Donegal Wildlife

And then....

2012-01-13T23:55:00.000Z

Don't count your chickens (although I do every day).

After a few wonderful days, the high pressure arrived, bringing an associated frost. (question: why do high weather systems only arrive in winter {bringing frost} and never in summer {bringing warm sunny days})?

It was only a very slight frost, so I dashed out and got a few shots.

This one shows leaves of Creeping Buttercup:

Frosted Buttercup leaves

This is the (much maligned) Common Ragwort:

Frosted Ragwort

And a single Daisy was still boldly pushing out its petals:

Frosted Daisy

It's worth noting that frost emphasises the structural areas of leaves, giving an aid to identification if it is required.

Etymological note: Daisy was originally known as "day's eye"....it's one of the flowers that opens most early in the day.

Dry and warm

2012-01-12T15:26:00.000Z

A high pressure weather system has been lurking to the south of Ireland for a few days, bringing some dry and warm weather. This morning was bright and warm, so I dashed off to a likely spot to see what I could find. An inspection of the stream bank revealed hundreds of Lesser Celandines in bud, and a single flower which is - to all intents and purposes - open:

Lesser Celandine

And right beside it, a single specimen of Creeping Buttercup in flower:

Creeping Buttercup

A nearby boggy area revealed Ivy-leaved Water Crowfoot in bud:

Ivy-leaved Water Crowfoot in bud

And Brooklime making strong green growth:

Brooklime

Further along the hedgerow I found a couple of specimens of Tubaria furfuracea, which is a Hawthorn associate:

Tubaria furfuracea

And Gorse in flower:

Gorse

Whilst examining a wall for mosses (more of those later) I spotted a few Snowdrops with open flowers:

Snowdrop

Well done to anybody spotting the small fly on the flower sheath!

Mosses are truly beautiful in all their parts, especially when they have sunlight to brighten them up. Yes, they are very small, but if you 'get down to their size', both physically and metaphorically, you will find beauty that is almost beyond belief.

This shot shows three specimens of Tortula muralis:

Tortula muralis

Here's a close-up of the maturing spore capsules:

Capsules of Tortula muralis

I'm convinced those setae (the 'stalks' of the capsules) are light pipes that transfer light directly down into the dark parts of the mosses.

Grimmia pulvinata has globular capsules that never emerge much beyond the leaf tips:

Grimmia pulvinata, showing hidden capsules

Bryum capillare has 'nodding head' capsules on long setae:

Bryum capillare capsules

Is this really early January, or did I miss a couple of months?

2011 review

2011-12-31T16:31:00.001Z

2011 has been the wettest year on record, and for Co. Donegal, that's saying something.

The year started in deep frost, which had quite a severe impact on the winter moths: for many of them the local population had a season that lasted just a few days. There have certainly been very few seen locally this year, although whether that's due to last year's frost or this year's rain is difficult to estimate.

April was unseasonally warm and dry, which brought out many insects including the Small Tortoiseshell, Orange Tip, Green-veined White and Speckled Wood butterflies, so the spring was strong and early and I had great hopes for a good year. On May 1st we had a very strange storm which raged for a few days. The cooling effect was so powerful that the emerging leaves on trees were destroyed on the westerly side of most of them. That defoliation was evident all the way through to autumn, when most trees lost their leaves unseasonably early. In between April and October I counted no more than a handful of days where it didn't rain for at least part of the day, and it was touch and go whether my annual fungal foray to Ards forest would be cancelled due to the constant downpour. When I eventually did make it to Ards, the season proved to have been very short (not enough heat?) and most fungi had already gone over.

We had a spell of decent weather in November, but by then the insect population had already hibernated for the winter, so my sightings of anything but plants were few and far between in 2011.

Despite the doom and gloom, I managed to add around 30 new species to my list, two of which are new records for Ireland, and I managed to find associations between two leaf mining moths and Salmonberry, one of which is a first for Ireland (and for the British Isles as a whole) and another is new to Europe (and perhaps new to science). That kind of discovery is what keeps me searching and photographing: as species move around - either through introductions or due to changing weather patterns - new associations will have an opportunity to arise and it's amateurs who will find them.

In 2012 I hope to study mosses in more detail, to continue to search for new and interesting species of all kinds, to search for and report interesting stories about the wildlife around us and to work on the illustrated book which I have been writing for far too long.

Two stragglers and an early starter

2011-12-13T10:40:00.000Z

After a couple of frosts and a bit of snow (now gone) things have slowed down dramatically and the verges are rather bare and dull. One or two late plants have started to flower, probably as a result of cutting quite early in the season: those plants never got a chance to bloom in their main season, but they still push ahead and produce flowers long after the normal flowering period is over. Meadowsweet, Cow Parsley and Hogweed are examples that I have recently seen newly in flower.

On the other hand, there are some plants that seem to linger on and continue to produce flowers much longer than expected, even after a long season of production. While I was out on a particular chase the other day (more of that later), I spotted Meadow Buttercup:

Meadow Buttercup

And a (rather bedraggled) specimen of Ragwort:

Ragwort

Although the leaves of this Ragwort look like Common Ragwort, the location (stream verge), number of petals and the uneven ripening of the seedhead make me think that this might actually be the hybrid between Common Ragwort and Marsh Ragwort, both of which are present near this location.

The main reason for my trip was to see if any early specimens of Lesser Celandine were in flower. There is one location where I regularly find flowering specimens months ahead of the normal schedule. I cannot fathom why this location should produce unseasonal flowers: it's at a reasonably high altitude (I live in the highest town in Ireland) and although it's a bit sheltered by overhanging Ash trees, it's also dark under their shade. It does, however, receive direct sunlight from the south.

Bang on schedule, I found a few specimens in bud:

Lesser Celandine flower bud

If the usual pattern is followed, these winter buds will never open, but will die off still in a closed state. I have no idea why a spring plant should produce flowers in the dead of winter, but it only happens (as far as I know) in this precise location, and it has happened for at least the last five years.

Ards revisited

2011-12-02T23:38:00.001Z

As you will know, Ards has become a favourite place for me: the ancient forest with clean, western air is a wonderful resource for anyone who wants to find real treasures. I hoped to find fungi, but we can never be sure what we will find, given their ethereal nature.

From the outset it was clear that the recent cold weather had reduced the numbers of large mushrooms, but there is always plenty to see if you become sensitive to the smaller 'stuff', so I switched my attention to smaller things.

First is a species of Collybia that I have only seen a few times: Collybia aquosa. This is distinguished by its bulbous stipe. Cap is 25mm diameter.

Collybia aquosa

When I got the photographs back to the study, I had a closer look at the beastie on the gills and found this:

Psocid on Collybia

It appears to be a Psocid, or 'bark fly'. These are from a family of insects that eat bark in wild situations, but have become partial to paper in domestic situations, especially with regard to books.

Fungi and mosses are tightly associated: both like damp and darkness. This is Plagiothecium undulatum, which is very readily identified by the almost fish-like appearance of the shoots.

Plagiothecium undulatum

Mosses are very difficult to identify at first encounter, but once the relevant identification steps have been taken (microscopic analysis is essential), they are readily identifiable in situ. One of the identification features is 'leaflets mostly curving in one direction'. This feature is easily identifiable in the field, but less easy to show in a photograph:

Dicranum majus moss

This portrait shows the feature more clearly:

Dicranum majus close-up

I found this minute Waxcap specimen, and although it's far too young to identify, I'd make a decent stab at the Blackening Waxcap, Hygrocybe nigricans, which will turn orange, then red, then black:

Juvenile waxcap

Myxomycetes, or 'Slime moulds' have always been seen as part of the fungal family, but recent research has begun to associate them more with amoeba. They are certainly mobile, and they react to light.

Slime mould

They reproduce by spores and decompose vegetable material, but their mobility and reaction to light make them seem more like animals. These fruitbodies are about 1mm in diameter:

Slime mould close-up

Perhaps a Trichia sp.

On the way back to the car I spotted this grassland Panaeolus sp.:

Panaeolus sp.

And a festive sprig of Holly:

Holly berries

Spot of bad luck

2011-11-27T12:05:00.001Z

I took a quick spin round Drumboe woods and found a few things worth noting.

This is a good time of year to find mines of Ectoedemia sp. micromoths in 'green islands' in fallen Oak leaves: the leaves you want are quite easy to identify due to the green part contrasting with the brown of the fallen leaves. These micromoth larvae extend their feeding season by blocking off the chlorophyll return valves in the leaf. This ensures that a supply of food continues to be available even after the leaves have fallen from the tree. The specimen shown below had a bit of bad luck, however:

Ectoedemia micromoth mine in 'green island' in Oak leaf

The mine starts at point A (near the midrib and on a sub-vein of the leaf) and follows the sub-vein for a while before beginning its blotch mine at point B. This is all normal procedure and has so far worked well for the larva. Unfortunately, the point chosen for the blotch happens to be exactly at a place where the valve-closing has failed, and the chlorophyll is gone, making that part of the leaf useless as food. The mine has been aborted at this point, probably because the larva has starved. Leaf-miners follow some fairly complex rules when making their mines to help ensure that:

they don't fall out of the leaf
they end up at a part of the leaf that contains enough food for their growth and development
the mines don't cross themselves, which would force them to encounter (and eat) their own dung

Some of the rules involve following veins, others force a change of direction after a certain amount of time; other decisions are made by the female when she lays the egg. The rules don't always work, but I find that the vast majority of mines are successfully completed. I'm guessing that in this case the rule to turn away from the sub-vein is timed and the location was just plain unlucky.

You can see a normal mine here: http://donegal-wildlife.blogspot.com/2009/10/smart-miners.html

I found a few fungi including this Clitocybe vibecena:

Clitocybe vibecena

And a very gone-over Scleroderma citrinum earthball, resembling nothing so much as a piece of orange-peel:

Scleroderma citrinum earthball

Earth-balls disperse their spores by breaking down the outer surface, enabling the spores to be wind-distributed. The outer crust of the fungus is conveniently structured with fragile fissures which make this break-down much easier.

Even dead and now-useless parts of plants can have innate beauty: this empty seedhead of Hogweed was worth photographing:

Hogweed seedhead

Sycamore leaves are covered in their tar-spot fungus Rhytisma acerinum:

Sycamore tar-spot fungus, Rhytisma acerinum

As usual, this fungus is spread by wind-born spores. Notice that most fungi try their hardest to maximise the area available for spore production: the surface of the fungus is wrinkled and domed.

We have had solid rain for the last two weeks and I haven't seen a single moth in that time. The last night, in pouring rain, a single specimen of Red Sword-grass came to light. The Red Sword-grass hibernates as an adult, so something must have stirred this one from its hiding place.

Red Sword-grass

Red Sword-grass has a mostly western and northern distribution and is found mostly near bogs or heaths.

Timing

2011-11-20T22:39:00.001Z

Timing is very critical for our wildlife. Leaf miners need leaves which contain enough fresh green matter to keep them fed until they mature, so they can only exist in summer. Flowers need flying pollinators to transfer pollen from one plant to the next. Birds need caterpillars to feed their young. Sawflies need fresh leaves for their larvae to feed on. Frogs need warm water for their tadpoles to develop. Parasites need their target species to be present before they can be parasitised. All species need their pre-requisites to be in place in order to feed/pupate/hibernate/survive.

Some of these timings are pretty relaxed. For example a bird can find larvae of suitable species for all of the breeding season, which might be all of 6 months long. But other timings are much more critical. If you consider that many mushrooms exist for only a few days, then any dependant larvae must grow from egg to maturity in that same short timeframe. Taking that further, any parasite that needs the larva to be present must also be around during those few short days: their opportunity to parasitise might be as short as 2 or 3 days in a year. Synchronisation is crucial.

When I was considering all of this, I noticed a specimen of Lawyers Wig - Coprinus comatus - on my lawn. I know that these tend to last perhaps 48 hours at a maximum, so I thought I would try to capture the life and death of this specimen over time.

I set up a platform for the camera and took shots every 2 hours. Sadly, the days are very short now, so I didn't get as many shots as I wanted. I should also point out that lying in very wet grass for even short periods is not a pleasant experience.

This is the shot at 11am:

By 2 pm. things had moved on a little:

And by 4 pm the light was fading and I got this shot:

Next morning only the stipe (stem) was left.

The Coprinus family of fungi reproduce by liquidising the spore-bearing gills, dropping the spores very locally (and very quickly). This is a double-edged sword: the spores don't get distributed very far, but there is also very little time for a hungry larva to consume any of the spores.

