Talkback: The brimstone moth

im very pleased that i have 2 families of blue-tits nesting in 2 nest boxes,1 at the back of my house and 1 at the side of my house.still only got 2 newts though...but many frogs still no spawn oh well maybe next year,although i would rather have newt-spawn[i would love to have great-crested newts in my pond.anyone got any ideas how i can encourage them in my garden.....

It is nice to know that someone else appreciates the beauty of moths too. :)

One of the newts in my pond has gone all bloated & lying on the top, mainly on it's back. (None of the other newts are effected) If I just touch it, it's legs go like mad, but the rest of the time it just lies there! This it the third day in this condition. Any suggestions?

I have also put this story in under the wind damage article but I think it belongs here too (it involves wildlife and damage!). I thought my pansies were being dug up by a blackbird collecting mud to glue her nest together (I had seen her at it, having been cursing cats and doing them a rare disservice!). I decided to plant a euonymus in this particular planter where the pansies are instead so there would be less bare earth to tempt Mrs Blackbird. I dug down and hit something soft and white. I thought maybe an underground fungus or something. It turned out in fact to be a whacking great triangular piece of smelly soft cheese!! I have been racking my brains about what creature could have buried this. I have 3 kids but they certainly didn't do it and the cheese wasn't from our house! No rodent could have carried something so big so I am thinking maybe a fox. I put 2 bricks either side of the euonymus to deter further digging. What I really need is an infra red camera and Bill Oddie....

to audrey,maybe your newt has broke its leg or somekind of infection as you say it is bloated,i would take it to the vets there is no charge to take wildlife animals[normally] well my 2 vets dont charge and they told me that or contact rspca....for advice...remember if it does have an infection it will pass to the others in your pond...they cant show pain like us.

to frogspawn,that brought back a lovely memory of my nan....when i was little my nan would go mad that the fox that used to live in her back garden[it was a massive garden]used to come into the kitchen and pinch food of the worktop and bury it in the garden,the fox would go back to the area later to dig it back up to eat it...it once pinched my grandads slipper and buried that to[maybe that smelt of cheese......]blimey i had 4got all about that 35yrs ago....

AUDREY / OTHER FISH OWNERS If not too late, COULD this possibly help your newt? In the 60's I could always bring back an inexplicably sick or obviously injured aquarium goldfish from the brink of death by isolating the fish in some of the aquarium water in a separate container with a carefully measured solution of silver - this was obtainable from the old-fashioned pharmacies. All the proprietary fish treatments seem to fail nowadays.If you can obtain this silver preparation locally it may help heal your newt. Obviously only one or two drops may be needed. Does anyone know if one can still purchase this and what it is called? Certainly silver has been repopularised as a worthy healer. Incidentally it is of no use in treating fish fungus (white cotton-wool patches) - for fungus isolate fish in slightly warmer water with VERY carefully measured salt. Check elsewhere for quantaties/water required. These remedies went out of favour but always worked!!

HI PEOPLE,I HAVE BEEN CLEANING MY POND OUT THIS MORNING COULD SOMEONE TELL MY 2 NEWTS THAT I HAVE,I THINK THEY ARE PALMATE.... 1 HAS A BRIGHT ORANGE BELLY STRIP ON IT.DOES THAT MEAN BOY OR GIRL.IF SO WHAT SEX IS IT....THEY ARE JOLLY FAST MOVERS ARENT THEY..