We have lift-off

This is the second day of sunshine and everything has leapt into action.

Along the sheltered ditch I found:

Lesser Celandine:

Lesser Celandine

Coltsfoot:

Coltsfoot

Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage:

Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage

Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage covers the rear wall of ditches and wet banks around here. Here's a habit shot from the back wall of the stream:

Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage on the ditch wall

I also checked the Greater Stitchwort plants just a little further along, but they're still pretending to be blades of grass:

Leaves of Greater Stitchwort

I also hunted for 7-spot ladybirds along the sunnier side of the track and found this single specimen just before the end:

7-spot Ladybird

Back home and I spotted this female Eristalis tenax hoverfly on Dandelion:

Female Eristalis tenax nectaring after emerging from hibernation

Females of Eristalis tenax are the only members of the family to hibernate. Other Eristalis species overwinter as pupae and won't emerge for a few weeks yet. So although the puparium will offer some protection from the cold, the female E. tenax has survived the exposure and now has a head start on getting her eggs laid.

Gap in the rain

I decided that enough was enough and went out to look for some Celandine. The most likely local location is near a sheltered stream, and sure enough, the first buds were just visible:

Lesser Celandine bud

The ditch is also home to a wide range of liverworts, mosses and ferns, but they will keep for a few weeks.

I did, however, spot this Scarlet Elf Cup - Sarcoscypha austriaca - just beside some Celandines:

Sarcoscypha austriaca - Scarlet Elf Cup

It seemed strangely out of season, but the Fungal Records Database shows that spring sightings are quite common..

Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage is also ready to flower:

Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage

Just a reminder that my new database is up and running, with around 20% of my species illustrated. You can find it at donegalwildlife.altervista.org

Late news.

On 2nd July 2010, I showed a photograph of what I thought was a sawfly larva. Turns out it's the caterpillar of the wonderfully-named micromoth Schreckensteinia festaliella. Thanks to Linsepatron of Denmark for that.

Ashes to ashes

Last night, I found a newt lying apparently dead on a country lane. I picked it up and it moved a little, so I decided to take it home to check for damage (a car had just passed):

Male Smooth Newt

It seemed ok and survived the night, so I took it up to the local stream and released it there.

The stream runs alongside a country lane that is edged on both sides by Ash trees:

Craigs Road with Ash trees

Given that Chalara fraxinea has been detected not far from here, I rather suspect that these trees won't last much longer (hence the title of this post). This will, of course, be disastrous from the perspective of the trees, but Ash isn't the obligate food source of very many fungi or insects, so the impact on overall biodiversity is not likely to be as bad as it could have been.

The stream runs alongside the right-hand side of the road in the deep shade of the trees, and is a great source of water plants, with numerous liverworts and mosses on the rear wall:

Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage with the liverwort Conocephalum conicum

Many of these plants like dark, damp conditions, so I suspect the rear wall flora will be altered until some other trees grow to provide more shade.

The stream is where I always find the first flowering specimens of Lesser Celandine, and a few flowers were just beginning to open:

Lesser Celandine just opening

Just as I was taking the above shots, I heard the unmistakeable deep croak of the Raven. I looked up and saw a pair circling overhead:

Ravens over Craigs Road

They circled and kept me in view for quite a while before flying off west. I managed this shot showing the very distinctive tail:

Raven

At the top of the stream, where it emerges from an underground run, there is a wall that is always good for a few moss shots. This is a back-lit shot of Tortula muralis:

The moss Tortula muralis

I like to think that the setae (the 'stalks' that hold the capsules aloft) are light pipes, driving sunlight directly to the interior of the plants.

The capsules of many mosses are held well clear of the foliage in order to enhance the chances of spore dispersal, but Grimmia pulvinata continues to puzzle me with its insistence on keeping the capsules buried deep under the leaves:

Grimmia pulvinata, with buried capsules

You can just make out the brown capsules in that shot.

This shot of Barbula unguiculata would make a nice banner for somewhere:

Barbula unguiculata

 On the other side of the road, we have an untended copse where dead wood is ideal for fungi. This white crusting fungus is Meruliopsis corium:

Meruliopsis corium

There are also a few patches of Snowdrops in the same area:

Snowdrops

A quick check on the Willows showed that the catkins are well advanced, so perhaps spring is on the way after all.

