Surprises

In my last post, I showed the buds of Barren Strawberry. The flowers have now opened:

Barren Strawberry

As I was taking the shot, my eye was attracted to a flash of purple to my right and I saw the first flowers of Germander Speedwell:

Germander Speedwell

The second surprise for today was the sudden appearance of the Scarlet Elf Cap - Sarcoscypha austriaca var. austriaca:

Scarlet Elf Cap

This isn't a scarce species in damp woodland at this time of year, but it's the first time I have seen it on this patch.

Third surprise was this little Sepsid fly:

Sepsis punctum

Sepsids are known as 'Semaphore flies' due to their habit of waving their spotted wingtips up and down in some sort of signalling ritual. This one was busy cleaning itself, so I'm pretty sure it had just emerged, triggered by the warm sunshine. New identification.

Next surprise was the Cow Parsley beginning to open. I don't normally expect to see that until April.

Cow Parsley just opening

When looking at flowers, I always check for miners, and sure enough, the usual suspect was present and correct:

The mine of Phytomyza chaerophylli on Cow Parsley

You can just make out the shiny black pupa at the top of the mine.

Staying with miners, I noticed this odd mine of the micromoth Stigmella aurella on Bramble:

Badly-formed mine of Stigmella aurella

This one made its first wrong turn when it met the second vein and turned back on itself, and compounded this with another wrong turn as it returned to the first vein. It has now gone into a decreasing spiral and has run out of food. That's one genetic experiment that won't be passed on to future generations.

The frogs in the ditch have finally spawned:

Frogs (left) and spawn

This is approximately two weeks later than I would normally expect, although the adults have been around for at least 3 weeks.

My search for species for the 1k square challenge has now reached just over 200 species in a week, with very few new additions to the square apart from the Sarcoscypha and the Sepsid.

The signs are there

We have rain forecast for the next few days, so I took the opportunity to see what signs of spring I could find.

7-Spot Ladybirds hibernate as adults, so in theory they can be seen at any month of the year if the weather is warm enough. But I like to think that the first sighting of the year is a sign of things to come:

7 Spot Ladybird

Many plants are still in their purely vegetative state, but quite a few are making flower buds or new growth. I always consider Barren Strawberry to be the first true flowering plant in each year. True, Celandines will always flower first, but since they can flower any time from November onwards, the Barren Strawberry is my 'first flower' in any given year:

Barren Strawberry flower bud

The plant at top right of that shot is Germander Speedwell which had a very good year last year:

Germander Speedwell

The lowest stem in that shot shows the diagnostic paired lines of hairs that run along the stem.

Bush Vetch is also pushing through the dead fronds of last year's Male Fern:

Bush Vetch

It will be another 4 months before Slender St. John's Wort is in flower, but already the new growth is forming:

Slender St. John's Wort

I cropped this shot of Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage to show the rear wall of the ditch covered in liverworts and mosses:

Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage with liverworts and mosses

The main liverwort is Conocephalum conicum ('Snakeskin Liverwort') and the tiny moss is Plagiomnium undulatum.

A few years ago, one of the few local areas to have wild Reedmace was excavated to see if it would be suitable for building a house (it isn't!). Most of the Reedmace disappeared, but some has now made a recovery:

Reedmace - Typha latifolia

Typha is the sole host family for many insects, including some moths and hoverflies. I examined quite a few specimens of the Reedmace for any signs of those species, but none were found. I wonder how long it will take for them to return (if they ever do).

No time is ever wasted in nature: the leaves of Lesser Celandine are hardly full-grown and already the fungal rust Puccinia ranunculi has taken hold.

Puccinia ranunculi on Lesser Celandine

Last year there seemed to be a very wide-ranging absence of fresh mines of the micromoth Stigmella aurella from its main foodplant, Bramble, and I certainly found very few.  So it's good to see a good number of fresh mines (fresh mines are white, whereas old mines from previous years are brown) on the host plant this year:

Mines of the micromoth Stigmella aurella

There are 4 mines on that leaf, all of which appear to have grown to full size. I'm always entertained by the way the mines progress without falling out of the edge of the leaf and also how they seem to detect other mines and take avoiding action before they intersect them (or their own!), especially when older.

Still sunny

In this extended period of sunshine, most wildlife has advanced, regardless of the fact that we're still in March. I could see five Small Tortoiseshell butterflies at the same time in my garden yesterday, and that's more than I usually see in a year. Small Tortoiseshells hibernate as adults, so I think the mild winter has allowed a higher proportion of them to survive.

Some plants are flowering at roughly the usual time: I found Germander Speedwell:

Germander Speedwell

Wood Sorrel:

Wood Sorrel

And Common Dog Violet:

Viola riviniana - Common Dog Violet

But this flowering specimen of Herb Bennet is by far the earliest I have ever seen:

Herb Bennet

Field Horsetail is a bit unusual, in that it has early fruiting growths before the sterile green parts are seen:

Field Horsetail - fruiting growth

Again, these are a couple of weeks earlier than I would expect.

If have a microscope, I urge you to put one of those fertile cones on a slide and wait a couple of days for the spores to drop. The spores are fascinating: they have four curled 'legs' which expand and contract with humidity. As they curl and uncurl, they catch onto plant parts and debris, pulling themselves along in order to aid dispersal. This is a plant with 'walking' spores.

Even the uncurling fronds of Hartstongue Fern appear to be earlier than usual:

Hartstongue fern frond uncurling

As soon as the relevant plants are flowering, then their dependant insects appear as well. This is a new moth for me - Mottled Grey:

Mottled Grey moth

The Mottled Grey overwinters as a pupa and feeds on a number of Bedstraws, but the foodplant in my locality will almost certainly be Cleavers.

The Common Quaker feeds on Willow catkins, so March is the normal time to see them:

Common Quaker moth

I spotted a horde of Gerris lacustris Pond Skaters skimming over the surface of the stream beside the path:

Gerris lacustris Pond Skaters

These detect any unfortunate insects that have fallen into the water by sensing the vibrations in the water surface: they move instantly to the precise location in a feeding frenzy that lasts just a short while.

I think I have a new favourite picture. This is portrait of a female Platychierus albimanus hoverfly:

Female Platychierus albimanus hoverfly

I particularly like the way she is highlighted by the petals of the Celandine.

I wasn't too happy with the distance shot of the Small Tortoiseshell butterfly in my previous post, so I'm showing this closeup from yesterday:

Small Tortoiseshell butterfly

Regeneration

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.

Little differences

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: