Echoes of last year

The early summer this year is looking depressingly similar to last year's: good weather in March and April, but cloud and/or rain from May through to September. Having seen butterflies throughout March and April, I haven't seen a single one since the first of May.

It's not all gloom and doom, however, since warm wet weather is ideal for fungal rusts. (The microscopic analysis required to identify them is also something to do on a rainy day.)

This is the fungal rust Melampsora hypericorum on Tutsan:

Melampsora hypericorum on Tutsan

And this is Uromyces acetosae on Common Sorrel:

Uromyces acetosae on Common Sorrel

Astonishingly, this very common fungus - which has been recorded from Cornwall to the Outer Hebrides - has no previous Irish records. Must be an oversight. No previous Irish records.


Very few parasitic fungi have a common name, but Botrytis fabae (in this case on Bush Vetch) is commonly known as 'Chocolate Spot' disease:

'Chocolate-spot' on Bush Vetch

I suppose any disease that affects crops will tend to have a common name. Again, no previous records from Ireland.


Although I still haven't seen a female Orange Tip butterfly this year, they are clearly around: I found this single egg on Cardamine pratensis - their sole foodplant in this area:

Orange Tip butterfly egg on Cardamine pratensis

Ferns must be amongst our most architectural (or at least geometric) plants. We all know they unfurl lengthways, but the pinnae also unfurl widthways:

Unfurling Scaly Male fern

We have four species of horsetail on the patch. This is Water Horsetail, which usually has no branches, but can also be found in a branched version, like this one:

I keep looking for the named hybrid between Water Horsetail and Field Horsetail which are both found adjacent to each other at this location, but all specimens seem to be one or the other.


Dungflies are very numerous at the moment, sitting on leaves or hiding in flower heads. They are ferocious predators, and if you watch them for any length of time they will pounce, catch and then devour other flies and wasps. This is the male (the female is green):

Male Scathophaga stercoraria Dungfly

Many of the schools around here have an ongoing 'Green Flag' initiative which encourages children to recycle and helps them to be aware of their local biodiversity. I was invited to open and examine a log pile which had been placed in a dark corner of the playground of one local school and I got a few photographs during the analysis.

We found plenty of woodlice:

Oniscus asellus - Shiny Woodlouse

Oniscus asellus - Shiny Woodlouse

And this excellent spider, which I haven't identified yet:

Unidentified spider from log pile

We also found:

Beetles
Slugs
Cup mushrooms
and a Millipede

The Woodlouse and two of the fungal rusts are new to my species list, so it continues to expand despite the weather.

Another book

A second book containing my photographs was launched today:

This book is the result of a project that brought schoolchildren and 'silver citizens' together to gather memories of how plants were used as food and medicine in times almost forgotten. I think it turned out really well.

This is exactly what I expect to see at this time of year:

No fewer than four Orange-Tip eggs on one flowerhead. I already mentioned that these are cannibals and that only one egg is normally laid per plant. But at this time of year, when the last, late, females are laying, all the plants are occupied so we see a 'dumping' of eggs in the hope that some might survive. Timing is everything: if you emerge too late, the flowers will all be occupied and your offspring will have a poor chance of success. Lateness is a trait that won't pass through to successive generations.

The first of the 'Blue' Damselflies emerged today, just as we were getting the first rain in perhaps a week. This female was using the curved leaf of Cocksfoot as an umbrella:

Here's a closeup showing the 'umbrella' in use:

Female blue damselflies are particularly tricky to separate, but I'm tending to favour Variable Damselfly - Coenagrium pulchellum - for this one. New to me, if so.

Synchronisation

Following my sighting of the Orange Tip butterflies two days ago, their foodplant - Cuckoo Flower or Milkmaids, Cardamine pratensis - has just flowered, bang on schedule. Orange Tips have an extremely tight relationship with their larval foodplant, and I hope to track progress over the next few weeks.

Greater Stitchwort is very much later this year:

Due to our hard winter after a series of very mild winters, all species are later than they have been in recent years, although I'm noticing that different species are delayed more than others. I can't quite see a pattern, yet, but it seems that the species that would normally be very early are delayed the most.

It stopped raining

Photo location:

Hedgerow, Leg 2.

View Raphoe Wildlife in a larger map

I still haven't seen a female Orange Tip butterfly this year, but they're obviously around: most specimens of Cardamine pratensis have a single egg. I'll try to follow a few of them as the season progresses.


For the last few years, I've annotated this hoverfly as 'Cheilosia sp.' Today I took images from all angles and have now refined my identification to Cheilosia albitarsis. Most of the identification features are microscopic, although it turns out to be 'dependent on Creeping Buttercup in wet meadows'. Big surprise. The small beast is, of course, the micromoth Micropterix calthella.

And this is a pair of the same micromoth. When I find these 'in cop', one is always dark, the other more bronzy. Dunno which is which, though.


The caterpillar of the Garden Tiger moth is one of the most handsome that we have. No points for the plant.


I initially thought this click beetle was damaged, but the close-up reveals that it is cleaning its left antenna.


The fungal rust Triphragmium ulmariae is very obvious on the undersides of Meadowsweet leaves.

Drumboe

Drumboe Wood is that strangest of creatures: an ancient urban woodland. It lies no further than 100m from the main shopping centre, separated from the main road only by the river Finn. Its great age leads to a huge biodiversity, with some very rare species. Indeed, it is the only known location in Ireland for Cerodontha sylvatica, which I added to the Irish list in 2006.

The Bluebells seem to be quite early this year:


These are the first flowers of Cuckoo Flower - Cardamine pratensis. My local specimens haven't flowered yet, so I suspect Orange Tip butterflies are still about 2-3 weeks away.


This moss is Rhytidiadelphus triquetrus. It's supposed to prefer calcareous soil, but I find it in acidic woodlands and in heath. One common name is 'electrified cat's tail moss'. I can see why.


My first hoverfly of the year: Eristalis pertinax. this one was smaller than most, and I had to eliminate E. nemorum and E. arbustorum based on the pale legs.