Glow worm update

August 6, 2015 by afrenchgarden 25 Comments

Yesterday I was contacted by the Observatoire des Vers Luisants that is the Observatory of glow worms. I was asked if I would be willing to repeat my “Special Mission” looking for glow worms on the same route any day from yesterday until the weekend. I happily agreed as I find glow worm searching fun.

This time we found 14! Much more fun than the last negative survey we had made.

We had been asked to take photographs if possible. That is not so easy! My built in flash is all I have got and so Macro shots have too tight a field of focus.

Kourosh resorted to his old Canon PowerShot SX210IS which leaves a small black mark on the photos (cut out here). He managed to capture the winged male edging up the ivy leaf towards the female.

And then mating.

We even found three glowing away in our front garden – but they did not count. I wonder if it was the 15 mm. of rain that fell during thunderstorms Sunday night/ Monday morning? Everything feels better now.

Any advice on taking photographs of glow worms would be appreciated.

Author: afrenchgarden

Born in Scotland I have lived in England, Iran, USA and Greece. The house and land was bought twelve years ago in fulfilment of the dream of living in France that my Francophile husband nurtured. We had spent frequent holidays in France touring the more northerly parts and enjoying the food, scenery, architecture and of course gardens. However, we felt that to retire in France and enjoy a more clement climate than we currently had in Aberdeen we would need to find somewhere south of the river Loire but not too south to make returning to visit the UK onerous. The year 2000 saw us buying our house and setting it up to receive us and the family on holidays. The garden was more a field and we were helped by my son to remove the fencing that had separated the previous owners’ goats, sheep and chickens. We did inherit some lovely old trees and decided to plant more fruit trees that would survive and mature with the minimum of care until we took up permanent residence. The move took place in 2006 and the love hate relation with the “garden” started. There was so much to do in the house that there was little energy left for the hard tasks in the garden. It was very much a slow process and a steep learning curve. Expenditures have been kept to a minimum. The majority of the plants have been cuttings and I try to gather seeds wherever I can. The fruit trees have all been bought but we have tender hearts and cannot resist the little unloved shrub at a discount price and take it as a matter of honour to nurse it back to health. This year I have launched my Blog hoping to reach out to other gardeners in other countries. My aim is to make a garden for people to enjoy, providing shady and sunny spots with plants that enjoy living in this area with its limestone based subsoil and low rainfall in a warm summer. Exchanging ideas and exploring mutual problems will enrich my experience trying to form my French garden.