Timing is again of interest in this shot of the December Moth:

December Moth

I took this shot on 16th November, which is two weeks before December. It is well documented that this moth now appears from late October until January, but it must have originally been named December Moth for a good reason: it appeared in December. Phenology (the study of timings of appearances of species) shows that species are appearing at times which vary from the recordings when the species were named 2 or 3 hundred years ago. This applies mostly to plants and insects, but bird migrations are also changing. This variation in species timings is one of the reasons that global warming was detected: it might not tell us why we're warming up, but it certainly confirms that it's happening.

Sun, light

2011-11-09T23:19:00.000Z

The weather has actually been quite reasonable since the start of November, with a few bright days. Early sun after a chilly night leads to only one thing: dewdrops on plants. So I grabbed the camera and went out to see what I could find.

I like the way that dewdrops act like tiny lenses, magnifying whatever lies behind them:

Dewdrops on grass leaf

The drop on the end of the leaf on the right caught my eye:

Dewdrops on grass

Here's a close-up:

Dewdrop as a lens

Spider's webs and mosses also catch the water:

Polytrichum moss with water droplets

(Notice the new capsule forming to the right of the picture).

The forestry was a bit damp, but I found this fascinating mushroom growing on moss on a piece of Spruce bark left over from the harvesting a few years ago:

The size (15 mm across the cap), shiny cap and domed appearance immediately made me think of Panaeolus, and the gills were suitably grey, but the yellowish stipe (stem) didn't fit with anything in the books. I took a spore print, fully expecting to find a black spore deposit, and was astonished to find that the print was white. Back to square one. Repeated keyings led me to Mycena, but I had never seen a Mycena specimen like that. Suddenly I remembered Mycena epipterygia, which I have often found nearby, and which has a stipe with a pronounced yellow base and yellow top. It seems that this specimen, which was a good deal larger than usual, had dried and had perhaps also been slightly frosted. Every day has a surprise.

I also found a single specimen of Crepidotus variabilis on a fallen twig:

The big surprise about Crepidotus is that they have brown spores, and there is a hint of this under different lighting conditions:

Crepidotus showing a slight pink in reflected light

Crepidotus in slight light

Crepidotus in setting sunlight

I think fungi can be extremely beautiful if you look at them closely.

It's all about scale(s)

2011-10-31T09:07:00.000Z

Each evening thousands of rooks and jackdaws fly over my house on their way to an overnight roosting spot about 3 miles away. Yesterday they flew over just as I was putting the camera into the car and I snapped this shot of some of them:

Swarm of rooks and jackdaws heading for roost

I thought then that they could easily be mistaken for a swarm of midges.

As soon as I parked the car at the hedgerow, I looked up and saw a cloud of midges:

Cloud of midges.

And I thought to myself that they could easily be mistaken for a horde of rooks and jackdaws. It's all a matter of scale.

Halfway along the walk I spotted this scaly mushroom on the rear bank of the ditch:

Shaggy Parasol - Lepiota rhacodes

A quick look underneath showed the large double ring and the cream gills:

Shaggy Parasol - Lepiota rhacodes

I'm making a spore print, but I have no doubt that it's the Shaggy Parasol - Lepiota rhacodes. Again, it's all a matter of the scales.

The underside of the mushroom was home to dozens of microscopic insects, and I got a decent shot of this Springtail before it ran for cover between the gills:

Springtail

Scale? The Springtail is about 2mm long.

Long-term mystery and an opportunistic shot

2011-10-28T19:28:00.000+01:00

For the past few years there has been a great deal of discussion on various e-fora about a mysterious jelly that can appear in all sorts of locations such as paths, moors, tree stumps and even the tops of fence posts. Many wild suggestions have been proposed for its origin, including animal sneezes, fungus, heron regurgitations and 'space jelly'. The jelly is colourless and odourless, has no structure, and yields no information when subjected to DNA analysis. Here is a shot I took earlier in the week:

Jelly chunks

The size of each 'chunk' is roughly the same size as an ice-cube.

I think I have solved the problem (or at least the problem as far as it occurs in my patch).

About 2 days before the jelly appeared, I found the remains of a dead frog in the same location. All that remained were a few scraps of skin, some parts of the digestive system and a ball of black egg nuclei (about 15 mm. diameter.) My deduction at that time was that a female frog had been killed and selectively scavenged. I did, however, wonder briefly where the jelly had gone. On revisiting the spot 2 days later, the frog bits had disappeared, but the jelly was there instead. (I should point out that it had been raining heavily during the interval. No surprise there.) My deduction was that this was indeed the jelly from the spawn, but where had it been hiding? If you consider that the volume of spawn laid by a single frog far exceeds the volume of a frog, we must deduce that the spawn expands after it is laid. This expansion takes place on or after exposure to the water that the spawn is laid in. I then thought about an egg-laying process that has become very familiar to me recently: the development of a hen's egg. The nucleus (yolk) is created first in the ovary and then passes through the oviduct where the jelly (albumen) is added as a coating. So at an early point in the process, the nucleus and the jelly are separate from each other inside the body of the frog. That must have been the point at which the frog was killed. The jelly was actually present when I saw the frog for the first time, but was minutely compressed and not visible. On exposure to the rain, the jelly expanded and became visible as the jelly lumps in the shot above. That's my theory, anyway.

No matter where I go, my camera is always with me: you never know when you'll get an opportunistic shot. Yesterday I visited a garden centre for a meeting and there were a few opportunities to look around and take a few shots. The weather was extremely variable with speeding clouds, occasional rain and some rare periods of sunshine. My radar went on to 'red alert' when a heavy shower was immediately followed by bright sun. I wandered over to where I had seen some mosses and saw that some of the capsules had indeed been soaked and there were a few with water droplets on them. This is the first shot:

Funaria hygrometrica capsule with water droplet

It's ok, but that horizontal brown seta in the middle of the shot is spoiling it. I knew the sun was very fleeting, so I had to act quickly. I pulled out the Swiss Army knife, opened the scissors and snipped off the offending seta, full in the knowledge that any excessive shaking could dislodge the water droplet (the brown seta was actually touching it). As soon as I took the following shot, the sun disappeared behind a cloud:

Water droplet showing peristome teeth

If you look closely, you can actually see the peristome teeth on the capsule (there are 16). These are used to open and close the spore capsule to allow or prevent the spores from being scattered, depending on humidity. Just for scale, the capsule is about 2 mm. across.

Regeneration

2011-10-26T23:55:00.000+01:00

At the end of August I was dismayed to find that my favourite (and most fruitful) piece of hedgerow had been thrashed deep into the trunks and down to ground level: all vegetation had been removed, leaving nothing but a mulch of dead plants and sawdust. I realise that all hedges need to be maintained, but August is simply the wrong time to do it: moth and butterfly caterpillars are still feeding and many sawflies are only starting their season in autumn. That's one of the reasons that it's illegal (in Ireland) to cut hedges between April and September (which I think is still too early).

I went back today to have a look, and was pleased to note that many plants had made a valiant attempt to produce some new growth and some species had even produced a few flowers. The fern growth particularly interested me, as the next few shots will show.

This is a brand-new frond of Lady Fern (notice that the growth is pale green and that there is no feeding damage, indicating that the growth is indeed fresh):

Lady Fern

I had one of those "turn it over" moments (I suspected what I was going to find) and confirmed that the frond was completely sterile: there were no spore-producing parts:

Lady Fern, showing absence of sori

It appears that the fern had realised that there was no time left to produce ripe spores, and instead of wasting energy on making sori, had simply made fronds without them. Why bother? Well, ferns are perennials: they produce new growth from the same base each year. The overwintering rootstock needs as much stored energy as possible, so it makes sense to throw out some new green growth in a desperate attempt to catch the last rays of sunlight before winter sets in.

Broad-buckler Fern was exactly the same:

Broad Buckler frond

Sterile Broad-buckler underside

Hard Fern and Male Fern had also made a little new growth:

Hard Fern sterile frond

Male Fern

(I didn't check the Hard Fern frond for spores because very few of them are normally fertile. The fertile fronds have narrower pinnae than the sterile ones, they are more brown than green, and are much more upright.)

Many other perennials had made some new growth. Here's the gallery:

Barren Strawberry

Bramble

Bush Vetch

Cow Parsley

Common Dog Violet

Foxglove

Meadowsweet

Nettle

Raspberry

Germander Speedwell (and gall)

Willow (too late for the sawflies)

Herb Robert....

And its flower

It's great to see that a number of plants have made some kind of recovery, but it's sad that too many insects lost their opportunity on this stretch of hedgerow in 2011. On a more positive note, it is clear that plants are the basic resource for much of our wildlife: plants dictate which insects are to be found in a particular location. Although insects are beneficial in terms of pollination, plants seem to be a stabilising influence since they are more resilient in the face of damage.

Research

2011-10-24T14:09:00.000+01:00

I can't begin to describe the weather we've had for weeks now. Let's just say everything is sodden, including my poor hens, who forget to come out of the coop even in the rare dry moments.

At times like this I work on background research, e.g. looking for identifications for species that I didn't manage to name previously.

So it is with great pleasure that I have found the name for a leafhopper that I photographed on 8th July 2007:

The leafhopper Eupterix urticae - a nettle associate

Not the best of shots, but enough to identify it as Eupteryx urticae, which is associated with nettles. Over 4 years for an identification, but better late than never.

The original page can be found here, and I can confirm that it is an adult, and not a nymph, even at 3mm. long.

At this time, I also work on my powerpoint presentations for next year. I make two different wildlife talks for each year: one for adults and the other for schools. (I also have one that I use for talks for photographic societies). I like to make my talks as interesting and useful as possible, drawing on the photographs that I take and the research that I carry out. If you have found anything on my website to be of particular interest, then drop me a comment and I'll see if I can include it.

More from Ards

2011-10-13T10:25:00.000+01:00

As you can see from previous posts, Ards forest is a wonderful place for fungi, but it doesn't stop there: the Ards peninsula is based on limestone. This is of particular interest to me because my local soil is very acidic and soil type has a major influence over which types of plant grow in any particular location. Following on from that, many insects are dependent on particular plants, so plants are a major factor in controlling which insects are to be found in a particular habitat (and also which fungi, for that matter). So it can be seen that underlying geological composition has a major impact on the range of wildlife that can be found in any location.

If I have time when I'm at Ards, I take a slight detour from the trees and wander down to the grassland area near the sea and have a look at plants which I rarely see.

The Harebell is the 'Bluebell' of my youth in west Scotland:

Harebell

Lady's Bedstraw is closely related to Cleavers ('Sticky Willie') and the other Galium species, but is the only one with yellow flowers:

Lady's Bedstraw

Thyme grows at the fringes of the grassland and on the dunes. I'm always tempted to take some home for the kitchen, but I find its smell is very muted when compared to the cultivated versions:

Wild Thyme

Grassland is also home to a number of Waxcap mushrooms. I found this specimen of Hygrocybe langei shining brightly through the grass:

Hygrocybe langei

It's worth mentioning that this wide, flat area of grassland between the forest and the sand dunes is a particularly defined habitat known as Machair: a habitat type unique to western Ireland and Scotland.

As I was walking back to the car park, I noticed this larva of the White Ermine moth digging in a depression in the sand. It appeared to be making no effort to leave the shallow hole and actually appeared to be making the hole larger. Most odd.

Larva of White Ermine moth

This was above the high water mark, so perhaps it was simply looking for somewhere to pupate.

Ards at last

2011-10-04T15:01:00.000+01:00

With the fungal season being well under way, I have been waiting for a gap in the rain to go to Ards. Everything came together on Sunday, so off I went with a smile and an empty memory card in my camera.

Ards forest is an ancient mixed woodland on the west coast of Donegal. First landfall from the Atlantic and the ancient trees combine to form a perfect environment for fungi (and lichens), and it never fails to deliver something interesting.

In no particular order we have:

A tiny pair (3 cm. tall) of Snowy Waxcap, Hygrocybe nivea:

Snowy Waxcap

At the other end of the scale, a huge (20 cm.diameter) Cortinarius purpurascens, which formed part of a large ring:

Cortinarius purpurascens

In the deepest and darkest part of the forest - in what was the quarry that sourced the stone for the nearby monastery - a fresh example of the wonderful Polyporus badius:

Polyporus badius

At 4 cm. across the cap, it's hard to believe that this fine little cup is closely related to Polyporus squammosus, the Dryad's Saddle, which can reach almost 1 metre across.

