment if you can. I will do my best to reply to all.

kibishipaul

This blog is under construction. Come back in a week or so and see posts on wildlife and nature and enjoying these with your family. Mostly this will concentrate on the nature of Japan, where I live.