Ballyraine National School

Last week I gave a wildlife talk to pupils from Ballyraine NS in Letterkenny. After that, we went out for a walk around the school grounds to see what we could find and photograph. This page shows some of the interesting finds from that survey, and the text is intended for a school audience.

The first location we visited was the Butterfly Garden. This is packed full of flowers that attract butterflies and other insects.

Our first find was the hoverfly Helophilus pendulus. Hoverflies are important for pollinating flowers, trees and fruit.

The hoverfly Helophilus pendulus

Next we found a 2-spot Ladybird. These are much smaller than the more common 7-spot Ladybird, which we also saw.

2-spot Ladybird

Another part of the Butterfly garden contained Lupins, and these attracted workers of the White-tailed Bumblebee:

White-tailed Bumblebee

You can see the bright orange Lupin pollen in the pollen baskets on her legs. This pollen will be taken back to the nest to feed the growing grubs.

At first, I thought this was a little Sepsid Fly, but some research reveals that it's the much rarer Rivellia syngenesiae, which I haven't seen before (and there are no previous records in the National database!)

Rivellia syngenesiae

That little fly is only 3-4mm. long!

We then moved to the area of woodland at the edge of the School grounds, where we found a number of leaf-mining species. Leaf-miners live inside leaves, eating the middle layers of the leaf where they are protected from predators such as birds and other insects.

The mine of Phytomyza ranunculi on Creeping Buttercup

We also found the mine of Caloptilia syringella, which mines Lilac, Privet and Ash:

Mine of Caloptilia syringella on Lilac

Caloptilia syringella is the only leaf-miner on Ash, so it is fortunate that they also use other plants which will help them to survive if the Ash trees die in the next few years.

Most miners make their own mine, but some species make communal mines. This photograph shows two larvae of the leaf-mining fly Pegomya solennis on Dock:

Larvae of Pegomya solennis on Dock (heads to the left)

Some other species of flies also use leaves, but in a different way: Leaf galls are growths created by flies (and sometimes other insects) to make a shelter to live inside and feed on.

This is a Pontania gall on a Willow leaf:

Pontania leaf gall on a Willow leaf

And these galls are made by another species - Eriophyes sorbi - which is also new to me:

Eriophyes sorbi galls on Rowan

In the same location, we found this tiny fly:

Tiny Fly with iridescent wings

And also this Dung Fly, which was waiting to pounce on any passing insect:

Dung fly poised to leap out on any unsuspecting prey

Towards the end of the walk we found some Foxgloves:

Foxglove, a highly poisonous plant

And a single Herb Robert flower framed by the fencing:

Herb Robert

I have submitted records of all these species to the National Biodiversity Database which will help to build up a record of where our species are located.

The school website can be found here.

Wildlife on earth

I can't help but notice that NASA are now looking for wildlife on Mars. I'll stick to my Donegal Hedgerow for now.

The weather has been dull with frequent heavy showers for a few days, but today we had blue bits in the sky and everything suddenly went crazy. At one point I had three species of butterfly in view, including three Small Tortoiseshells nectaring on the much-maligned Ragwort:

Small Tortoiseshell on Ragwort

These specimens were very fresh and will be the offspring of the overwintering generation that emerged in March this year.

I also saw my first specimen of Meadow Brown for the year, although it's fairly obvious that this specimen has been around for a few days:

Meadow Brown and Herb Robert

I cropped that shot to include a Herb Robert flower because it is such an important part of this hedgerow, flowering all year round.

Evacanthus interruptus is a very easily recognised leafhopper:

Evacanthus interruptus

It's never very numerous, and there are some years when I don't see it at all.

Plant galls are made when an insect (or fungus) modifies a plant's growth patterns for its own benefit. These are the galls of Eriophyes inangulis on Alder:

Leaf galls of Eriophyes inangulis on Alder

Notice that the galls are positioned precisely on the intersection of midrib and side vein. New to my species list.

On a nearby Alder, all the galls were of the closely-related Eriophyes laevis, which is the species I find much more often:

Eriophyes laevis on Alder

In this species the galls are randomly positioned, and are clearly different in structure from the previous species.

There are two distinct forms of the Riband Wave moth. All of my local specimens are of the form f.remutata, where the darker central wing band is missing. This form seems to be the norm in more northern areas.

Riband Wave moth

The Devilsbit Scabious is just starting to flower, which tells me that the season is well advanced. Many of the leaves are marked with the parasitic fungus Ramularia succisae:

Ramularia succisae on Devilsbit Scabious

The hedgerows of western Ireland are bright red at the moment with the wild (but introduced) Fuchsia species Fuchsia magellanica. On very rare occasions we find the absolutely beautiful pale variety, Fuchsia magellanica var. Alba:

Fuchsia magellanica var. Alba

I took some cuttings earlier this year, and they have just started to flower. Absolutely gorgeous.

Sun continues

While much of the UK has been under water for the past month, I'd hazard a guess that April was one of the driest on record in Co. Donegal. Although we've had a lot of sun, the wind has been easterly and that keeps things cooler.

Butterflies are out and about, though, and I've had Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood, Green-veined White and now Orange Tip.

The male Orange Tip is unmistakeable, with those bright orange wing-tips:

Orange Tip butterfly - male

The males emerge a few days before the females in order to establish their territory, which they will defend against any moving white object, including pieces of paper. The females will be out next week and then I'll be looking for eggs on their host plant - Cardamine pratensis.

Green-veined White is usually the first of the spring-emerging butterflies on the patch. The males have fewer black markings than the females:

Male Green-veined White butterfly nectaring on Herb Robert

Male Green-veined White butterfly

Here's a shot of the female for comparison:

Female Green-veined White butterfly

Interestingly enough, the Orange Tip and Green-veined White share a common foodplant, but whereas the Orange Tip larvae eat the seedpods, the Green-veined White larvae eat the leaves.


Tachinid flies are parasitic on the caterpillars of larger moths, and are readily identified by their extremely bristly appearance:

The Tachinid fly Gymnocheta viridis

Judging by the number of Tachinids I encounter, it is clear that they are serious population controllers.

The Clouded-bordered Brindle moth is normally found from late May onwards. This is fully a month early, so the heat has brought the overwintering larvae on a bit more quickly than usual.

Clouded-bordered Brindle moth

The moth above is rather unusually marked: the central white 'kidney mark' is missing. Compare with this one from a couple of years ago. http://donegal-wildlife.blogspot.com/2010/06/busy-time.html


Breaking news: the recent mystery eggs that I showed in Juncus rush appear to belong to a leafhopper, rather than a sawfly. Full details in the next post.

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.