Leftover

I held back some images of a sawfly that I photographed at Murvagh on Sunday to see if I could get an identification. I managed to get it successfully to Tenthredidae, but could get no closer than that. I have now had confirmation from Hungary that it is the grass-feeding Tenthredopsis nassata:

The sawfly Tenthredopsis nassata

The sawfly Tenthredopsis nassata

The sawfly Tenthredopsis nassata

Not the best photographs I have ever taken (all on manual focus, since it was flitting from one grass to another very quickly), but a very handsome beast nevertheless. 15mm long from nose to tail (and probably an egg-laying female, since you can just make out the 'saw' in the last photograph).


I also took time to update my Species Index, which now contains 1430 species, an increase of 29 since this date last year.

Trip to the seaside

On Sunday I joined up with the Donegal Butterfly Survey group at Murvagh, west Donegal. Murvagh is on limestone and has excellent coastal grassland and forested areas inland, with the occasional dune and also scarce foodplants, so there is a wide range of unusual butterflies to be found.

When I arrived I immediately saw half a dozen Small Heath butterflies. These are very flighty at this early part of their season, so decent shots are quite difficult:

Small Heath butterfly

A little further along we found Horseshoe Vetch:

Horseshoe Vetch

Horseshoe Vetch is the sole foodplant of the Small Blue butterfly - the smallest butterfly in Europe - so we started to look in sheltered areas behind the dunes:

Small blue butterfly

The wingspan of this specimen was roughly 15 - 17 mm.

Dingy Skippers were seen, although not by my group, so I didn't get a shot of those. I did, however, get a decent shot of the day-flying Burnet Companion moth, which can very easily be mistaken for Dingy Skipper, and is often found in the precise locations that Dingy Skippers prefer:

Burnet Companion moth

One of my favourite early summer flowers is Heath Speedwell, with its tall, thin, elegant spikes of pale mauve flowers. It never gets very tall, with the tallest spikes reaching perhaps 15 cm from ground level. The following shot, however is quite fantastic:

Heath Speedwell and Creeping Willow

The oval-leaved plant surrounding the Speedwell is Creeping Willow, which is actually shorter than the Speedwell, so this 12-15 cm. flower is actually towering above the tree tops!

Here's a shot of the Creeping Willow seeds being produced:

Creeping Willow seed production

Further along the route, we turned more towards the Atlantic and found an interesting mix of plants and insects. This is Marram - the grass that binds the dunes together:

Marram

And this is Lyme Grass, another dune associate:

Lyme Grass

Close to these we found Wild Pansy:

Wild Pansy

And Spiked Sedge (if you think grasses are tricky, try doing sedges):

Spiked Sedge

I also spotted the larva of Garden Tiger moth:

Larva of Garden Tiger moth

And the larva of Dark Green Fritillary (a wonderful and scarce butterfly):

Larva of Dark Green Fritillary

Mouse-ear Hawkweed is identified by its lemon-yellow petals which are squared off and the fuzzy oval leaves:

Mouse-ear Hawkweed

Back at the car park, I noticed a single Cinnabar Moth:

Cinnabar Moth

Cinnabars are entirely dependant on Ragwort for their survival.

catching up (2)

In my last post I mentioned that the 7-spot Ladybird pupates with a series of very quick abdominal stretches. Today I managed to record that brief moment in a series of shots:

The rear end has been attached to the leaf, and the whole body is thrust violently backwards in an attempt to split the outer skin:

The larva then slowly returns to its resting position:

In these last two shots, you can clearly see that the skin has started to split along the yellow line:

I don't know how long the entire process takes, but this one was observed for perhaps 20 minutes without making much apparent progress.

Catching up

The good weather has continued, which means that I'm taking hundreds of photographs. Identifications and image selection are taking up a lot of time, so I have quite a backlog.

But tonight I got a very rare opportunity to make a feature of a single species in my post, so here it is:

Ladybirds start off as eggs and then hatch into larvae that go though 3 - 4 stages (instars), shedding their skin as they grow. Their sole food is aphids, so judging by the number of larvae and pupae I found tonight, a vast number of aphids have been consumed this spring.

Early larvae of the 7-spot ladybird are dark with yellow or orange spots:

7-spot ladybird larva, early instar

The final instar larva is, however, grey:

Final instar 7-spot ladybird larva

When the larvae are fully grown and ready to pupate, they begin to curl up with the head down and the tail tucked in:

7-spot larva about to pupate

The larva then begins to change colour as it pupates:

7-spot larva during pupation

(note the yellow under-colour shining through the thin skin)

The outer skin is shed and pushed to the rear of the pupa by means of several quick thrusts of the entire body (the shed skin can clearly be seen at the rear of the pupa):

Fresh 7-spot ladybird pupa

After a short time, the pupa hardens and takes on a darker colour:

7-spot ladybird pupa

And after a few days:

Adult 7-spot Ladybird

I have never seen such a wide range of stages of one species in one place at one time. Our exceptional spring weather has clearly been beneficial to the 7-spot at least.

Under pressure

High pressure, as in sunny weather, brings out all the insects, so things have been quite busy.

The Common Carder Bumblebee - Bombus pascuorum - is the latest of my local bumblebees to establish a nest. Most of the specimens seen around are still queens stocking up their reserves before the workers emerge for the season:

Common Carder Bee on Bush Vetch

Members of the Empid family of flies are commonly called 'Dance Flies' due to their habit of forming mating clouds where individuals bounce vertically within the cloud. They are voracious predators, sucking fluids from their victims with their long proboscis. Sometimes, however, the proboscis is used to reach nectar in flowers:

Empid fly on Creeping Buttercup

Hoverflies are everywhere at the moment, which is good news: they pollinate flowers, trees and crops, so the more we see the better. Eristalis arbustorum can be separated from other Eristalis species by the lack of a dark stripe down the face in association with the swollen rear leg which is conveniently extended in this shot:

Eristalis arbustorum hoverfly

Rhingia campestris is an increasing species which used to be found mainly near farms (the larvae live in dung), but is now found in most habitats:

Rhingia campestris hoverfly

That long 'snout' contains a folded-up tongue which it unfolds to suck nectar that other insects cannot reach.

Leaf-mining species don't wait long after the leaves emerge before laying their eggs: they have to make use of their only food as soon as it's available. This is the very common Phytomyza ranunculi, which mines various members of the Buttercup family:

Phytomyza ranunculi mining Creeping Buttercup

I increased the light intensity on this shot to show the larva more clearly:

Phytomyza ranunculi close-up showing larva in mine

The mines of Phytomyza ranunculi can be separated from those of the much rarer Phytomyza ranunculivora by the pattern of 'frass' (dung droplets), which are joined up ("string of pearls") in P. ranunculi, but are quite separate in P. ranunculivora (Click here for comparison).


Most predators are adept at catching their own food, but some chance upon their next meal whilst simply wandering about. I saw this Lesser Dungfly discovering an already dead fly and after a brief inspection, it wasted no time in tucking in:

Lesser Dungfly with discovered corpse

I previously showed the newly-laid egg of the Orange-Tip butterfly. As expected, the egg has now turned orange and should hatch in the next day or two:

Orange Tip butterfly egg on Cardamine

Good weather encourages moths to emerge and they can often be seen beside lights at night: I keep one light running to see what I can attract. This is Common Marbled Carpet - a very variable moth (and this specimen is quite worn, making identification even more tricky):

Common Marbled Carpet moth

Just to show what we're up against in moth identification, here is a shot of Goldenrod Pug - Eupithecia virgaureata:

Goldenrod Pug moth

Compare that with my previous shot of the same species here. The only features in common are the (faint) elongated wing spots and the tuft of whitish scales behind the thorax. This colour variation has been named as f. nigra for fairly obvious reasons.

Lastly, a shot of the very common Buff Ermine moth. The caterpillars are very common in wooded areas and look like the business end of a stiff yard brush.

Buff Ermine moth

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.