New to me, and a first record for Co. Donegal of Humaria hemisphaerica. There are a couple of previous records from Ireland:

Humaria hemisphaerica

The inside surface (which is the spore-bearing surface) looks almost like porcelain.

I'm always glad to see the extremely rare Phellodon melaleucus in its usual location. This fungus has a strong smell of fenugreek when dry:

Phellodon melaleucus

Ards is one of very few places that I have found the Death Cap - Amanita phalloides:

Amanita phalloides - Death Cap

As its name suggests, the Death Cap is deadly poisonous: if you consume any part of this fungus, death will follow - within 72 hours - from liver and kidney failure. There is no cure.

A couple of Entoloma sp. (identification still under way):

Entoloma sp.

There are hundreds of Entoloma species, and separation usually involves microscopic analysis. They are readily recognisable due to their radially-striped caps and finely-constructed gills, which are often lined with the cap colour:

Entoloma sp. gill edges

Their spore print is pink and the spores have a very unusual and distinctive shape:

Entoloma spores at x 400

The Amethyst Deceiver must be one of our most recognisable fungi:

Amethyst Deceiver

The name 'Amethyst Deceiver' comes from the closely-related Deceiver, which varies so much in colour that it closely resembles many other fungi. No such problem with the Amethyst version.

This Cortinarius has been giving me a bit of bother. I think it might be Cortinarius semisanguineus. Identification awaiting confirmation.

Cortinarius ?semisanguineus

Here's a shot of a young specimen:

Cortinarius ?semisanguineus

Tiny Marasmius rotula specimens were dotted all over dead twigs, looking like little gems in the darkness:

Marasmius rotula

The coral-like Ramaria stricta forms large specimens grouped together to cover large areas of ground under Beech and Spruce:

Ramaria stricta

Whilst walking along the beach, I spotted this excellent shot of the patterns of sand left by the tide. The light was dropping, making this shot look monochrome, but it's in full colour.

Sand patterns on the beach

The pattern reminded me of the Entoloma gills shown earlier in the page, and both will probably be gone by tomorrow, never to return.

Announcement

I'm taking this opportunity to announce the launch of my new food-related blog over on www.donegal-dinner.blogspot.com. If you like food and cooking, then you might find a visit worthwhile.

High heath

2011-09-25T12:02:00.000+01:00

It was surprisingly warm in the hours preceding the predicted storm, so quite a few insects had taken the opportunity to fill up on nectar.

This tiny solitary bee was nectaring alongside an even smaller Empid fly on Common Catsear:

Solitary bee and Empid on Common Catsear

Notice the very thin and upturned ovipositor on this tiny Ichneumonid on Marsh Ragwort:

Ichneumonid on Marsh Ragwort

Quite a few insects are reaching the end of their season and will either die soon or hibernate. This is the hoverfly Helophilus pendulus which has been quite scarce here this year:

Helophilus pendulus on Devilsbit Scabious

And there are still a few Common Carder Bumblebees around:

Bombus pascuorum on Devilsbit Scabious

I've seen a few Small Tortoiseshell butterflies flying around the garden this week. This one nectared on Knapweed for a while and then posed perfectly for its portrait:

Small Tortoiseshell butterfly

Small Tortoiseshells hibernate in sheltered places and then wake in March or April to start off next year's generation.

This is a first for me:

The Stonefly Leuctra fusca

It's Leuctra fusca, a member of the Stonefly family and is known as a Needle Fly for fairly obvious reasons. The nymphs are fully aquatic, but I found this adult hiding on the underside of a Willow leaf which I was examining for the orange fungal rust. The nearest running water is a stream about 50 m. away.

I always check the front lights for moths at night, and I spotted this Lesser Crane Fly. Those legs look almost ridiculously long.

Lesser Cranefly attracted to light

The proposed fungal foray to Ards in about 2 hours' time hasn't quite been called off yet. But it's going to be close.....

Fungal season

2011-09-23T10:16:00.000+01:00

Fungi are popping up everywhere, so it's time to get the microscope dusted down, ready for the new season.

The mushrooms that we see are the visible fruit-bodies of the actual fungus, which is usually underground or buried deep inside some substrate, such as wood. The fungus itself will stay in the same place as long as its partner or food source continues to be available: that explains why a particular mushroom can continue to be found in exactly the same location year after year. I'm now beginning to expect my usual crop of Phaeolepiota aurea on the same spot on my lawn at the same time every year. This is a rather scarce mushroom, which is thought to be a nettle associate:

Phaeolepiota aurea

At the beginning, the underside is completely sealed, providing a secure environment for the spores to develop:

Phaeolepiota aurea

Later on, the seal drops to form a ring and the millions of spores are released to be carried by the wind.

Recent studies on Phaeolepiota aurea have confirmed that compounds of cyanide remain in the mushroom, even after cooking, so it has been added to the list of 'poisonous' fungi.

I have previously written about the structure of lichens: fungi which have captured algae in order to utilise the energy that the algae can generate from sunlight. Essentially, lichens cannot survive alone: they need their algal partners to supplement their food supplies. What is particularly interesting, however, is that some fungi can be part-time lichens: most of the time, they survive on their own food resources, but they can capture algae on a temporary basis in order to survive transient periods of hardship. A number of fungi can do this, but it is the Omphalina family which is best known for it. Omphalinas are small, delicate, trumpet-shaped fungi that are associated with mosses. This specimen is about 8mm. across the cap:

Omphalina griseopallida

I know of a few Omphalina species in my area (we have lots of mossy locations), but this one is new, and looks most like Omphalina griseopallida. I'm taking a spore print to see if that helps with the identification.

Spore prints are one of the basic tools in identification of fungi, and the spores of some species give very strong clues about an identification. This is the spore print of a new species to me: Stropharia aurantiaca.

Spores of Stropharia aurantiaca at x400

Stropharia aurantiaca is a relatively recently-named (1930's) fungus which appears in bark and sawdust that has been used as a top-surface mulch on flowerbeds. In this case it's in a local supermarket car park It has been found numerous times in Northern Ireland, but I can't find any previous records from Ireland.

I'll try to get an in-situ shot later today.

Post hurricane post

2011-09-19T11:46:00.000+01:00

The weather continues to be hateful, but I'm guessing that everyone has been in much the same position.

I went up to the boggy area which has many specimens of the late nectar source, Devilsbit Scabious, and found this specimen of the hoverfly Sericomyia silentis. For those of you who know the size of the flowerhead, it will be apparent just how large this hoverfly is.

Sericomyia silentis on Devilsbit Scabious

Devilsbit is a plant that loves damp, acidic soil, in complete contrast with its close relative, Field Scabious, which needs alkaline soil. Interestingly enough, I sometimes find an occasional specimen of Devilsbit Scabious which has the same colouring as the lime lover:

Pink form of Devilsbit Scabious

It's still 100% Devilsbit, though.

Staying with Devilsbit, I found a few rather interesting specimens that were making an extra flowerhead from an existing one:

Devilsbit Scabious with 'extra' flowerheads

Notice the second 'offshot' appearing to the lower left of the central flower. This phenomenon wasn't restricted to one area of the bog: I found multiple specimens spread over perhaps 200 m.

Some specimens of Angelica have survived the storms: these are mostly ones in very sheltered locations. Specimens out in the open have all snapped at ground level. This flowerhead had a number of Ichneumonids still nectaring on it. There are 3 in this shot:

Actually, I just spotted a fourth, right at the bottom of the shot.

This area has quite a few Scots Pines, and I found a few specimens of Suillus flavidus and its bigger brother Slippery Jack, which are always found in association with Pine. I also found the usual swarm of Hebeloma mesophaeum all the way along the edge of the access road:

Hebeloma mesophaeum

The mosses are Pleurozium schreberi (red veins) and Rhytidiadelphus squarrosus (green 'stars' at 4, 6 and 8 o'clock).

I recently showed a specimen of the leafhopper Cixius nervosus, but I thought this one showed off those wonderful wing veins at their best.

Leafhopper Cixius nervosus

Leaf hoppers - like so many other true bugs - are quite difficult to separate, but the main identification features are visible in this shot.

1) There are 3 'keels' on the thorax.
2) The black dots on the wing edges are larger than those on the inside veins of the wing
3) There is a rather distinct black bar across the front third of the wings.
4) The area between the eyes and the thorax is brownish-yellow.

Let's hope next week's fungal foray isn't rained off.

New Science

2011-09-05T12:34:00.000+01:00

Salmonberry - Rubus spectabilis - is a highly invasive member of the Bramble family - originating in western North America - that was originally brought into Northern Ireland as cover for game birds. I saw my first specimens about 5 years ago in a couple of places, but now it's appearing almost anywhere I look in higher locations. The flower is a bright purple, and the berry is a salmon-pink colour (and is incredibly bitter, as I found out to my cost).

I examined a few plants recently and found a couple of leaf-miners:

'Agromyza ideana' on Salmonberry

'Stigmella aurella' on Salmonberry

The first specimen looks very much like Agromyza ideana, which is usually found on Raspberry, and the second looks like Stigmella aurella, which is found on Bramble. The current literature for miners in Ireland and Britain doesn't contain any records of these miners on Salmonberry, so these relationships are both new to science. (The European literature also has no entries for Stigmella aurella on Salmonberry, so that would likely be new to European science). Both mines are well-developed, indicating that these species will be successful in this new host. I'll have to write this up for the appropriate journals once the identifications have been confirmed by the appropriate experts.

Staying with mines, I checked a stand of Bracken where I had previously found my only specimen of the leafmining fly Chirosia histricina and I found it once again:

Chirosia histricina on Bracken

Underside of Chirosia histricina

Given the amount of Bracken that doesn't have this miner, it seems to have very specific microclimate requirements. The literature says 'shady places', and this is under Ash on a north-facing bank, which would certainly qualify as a shady location.

I was actually on a fungus hunt, but I didn't find much of interest in that respect. I did, however, spot a few specimens of the excellent bumblebee-mimicking hoverfly Arctophila superbiens:

Bumblebee-mimicking hoverfly Arctophila superbiens

I had only ever seen this species once before, in a location some 40 km away, so I was delighted to find it on my local patch. Identification is mainly from the very dark wing shade, the all-black legs and the orange hair on the thorax, whilst the abdominal hair is grey.

I coincidentally spotted the bumblebee which the hoverfly is mimicking - Bombus pascuorum - which is still around, but in decreasing numbers as autumn creeps in:

Bombus pascuorum on Devilsbit Scabious

The mimicry is very well-developed here, right down to the grey patches at the base of the wings.

I also liked this shot of the female Cranefly, showing those incredibly long legs:

Female Cranefly

Eyebright is showing all along the centre of paths now:

Eyebright

Eyebright is broken down into a number of species/subspecies. I'm sticking with Eyebright.

A couple of moths came to light on the one night we've had without rain:

Lesser Yellow Underwing

I caught this one at just the right angle to reflect the flash in its eye:

Flounced Rustic

Mixed bag

2011-08-30T17:50:00.002+01:00

These are the last photographs from my usual stretch of hedgerow for several months. The day after I took these, the hedge was cut down to the ground to a distance of a metre from the road on each side for 200 metres. So there won't be anything worth posting from there until next spring. I don't know why the hedgecutter chose this totally inappropriate (and illegal!) time to do the cutting ("it's only weeds and bugs"), but we have to live with these decisions. Unfortunately, the wildlife can't.

Last year I showed a photograph of the capsid bug Lygus rugulipennis. This is its nymph from exactly the same area:

Nymph of the capsid bug Lygus rugulipennis

If you follow the link back to the original picture, notice how different the adult is from the nymph. This is typical in bugs, and makes identification of nymphs that bit more difficult, since it's normally the adults that are shown.

Udea lutealis is one of the larger micromoths, and is to be seen on practically every verge and hedgerow at the moment. The faint pattern diminishes as the moth gets older, and mature specimens (i.e. a few days old) appear to be a uniform cream in colour:

The micromoth Udea lutealis

I spotted this larva of the Sawfly Arge gracilicornis on Bramble. I had hoped to follow its progress for a few days, but that is no longer possible:

Larva of the Sawfly Arge gracilicornis

I should also mention at this point that I will be unable to continue my 5 year study of the sawfly Nematus pavidus this year, since the Willows were also threshed to ground level and won't have leaves until next year. I hope I can find some more specimens elsewhere.