Willow catkins

Usual suspects and others

We've had around 6 days of wonderful spring sunshine, and suddenly everything is moving. I would expect to see Primroses:

Primrose

 And Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage:

Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage

But a 7-spot Ladybird was a pleasant find:

7 spot ladybird

The leaves of new season's Cow Parsley have been developing for a few weeks, and already the parasitic rust Puccinia chaerophylli has appeared:

Cow Parsley, with Puccinia chaerophylli rust

And a new species of micromoth for me:

Agonopterix sp. micromoth

I know it's new to me, but sadly I don't know exactly which species it is. It's either Agonopterix heracliana (90% chance) or Agonopterix ciliella (10%), but sadly I didn't know to catch it to examine the separating features. A new species to me either way. Both are Umbellifer feeders.

Full steam ahead

After a wet early start, St. Patrick's day eventually brightened up and I went to an area that always provides early interest. This is the view looking north into an Ash wood with a stream along the right hand side.

View north into the Ash trees

Lesser Celandine is out all along the edge of the stream:

Lesser Celandine with Creeping Buttercup leaves to the right

No time is wasted before the fungal rusts appear. This is Uromyces dactylidis, which is common on leaves of various Ranunculus species, especially Lesser Celandine:

The fungal rust Uromyces dactylidis on Lesser Celandine 

And Puccinia lapsanae, which grows exclusively on Nipplewort. Notice that the rust has forced the leaf to grow a 'bulge', which serves to increase the available area for spore production/dispersal of the Puccinia:

Puccinia lapsanae on Nipplewort leaf

The ditch is also home for Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage, which has to be one of the most symmetrical plants I know:

Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage in flower

My last post showed an old mine of the micromoth Stigmella aurella on bramble. This leaf has at least 6 mines, some of which are currently occupied:

At least 6 mines of the micromoth Stigmella aurella on Bramble

This shot shows one of the micromoth larvae actively mining from left to right. Notice that the mine has abruptly turned right just before the margin: there must be something that the larva can detect that makes it turn before it is in danger of falling out of the leaf.

Larva of the micromoth Stigmella aurella

That shot is taken from below the leaf looking upwards, and shows light shining through the upper surface of the leaf, through the larva and through the lower surface of the leaf. Given that the leaf is no more than a millimetre thick, the larva is probably around 500 microns thick (and 3 millimetres long).

The ditch wall has many mosses and liverworts; these capsules belong to the moss Bryum capillare. Last year's capsules are still present, and the leaves of the Bryum can be seen to the bottom right of the image.

Capsules of Bryum capillare

Lastly for today, flowers of Hairy Bittercress, also known as Jumping Cress. If you want to discover the origin of the second name, just touch some ripe seedpods.

Hairy Bittercress (also known as Jumping Cress)

Now we're moving

I know my patch pretty well, so I went round the locations where I know I can find the earliest specimens.

First, I found Coltsfoot in flower:

Coltsfoot is particularly interesting: the flowers appear long before the leaves. The stem is also covered in fine, gossamer-like, hairs:

When the flower first opens, it faces vertically upwards. But later on, the stem curves, and the flowers point outwards, or even downwards. When the seedhead forms, the stem is upright once more. I'm not sure why this effect takes place, but I rather suspect the aim is to protect the developing seedhead, whilst maximising the eventual potential for seed dispersal. The mechanism involves the reduction in length of the white hairs (or more likely, a temporary hold on the hair lengthening), forcing the stem to curve. I'll show the various stages over the next few weeks.

South-facing specimens of Lesser Celandine are now fully open, so the early hoverflies will be around this week:

Another early flower is the Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage:

Although the flowers are minute, the bracts behind the flowers brighten up ditches and streams.

Lastly for today, Wood Sorrel has opened up:

This is a long-range shot of a couple of flowers on the far side of a very deep ditch.

Some sun again

Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage has turned the back walls of ditches yellow. The actual flowers are tiny.

Right next to the Saxifrage, we find Primroses:

Coltsfoot is also fairly obvious in drier places:

Wood Sorrel is just about on schedule:

But this Cow Parsley is ridiculously early:

White, white, white and.......blue

The locations of the very first flowers of each species to open are remarkably consistent from year to year. Some will no doubt be influenced by a favourable location, but others are genetically governed, I'm sure. This is the first of the Wood Sorrel - one of the plants locally referenced as 'Shamrock':


Wood Anemone has been out for perhaps a few days. This blossom is already turning:


The last white for today is Barren Strawberry, again in its preferred early location: a south-facing hedgerow bank.

But we also have a hint of Blue: down by the river Deele the Bluebells are all but open.


Opposite-leaved Golden Saxifrage has been out for a while, now, making the ditch bottoms a rich golden-green: