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).

Lichens and leaves

Just when I thought the season couldn't get any more odd, I spotted a Willow making new leaves on a couple of shoots:

New Willow leaves

This is the same Willow specimen that has the opening catkins on it, so it has obviously been thoroughly confused: the leaves on this specimen of Willow normally appear after the catkins, rather than at the same time. I have received reports that Daffodils are making good growth in a nearby location, so something odd is happening.

This is a good time of year to have a look at lichens. Although they are present all year round, they are often hidden by leaves and plants, so they are now more visible and accessible.

Lichens are a combination of a fungus and a photosynthetic partner. They are usually described as a symbiotic relationship between the fungus and either an alga or a cyanobacterium, but I see it more as a boss-victim relationship for reasons that I have previously explained numerous times. Either way, lichens can be found in wildly varying shapes and colours and are very important as pioneer species, converting wood and rock into soil over time.

There are several reproductive strategies used by lichens: some create fruit bodies which are purely fungal, and eject spores into the atmosphere in the hope that they will land on a nearby victim in order to create a new specimen. Others create little packages of fungal material combined with trapped algae which are ejected as 'starter packs' of lichens ready to go. Still others grow on fragile material such as soil and simply fracture into a new specimen.

Some lichens use more than one of these reproductive techniques, and can therefore be found in different states, depending on which strategy they have currently chosen. This specimen of Hypotrachyna(Parmelia) revoluta is very unusual, in that it has produced purely fungal fruitbodies. One is visible just to left of centre:

Hypotrachyna(Parmelia) revoluta with fruitbody (orange)

Hypotrachyna revoluta is very much a western species and can be found mostly on wood, but sometimes on rock. New to my Species list.

Ramalina calicaris, on the other hand, regularly produces fruitbodies, and they can be seen here as little cups on the tips of most of the branches:

Ramalina calicaris

The orange material to the lower left and upper right of the branch is the alga Trentepohlia, which is one of the victims of choice used as part of many lichens. It is no coincidence that Trentepohlia and lichens are often found in the same location, since the lichen has probably formed principally due to the prior existence of the alga in that precise location.

Evernia prunastri is readily identified by the bifurcating branches, which make it look like antlers:

Evernia prunastri

The upper surface can be grey or green, but the underside (shown) is almost white.

Platismatia glauca is another new species for me. It is usually found on the upper side of horizontal branches:

Platismatia glauca

New to my Species list

Lecanora chlarotera is a very common lichen on Willows. I think there are few trees without some of this somewhere on the trunk:

Lecanora chlarotera

I love the colour of those fertile fruitbodies, somewhere between olive and brown. Notice how straight the line of fruitbodies is on that sample. I have a strong suspicion that these lichens are spread by slugs, perhaps even after the spores have passed through them and been left in the trail they leave behind.

Peltigera sp. lichens have very leafy structures and can grow very large. This specimen has been tentatively identified as Peltigera lactucifolia, but the orange fruitbodies seem to be the wrong shape (round, rather than elongate). Research ongoing by the good and great, but I think it's actually Peltigera horizontalis.

Peltigera cf. lactucifolia

Pannaria rubiginosa is a very attractive lichen with a distinctive appearance:

Pannaria rubiginosa

The victim in this case is the cyanobacterium Nostoc, which can often be found as a green/brown jelly on paths and carpark surfaces.

That's another two species for my species list, which must be nearing a total of 1450. I'll update it before the year runs out.

Spring?

Right on schedule, a male March Moth - Alsophila aescularia - came to light:

(It has to be a male: the female is wingless)

A quick check on a nearby chrysalis of the Large White butterfly shows that it has survived the attentions of both the parasitic wasp and hungry Great Tit. (Note the 'lassoo' of silk that it used to attach itself to the vertical wall, just about 1/3 of the way down from the top.)


Typha latifolia has variously been known as Reedmace and Bulrush. Seemingly, Bulrush is gaining in favour again.


If you peel back the outer layers of last year's leaves you might well notice some entry/exit holes. These belong to the Bulrush Wainscot, a moth which lives inside the plant as a larva and pupa:


It almost goes without saying that if you don't have Typha, you won't have Bulrush Wainscot moths, so they are very dependent on marshy/boggy habitat.

As I walked away from the Typha plants, I spotted this Evernia prunastri lichen on a willow:


One of the things I love about the internet is the way things link to each other, leading to unexpected connections. In May 2008, I showed the excellent mining bee Andrena cineraria.

That image was picked up by an artist living in Florida, and the resultant artwork has been shown here:

http://pencilandleaf.blogspot.com/2010/03/glamorous-grey-mining-bee.html

Isn't that wonderful?