The fungal rust Puccinia graminis infects many different grasses. This infection is on a stem of False Oat grass:

Fungal rust Puccinia graminis on False Oat grass

I haven't seen very many specimens of the wasp-mimicking hoverfly Sericomyia silentis this year. This one was on Male Fern on the other side of a deep ditch:

Hoverfly Sericomyia silentis

Earwigs are universally despised and, I think, a bit unfairly. They are quite unusual in that they tend to stay in family groups, whereas most other insects abandon their eggs/larvae. This is a male (the pincers are curved) Forficula auricularia:

The earwig Forficula auricularia

This one was photographed in my garden: I found it when checking a pot full of Fuchsia cuttings. Notice how small the wing covers (the squarish area next to the middle leg) are. Earwigs can actually fly, but I rather suspect that they are reluctant to do so because the wings have to be folded around 40 times to get them into such a tiny space.

New identification.

An identification

2011-08-26T10:32:00.003+01:00

My last post showed images from a woodland ride which is bounded on the northern side by a mature Spruce plantation, and on the southern side by Beech. Over the last couple of days I have been closely examining some more of the photographs, and I realised that I have a very illustrative set of images of one species of hoverfly that was causing me more than a little bit of bother to identify.

This is the first shot:

My initial reaction was "Cheilosia illustrata, but a very bright specimen". So I rattled off a few more shots as it wandered over the flowerhead:

When I examined the photographs back at the computer, I quickly realised that my initial identification was wrong. Firstly, the face is yellow, and there are no grooves running down between the eyes and face:

Those features rule out Cheilosia.

So what is it?

A quick examination of the wing veins ruled out Eristalis sp., because the Eristalis 'bulge' is not present:

Archive image of the distinctive Eristalis 'bulge'

Here is the actual wing:

The arrow shows another distinguishing feature of the wing, where the marginal vein curves back to make an obtuse angle with the central vein. This obtuse angle rules out Volucella species. Just to confirm, I checked the aristae, which are the small projections on the antennae. The ones on this specimen are simple and not feathered, so that again rules out Volucella species:

Let's look at the legs:

The legs are clearly not all black, so that rules out Merodon species.

I was struggling at this point, because I had ruled out all of the common bumblebee mimics, and the image didn't match any others in the standard reference book.

I decided to bite the bullet and key the specimen from scratch, which led me to tribe Syrphini, and only one member of that tribe remotely resembles a bumblebee, and that is Eriozona syrphoides. A quick check of the species description for Eriozona syrphoides reveals:

"At first sight, Eriozona is like an outsized Cheilosia illustrata, but the face is yellow in Eriozona."

"Most records are for Spruce plantations or deciduous woodland where spruce is present."

"May to October, with a second peak in August".

Things are looking good for Eriozona syrphoides. But it's a rare species, which I had only seen once before, in another Spruce plantation some 30 km. away. I was still a little bothered that the illustrations didn't match, so I did a quick google search of images for Eriozona syrphoides, and it was immediately obvious that there are two distinct colour forms: one that is in the book and matches my first specimen and another, much brighter version, which is the version I found on Wednesday.

So there we have it:

The hoverfly Eriozona syrphoides (male)

Time taken for the identification? Around two hours.

Eriozona syrphoides is a European species new to Ireland (the first sighting was in 1998) and follows on from sightings in England and Wales in the 1960's. It is closely associated with Spruce plantations (the larvae are predators of aphids that feed on conifers), so the species is clearly spreading as Spruce plantations mature. I'm usually very critical of the negative effect that Spruce plantations have on local biodiversity, but in this case I have to make an exception: Eriozona syrphoides is a very handsome hoverfly.

(Late note: I wonder if the two colour forms are male and female, since my previous specimen was a female). More checking.....

Later note: Once I had finalised this identification, I realised that a specimen shown previously from this same location was actually this species. I have amended the previous page accordingly.

What's that yellow thing in the sky?

2011-08-23T22:08:00.001+01:00

Sun! We had almost four hours of continuous sun today, so I made a bee-line for the Angelica.

I took around 200 shots of whatever looked good, and these are the highlights:

The Peacock is a butterfly that I see quite rarely. I'm not sure if there were a few of them on this woodland ride today, or if the same one was flying along overtaking me from time to time. The Peacock is a nettle feeder and the late summer generation is emerging now. These will overwinter as adults, emerging in spring as soon as it's warm enough:

Peacock butterfly

Sicus ferrugineus is a conopid fly that can often be found crouched on knapweed flowerheads waiting for a bumblebee to land:

The Conopid fly Sicus ferrugineus

These are parasitic on worker bumblebees, but although I saw a good number of Bombus pascuorum workers today, none of them landed near the fly.

Leucozona glaucia is one of the most colourful hoverflies that we have. The combination of blue abdomen, yellow scutellum and shiny brown thorax is quite striking.

The hoverfly Leucozona glaucia

I caught a few glimpses of its duller relative, Leucozona laternaria, which I hope to show soon.

Sawfly larvae can be distinguished from moth and butterfly larvae by counting the number of prolegs. But I can generally pick them out quite quickly by their very round-shouldered appearance:

Sawfly larva on Ribwort Plantain

This close-up shows the semi-translucent nature of the body:

Close-up of sawfly larva

I went through the checklist of sawfly larvae and their host plants, but the only one specific to Ribwort Plantain doesn't match. That probably makes it a generalist polyphage, so the only way to find out what species it is would be to breed it through and identify the adult.

Caddis Flies are often mistaken for moths, especially when they come to light at night. The main distinguishing feature is the forward-facing antennae (although some of the longhorn moths also have this feature, in which case the Caddis Flies are recognised by their almost parallel antennae). This specimen is a female, identified by the greater number of jointed segments (5) in her mouthparts:

Caddisfly, member of the Limnephilidae family

That's the first Caddis that I've seen nectaring.

Caddis larvae are aquatic, living inside a case made from stones, shells, twigs or leaves, so the adults are usually seen close to water.

The Great Diving Beetle is also aquatic, and I found this one lying dead near a dried-out puddle:

Great Diving Beetle

The Angelica is already running to seed, so I suppose I might have another two weeks of it left. It's certainly a major source of nectar for insects, and I found hundreds of hoverflies, dungflies, sawflies and other assorted insects nectaring on it today. This ichneumonid caught my eye, due to its very long ovipositor:

Ichneumonid on Angelica

Fungus time again

2011-08-18T12:11:00.000+01:00

With all the rain we've had this year, I rather suspect we're going to have a good year for fungi: I'm seeing a few on the verges and in my garden, and yesterday I found this season's first specimen of Entomophthora muscae on a hoverfly. In my previous post, I mentioned that the Taphrina fungus alters the growth of the Alder for its own benefit by creating a large surface area for spore production and dispersal. This ability to alter a host for their own benefit is a recurring theme with fungi, and I never cease to be amazed at the lengths they go to in order to achieve this aim.

Entomophthora muscae is a fungus that uses flies as a tool for its spore dispersal. The fungal spores are ingested by the fly and the fungus rapidly grows inside the fly's abdomen. Eventually, the pink fungus breaks through the structure of the abdomen and becomes visible for a couple of days before it breaks down and the spores are released.

This is the shot of the hoverfly from a top-down perspective:

Hoverfly killed by the fungus Entomophthora muscae

The pink fungus can clearly be seen emerging from the abdomen of the hoverfly (which, unusually, is a Platycheirus species: Melanostoma scalare is the most frequent host in this area).

Two aspects of this photograph are of critical importance:

1) the hoverfly is at the very top of the plant (Ribwort Plantain)
2) the wings of the hoverfly are fully extended in an unusual forward-facing configuration

Both of these features will allow maximum airflow over the fungal mass and, more importantly, both are caused by the fungus. Before the fungus kills the fly, it causes it to move to the highest available point and then open its wings to the fullest extent. Then it kills it.

This ability of the fungus to control the fly's movement and configuration for its own benefit is astonishing enough, but it works with different flies from different families, so the fungus has found a way to control the movement of a whole range of different fly species.

Another feature of the configuration control is shown in this side view:

Side view of the fungal mass

The legs have also been fully straightened: yet another part of the configuration that maximises spore dispersal: truly amazing.

The fungal mass will break down and release spores over the next couple of days, leaving just a skeletal husk of the hoverfly on the plant.

It's not only nectaring insects that benefit from the Angelica. This is a shot of the miner Phytomyza angelicastri on the leaves:

Leaf-mining fly Phytomyza angelicastri on Angelica

The Rosy Rustic moth pupates underground until August, and this pristine specimen was resting on a low-level Dock leaf, so I rather suspect it had just emerged.

Rosy Rustic moth

Small gaps

2011-08-16T15:30:00.001+01:00

The rain is still more or less continuous, with very short gaps between showers, and I have had to adopt a new tactic for getting some pictures: I watch the sky to the southwest and wait until I see a gap in the weather some 12-15 km away. I then rush out and hope to reach the fringes of town before the gap in the rain reaches me. That means I'm in place when the temporary stop occurs. This is fine for getting photographs of plants and mines, but not so good for insects because it takes them a little while to realise that the rain has stopped and they have warmed up enough to fly to the nectar sources that I'm watching at the moment.

Tufted Vetch is an odd plant: it grows in only a few places on my patch, but wherever it grows it is rampant. There appears to be no similarity amongst the places it chooses and there are places that appear to be ideally suited, but the plant is absent. It must have some very particular micro-climate requirements.

Tufted Vetch

A few more late summer portraits:

Knapweed or Hardheads

Red Bartsia

Devilsbit Scabious

Taphrina alni is a parasitic fungus on female Alder cones:

Taphrina alni gall on Alder

The tongue-shaped growth reaches 4-5 cm. long and turns red before releasing its spores. Note that the growth is caused by the fungus, but is made by the Alder tree for the benefit of the fungus.

Alder is a good food source for Sawflies: these are multiple mines of Acidia cognata. The broad-shouldered larva can be seen in each of the mines:

Mines of the sawfly Acidia cognata on Alder

This next shot shows just how attractive Angelica is for insects at this time of year. I counted 7 ichneumonids, 2 sawflies and 2 dungflies on this flowerhead:

Angelica with Ichneumonids, Sawflies and Dungflies

One of the few Ichneumons that can be identified by sight: Amblyteles armatorius, which is parasitic on larger moths.

Ichneumon Wasp Amblyteles armatorius

Harvestmen are related to spiders, but they don't make a web. They hide instead in plants, waiting for some unsuspecting insect to come wandering along.

Harvestman Mitopus morio on Angelica

I like how the Angelica echoes the shape of the legs.

The social wasps are divided into two main families: Dolichovespula and Vespula. Dolichovespula species (Dolichovespula sylvestris shown) can be readily identified by the 'malar space', which is indicated by the arrow below:

Dolichovespula sylvestris, a Tree Wasp

The malar space is the distance between the lower edge of the eye and the upper edge of the mobile mandible, or jaw. In Dolichovespula sp., the gap is large, making the face very elongated, whilst in Vespula sp., the gap is virtually non-existent. Most of the wasps that can be seen moving leisurely over Angelica at the moment, including the one above, are males.

The Potato Capsid, Closterotomus norwegicus, is commonly found on Knapweed and other composite flowers. I have never found it on potato:

Potato Capsid on Knapweed

Every cloud

2011-08-03T20:29:00.001+01:00

The weather has been abysmal for several days, with bad light even when it has been dry. Today I saw blue gaps in the cloud, so I ran for the hills, where the Angelica is abundant.

This hoverfly got me rather excited, because I knew I hadn't seen it before. Several shots were rattled off and anticipation was high during the rest of the photography session. When I got the pictures back to the computer and opened the books, I was slightly disappointed to discover it wasn't a new species for me, but merely a new colour variation of one that I had seen once before. It's the orange and black version of the bumblebee mimic Eriozona syrphoides.

The bumblebee-mimicking hoverfly Eriozona syrphoides

Eriozona syrphoides is the only bumblebee mimic to have an obtusely re-entrant (curved) vein at the position indicated by the arrow.

Note. I have amended the identification of this hoverfly as a result of a much better set of photographs taken a few days later.

Here's a shot of it beside an ichneumonid:

Eriozona syrphoides (right) and ichneumonid (left)

Staying with ichneumonids, this one has a quite impressive ovipositor:

Ichneumonid with long ovipositor

I saw a few of those wandering over Knapweed flowerheads, so we know what that ovipositor is used for.

