Playing catch-up

The unexpectedly long period of warm weather in April brought everything on very quickly, so we're having what I can only describe as an early and 'strong' spring and early summer. I'm already seeing species that I would not expect until the end of May or start of June, and the Orange Tip butterflies have already laid their eggs:

Orange-Tip butterfly egg

The female lays a single egg (the larvae are cannibals) at the rear of the flower where the seedpod will form. The larva will feed on the seedpods as its sole food until it pupates.

The males are already sedate enough to stop for a photograph: normally they are far too flighty most of the way through May.

Male Orange Tip butterfly

Towards the end of the season - probably around 3 weeks' time - females run out of empty flowers and 'dump' their eggs on plants which already have eggs (or even larvae) in situ. These are doomed to be eaten, but the desperate females rely on the remote chance that their eggs will survive. This shows the importance of synchronisation with the sole foodplant: too early and there will be nowhere to lay; too late and all the suitable flowers will already be occupied.

Fungal rusts are also wasting no time:

Uromyces dactylidis on Creeping Buttercup

In common with most other rusts, Uromyces dactylidis requires an alternate host to live on while the primary vegetation is missing. In this case it's a range of grasses. I always find it intriguing that alternate hosts are rarely closely related to the primary host.

I'm currently working with a number of schools in the Heritage in Schools programme run by the Heritage Council in Ireland. This enables schools to book visits by heritage experts at a lower price than they would normally pay. I'm covering Natural Heritage, and this shot was taken at a visit to a school last week:

Common Frog

During a six-week period, we will count the species in a number of local habitats and draw up a biodiversity map for the local area. This will enable us to determine factors that encourage or inhibit biodiversity.

One early species found last week was the bumblebee-mimicking hoverfly Eristalis intricarius. During the early years of my local survey, this species confined to one small local area, but in recent years I have found it in more and more locations. It must be finding something that is beneficial.

The bumblebee-mimicking hoverfly Eristalis intricarius

Things are moving!

Out for a walk with the dogs tonight, I spotted this female frog crossing the path in front of us. Quick dash back to the car to get the camera and she's recorded for posterity: 

Female Rana temporaria

I also saw a newt which had tried to cross the same path earlier, but it hadn't been as lucky with the traffic.

It's amazing what a little heat (or less cold!) can do.

Ards fungal foray

I rather suspected that this was going to be a good year for fungi and Ards rarely disappoints.

We spent a couple of hours wandering through ancient deciduous forest with occasional lumps of Spruce and found fungi of all kinds with almost every footstep. I din't manage to get too many photographs, as I was being pulled in four directions at once to see what people had discovered.

Asterophora parasitica was virtually everywhere, which is odd because I'd never seen it here before:

These are parasitic on dead Russulas and Lactarius, and you can just make out the shiny dead cap of the host underneath them.

This little cluster of Sulphur Tuft was growing on a dead stump in one of the coniferous patches:

Some of the fungi we found are tiny. I have left my (dirty) thumbnail uncropped to give an indication of the size of this Hemimycena:

I usually find the extraordinarily rare Phellodon melaleucus in precisely the same place every year, and always make sure that anyone with me gets to see it. Most mycologists will never see this in a lifetime:

I spotted this frog whilst I was down looking at some mushrooms. It is so perfectly camouflaged that most people couldn't see it even when I pointed it out:

This exotic-looking mushroom is one of the Phlegmaceum subgroup of Cortinarius:

Other new species seen, but not photographed:

Amanita virosa (Destroying Angel)

Leccinum roseofractum

Progress continues

From time to time I like to photograph common species from unusual angles. This is Lesser Celandine, which I see has just had its latin name changed to Ficaria verna.

Hartstongue Fern is the first of the local species to show new growth:

I always think new fern shoots are very animal-like.

Another of the early micromoths - Grapholita jungiella. This one eats the leaves of various members of the pea family: Bush Vetch in this location.

Frog tadpoles are making some progress. These are in a very shallow rut in a field entrance, so I suspect they won't reach maturity.

My father has managed to hand-tame a Robin in his garden. This is the same place where I used to summon a cock Chaffinch by whistling some 40 years ago.

Through a lens, but not the camera

This Common Frog - Rana temporaria - was wandering across my lawn. It looks to have had a decent summer, stocking up on its winter reserves.

The coppery sheen to the eye is always very attractive, but I have another reason for going in closer still........

If you get the light just right, and the focus even more precise, you can get the reflection from the frog's eye. So this is how I look to a frog.

Interesting sky behind me....