Benburb bioblitz

This bioblitz was based around Benburb castle, but also included the grounds of what is now known as Benburb Priory. The 17th century castle is being restored and the priory was formerly a manor house built in the 1880's.

The underlying geology is limestone and the site slopes downwards towards a river which is extensively engineered with cuts and sluices, and could almost be regarded as a canal. The riverside area has been allowed to run wild and is covered with Giant Hogweed, Bamboo, Japanese knotweed, Laurel and Himalayan Balsam. The grounds closer to the Priory are maintained as a decorative garden, but again, large areas are running wild, with a collapsed victorian greenhouse/orangery attached to outbuildings. This feature runs for some 50 metres and was clearly an important structure in its day. This is a shot of the old glasshouse:

Part of the glasshouse area with priory in the background

The south-facing glasshouse area contained a mixture of wild and cultivated plants, notably an overgrown herb garden, and attracted a huge number of hoverflies, butterflies, solitary bees and bumblebees.

Here's a shot of a Holly Blue on the approach path: 

Holly Blue butterfly

We made a quick survey to see where we should concentrate our efforts and it was clear that the riverside paths would be most productive. When I noticed that the area was limestone, we looked for Garlic Mustard, since this is a host plant for the Orange Tip butterfly and we immediately found an occupied flower:

Orange Tip egg on Garlic Mustard

We saw many Orange Tips, both male and female along the river bank. This female was nectaring on Herb Robert:

Female Orange Tip on Herb Robert

The same area yielded 14-spot Ladybird:

14 spot Ladybird

And a 10-spot ladybird with the rear spots missing. The 10-spot must be the ladybird with most variation in the spotting:

10-spot ladybird

Also from this area were the hoverfly Leucozona lucorum:

The hoverfly Leucozona lucorum landing on Bush Vetch

And I caught a glimpse of a huge pond skater down below in the cut next to the river. It's a poor shot, but there is only one pond skater this size. It's Aquarius najas, and is around 5 cm long from front foot to rear foot:

The River Skater Aquarius najas

New to my Species List.

We found a couple of leaf miners in the wooded area closer to the castle:

Phytomyza chaerophylli on Cow Parsley

And:

Phytomyza ranunculi on Celandine

Phytomyza ranunculi was also found on Creeping Buttercup.

Closer to the castle, I found a moth larva grazing on lichen on a fence post. It's Brussels Lace, Cleorodes lichenaria:

Larva of the Brussels Lace moth

That's a good example of the formal name clearly stating the nature of a species.

A final shot of Lords-and-Ladies or Cuckoo Pint, which I only ever find on lime:

Arum maculatum

Overall we submitted perhaps a hundred species on the day. This is far fewer than I would normally expect on a day's hunting, especially on a bright sunny day, but the habitat is essentially 'cultivated but abandoned', so the biodiversity could be expected to be low.

Mixed weather

We're having sunny spells, showers and heavy rain in waves these days. Still, it beats the perma-rain of the last two years.

I really liked this shot of the 7-spot Ladybird. These are voracious predators of aphids, and if you look closely under the left-hand side of the leaf, you can see the antennae of its dinner.

"It's behind you"

This young Rabbit has taken up residence in the ancient Hawthorn hedge at the bottom of my garden: it seems to like being near the hens. I'm happy with all of that, but I'm rather keen that it doesn't find my vegetable plot, which is perhaps another 10m on the other side of the coop.

Young Rabbit

New to my Species Index.

Most beetles have wings which are folded away under the two elytra, which themselves are actually modified wings. The wings can be inflated at incredible speed, and you have to be very quick to catch the unfolding process taking place. I watched this Click Beetle flying from plant to plant and managed to anticipate the moment of launch:

Click Beetle preparing to fly

Leucozona lucorum is a hoverfly that is around in great numbers at the moment. They are very flighty (and will be until the mating season is over), so shots have to be taken very quickly:

The hoverfly Leucozona lucorum

Orange Tip butterflies were very late this year - at least 4 weeks and maybe 6 weeks later than I would expect. Their season is timed to match their foodplant (Cardamine pratensis in this area), and once the eggs have been laid, the adults fade away over the next week or two and won't be seen until May next year, when the next generation hatches.

Male Orange Tip butterfly

Fortunately, I have found a few larvae feeding on the seedpods:

Orange Tip larva on Cardamine seedpods

This is a strange visitor to our area. Salad Burnet - Sanguisorba minor - is a lime-loving plant, and we are are on strongly acidic soil. A few years ago, I limed part of my vegetable plot and I think this came in with a salad mix that I sowed around the same time.

Salad Burnet - Sanguisorba minor

New to my Species Index (although I think it's a bit of a cheat).

For a few years, I have been following the fortunes of a patch of pure white Bush Vetch that I found near the high heath. Many sports don't last long, but this patch is increasing in size and seems to have no problems attracting bees to pollinate it.

White version of Bush Vetch

I have read that a few plant species with blue flowers can occasionally throw pure white sports, mainly in the West. I suppose the ultraviolet parts of the flower still work, even though it's purest white to our eyes.

1400 species milestone

The weather has been very wet with some torrential downpours, but there have been a few opportunities for quick forays in the bad light.