This large brown specimen looks to be close to the Ophion family:

3 cm. ichneumonid

Dungflies are voracious hunters as adults (they're probably making up for all the dung they eat as larvae.) This one is making a meal of a smaller sawfly:

Dungfly with prey

But this dungfly has fallen foul of a little cream-coloured spider:

Spider with dungfly as prey

Now that's a truly vicious circle.

I was quite surprised to find a pristine Red Admiral butterfly nectaring on the Angelica:

Red Admiral butterfly

It's absolutely pristine, with no wear whatsoever, so it's clearly one of the local offspring of the early summer migrants. These feed solely on nettles as caterpillars.

At this time of year I always look closely at clusters of aphids on Knapweed. The larvae of the hoverfly Syrphus ribesii consume large numbers of aphids, and the female always makes sure her offspring have an adequate supply:

Larva of Syrphus ribesii with aphids

Meliscaeva cinctella is one of the later hoverflies, usually to be found from August onwards. Its larvae are also aphid eaters, but solely on tree-dwelling species, such as the Wooly beech aphid.

Meliscaeva cinctella hoverfly

Fairy Flax is a very delicate little flower which I tend to find near the edges of forestry, or along forest paths:

Fairy Flax

Just as I was getting out of the car, this leafhopper flew over my shoulder and landed on the path in front of me. Click.

The leafhopper Cicadella viridis

New moths

2011-07-27T13:35:00.000+01:00

We had a couple of very warm days on Sunday and Monday, so that's the time to leave on the outside lights to see what has been encouraged to emerge (or at least encouraged to fly!) by the hot weather.

The first of two new species is the rather handsome True Lover's Knot, Lycophotia porphyrea:

True Lover's Knot

True Lover's Knot is a heather feeder.

The second new species is the (surprisingly small, at 12 mm.) Marbled Beauty:

Marbled Beauty

The Marbled Beauty is generally an eastern species in Ireland, and this is the furthest west specimen that has been recorded. The larvae feed on lichens, which are very plentiful near here, so perhaps this is another of those species which are moving west and north due to warming.

I have previously shown Plain Golden-Y:

Plain Golden-Y

And Small Fan-footed Wave:

Small Fan-Footed Wave

Unfortunately for the Small Fan-Footed Wave, a spider had spun its web near its resting place. When it took off......

Small Fan-Footed Wave caught by spider

So, two more to my total.

Angelica time

2011-07-21T23:55:00.000+01:00

The Angelica flowered this week, so for the next 3 weeks I will concentrate on nectaring insects. Angelica is a major source of nectar for bees, flies, hoverflies, wasps, sawflies, ichneumonids, beetles and various bugs, so it's always worth a close look.

Here's a shot of the impressive flowerheads just before they burst open:

Angelica opening

As I was walking between Angelica plants, I saw a dead bumblebee lying on the path, but it suddenly moved. I looked closer, and saw that one of the Formica ants was pulling it laboriously over the path, presumably towards its nest:

Dead bumblebee being dragged by Wood Ant

Progress was rather slow, since the bee's claws kept getting stuck on stones, and the ant had to keep going back to free them. This slow progress went on for a while, and then the ant seemed to pause for a moment, then it went under the bee and somehow managed to flip it over onto its back. The ant went back to pulling the bee and progress was much faster, since the bee was sliding along on its glossy wings and the claws were safely in the air:

Bee after the ant had flipped it over

The whole procedure was watched by the much smaller red ant to the left of the first image.

It's clear that ants have great strength, but it also appears that they have reasoning power, too.

Cixius nervosus is one of the leafhoppers, and can be distinguished by the triple 'keels' on the thorax, and the lacy veins on the wings:

The leafhopper Cixius nervosus

Crane Flies are the 'Daddy Longlegs' that are so numerous at this time of year:

Cranefly on Cleavers

Their larvae are the 'leatherjackets' that eat the roots of grasses, often ruining large areas of lawn.

I rather like the way the leaves of the Cleavers mimic the legs of the Cranefly on that shot.

Looking back

2011-07-15T17:25:00.000+01:00

Having recently reached the milestone of 1400 species (it now stands at 1404), I thought I would do a little statistical analysis of my recorded data. I have been recording the local wildlife since 2003, and this graph shows the cumulative number of species found each year since then:

In 2003 and 2004 I only recorded plants, which explains the low starting point.

2006 was the first year that I started to record 'everything', so it's worth looking at the graph since then:

The curve shows a reasonable surge during 2008 and 2009, but each year since then has added fewer new species. It looks like the graph will level off somewhere around the 1450 mark, unless I add something new to the list of families that I record. Basically, it looks like I have found much of what can be seen - without trapping and by daytime - in my local area.

Whilst casting around for new directions, I came across a 1903 book on Ichneumons, and delved into its 380 pages with gusto. I was quickly able to identify one of my unnamed species from 2010 as Ophion luteus, which brought my total to 1402. I think I might have found my next area for expansion.

I also found a key to ants, and identified my local species of Wood Ant as Formica fusca:

Wood Ant - Formica fusca

And a check of the outdoor lights provided species #1404, the wonderful Brown China Mark micromoth:

Brown China Mark micromoth

The China Mark moths are very unusual, since their larvae are completely aquatic, feeding on plants in ponds and slow moving water.

1400 species milestone

2011-07-11T09:59:00.000+01:00

The weather has been very wet with some torrential downpours, but there have been a few opportunities for quick forays in the bad light.

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:

Coxcomb Prominent Moth

The Coxcomb Prominent - Ptilodon capucina - feeds on a wide range of deciduous trees, and would be much better camouflaged if it was found on a branch or on leaves.

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:

Riband Wave f. remutata

The Riband Wave feeds on many low-level herbaceous plants.

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:

Male White Ermine, showing antennae

White Ermine also feeds on low-lying herbaceous plants such as Docks.

Some of our tiniest moths are also the most beautiful. This Micropterix aruncella is only about 3-4 mm long:

Micromoth Micropterix aruncella

The larval stages of Micropterix aruncella are not known from the wild, but they are thought to feed at the base of plants.

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:

Episyrphus balteatus hoverfly

These shots are of two different specimens, but I note that in each case the rear left leg is the one that is used to grab the first anchoring point.

One of my favourite hoverflies is Leucozona lucorum:

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:

Ichneumonid deploying ovipositor

A couple of points are worth noting here: the ovipositor is bowed towards the sheath, showing that some force is required to spring it forward. This force is released very suddenly, swinging the ovipositor very quickly towards the target. I estimate that the whole process of release to target is approximately 0.3 of a second.

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:

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.

Grass Choke - Epichloe typhina

School Trips

2011-07-03T11:28:00.001+01:00

This is the time of year when I take school groups out on walks to show them the delights of our countryside. I'm normally too busy doing identifications to get decent photographs, but I do manage to squeeze in a few.

This is the major season for hoverflies: hedgerows, verges, gardens and woodland are all buzzing with them as they carry out their vital pollination.

This is Cheilosia illustrata, which I only ever find - in small numbers - on Umbellifers (Hogweed in this instance) at the edge of woodland:

The hoverfly Cheilosia illustrata

The larvae of Cheilosia illustrata mine the lower stems of Hogweed.

The Syrphus family hoverflies are all very similar and can usually only be separated by examining microscopic characters. This is Syrphus torvus, which can be identified by the hairy eyes:

The hoverfly Syrphus torvus (male)

The larvae of Syrphus torvus are aphid eaters.

New to me.

One of the great things about the internet is the way in which it connects people. As a result of online communications, I know that there has been a recent inwards migration of numerous butterflies, moths and other insects; Eupeodes corollae is one of them:

The hoverfly Eupeodes corollae

The larvae of Eupeodes corollae are also aphid eaters.

Soldier Flies are often mistaken for hoverflies, but the wing veins are distinctly different. There are a few metallic hoverflies, so the confusion is understandable.

Soldier Fly - Chloromyia formosa

This is a suitable place to show an Ectemnius wasp. Ectemnius wasps make solitary burrows for their larvae, which they feed exclusively on hoverflies. They have evolved to resemble hoverflies, presumably so that they can sneak up on them without causing them to fly off.

Ectemnius sp. wasp

Sometimes an opportunity arises to take a photograph which definitely fits more into the 'artistic' category:

This Ichneumonid was closely examining the flowers of Bush Vetch in the hope of finding some larvae to parasitise. I saw this backlit shot as it was moving from flower to flower:

Ichneumonid on Bush Vetch

And now my new favourite photograph:

Ichneumonid parasitising moth larva in Cocksfoot grass

The female Ichneumonid has detected a moth larva inside the seedhead of Cocksfoot grass, and has swung her ovipositor round to inject an egg into the caterpillar. The egg will stay dormant inside the caterpillar until it pupates, at which time the egg will hatch and consume the contents of the cocoon. It takes a great deal of patience to get a shot like that. Each shot requires perhaps 30 minutes of watching the wasp moving from seedhead to seedhead and waiting for the moment of injection. These are my favourite photographs.

This has been a tricky year for Damselflies and Dragonflies: I have seen very few. A trip to a local pond solved that for me. This is The Blue-tailed Damselfly:

Blue-tailed Damselfly

And this is the Variable Damselfly - Coenagrion pulchellum, which is new to me:

Variable Damselfly

A tall, elegant grass has been bothering me for a couple of years, so I decided to identify it this year. It's Tufted Hair Grass - Deschampsia cespitosa - which forms tufts and has stems that reach up to my shoulders. I usually find it where I would normally see Damselflies, so they must need similar conditions.

Tufted Hair-grass Deschampsia cespitosa

New to me.

Nearing 1400 species

2011-06-26T23:59:00.000+01:00

The Spotted Orchids are now well advanced, with many specimens to be seen in the right places. The first is a good 'clean' Common Spotted Orchid:

Common Spotted Orchid

This second specimen - which was growing very nearby - has features of both Heath Spotted Orchid (the frilly lower lip, with only a hint of a central tooth) and also Northern Marsh Orchid (the dark background colour)

Hybrid Spotted Orchid

As I was examining the orchids, I spotted an Eristalis hoverfly attempting to nectar. I realised I had to work quickly, so I rattled off a few shots, and was rewarded with this fine shot of the hoverfly with the attached pollinia from the orchid:

Eristalis hoverfly with orchid pollinia

The hoverfly has a short tongue, which means it has to force its head deep into the flower to attempt to reach any nectar. Unfortunately for the hoverfly, the nectar is located down a deep tube, and can only be reached by insects with a long tongue, so the attempt is always futile. But the pollinia, which contain the orchid's pollen, are very sticky and attach themselves to the hoverfly's face, causing the hoverfly to withdraw and fly off. It then flies off to another orchid and pollination takes place. I have occasionally seen hoverflies sitting on other plants, trying to remove the pollinia. Score: Orchids 1, Hoverflies 0.

The Willow Leaf Beetle Lochmaea caprea is very common on its host plant where the larvae cause extensive damage to the underside of the leaves:

Willow Leaf Beetle - Lochmaea caprea

The Devil's Coach Horse beetle - Staphylina olens - is one of a large and difficult family of beetles - the Rove Beetles.

Devil's Coach Horse Beetle

All beetles have a pair of wings that fold up inside an outer, hardened pair: the elytra. In the Rove Beetles the elytra are extremely short and the wings are folded several times to fit under their hard casings. I have marked the elytra in the picture above, and it is clear that some severe folding is required to pull the large wings into such a tiny space.

To give some idea of scale, the Willow Leaf Beetle would comfortably fit between the antennae of the Rove Beetle.

The wet early summer has been great for fungal rusts. Pucciniastrum epilobii is a common rust on Willowherbs; in this case Rosebay Willowherb:

Willowherb Rust - Pucciniastrum epilobii

New to me.

It's worth mentioning here that fungal parasites are a good indicator of close relationships between species: Rosebay Willowherb looks quite different from other members of the Epilobium family, but has the same fungal parasite.

Despite the rain

2011-06-23T21:10:00.002+01:00

The weather continues to be very unsettled, but at least the rain does stop for a little while from time to time.

The parasitic ichneumon wasps are becoming very numerous at the moment, which makes sense, because now is the time when their caterpillar hosts are around in large numbers. Ichneumons are extremely difficult to identify to species since the literature is fragmented and it takes microscopic analysis to separate them. This is compounded by the fact that our 3000 or so species converge on a very small number of colour patterns across all families. Very few can be identified by sight, although I can do a couple. Amblyjoppa proteus is the only parasite of the huge Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar, and is one of the larger species at 3 cm. long:

The Ichneumon Amblyjoppa proteus

Another one was kind enough to pose for some close-up shots:

Female Ichneumon wasp

That medium-length ovipositor suggests that this species parasitises larvae which live inside thick-stemmed plants, such as umbellifers.

This next one compounds the colour pattern problem. If you compare it with the sawfly from here, you will see that sawflies and ichneumons also converge on very similar patterns.

Ichneumon wasp

A couple of posts ago, I showed the Banded Snail. This is the very closely related Dark-lipped Banded Snail - Cepaea nemoralis:

Dark-lipped Banded Snail - Cepaea nemoralis

New to the site.

Every clump of Raspberry plants has a few Raspberry Beetles flying around:

Raspberry Beetle - Byturus tomentosus

The grubs of this beetle are the white 'worms' that are frequently found inside the fruit.

The very delicate Lesser Stitchwort is currently in flower, and can be seen climbing through grasses and other flowers, using them for support:

Lesser Stitchwort

Neoascia podagrica is the smallest hoverfly that I have found on the patch. It's never found far from lying water, and this specimen is on an opening flower of Tormentil:

The hoverfly Neoascia podagrica on Tormentil

Micromoths are also very numerous at the moment, with new species appearing daily. This is the very common Celypha lacunana, which feeds on a wide range of plants.

The micromoth Celypha lacunana

Most micromoths feed on a single plant species or sometimes on a family of plants, but Celypha lacunana has a very wide range of foodplants, including Male Fern:

Larva of Celypha lacunana on Male Fern

This flexibility of choice of foodplants is clearly one reason for its success.

I usually associate the micromoth Eupoecilia angustana with later months of the year, but this is an early year, despite the awful weather.

The micromoth Eupoecilia angustana

Lastly, a new micromoth for this site: Incurvarea praelatella. The larvae feed on various members of the Rosaceae family of plants; probably Meadowsweet in this area.

The micromoth Incurvarea praelatella

Other members of the family are leaf-miners.

Making hay

2011-06-14T11:02:00.000+01:00

Two posts in two days!

The first two shots show the larval case of the micromoth Coleophora serratella on Alder.

The larva cuts out part of the leaf and rolls it up into a cigar shape, changing the case a couple of times as it grows. The cutouts can be seen at the lower edge of the leaf, with the case towards the top of the leaf:

Larval case of micromoth Coleophora serratella

The larva moves slowly over the surface, grazing as it grows and eventually pupates, still inside the case.

Coleophora serratella on Alder

This is really just a form of leaf-mining, but it allows the moth to grow larger than it could if it was constricted to living inside the tight confines of the leaf. There are quite a few different Coleophora species, each mining different groups of plants from trees through shrubs to clovers. The clover one is particularly well-hidden as it uses one of the flowers as a case and then hides amongst the other flowers. I have looked in vain for those, but maybe they're too well-hidden.

Marsh Cinquefoil has to be one of our most easily-recognisable flowers, although I think it's rather scarce: I have only ever found it in two locations. There are a few specimens between the edge of a bog and a stream which runs along the hedgerow at this point:

Marsh Cinquefoil

The hoverfly Rhingia campestris has an extremely long tongue (arrowed) which enables it to reach nectar that other insects cannot reach.

The hoverfly Rhingia campestris on Raspberry

The tongue is so long that it needs to be folded up for storage when not in use, which leads to the very unusual 'snout' that can clearly be seen in this shot:

Rhingia campestris, showing 'snout' for storing the tongue

Rhingia campestris is a hoverfly that has been increasing its range in the past few years. It used be seen relatively close to farms, and the larvae are known to live in cattle dung, but the hoverfly can now be found far from agricultural areas. Perhaps it has started to use other sources of food.

There are many leaf miners active at the moment, and I spotted this very common leaf-mining fly Agromyza filipendulae on Meadowsweet:

Leafmining fly Agromyza filipendulae on Meadowsweet

This particular mine was worth showing for several reasons.

1) Notice that the frass (dung) is laid in two parallel lines, along each side of the mine. Many of the leaf mining flies have a very simple scraper to excavate the leaf interior and this only works in a vertical plane. But the leaf is thin and arranged horizontally, so the miner has to lie on its side as it mines. Between each slice, it flips its body through 180 degrees and that points its rear end towards the other side of the mine, leading to two parallel tracks of frass. Other miners (e.g. moths) have more sophisticated chewing mandibles and can mine in one position, leading to a single line of frass down the centre of the mine. The two-track/single-track configuration is one major feature in the identification of leaf miners.

2) The mine has changed at the point arrowed: the frass becomes confused and the larva has changed from green to a dark colour, so I'm pretty sure the larva has been parasitised at the point marked. I rather suspect we're going to find an Ichneumonid emerging instead of a fly.

3) There is a minute (1-2mm) Owl Midge at the lower right hand corner of the picture.

Of all the species that I study and photograph, I continue to find moths the most difficult to identify: the variation within species can be staggering and the similarity between different species compounds this. And that's not counting in the variation due to wear and tear. You need to learn the crucial separating features to be sure: merely looking at pictures won't always help.

The Mottled Beauty can be identified from other Beauty species by the curved black crescent at the end of the black cross-line, marked below:

Mottled Beauty moth

Mottled Beauty is a true polyphage, feeding on many trees, shrubs and flowers.

Heath

2011-06-13T14:23:00.000+01:00

This heathy area was under coniferous plantation until about 8 years ago, and the original flora and fauna are now slowly returning as the land reverts. Willows, heathers, rushes and mosses are the early colonisers, and these largely dictate which other species can be found.

Despite the awful month of May - during which it rained every day - most species are still a bit early this year, so I thought it was time to catch some Spotted Orchids before they reached full flower, when they are not nearly as attractive as they are in the early flowering stages.

This area has Spotted Orchids that cover the spectrum between Common Spotted Orchid and Heath Spotted Orchid, although the closely-related Northern Marsh Orchid that I showed last week is only about 1 kilometre away. These orchids all hybridise freely, and back-cross, so there cannot be any 'pure' specimens left. I can safely predict where I will find specimens that look most like Heath Spotted Orchid, and those are generally on the very edge of ditches, or even in lying water. I strongly suspect that the form of these hybrids is tightly governed by the micro-climate that they live in, and happily refer to all of these specimens as ecomorphs of hybrid Spotted Orchids. To that end I have started to give them a 'parentage percentage', which specifies how much of each of the parents I think are present in each specimen.

Here are a couple that I would place firmly in the Common Spotted Orchid camp, because the front lobe of the flower has a strong tooth:

Common Spotted Orchid

The next pair have the outer sides of the flower more rounded and frilled, which sees some aspects of Heath Spotted Orchid creeping in. The spike is also often flatter:

Spotted Orchid

I have included the next shot because it shows the rotation of the flower, which forms upside down, and then rotates into its upright position as it opens:

Spotted Orchid

I think that's my new favourite orchid photograph. Absolutely lovely.

The next shot shows an oddity that appeared in this location about 5 or 6 years ago:

White Bush Vetch

It's Bush Vetch, but rather than the normal blue/purple, it's purest white. When I first saw it, I suspected that some chemical dumping had taken place, but it has spread over the years and has jumped to an area that used to have the normal blue type. It's not unknown for blue or purple flowers to have white variants, and I'm told that this is more common in the west. Maybe the dampness has something to do with it.

Another few heath species have made returns. The first is Heath Milkwort, with the flower just opening:

Heath Milkwort

And my favourite Speedwell, Heath Speedwell, which forms tall, elegant spikes:

Heath Speedwell

The next two shots show two very closely-related micromoths, each about 5mm. long, and which are both leaf-miners on grasses. The first is Elachista luticomella:

Elachista luticomella

And the gorgeous Elachista argentella:

Elachista argentella

I spotted these ants attending their aphids on Willow:

Ants farming aphid for honeydew

Ants often 'farm' aphids, taking the exuded honeydew back to their nest, and protecting their aphids from attack by other species.

False dawn

2011-06-08T13:58:00.000+01:00

The high pressure weather system lasted approximately 36 hours, so we're back to rain again.

A few of our day-flying moths are quite butterfly-like in appearance and habit, although the smaller size will generally be a major clue to the difference. This is the Clouded Border - Lomaspilis marginata - which is associated with various trees. In this location it will be Willow:

Clouded Border moth - Lomaspilis marginata

There are quite a few different species of Soldier Beetle in this area. This all-red version (apart from the black knees) is Cantharis pallida:

Soldier Beetle - Cantharis pallida

Given that we're in early June, I suspect that its close relative Rhagonycha fulva will soon be appearing everywhere, especially on the flowers of various Umbellifers.

This isn't a new fly to me - I see it every year - but it is a new identification. It's the Callophorid fly Lucilia caesar:

Callophorid fly Lucilia caesar

The Callophorids contain Bluebottles, Greenbottles and Flesh Flies, which are all recyclers of carrion.

Ichneumonids are now around in large numbers. This is perfectly reasonable, since there are many caterpillars and other insect larvae around to parasitise. This one was flying between - and carefully inspecting - the unrolling fronds of Lady Fern, presumably looking for moth or sawfly larvae:

Ichneumonid on unfurling fern frond of Lady Fern

This moth larva might well be one of its targets, although I haven't identified it yet.

Moth larva on Cow Parsley

It was crawling up the stem of Cow Parsley, but it isn't one of the Umbellifer feeders. Perhaps it was just sheltering from the rain.

A dry day!

2011-06-03T09:28:00.002+01:00

Today was the first dry day since 28th April, so I wasted no time.

The Orange Tip larva continues to graze on the Cardamine seedpods:

Orange Tip larva on Lady's Smock

The micromoth in the next image is the first of two new species for me on today's page. It's Coleophora albicosta, which feeds on Gorse, spinning up inside the flowers and then, eventually, a seedpod.

The micromoth Coleophora albicosta

I like the configuration that Coleophora specimens have....very elegant.

The 6mm micromoth Elachista apicipunctella is a leaf-miner on a number of grasses:

The micromoth Elachista apicipunctella

Moth Flies, or Owl Midges have the most amazing hairy wings. The drag must be immense for such a small (4-5 mm wingspan) creature:

Owl Midge

I thought this close-up of the Banded Snail Cepaea hortensis was worth showing:

Banded Snail Cepaea hortensis

Because of the incessant rain, I missed the very start of the local orchid season. Some specimens of Northern Marsh Orchid already have open flowers:

Northern Marsh Orchid Dactylorhiza purpurella

With all the wet weather we've had, it's no surprise that the fungal rusts are so prominent. Puccinia urticata is specific to Nettle, and can cause these swellings on leaves and stems:

Nettle rust Puccinia urticata

Fungi are quite expert at manipulating the shape of plants for their own benefit; in this case to maximise the surface area for spore production and dispersal.

Athous haemorroidalis is one of the Click Beetles. Click Beetles have a mechanism (clearly shown in the picture below) whereby they can trap and release a notch on their pronotum with a sudden click and go flying up in the air to right themselves if they get stuck on their back.

Click Beetle Athous haemorroidalis

An identification that has been bothering me for perhaps 8 years has finally been resolved. The Sawfly below is a male Tenthredo livida, which can be distinguished from other Tenthredo species that have white-banded antennae by the two-tone (pale v-shaped) stigma on the wings. You can just make out the red abdomen which identifies it as a male:

Sawfly Tenthredo livida (male)

As larvae, Tenthredo livida eat a wide range of plants, but the most likely candidate in this location is Raspberry. Now that I know what it is, I can check back on Sawfly larvae that I have previously photographed on Raspberry and check them for a match. I like tying up these connections, even if they take 8 years to resolve.

St. Marks Flies continue to appear through the year, and it's now time for Bibio pomacaeus, which is readily identified by the red legs:

St. Mark's fly Bibio pomacaeus

(The leaf it's resting on belongs to another Northern Marsh Orchid.)

Flies belonging to the Empidae are sometimes known as Dance Flies because they gather in swarms and move up and down in the air as they fly around each other. This is Empis stercorea, which spends its time between dances by catching other insects and sucking out their body fluids with that long proboscis:

Snipe Fly Empis stercorea

Liriomyza congesta mines Red Clover leaves, and the single larva can be seen right in the centre of the leaf.

Leaf miner Liriomyza congesta on Red Clover

I think I have a new favourite picture, but I rather suspect I'll get a new favourite, soon.

Still raining

2011-05-23T18:45:00.002+01:00

The weather has continued to be very wet, with rain every day of May and an associated slowing-down of sightings. I have managed to sneak out in the less wet spells, however, and made the best of the bad light.

