Heat at last

We had a couple of warm days and suddenly everything is moving.

Solitary bees dig private tunnels in soil where they lay their own eggs and bring back pollen to a store which will feed the larvae when they hatch. These nests are often grouped in 'aggregations' of tunnels where the situation is favourable, but each individual tunnel remains self-sufficient. The largest family is Andrena, where the females can often resemble small bumblebees. My favourite is Andrena cineraria, where the female appears to be wearing a Barbarians rugby jersey:

Female Andrena cineraria gathering pollen

Once the pollen has been gathered, the female will seal the tunnel and the larvae will hatch, eat the pollen, pupate and then hibernate until next spring. The species with the shortest season is Andrena clarkella, which feeds exclusively on Willow pollen, and most nests will already be sealed: this is a bee that can be seen for perhaps 50-60 days each year.

Staying with Dandelions, I spotted this 14-spot ladybird in the precise centre of one. this will give a good idea of scale:

14-spot ladybird on Dandelion

And an intriguing shot of an aberrant Dandelion:

Aberrant Dandelion

Dandelions belong to the Compositae, which includes Thistles, Daisies, Knapweed, etc. Each 'flower' is actually a composite collection of individual flowers, some of which are Ray florets (the outer ones), and an inner group of Disc florets. This specimen appears to have dispensed not only with disc florets, but also with the reproductive parts of the ray florets. I rather suspect that this is a genetic experiment that is doomed to be unfit for survival. All flowers on the same plant were identical.

The following shot shows just how late this year has become. I normally see Greater Stitchwort in late March, but this specimen is at least 6 weeks behind the usual date:

Greater Stitchwort

Lady's Mantle has a habit of not being there one day, and then being fully opened the next. When I was down taking a shot of the lovely folding leaves, I noticed a couple of other leaves waiting to be discovered:

a) Lady's Mantle b) Meadowsweet c) Meadow Buttercup

Flowers of the Lady's Mantle are at the lower left.

I wasn't expecting to see too many fungi at this time of year, but I found a couple of very old Polyporus badius on dead Snowberry:

Polyporus badius

And a couple of specimens of a Psathyrella which I think is Psathyrella spadiceogrisea. I'll do some microscopic work on these once the spores have been gathered:

Psathyrella cf. spadiceogrisea

Yesterday, I saw 3 species of butterfly in the garden. There were perhaps half a dozen Small tortoiseshells, a single Green-veined White and late on, a single Speckled Wood.

Small Tortoiseshell butterfly

The Green-veined White and Speckled Wood are this year's first butterflies, whereas the Small Tortoiseshells are actually last year's autumn brood which have emerged from hibernation. Orange Tip has to be next, since the Cardamine is out.

Bilberry has flowered, so perhaps we might see a Green Hairstreak or two in the next week or so:

Bilberry flowers

I was a little surprised to find Field Woodrush on the patch. I normally see Heath Woodrush, and maybe I have been ignoring these smaller specimens. One major clue to identification is the pale 'blob' at the end of each leaf:

Field Woodrush - Luzula campestris

Lastly for today, a few specimens of Green Alkanet were spotted on a verge at the side of a remote road:

Green Alkanet

These are garden escapes, but I cannot imagine anyone taking their garden refuse for such a distance in order to dump it. Maybe bird-sown.

Very mixed bag

The 14-spot ladybird is very often overlooked: it's much smaller than the common 7-spot, being roughly the same size as a match head (and the same size as the 10-spot).

My last blog entry showed Taphrina alni, a fungus that alters the growth pattern of Alder cones. The Taphrina family is quite large and appears on different trees, always distorting leaves or cones in order to increase the spore-bearing surface area. As soon as I saw this curled leaf-edge on Hawthorn, Taphrina came to the front of my mind, and a quick look at the references revealed Taphrina crataegi:

No previous Irish records.

This is the time of year to examine the flowers of rushes for the tiny larval cases of the Coleophora micromoths:

The fungal season has certainly arrived. I think I'll visit Ards on Sunday. This is the very common Bolbitius vitellinus:

Staying with fungi, this is the very rare Suillus flavidus which I first recorded for Ireland about 5 years ago. It's a Pine associate, and is never found more than a few metres away from its tree:
It looks rather like a smaller and paler version of Slippery Jack (which can often be found close to it, since that is also a Pine associate). The two main identification features are the red jelly ring:
And the large angular spore tubes:
It would be worth checking your Pine trees to see if you can find it.

This Rosy Rustic came to light:
It's very common, presumably due to its very wide range of larval foodplants.

Moths and Beetles

A few more moths to light. First of all, Plain Golden Y - Autographa jota:



Riband Wave - Idaea aversata:


Flame Shoulder - Ochropleura plecta:


I had no idea that the female 14-spot ladybird was so much larger than the male:


And now we have it...Rhagonycha fulva, a Soldier Beetle. A clear sign that the nights are drawing in.

Summer Solstice

Large update to the Species List. 24 new species added, so it's right up-to-date.

Not too much to show today, but I thought this image of the 14-spot ladybird having lunch at the expense of an Aphid was worth showing.