風 ~ The Wind

Coming to the end of my busy season and am really looking forward to some down time where I can get out and about with camera and camcorder. I have a midnight safari planned with the 'Prof' and a few other trips we are thinking of doing. I'd like to find a place with fireflies as the season is coming up. There is a lot of luck involved with that though. I've been here 30 years and I've yet to see one! Anyway, in the meantime here is a video I took back in April and have only just managed to get together. The change from winter to spring. If you look at some of my earlier posts you'll see it was a long time coming!

Tentomushi

Got very warm this week for a short time with temperatures reaching 26~27℃ in some parts of Japan. Didn't last long but a foretaste of summer. Everything seemed to wake up with a bang. The trees were greener, flowers burst into bloom, in particular the yellow nanohana (rape?) and there were ladybirds (tentomushi) everywhere.

We get them in all kinds of colors here. The usual red with black spots, a lot of the black with red spot type and on rare occasions the yellow with black spot variety. This one I found raiding a poppy for pollen. Not very noticeable until I took a macro shot and saw the yellow powder covering its back.

A Bird in Hand .....

Got some holiday at last so managed to get on the bike and explore my usual haunts with the bonus of bright sunny weather to speed me on my way. Lots of insect and other wildlife about due to the sudden warmth but got a surprise today. Was wandering through a grassy field full of nanohana (rape flowers) when suddenly there was a loud scream from a bush a few meters in front of me. I stopped dead and tried to see what it was I'd disturbed. I could see the outline of a bird but hadn't a clue what it was. I tried edging around the bush, but it was careful to move around the other side. I was just deciding whether to make a rush at it to try and flush it out when I got some help from an unexpected quarter. An old woman farmer was working her field and getting closer and closer to the bush. This forced the bird to edge away and into the light so I caught my first glimpse of it - a pheasant!

First time I've seen one of these in Japan so I was very pleased to be in the right place at the right time. I managed to take a few more photos of it with difficulty. It had an amazing ability to just fade into the grass. At one point it just sat down and disappeared. I knew the exact spot it was but it still took me ten minutes to find it. I was almost on top of it when it decided to make a break for it and find a less busy place to relax. Just goes to show, a bird in hand is better than one in the bush : )

Sakura

Japan is world famous for it's sakura (cherry blossoms). There are many varieties coming to bloom at various times from late March through the end of April with the main one being some-yoshino. This is the one that signals the beginning of spring in Japan with a week long burst of light pink that acts as the go light for a succession of daytime and night time cherry blossom viewing parties known as 'hanami'. Families, companies, schoolfriends, basically everyone gathers beneath the trees and a great time is had by all, until the day comes when the wind or rain returns and the petals and parties slowly disappear until the following year. This year was somewhat delayed but well worth the wait when the warm weather returned. Spring, at last, is here : )

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.

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................

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 ; )

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 : (