Lady's Mantle tends to sneak up and surprise you. One day it's invisible, and the next the flowers are out. The large folded leaves are ideal for insects such as micromoths to make their larval 'spinnings' for their shelter.

Lady's Mantle

The fronds of Male Fern have only just unfurled and the spore-bearing sori are already in place (although they will remain empty for quite some time, yet).)

Sori of Male Fern

The hedgerow has at least five species of Potentilla (and also the hybrid P. x mixta) in various places along its length. Silverweed is one of the easiest to identify, with its downy silver leaves:

Silverweed

The striking Marsh Cinquefoil is currently in bud, so I'll show pictures of that very soon, weather permitting.

The Orange Tip larva that I showed the other day is now about 4mm long. Note the damage to the seedpod, which the larva has caused by eating it. This is the only foodstuff that the larva will ever eat, moving from one pod to another as it finishes each one off.

Orange Tip larva showing pod damage

Bumblebee workers are busy in the gaps in the rain. They're still very small, so I suspect the rain has limited their pollen-gathering ability to quite an extent.

Bumblebee worker landing on Raspberry flower

Ichneumonids have started to appear in large numbers, which is no great surprise: their target moth and butterfly larvae are fattening up nicely, now.

Ichneumonid on Cow Parsley

Ichneumonid (left) and the hoverfly Syritta pipiens

The second shot also includes a rear view of a male Syritta pipiens hoverfly.

The next shot took me a couple of hours to tie down to species. It's a Lesser Dungfly which keys out to Cordilura rufiman. The Cordilura family is quite large, with some 22 species on the BI list. Most are dung-feeders as larvae, but C. rufiman appears to feed on the rootstock of various plants.

The Lesser Dungfly Cordilura rufiman

Surprisingly similar, but totally unrelated, is the Stilt Fly Neria cibaria. These have a strange habit of lowering their mouth to the upper surface of leaves and then rocking backwards and forwards on those long legs, shaving the upper surface of the leaf, presumably for food.

Neria cibaria - a Stilt Fly

A couple of sawflies next:

The first is on Broad Buckler fern:

Sawfly on Broad Buckler fern

And this is one of the Tenthredo sp.:

Tenthredo sp. Sawfly

The Hoverfly Cheilosia albitarsis is an associate of Creeping Buttercup. The extremely similar (and only very recently segregated) Cheilosia ranunculi is thought to associate with Bulbous Buttercup.

The hoverfly Cheilosia albitarsis

Two shots of very small (6mm) soldier beetles from the Rhagonycha family:

First, Rhagonycha limbata:

Rhagonycha limbata

And secondly, Rhagonycha lignosa, which is associated with Hawthorn flowers during the early part of its season, and can be separated from the species above by the all-dark thorax:

Rhagonycha lignosa

Rhagonycha lignosa is a new species for my list.

A couple of weeks ago, I showed one of the pollen-stealing cuckoo bees. This one looks to be another member of the same family: Nomada flava.

The kleptoparasitic cuckoo bee Nomada flava

Rhagonycha section of this page has been updated to correct the identification of Rhagonycha lignosa.

Double delay

2011-05-14T02:32:00.000+01:00

After a wonderful April, it has rained every day in May so far, sometimes very heavily. Blogger has also been offline for a few days, so I have a bit of catching up to do.

Worker Bumblebees are very numerous now, although most of the current ones are from the queen's first batch of eggs and are therefore very small. The ones gathering pollen from Raspberry flowers are scarcely larger than a pea:

Worker Bombus lucorum agg.

Hawthorns are in full flower now, and in keeping with the trend this year are bearing many more flowers than usual. Some trees are almost entirely white (and some are almost entirely pink!). The fresh flowers have pink interiors, but that very quickly disappears, leaving a much duller flower:

Hawthorn blossom - "May"

Hawthorn blossom is known as 'May', and is the origin of the northern saying: "Ne'er cast a clout e'er the May is out". Which translates to "Don't divest yourself of warming clothing until the Hawthorn has flowered".

The hoverfly Cheilosia grossa feeds on Thistles as a larva. The larvae can be detected by their effect on the host plant: any thistle that branches from ground level and appears dwarfed can be considered to be potentially 'occupied':

Male Cheilosia grossa

I already showed the first of the Orange Tip butterfly eggs here. The female lays a single egg behind the flower, waiting for the seedpod to develop. She lays only one egg because the larvae are cannibals: any young larva will be consumed by an older one. In the early season, I only ever find a single egg per plant: females detect the presence of an existing egg and will move on to other suitable plants to lay their eggs. At the end of the season, however, all the suitable plants already have eggs and I find what I call the "Let's dump eggs on all the plants in case one might just actually make it" syndrome. This photo shows at least 14 eggs on one plant:

Orange Tip eggs and larva

And top of the class to anyone who spotted the first Orange Tip larva on the seedpod at the front of the picture.

The important thing to realise here is that synchronisation is crucial: if you emerge before the host plant is ready, you will have nowhere to lay your eggs. If you emerge too late, then all the suitable (southwest to south-facing plants on an embankment to catch the sun) plants will already be occupied and your late larvae will have to hope that they don't encounter one of the early occupiers. The window of opportunity is perhaps 14 days. This theme of critical synchronisation occurs time and time again in our wildlife.

The next shot illustrates one of the most stunning aspects of our natural history:

Female Dungfly infected with Entomophthora muscae fungus

The image shows a female Dungfly that has been killed by a fungal infection. The fungus Entomophthora muscae enters the digestive tract and progresses to the abdomen where it multiplies and expands. As it expands, the pink mass begins to break through the abdominal segments as shown above. But now we come to the crucial bit of the exercise: before the fungus kills the fly, it compels the fly to climb towards a high point and then to open her wings. Then it kills her. This combination of high position and open wings affords the maximum opportunity for wind-borne spore distribution for the fungus. So the fungus gains control of the movement of the fly in order to maximise the opportunity for dispersal of its spores.

Four wings good?

2011-05-04T18:32:00.001+01:00

I usually associate the first damselflies of the year with fern fronds, because they use them as perches to sun themselves and as launching pads for a leap to catch their prey. This year, however, the ferns are still unfurling and the damsels are having to resort to Bramble for resting on. This is a female Large Red Damselfly:

Female Large Red Damselfly

The standard definition of Diptera, or flies, is that they have only two wings. This is true, but only to a certain extent. Flies do indeed have only two wings in the conventional sense, but they also have two modified wings: the halteres. This shot shows the two halteres - located just behind the large, main wings - of a Cranefly:

Halteres of Cranefly

The halteres vibrate at roughly 45 degrees from the axis of the fly, but at 90 degrees to each other. Due to the coriolis effect, they act as gyroscopes and transmit information about rotation to help the fly to stabilise during manoeuvres. Bees, wasps, butterflies, moths, dragonflies and many other insects have 4 wings, but flies generally have more manoeuvering and hovering capability due to their combination of two wings with two halteres.

When I'm looking for moths at night, I often find other insects attracted to the light. This Cockchafer was hanging on my wall last night:

Cockchafer beetle

The Cockchafer has a very interesting lifecycle: the larvae live underground for three or four years, and the adults tend to be seen more frequently in three or four year cycles. There appears to be another cycle of perhaps 30 years, when the beetles are seen in huge numbers. The specimen in the picture above appears to have lost its right antenna.

The micromoth in the next shot has a glorious name: Schreckensteinia festaliella.

This moth always lands with its middle legs outstretched and pointing upwards. I suppose with all those spikes, it must be the only safe place to put them.

As I have mentioned before (and will doubtless mention again), Pug moths are rather difficult to identify to species. The Foxglove Pug can be separated from the very similar Toadflax Pug by the 'notch' in the outer edge of the dark bar, as indicated by the arrow:

Foxglove Pug, showing notch in wing bar

Size and timings are also different between the two species, but without a comparison, and given the very early season we're having, we have to act on the clues we are left with.

All new moths

2011-05-02T09:59:00.000+01:00

The good weather has encouraged a number of moths to emerge in the past few days, many of them much earlier than we would usually expect to see them. Moths are generally tied to specific plants or plant families, so the basic rule is: the more native plant species you have in your area, then the wider will be the variety of species of moth you will be able to find.

My first new moth for today comes with a little bit of controversy: many moths are bivoltine - they have two generations per year. This is complicated by the fact that some species have two generations in southern areas, but only one generation in northern areas. The Engrailed moth has tentatively been divided into two species - Engrailed and Small Engrailed, largely based around the number of generations in different areas. The picture is currently far from clear, and perhaps we're just part way through the evolution of a new species. Until the matter is resolved, we have to refer to these specimens as Engrailed/Small Engrailed.

Engrailed/ Small Engrailed

Both species feed on a wide range of trees and shrubs.

The Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet can be separated from confusion species by the 'notch' in the front edge of the dark band on the wing. The larvae feed on herbaceous plants such as Dock.

Dark-barred Twin-spot Carpet

Nut-tree Tussock feeds on broad-leaved trees as a larva:

Nut-tree Tussock

Everyone knows that Swallows fly from Africa to nest here every year. It's fairly well-known that butterflies such as the Painted Lady and Red Admiral can make a similar journey. What is much less well known is that we have micromoths that are also migrant. The Diamondback moth is only about 10mm long, but if the wind is right, then we can find them in good numbers in favourable years. They are too delicate to survive our cold winters, so we can be sure that any we find have made the journey from the Mediterranean area:

Diamondback moth

I'm waiting for confirmation of the identity of this moth that came to light last night, but I'm fairly confident that it's Glaucus Shears:

Glaucus Shears - tentative identification

This moth is a good example of the effect of habitat: they are only found very near their host plants; Heathers, Bilberry and other heath plants. Also suspected to be migrant.

All of these moths are new to me, so my Species Index has suddenly leapt to 1393 species.

New lough

2011-04-28T00:14:00.000+01:00

A visit to a new location - an interesting blend of heath, bog and lake - yielded a decent set of images for today.

We're right in the peak of the Orange Tip butterfly season, and there were hundreds of them chasing, nectaring and egg-laying on their host plant: Cardamine pratensis. This is a male, and if you look closely, you can see a single orange egg just to the right of centre:

Male Orange Tip and egg

This is the first female I saw this year, although there were plenty at the location:

Female Orange Tip butterfly

Every plant had one or two specimens of either sex jostling for position:

Orange Tip males

Bog Violet is easily distinguished by its pale, rounded flowers and very round leaves. It's always found in boggier areas:

Bog Violet

This Flame Carpet moth was flying around in broad daylight, although I usually only see it late at night:

Flame Carpet moth

Staying with moths, this Drinker Moth caterpillar was basking on a large rock. I associate these with dry grasses and reeds.

Drinker Moth larva

The leaves on the Willow bushes are only just opening and already the Willow Leaf Beetle - Lochmaea caprea - has made an appearance. The black larvae will eat the upper surface of many leaves over the next few weeks.

Willow Leaf beetle - Lochmaea caprea

The black fly at the top of the picture is a male of one of the Bibio St. Marks Flies.

Good Weather

2011-04-27T11:28:00.000+01:00

We're currently in the best spell of weather that I can remember since moving to Ireland 12 years ago. It's already an early year in many places and it's difficult to keep up with the backlog of images that I'm taking. Nice complaint to have...

I'll start off with a picture of what has to be my favourite bee - Andrena cineraria. Andrenas are all solitary bees, digging their own little tunnels, laying the eggs and collecting pollen to feed the growing larvae. Andrenas are generally quite difficult to identify, but Andrena cineraria is very distinctive with its grey shoulder stripe. She looks rather like a thin bumblebee worker:

The mining bee Andrena cineraria

I haven't seen any female Orange Tip butterflies yet, but they're obviously around. This single egg was laid today behind the flower where the seedpod will form:

Egg of Orange Tip butterfly

The egg is clearly very fresh (it's green), but it will be orange by tomorrow.

I got a nice side-shot of the very common Melanostoma scalare hoverfly:

Male Melanostoma scalare hoverfly

These are by far the most numerous hoverfly at this time of year. Later on in the year, the females fall prey to the parasitic fungus Entomophthora muscae in very large numbers.

Moths are continuously coming to light at night, and I spotted this little (1 cm.) moth:

Moths of that size are usually micromoths, but this is one of the macromoths that confuses all newcomers to moth identification. It's the Least Black Arches - Nola confusalis, which feeds on a number of woody shrubs. Judging by the specific name, I rather suspect the people who originally named it were a bit confused, too.

Something to look out for:

Entry holes of Cocksfoot moth larvae in Cocksfoot grass

The Cocksfoot moth is very numerous around verges with Cocksfoot grass, and will shortly be seen flitting around like glittering dust. If you look at stems of last year's grass and peel back the top leafblade you might well find these holes indicating where the pupa has overwintered. These minute moths are well worth looking for: their metallic slate-grey background with white feathering is very beautiful.

Limestone

2011-04-21T11:22:00.001+01:00

I live in an area of highly acid soil, so I'm always keen to visit limestone areas. Soil type largely governs which plants can be found in a particular area, and different plants support different insects, so I always expect to find something new or different on these trips. Lough Erne is also much closer to sea level, so it's probably 7-10 days earlier than my local area.

My local violet is the Common Dog Violet - Viola riviniana, but this area has both riviniana and Viola reichenbachiana. The most obvious differences are the narrower flower and more pointed leaves:

Viola reichenbachiana

And the dark, straight spur behind the flower:

Viola reichenbachiana spur

Both violets were growing on a verge accompanied by Ground Ivy:

Ground Ivy

Bluebells were just starting to open:

And this Dock Leaf Beetle - Gastrophysa viridula - was either touring or lost: they are rarely seen far from Dock leaves.

I spotted my first Ichneumonid of the year. The size suggests that these will be looking for either large flies or small moths:

This flower is Cardamine pratensis, which is the main foodplant of the Orange Tip butterfly, but is also used by the Green-veined White:

The minute moth is Micropteryx calthella, which is associated almost exclusively with Buttercups in my area, but it clearly uses other nectar sources when they are available. I don't expect to see Micropteryx calthella for perhaps another 3 weeks on my patch (the buttercups aren't even in bud yet).

I was delighted to find a new hoverfly species on the same verge. This is Epistrophe eligans, one of the earlier species to emerge:

Male Epistrophe eligans

Another plant that I only ever see on limestone is the Cuckoo Pint, a most wonderful member of the Arum family:

Cuckoo Pint

No matter where I find Holly, I always find its leaf miner, Phytomyza ilicis. I was always curious that only one species of miner lives in Holly leaves because it seems such a safe place for an insect to live. It turns out that Holly heals very quickly when damaged, and the plant considers the mine to be a wound. Phytomyza ilicis is the only miner that moves quickly enough to keep ahead of the healing process:

Phytomyza ilicis on Holly

Moth flies are a mysterious group of flies that run around on plant leaves like little planes trying to take off. The larvae live in cesspits, drains and compost heaps:

Moth Fly

Lough Erne is a large expanse of water, so I usually expect to find some water-based species.

Alder Fly larvae are aquatic, and I only ever find the adults near rivers, ponds or lakes. The Alder Fly Sialis lutaria has to be one of the least aptly named of all species. It isn't a fly (it has 4 wings and is related to lacewings) and it has no association with Alder:

Alder Fly Sialis lutaria

Talking of aquatic species, I spotted this Coot sitting on her nest:

Coot

A couple of fungi to finish.

Last year I found a rather rare fungal infection - Taphrina crataegi - on Hawthorn. The leaves are only just open, and this bush was already infected:

Taphrina crataegi on Hawthorn

This appears to be the first record for Northern Ireland.

April 23rd is St. George's day, and St. George's mushroom - Tricholoma gambosum - is traditionally found around this date:

St. George's mushroom - Tricholoma gambosum

The spores are minute, around 5 x 3 microns:

High Speed

2011-04-19T19:17:00.000+01:00

With the current warm weather, every minute seems to deliver new insects and flowers.

Butterflies are hatching, and as soon as they emerge they seem to be concentrating on the next generation just as quickly as they can. This shot shows a pair of Green-Veined Whites: male at the top of the picture, female at the bottom:

Pair of Green-Veined White butterfly

At the moment, the male Orange Tips are still patrolling, looking for the females:

Male Orange Tip butterfly

I think the underside of the Orange Tip is quite beautiful (as well as being good camouflage):

Male Orange Tip - underside

Small Tortoiseshells are looking very threadbare now: they overwinter as adults and the wings have lost most of their scales.

Small Tortoiseshell butterfly

I was watching another of the cuckoo Bumblebees - Bombus bohemicus - and managed to get a clear shot of one of the identification features. Since these bees don't collect pollen for themselves, they have no use for pollen baskets:

Cuckoo Bumblebee - Bombus bohemicus

Solitary bees make their own nests, with the female collecting pollen to feed her own brood. Solitary bees are usually either mining bees (make tunnels in soil) or mason bees (make tunnels in soft stone or mortar). It should come as no surprise that there are bees which are parasitic on solitary bees, and there are a few species of Nomada which are kleptoparasitic on solitary bees - they steal the pollen from the tunnels. This appears to be Nomada leucopthalma, a kleptoparasite of Andrena clarkiella, which is just coming to the end of its season (they collect only willow pollen). So Nomada leucopthalma will be coming to the end of its season, too:

Nomada leucopthalma

A few more flowers opened today:

Bush Vetch:

Bush Vetch

Common Fumitory:

Common Fumitory

And everyone is talking about the Blackthorn flowers this year. The show is quite stunning:

Blackthorn Flowers

April 28th is St. Mark's day, and the Bibio genus of flies appears on or around that date, so they are commonly known as St. Marks Flies. With this being such an early year, they are a couple of weeks earlier than usual:

Male St. Marks Fly

The large black flies that you will currently see flying with their hind legs dangling down is another, larger, species of Bibio.

Tomorrow I'm off to a limestone area, so I should find something interesting there.

Little differences

2011-04-17T13:37:00.001+01:00

Our native butterflies appear in a rather strict sequence depending on whether they overwinter as adults (e.g. Small Tortoiseshell) or as pupae (e.g.Green-veined White), below:

Green-veined White butterfly

This close-up shows that the 'green' veins are actually made up of minute yellow and black scales under the wings:

Green-veined White closeup

Male Orange Tip butterflies are also out now, in tight synchronisation with their host plant, Cardamine pratensis. They are patrolling hedgerows at the moment, establishing their territories, and the females will emerge in the next week or so.

If butterflies and moths are around, then their deadly enemy the Tachinid fly is bound to be around, too:

Tachinid Fly

These are parasitic on the larvae of numerous insects, laying their eggs either near the larvae (so they can be accidentally eaten by them) or directly onto them. They then live internally in the larvae, consuming fat reserves and other non-essential parts before emerging to pupate themselves. In field tests around 80% of butterfly and moth caterpillars are found to be parasitised. Tachinids can be differentiated from other larger flies by the long spines and bristles that cover all parts of their body.

Germander Speedwell is opening up all along the hedgerow:

Germander Speedwell

If you're ever in any doubt about a Germander identification, check the stalks. If they have a pair of rows of hairs, then your identification is secure:

Germander Speedwell stalk, showing the twin rows of hairs

Sawflies are a very under-documented part of the bee and wasp family. They take their name from the female's modified stinger, which takes the form of a saw which is used to cut slots in leaves. She then lays eggs in the slots and they hatch out into larvae that very closely resemble the caterpillars of moths and butterflies. Sawflies can be tricky to identify, but if you see a v-shaped suture on the thorax, then you can be pretty sure it's a sawfly.

Adult Sawfly

I checked the lights last night for moths, but it was raining, so there were no moths around. I did, however, spot this snail crossing the step:

Early year?

2011-04-13T10:28:00.000+01:00

I'm hearing many reports of species being 'early' this year. Species have been appearing at earlier and earlier dates over the past few years; so much so that it has almost become the accepted norm and people don't even mention it any more. But this year I'm again noticing that more people are making special mention of early specimens of moths, butterflies and other insects, so perhaps things are particularly early this year.

The following shot certainly illustrates that trend as far as I'm concerned, but before I discuss it, what type of insect do you think the following picture shows? (bumblebee, wasp, fly, other?):

Male Eristalis intricarius

Well, to put you out of your misery, it's a hoverfly: a male Eristalis intricarius. These are good bumblebee mimics, and at first glance, when they're stationary, they are easily mistaken for Bombus lucorum.

A few identification pointers might help. Firstly, it has only two wings; flies have two wings, bees have four. Secondly, the head is almost completely made up of eyes. In a bee, the eyes are long and narrow, with visible parts of the 'face' on both sides of the eyes. (Incidentally, the fact that the eyes meet in the middle is what makes it so clearly a male). Thirdly, what appears to be an orange stripe between the wings is actually the shiny scutellum, and isn't really a stripe at all. Finally, if you look carefully at the wing veins, you can clearly see the famous 'Eristalis bulge', which is unique to the Eristalis group of hoverflies:

Eristalis 'bulge'

The shot also illustrates another of the wing features which identify hoverflies: the 'False margin':

The trailing edge of the wing is not constrained by a vein: it is free to flex as the wing moves. I rather suspect this is one of the main reasons why a hoverfly can hover so accurately.

In terms of earliness, I have only once seen Eristalis intricarius before June: I have come to regard it as a summer species. The references say from March, but that would probably be a date from much further south.

The next shot shows a couple of tiny flies (on Dandelion for scale). On the left is a Sepsid fly: these run around on leaves and flowers with their wings flapping up and down in a semaphore fashion. On the right is one of our smallest hoverflies, Neoascia podagrica:

Sepsid (L) and Neoascia podagrica (R)

Here's a close-up of the (8mm. long, female) hoverfly:

This is again much earlier than I would normally expect to see it.

In terms of grasses, the first to flower around here is usually Sweet Vernal Grass, but that hasn't appeared yet. Instead, I found Meadow Foxtail:

Meadow Foxtail

I have included a little insert (top left) showing the very short 'ligule' which can be used to assist with identification.

Recolonisation

2011-04-10T16:12:00.000+01:00

The area I went to today was Spruce plantation for 50 years, then it was clear-felled about 10 years ago. The original heath environment has recovered somewhat, leading to a wide diversity of wildlife where there was nothing but a black, arid desert for 50 years.

The area is rich in lichens, mosses and heathers, and the remaining stumps and logs are home to more lichens, fungi and insects.

Bilberry is just flowering now, and this flower has drops of what I presume is nectar forming on the inside:

Bilberry flower

Racomitrium mosses have a very distinctive appearance: each leaf ends in a long, twisted hair that gives the plant an overall pale colouring.

Racomitrium lanuginosum

Peltigera lichens are very leafy in appearance, although their colouring ranges from black to palest grey. This huge (40 cm.) specimen of Rabbit's Paw lichen -Peltigera membranacea - is growing on a dead log.

Here's a close-up of one or two of the individual 'leaves' (properly called 'thalli'):

Peltigera membranacea

Equisetums (popularly known as Horsetails) are some of our most ancient plants. This immediate area has three species in very close proximity, although I do know of a nearby area with Wood Horsetail which clings onto remnants of its original woodland habitat (which presumably preceded the Spruce plantation).

Marsh Horsetail tends to grow in the fringes of wet areas:

Marsh Horsetail

Whilst Water Horsetail definitely prefers its feet to be very wet:

Water Horsetail

Field Horsetail has separate, pale, fruiting growths, which precede the green non-reproductive shoots:

Field Horsetail

Horsetails reproduce via spores which have hair-like growths attached to them. These hairs are very sensitive to humidity and they expand and contract very rapidly, enabling the spores to move through the undergrowth as if they were walking.

This next shot is rather interesting:

Bombus bohemicus

It's Bombus bohemicus, one of the parasitic Cuckoo Bumblebees. Bombus bohemicus is parasitic on the white-tailed Bombus lucorum complex and, yet again, timing is critical here. The queen of the host species finds a place for her nest and lays her first batch of worker eggs. The cuckoo bumblebee then invades the nest and kills the original queen before laying her own eggs. The host workers then proceed to feed the cuckoo bees for the rest of the season. I watched this cuckoo bumblebee feeding on nectar and then it proceeded to remove all traces of pollen from its legs (you can see the pollen on the grass in the picture.) Since one of the primary roles that bumblebees perform is pollination, it's clear that adult cuckoo bumblebees are of no benefit to either plants or their hosts.

Another legacy of the original woodland environment is the occasional specimen of Wood Sorrel:

Wood Sorrel

Micromoths are just beginning to make their appearance for the year. This is Grapholita jungiella:

The micromoth Grapholita jungiella

These micros are very active at the moment, and you usually have to be patient enough to follow their very erratic flight in order to see them at rest after they eventually land.