During the long periods spent indoors, I got on with a bit more watercolour painting and updated my Species Index. I was delighted to click my tally over the 1400 mark.

Just to put the 1400 species into context, the vast majority of the photographs are taken within a 2-3 kilometre radius of my house. I have made a few forays further afield to ancient woodland, beach and limestone habitats, but the 1400 species should be regarded as our 'local' wildlife. If I spent more time travelling to e.g. coastal areas, then the species list would be much higher. 

I'll start with a few moths:

Coxcomb Prominent Moth

The Coxcomb Prominent - Ptilodon capucina - feeds on a wide range of deciduous trees, and would be much better camouflaged if it was found on a branch or on leaves.

The Riband Wave has two main colour forms, but all my specimens have been f. remutata, which are missing the grey central band on the wings:

Riband Wave f. remutata

The Riband Wave feeds on many low-level herbaceous plants.

The White Ermine is a very common moth at this time of year. I saw this male specimen and decided to get a shot of those wonderful antennae:

Male White Ermine, showing antennae

White Ermine also feeds on low-lying herbaceous plants such as Docks.

Some of our tiniest moths are also the most beautiful. This Micropterix aruncella is only about 3-4 mm long:

Micromoth Micropterix aruncella

The larval stages of Micropterix aruncella are not known from the wild, but they are thought to feed at the base of plants.

Hoverflies are now becoming more numerous, despite the bad weather.

Here are a couple of shots of Episyrphus balteatus, which is very recognisable due to the paired black stripes on the abdomen:

Episyrphus balteatus hoverfly

Episyrphus balteatus hoverfly

These shots are of two different specimens, but I note that in each case the rear left leg is the one that is used to grab the first anchoring point.

One of my favourite hoverflies is Leucozona lucorum:

The hoverfly Leucozona lucorum

It's a mid-summer species, and will soon be joined by the closely-related Leucozona glaucia, and if I'm lucky Leucozona laternaria.

Last week I showed an Ichneumonid in the process of laying eggs. This week, I managed to get a shot at the moment when the ovipositor is being released from its protective sheath:

Ichneumonid deploying ovipositor

A couple of points are worth noting here: the ovipositor is bowed towards the sheath, showing that some force is required to spring it forward. This force is released very suddenly, swinging the ovipositor very quickly towards the target. I estimate that the whole process of release to target is approximately 0.3 of a second.

Although I can't identify Ichneumonids to species (a fact that annoys me more than you will ever know), I know when I see one that is new to me, and I haven't seen this wine-coloured specimen before:

The very long antennae and lack of ovipositor suggest that this might be a male. I suppose it's worth pointing out that male Ichneumonids are quite rare, since they are an 'optional extra' in their reproductive process.

At this time of year, most of the grasses are in flower, making large swathes of colour in the hedgerows. This is Yorkshire Fog - Holcus lanatus:

Yorkshire Fog - Holcus lanatus

This, on the other hand, is the fungal infection Epichloe typhina, which actually stops the plant from flowering:  there is no flowering shoot above the fungus, just a single leaf.

Grass Choke - Epichloe typhina

Sunshine continues

This shot of a male Andrena sp. solitary bee shows the triangle of three extra 'eyes' that lie between the two main eyes. These ocelli are very sensitive to rapid changes in light, and are used to detect movement, whereas the main eyes are slower and are used for navigation and object recognition:

Larger Ichneumonids are now a fairly regular sighting along the hedgerows. They fly slowly under leaves looking for their host caterpillars:

The Snipe Fly Rhagio scolopacea is known as the 'Downlooker' due to its more usual habit of hanging vertically, facing downwards waiting for prey to fly past. This is a male:

Hoverflies are some of our most handsome (and useful! - they pollinate flowers, trees and crops) insects. This is a male Leucozona lucorum:

Sawflies - closely related to wasps and bees - remain shrouded in mystery. They are strictly vegetarian as larvae (indeed some are considered to be crop pests), but largely carnivorous as adults. The larvae closely resemble the caterpillars of moths and butterflies, but many remain unidentified. The existing reference documentation is very old, and I feel that these must be the next area for extensive research and documentation. Note: the ocelli are also visible on this one that I found wandering over Bramble:

Most Sawflies are tied to a particular plant or family of plants, so I'd bet on this one being a Bramble feeder.

A bright blue Chrysomelid beetle, also wandering over Bramble:

The only blue Chrysomelid that I'm aware of is dependent on Willow, which is close by, so maybe it was just on holiday.

A few moths are still coming to light, despite the cold evenings. This is May Highflyer - Hydriomena impluviata:

These are a few of my favourite things

It's June, and we've had a week of great weather, so the insects are appearing very quickly now.

Two great hoverflies, starting with one of my favourites: Leucozona lucorum. Look out for its close relatives Leucozona glaucia and Leucozona laternaria.


Anasimyia lineata is another favourite because I suspected it would be present, but it took me 5 years to find it. The larvae are associated with Bulrush - Typha sp.


Cantharis rustica is one of around half a dozen Soldier Beetles on the patch.


Male and female Azure Damselflies - Coenagrion puella:



Two shots of male Bombus pratorum: