Signs of high summer

Much of our wildlife is seasonal, with some flower species in bloom early in the year, but others waiting for late summer before they appear. Similarly, some insects are clear indicators that the season is progressing towards its inevitable close at the end of the year. So it is always with mixed emotions that I greet the flowering of Wild Angelica. Angelica is a wonderful source of nectar, so much so that I can find a single flower-head with perhaps 40 insects feeding on it at any one time. Sometimes there appears to be some kind of truce in operation, where predators and prey feed side by side without much aggression being shown, but other species have no such intentions and use the busy flowers as a richly-populated hunting ground. The first heads of Angelica opened this week, so hopefully I'll have some images to show from it in the next few days.

Marsh Cinquefoil is one of the later-flowering species from the patch down beside the bog:

Marsh Cinquefoil

Although it shows some structural similarities, it's quite different from its close relatives Tormentil, Silverweed and even Barren Strawberry, all of which flower in close proximity.

It took me quite a while to realise that all of my local Birdsfoot Trefoil specimens are actually Greater Birds-foot Trefoil:

Greater Birdsfoot Trefoil

I always find Birdsfoot Trefoil near the coast, where it is a much lower plant, almost creeping and prostrate and flowering much earlier, from May onwards. I just assumed that the early flowering was due to coastal warming, but when I began to investigate my local specimens (which flower about now), I found they were all Greater Birdsfoot Trefoil. The plant is much taller and larger in almost all its parts, although the flowers are in clusters containing more flowers than Birdsfoot. The clincher, though, is to sever the stem and examine the cross-section. Greater is hollow, whereas Birdsfoot is solid.

The appearance of Dock flowers is another sign that the season is progressing. These are the (surprisingly beautiful) flowers of  Curled Dock:

Curled Dock flowers

Given the amount of rain we've had, I have seen very few of the larger fungi so far this year, although the usual rusts are all present and doing well. Ergot is also quite prominent on grasses:

Ergot on Sweet Vernal Grass

Ergot is a fungal parasite on grasses, and contains a number of toxins which can cause a wide range of serious effects on humans or other animals that ingest it. These effects range from circulatory problems and neurological imbalances through to hallucination, limb loss, heart damage and spontaneous abortion. Unfortunately for people in the middle ages, cereal crops such as Rye and Barley are grasses affected by Ergot.

St. Marks flies (Bibio sp.) are usually found at the end of April (and I showed a couple at that time), but the red-legged Bibio ponomae emerges in later summer. This is a female:

Bibio pomonae (female)

In common with a number of other butterflies, Green-veined White has two or even three generations per year. This is the first of the second generation that I have seen this year:

2nd generation Green-veined White butterfly

The hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus is readily recognised by the alternating narrow and broad black bands on the abdomen:

Episyrphus balteatus (male)

And this is a little portrait of one of the grey-banded species - Platycheirus albimanus (female):

Platycheirus albimanus (female)

Despite the damp weather, a few interesting moths have come to light. This is the Satin Beauty:

Satin Beauty moth

It's not quite as beautiful as its relatives, but it is an increasing species. It's dependent on conifers, and has spread along with the growth of coniferous plantations.

The Common Wainscot feeds on various grasses as a larva:

Common Wainscot moth

The July Highflyer can be distinguished from other similar species by the diagonal dark slashes at the apex of the wing tip.

July Highflyer

This species has a wide range of larval foodplants, from Willows to Heather, Spruce and Bilberry.

Many of the micromoths can rival or even exceed the beauty of their larger macromoth counterparts. Dipleurina lacustrata is a good example, although it's only 9mm. long:

Dipleurina lacustrata

The first of a couple of new species for me. First, the Fan-foot:

Fan-foot moth

New to my species index.

And a very atypical Square-spot Rustic:

Square-spot Rustic

New to my Species Index.

The Square-spot Rustic feeds on various broad-leaved trees, whilst the Fan-foot is a recycler, feeding on withered and fallen leaves.

Making hay

Two posts in two days!

The first two shots show the larval case of the micromoth Coleophora serratella on Alder. 

The larva cuts out part of the leaf and rolls it up into a cigar shape, changing the case a couple of times as it grows. The cutouts can be seen at the lower edge of the leaf, with the case towards the top of the leaf:

Larval case of micromoth Coleophora serratella

The larva moves slowly over the surface, grazing as it grows and eventually pupates, still inside the case.

Coleophora serratella on Alder

This is really just a form of leaf-mining, but it allows the moth to grow larger than it could if it was constricted to living inside the tight confines of the leaf. There are quite a few different Coleophora species, each mining different groups of plants from trees through shrubs to clovers. The clover one is particularly well-hidden as it uses one of the flowers as a case and then hides amongst the other flowers. I have looked in vain for those, but maybe they're too well-hidden.

Marsh Cinquefoil has to be one of our most easily-recognisable flowers, although I think it's rather scarce: I have only ever found it in two locations. There are a few specimens between the edge of a bog and a stream which runs along the hedgerow at this point:

Marsh Cinquefoil

The hoverfly Rhingia campestris has an extremely long tongue (arrowed) which enables it to reach nectar that other insects cannot reach.

The hoverfly Rhingia campestris on Raspberry

The tongue is so long that it needs to be folded up for storage when not in use, which leads to the very unusual 'snout' that can clearly be seen in this shot:

Rhingia campestris, showing 'snout' for storing the tongue

Rhingia campestris is a hoverfly that has been increasing its range in the past few years. It used be seen relatively close to farms, and the larvae are known to live in cattle dung, but the hoverfly can now be found far from agricultural areas. Perhaps it has started to use other sources of food.

There are many leaf miners active at the moment, and I spotted this very common leaf-mining fly Agromyza filipendulae on Meadowsweet:

Leafmining fly Agromyza filipendulae on Meadowsweet

This particular mine was worth showing for several reasons.

1) Notice that the frass (dung) is laid in two parallel lines, along each side of the mine. Many of the leaf mining flies have a very simple scraper to excavate the leaf interior and this only works in a vertical plane. But the leaf is thin and arranged horizontally, so the miner has to lie on its side as it mines. Between each slice, it flips its body through 180 degrees and that points its rear end towards the other side of the mine, leading to two parallel tracks of frass. Other miners (e.g. moths) have more sophisticated chewing mandibles and can mine in one position, leading to a single line of frass down the centre of the mine. The two-track/single-track configuration is one major feature in the identification of leaf miners.

2) The mine has changed at the point arrowed: the frass becomes confused and the larva has changed from green to a dark colour, so I'm pretty sure the larva has been parasitised at the point marked. I rather suspect we're going to find an Ichneumonid emerging instead of a fly.

3) There is a minute (1-2mm) Owl Midge at the lower right hand corner of the picture.

Of all the species that I study and photograph, I continue to find moths the most difficult to identify: the variation within species can be staggering and the similarity between different species compounds this. And that's not counting in the variation due to wear and tear. You need to learn the crucial separating features to be sure: merely looking at pictures won't always help.

The Mottled Beauty can be identified from other Beauty species by the curved black crescent at the end of the black cross-line, marked below:

Mottled Beauty moth

Mottled Beauty is a true polyphage, feeding on many trees, shrubs and flowers.

Summer flowers

You can tell we're approaching the summer solstice, which is rather a depressing thought.

This is Pignut. One of these days I'm going to eat the nut.


Meadow Vetchling, or Meadow Pea, is rather tricky to photograph without the yellow burning out.


Marsh Thistle tends to attract a lot of good insects, especially hoverflies and picture-wing flies. These will be my main observation targets until the Angelica comes out.


Marsh Cinquefoil always amazes me. It grows in a very tightly-confined area on the edge of one ditch. Spot the tiny petals...the big pink bits are bracts.


A bit of a surprise. I haven't found Cut-leaved Cranesbill on the patch before: I usually find it about 10 miles away.

This specimen was found on a dump site in a lay-by. Maybe it was brought in.

Red Cinquefoil

Most of the Cinquefoils are yellow: Tormentil, Creeping Cinquefoil, Silverweed are all yellow. Barren Strawberry is white, but Marsh Cinquefoil - Potentilla palustris - is the most wonderful red:


I only know this species from one very small area on my patch, although I have found it further afield. It grows at the edge of a boggy area, between the bog and a ditch, growing round the base of a few planted Alders.