During the long periods spent indoors, I got on with a bit more watercolour painting and updated my Species Index. I was delighted to click my tally over the 1400 mark.
Just to put the 1400 species into context, the vast majority of the photographs are taken within a 2-3 kilometre radius of my house. I have made a few forays further afield to ancient woodland, beach and limestone habitats, but the 1400 species should be regarded as our 'local' wildlife. If I spent more time travelling to e.g. coastal areas, then the species list would be much higher.
I'll start with a few moths:
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| Coxcomb Prominent Moth |
The Riband Wave has two main colour forms, but all my specimens have been f. remutata, which are missing the grey central band on the wings:
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| Riband Wave f. remutata |
The White Ermine is a very common moth at this time of year. I saw this male specimen and decided to get a shot of those wonderful antennae:
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| Male White Ermine, showing antennae |
Some of our tiniest moths are also the most beautiful. This Micropterix aruncella is only about 3-4 mm long:
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| Micromoth Micropterix aruncella |
Hoverflies are now becoming more numerous, despite the bad weather.
Here are a couple of shots of Episyrphus balteatus, which is very recognisable due to the paired black stripes on the abdomen:
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| Episyrphus balteatus hoverfly |
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| Episyrphus balteatus hoverfly |
One of my favourite hoverflies is Leucozona lucorum:
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| The hoverfly Leucozona lucorum |
It's a mid-summer species, and will soon be joined by the closely-related Leucozona glaucia, and if I'm lucky Leucozona laternaria.
Last week I showed an Ichneumonid in the process of laying eggs. This week, I managed to get a shot at the moment when the ovipositor is being released from its protective sheath:
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| Ichneumonid deploying ovipositor |
Although I can't identify Ichneumonids to species (a fact that annoys me more than you will ever know), I know when I see one that is new to me, and I haven't seen this wine-coloured specimen before:
The very long antennae and lack of ovipositor suggest that this might be a male. I suppose it's worth pointing out that male Ichneumonids are quite rare, since they are an 'optional extra' in their reproductive process.
At this time of year, most of the grasses are in flower, making large swathes of colour in the hedgerows. This is Yorkshire Fog - Holcus lanatus:
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| Yorkshire Fog - Holcus lanatus |
This, on the other hand, is the fungal infection Epichloe typhina, which actually stops the plant from flowering: there is no flowering shoot above the fungus, just a single leaf.
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| Grass Choke - Epichloe typhina |
3 comments:
1400 and counting - that's fantastic! Well done. What a superb shot of the white ermine. (And that tiny micromoth.). I've been seeing the riband wave as well - sometimes paler than yours, possibly old, faded specimens?
Good shots of the hovering hovers too - I wonder how many you had to take to get those?
The Leucozona lucorum you have looks very like the Cheilosia illustrata you had a couple of days back to me, but with a slightly brighter white midriff - is there an easy way to tell them apart? I'm seeing similar looking hovers here in Yorkshire.
Gill: The Riband Wave has a couple of confusion species, depending on colour forms. Check Plain Wave for the unbanded Riband Wave f. remutata and Portland Ribbon Wave for the banded version.
Leucozona lucorum is much brighter, with 3 very distinct colour bands of copper, white and black from front to back. Wings are usually held at 45 degrees. Cheilosia illustrata is a rounder fly with less distinct tawny, cream, tawny bands. Wings overlapping along the body.
Waste on the hovering shots about 5:1, which isn't bad.
Congratulations on 1400. I have enjoyed seeing every one of the ones you posted. It is even more amazing that most of them are so close to your home. I look forward to the next 1400.
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