More fungi and other autumnal species

The fungal season is progressing well, which is unsurprising given the amount of rain we've had this year. In no particular order we have:

Tremella mesenterica, otherwise known as Witches Butter or Yellow Brain fungus:

Witches Butter

I usually find T. mesenterica on dead branches of Gorse, although the Tremella is actually parasitic on Peniophora sp. crust fungi which are decomposers of the dead Gorse, so this is a double dependency.

Just for the challenge, I took a shot of the Tremella spores:

Spores of Tremella mesenterica at x400

On the same branch, I noticed some microscopic Lachnum virgineum:

Lachnum virgineum

These cups are 1-2 mm diameter, and absolutely beautiful. New to my species list.

I noticed these yellow marks on the leaf of Creeping Buttercup, and immediately knew I had found something new:

Leaf of Creeping Buttercup, showing yellow indications of fungal attack

I turned the leaf over and saw this sporulating fungus:

Urocystis ranunculi on Creeping Buttercup

The description of Urocystis ranunculi reads: "Sori in leaves and stems of R. repens as silvery blisters which burst to expose black masses of spore balls." I cannot imagine a more accurate description. There is only one previous record from Ireland, and that was in 1946. New to my species list.

The spores of Urocystis ranunculi are interesting: each round, brown spore is accompanied by some transparent sterile cells the same size as the spore (top right and mid left):

Spores of Urocystis ranunculi x400

Taphrina tosquinetii is a leaf gall of Alder:

Taphrina tosquinetii on Alder

The fungus enlarges the surface area of the leaf in order to create more area for spore production. The remaining normal part of the leaf can be seen to the left.

The Harvestman Mitopus morio doesn't make a web: it lies in wait and jumps out on prey when triggered by movement. It usually (?always) uses one leg as a movement detector. In this case, it's the right rear leg, which has been crossed over and suspended from the right second-from-rear leg, presumably to heighten sensitivity:

Harvestman waiting for prey

I found this solitary sawfly larva on Alder:

Sawfly larva on Alder

I think it might be Nematus viridissimus, but I'm waiting for confirmation, since I haven't seen this before.

We had a single night of frost last week and every night since then has produced a few November Moths:

November Moth - Epirrita dilutata

These can emerge from late September to November, but this is the earliest I have seen them. Larvae feed on leaves of numerous trees.

Small gaps

The rain is still more or less continuous, with very short gaps between showers, and I have had to adopt a new tactic for getting some pictures: I watch the sky to the southwest and wait until I see a gap in the weather some 12-15 km away. I then rush out and hope to reach the fringes of town before the gap in the rain reaches me. That means I'm in place when the temporary stop occurs. This is fine for getting photographs of plants and mines, but not so good for insects because it takes them a little while to realise that the rain has stopped and they have warmed up enough to fly to the nectar sources that I'm watching at the moment.

Tufted Vetch is an odd plant: it grows in only a few places on my patch, but wherever it grows it is rampant. There appears to be no similarity amongst the places it chooses and there are places that appear to be ideally suited, but the plant is absent. It must have some very particular micro-climate requirements.

Tufted Vetch

A few more late summer portraits:

Knapweed or Hardheads

Red Bartsia

Devilsbit Scabious

Taphrina alni is a parasitic fungus on female Alder cones:

Taphrina alni gall on Alder

The tongue-shaped growth reaches 4-5 cm. long and turns red before releasing its spores. Note that the growth is caused by the fungus, but is made by the Alder tree for the benefit of the fungus.


Alder is a good food source for Sawflies: these are multiple mines of Acidia cognata. The broad-shouldered larva can be seen in each of the mines:

Mines of the sawfly Acidia cognata on Alder

This next shot shows just how attractive Angelica is for insects at this time of year. I counted 7 ichneumonids, 2 sawflies and 2 dungflies on this flowerhead:

Angelica with Ichneumonids, Sawflies and Dungflies

One of the few Ichneumons that can be identified by sight: Amblyteles armatorius, which is parasitic on larger moths.

Ichneumon Wasp Amblyteles armatorius

Harvestmen are related to spiders, but they don't make a web. They hide instead in plants, waiting for some unsuspecting insect to come wandering along.

Harvestman Mitopus morio on Angelica

I like how the Angelica echoes the shape of the legs.

The social wasps are divided into two main families: Dolichovespula and Vespula. Dolichovespula species (Dolichovespula sylvestris shown) can be readily identified by the 'malar space', which is indicated by the arrow below:

Dolichovespula sylvestris, a Tree Wasp

The malar space is the distance between the lower edge of the eye and the upper edge of the mobile mandible, or jaw. In Dolichovespula sp., the gap is large, making the face very elongated, whilst in Vespula sp., the gap is virtually non-existent. Most of the wasps that can be seen moving leisurely over Angelica at the moment, including the one above, are males.

The Potato Capsid, Closterotomus norwegicus, is commonly found on Knapweed and other composite flowers. I have never found it on potato:

Potato Capsid on Knapweed

Biter bit

Harvestmen are related to spiders, but are different in that they have no 'waist' in the main body, and they don't make webs: they tend to lurk on leaves and flowers and leap out on their prey. This is Mitopus morio, with accompanying phoretic mite. I'm not quite sure why these mites are so brightly coloured, but I suppose if you're harmless, then you don't have to hide.


Here's a closeup:

For the last 7 years I've been photographing my local wildlife and at the start I wandered around finding opportunistic shots. I still take shots of whatever I find, but I also find more interesting shots if I target something, rather than be drawn here and there by whatever I see. I've been looking at ferns more closely this year, because I know there are related species that I haven't found (the leaf-miner from last week is a perfect example). Here's another:

Notice that the spore-bearing sori of the Male Fern - Dryopteris filix-mas - have been scraped off and gathered together in a pile in the centre. That 'lump' is the home of the larva of a micromoth, probably one of the Psychoides sp. I'll need to breed it through to see what emerges.


Tonight's opportunistic shot is the Spined Shield-bug - Picromerus bidens. These have just reached adulthood after going through a series of nymph stages: a feature in common with all other bugs.
I find these quite numerous, but only in very tightly confined environments: where bog meets woodland fringe.