Spot of bad luck

I took a quick spin round Drumboe woods and found a few things worth noting.

This is a good time of year to find mines of Ectoedemia sp. micromoths in 'green islands' in fallen Oak leaves: the leaves you want are quite easy to identify due to the green part contrasting with the brown of the fallen leaves. These micromoth larvae extend their feeding season by blocking off the chlorophyll return valves in the leaf. This ensures that a supply of food continues to be available even after the leaves have fallen from the tree. The specimen shown below had a bit of bad luck, however:

Ectoedemia micromoth mine in 'green island' in Oak leaf

The mine starts at point A (near the midrib and on a sub-vein of the leaf) and follows the sub-vein for a while before beginning its blotch mine at point B. This is all normal procedure and has so far worked well for the larva. Unfortunately, the point chosen for the blotch happens to be exactly at a place where the valve-closing has failed, and the chlorophyll is gone, making that part of the leaf useless as food. The mine has been aborted at this point, probably because the larva has starved. Leaf-miners follow some fairly complex rules when making their mines to help ensure that:

• they don't fall out of the leaf
• they end up at a part of the leaf that contains enough food for their growth and development
• the mines don't cross themselves, which would force them to encounter (and eat) their own dung

Some of the rules involve following veins, others force a change of direction after a certain amount of time; other decisions are made by the female when she lays the egg. The rules don't always work, but I find that the vast majority of mines are successfully completed. I'm guessing that in this case the rule to turn away from the sub-vein is timed and the location was just plain unlucky.

You can see a normal mine here: http://donegal-wildlife.blogspot.com/2009/10/smart-miners.html

I found a few fungi including this Clitocybe vibecena:

Clitocybe vibecena

And a very gone-over Scleroderma citrinum earthball, resembling nothing so much as a piece of orange-peel:

Scleroderma citrinum earthball

Earth-balls disperse their spores by breaking down the outer surface, enabling the spores to be wind-distributed. The outer crust of the fungus is conveniently structured with fragile fissures which make this break-down much easier.

Even dead and now-useless parts of plants can have innate beauty: this empty seedhead of Hogweed was worth photographing:

Hogweed seedhead

Sycamore leaves are covered in their tar-spot fungus Rhytisma acerinum:

Sycamore tar-spot fungus, Rhytisma acerinum

As usual, this fungus is spread by wind-born spores. Notice that most fungi try their hardest to maximise the area available for spore production: the surface of the fungus is wrinkled and domed.

We have had solid rain for the last two weeks and I haven't seen a single moth in that time. The last night, in pouring rain, a single specimen of Red Sword-grass came to light. The Red Sword-grass hibernates as an adult, so something must have stirred this one from its hiding place.

Red Sword-grass

 Red Sword-grass has a mostly western and northern distribution and is found mostly near bogs or heaths.

Late or early?

One thing I've noticed since I started recording is that spring and summer flowering plants often have a late second push in autumn, if the weather is warm enough. Many species do this, including: Hogweed, Cow Parsley, Nipplewort, Ragwort, Herb Bennet and Bush Vetch. Other flowering plants seem to flower all-year round, now. These include: Daisy, Dandelion, Sow-thistles, Smooth Hawkbit, Herb Robert and Groundsel. But what do we have when I find a specimen of Hogweed in full flower in January?

Is it early for 2008 or late for 2007? I think the answer is fairly clear: the new stem growth for 2008 hasn't even started yet, so it has to be late for 2007. But what is it trying to do? The pollinating insects are all dead (and won't be back until April/May), so it can't reproduce (and it would be unlikely that there would be another specimen close enough to pollinate anyway). It must be worthwhile, or the plant wouldn't be expending all this energy on making flowerheads. Maybe it's a mechanism whereby it is preparing for all-year round insects as we warm up. What do you think?

Other late-flowering species:

Bush Vetch

Smooth Hawkbit

And just to finish off, a couple of shots of Winter Heliotrope, which only flowers during December and January around here: