Blue skies smiling at me

We rarely have high pressure weather systems over Donegal, but the past week has been like this:

Con-trail over Mongorrey

High pressure at this time of year produces sun during the day and frost at night, so we have had a couple of nights with -4 and -5c, but the days are warm enough to bring out the first insects.

I can almost predict that the first hoverfly of the year will be a female Eristalis tenax, and sure enough, I spotted this one today on a Dandelion:

Female Eristalis tenax on Dandelion

Females of Eristalis tenax overwinter as mated adults, so they are ready to produce eggs as soon as it's warm enough. Related Eristalis species overwinter as pupae, so although the tenax females have a head start, they are at risk if the winter is very cold.

I went up to see if there was any frog spawn at the usual places, but none was visible, although I have seen a few frogs at night. I did, however, see a few midges in loose clouds:

Midge cloud

This is still a good time of year to see lichens before the green growth obscures them. I found a large specimen of Peltigera membranacea (Rabbit's-Paw Lichen):

Peltigera membranacea - 'Rabbits-paw lichen'

The underside of the thallus is covered with spiky rhizines, which are used as anchors:

Rhizines on the underside of the thallus of Peltigera membranacea

There are quite a few different species of Peltigera on the patch, but P. membranacea is easily distinguished by the pale blue thallus.

Evernia prunastri can be distinguished from other similar species by the twin-forked branching structure:

Evernia prunastri on Willow

Cladonia portentosa is most often seen apparently growing on the ground amongst mosses and heaths, but it's actually growing on buried wood. This specimen is growing on a badly-decomposed log:

Cladonia portentosa on decayed log

Night brings out the spring moths, and my first for the year is the Dotted Border:

Dotted Border moth

The Dotted Border feeds on a wide range of broad-leaf trees as a larva. I'll leave you to work out where its name comes from.

Here's the result of living in a wet climate:

Peziza domiciliana

Peziza domiciliana is a fungus which is most commonly found indoors, growing through concrete. This specimen is happily growing in the boot of my car.

New to my species list (and not previously recorded in Ireland, although I find that difficult to believe).

More moths

The rain continues, but there is an occasional gap when it's safe for insects to fly. If it's dry at night, then we have a chance that a few moths will come to light, and I keep my porch lights (which can be seen for at least 5 miles) on just in case. My house sits on a south-facing slope over a river valley, and there's a bit of rough bog about a mile away, so I can attract moths from quite a range of different habitats when timing and conditions are right.

There are perhaps half a dozen different species of moth flying at the moment, with many more to be expected when the Willow catkins open, which should be about 2 weeks away.

This is the Chestnut:

Chestnut moth - Conistra vaccinii

The Chestnut overwinters as an adult, emerging from its hiding place to feed when conditions are favourable. I have seen and photographed this species a number of times, but this specimen is very much paler than I would expect, although it's obviously quite worn. The larvae feed on a wide range of broadleaf trees and also Docks.

Much easier to identify is the Dotted Border, which gets its name from the row of dots on the trailing edge of the wings:

Dotted Border - Agriopis marginaria

The Dotted Border overwinters underground as a pupa, emerging in February, and the larvae feed on a very wide range of trees and shrubs, and also heather. This is another moth where the female is flightless.

The weather has been much warmer than we had in the last two winters, with just a few nights of frost, so the spring is quite early, with a few flowers just beginning to show. The Willow catkins are on the verge of opening, so that will bring out the early bees, hoverflies and Willow-dependent moths including the various Quakers.

Willow catkins about to open

New directions

We've had some warm and sunny days recently, although the temperature has dropped at night. This Dotted Border moth - Agriopis marginaria - came to light:

Male Dotted Border

The Dotted Border is another of our moths with flightless females, and the larvae feed on many broadleaf trees and shrubs.

One thing that I have been promising myself (or threatening myself) for quite some time now is to develop some skill in wildlife painting. My chosen medium is watercolour with ink, because I like the intensity and accuracy that indian ink adds to watercolour. For the past couple of weeks, I have been working on a portrait of the Small Tortoiseshell butterfly (which incidentally can be seen flying at the moment), and I now feel brave enough to reveal my efforts to the internet audience:

I suppose the actual painting/inking time was perhaps 3 hours, but with large gaps between sessions to layer the colours and let things dry.

The original is about 15 cm. x 10 cm.

First Moth of 2009

My first moth of 2009 is a Dotted Border - Agriopis marginaria - right on season. It's amazing that any flying insect should choose to brave these frozen days and nights, but I suppose there are fewer parasites around.

Guess where it got its common name from.