06 Tuesday Aug 2024
Posted in seaside
As the Shore crab (Carcinus maenas) is the most common crab found in rock pools on British beaches, I assume this dead crab I found on a local beach is one of those.
The reason I can’t be sure is that you need to check the pattern of spikes on a Shore crab’s shell and, as you can see, this one was missing its shell, presumably because a seabird removed it to feast on the meat inside.
05 Monday Aug 2024
Tags
British moths, Cameraria ochridella, Horse chestnut leaf-mining moth, Horse chestnut leafminer, Horse chestnut tree, leaf-mining moth larvae
As it’s very common, I’m sure you’ve all seen this damage on the leaves of Horse chestnut trees. These are leafmines, made by the larvae of the Horse chestnut leafminer (Cameraria ochridella) (see my blog Horse chestnut leafminer, 18 July 2018).
Until last Friday, I’d only ever seen the leafmines, never the adult moth. But, as I walked past this particular Horse chestnut tree, lots of tiny creatures were flitting around its lower leaves. At first, I wasn’t sure what the creatures were – they looked like little flies. Then one of them landed on a leaf in front of me and I managed to get a closer look – a moth, not a fly, and very prettily marked too.
I must have stood watching for 15 minutes or more, waiting for a moth to settle and snapping a few quick photos before it zipped off … and again … and again. It was a good test of my patience, and I’m really glad I was in the right place at the right time to see these beautiful moths.
04 Sunday Aug 2024
Posted in flowers, wildflowers
I’m not very good at identifying umbellifers – Wild carrot, Hogweed, Cow parsley, Wild parsnip are fairly straight forward but I tend to ignore the others. So, when I spotted this clump and immediately thought ‘That looks different’, I thought I’d make an effort to work out what it was. I took a few photos but, when I got home and started checking, I quickly realised I needed more detailed and specific images. Luckily, this plant was growing somewhere I often pass so I managed to get more photos last Wednesday. This is how, using photos and information I found on the Wildflower Finder website, I managed to identify the plant as Upright hedge-parsley (Torilis japonica).
The stems of the plant are quite thin but stiff, and the flowers are held on umbels, which have between 5 and 9 umbellets (little clumps of flowers). The stems (and leaves) are covered in ‘white bristly hairs giving it a slight rough feel’. Beneath the umbels, there are bracts (like narrow leaves), which ‘are often just underneath the “spokes” of the umbels and therefore usually hidden from view’.
At each join, where a stalk branches out from the main stem, you can see a small leaf. The leaves are larger at the bottom of the plant, smaller towards the top. The shapes of the leaves match those I found on the Wildflower Finder website.
The flowers are mostly white, though some have a pinkish tinge, all with 5 red anthers. The fruits form immediately underneath the flowers, and can be seen more clearly when all the petals have fallen off. ‘The fruits are barrel-shaped and are surrounded by vertical rows of spines’ and ‘The white and red spines on the fruits are curved inwards like horns, and taper towards the tip….’
03 Saturday Aug 2024
Posted in insects
Tags
British hoverflies, egg-laying hoverfly, egg-laying Melangyna umbellatarum, hoverfly eggs, Melangyna umbellatarum
My guide book, Britain’s Hoverflies (Ball and Morris, Princeton, 2015) says the Melangyna ‘is a challenging genus with several species which are very difficult to identify’, and I thought ‘Just my luck! I might as well give up now’.
Fortunately, I didn’t, and, as this particular species has a shiny thorax and pale, almost white abdominal markings, it proved easier than expected to identify my first ever hoverfly from this genus. This little beauty has now been confirmed as Melangyna umbellatarum, a female that was egg-laying on Hogweed in Cardiff’s Heath Park last week.
You may just be able to spot one of her tiny white eggs above her head in the top photo, and I was able to get a close up (photo above). This was also the first time I’d observed a hoverfly laying her eggs.
02 Friday Aug 2024
Posted in insects
Tags
British flies, flies, Fungus gnat fly species, Fungus gnats, Sciara hemerobioides, Sciara species
When I first noticed these little flies feasting on the nectar of Wild carrot flowers, I thought perhaps they were sawflies but, when looking at my photos on my laptop later, I realised their heads were far too small.
Turns out these are some kind of fungus gnat though, according to the NatureSpot website, there are several species with the same bright yellow abdomen. So, although these flies look very like the Sciara hemerobioides shown on that website, I’ve recorded them as Sciara species. As you may have worked out, it’s the larvae that feed on fungus, whereas the adults prefer umbellifers and other flora.
01 Thursday Aug 2024
Posted in insects
Tags
British sawflies, Caliroa annulipes, Caliroa cerasi, Eriocampa ovata, Euura pavida, Nematus septentrionalis, sawfly larvae
I mentioned earlier in the week, in my post about the sawfly larva Heterarthrus vagans mining the leaves of Alder, that I’d found that miner while checking out leaves to see what small creatures had been munching holes in their leaves. And my recent staring at holey leaves on other trees and shrubs, in other locations, has produced a nice variety of Sawfly larvae, some that look like regular caterpillars, others like slimy slugs. I’ve linked the names to the Sawflies of Britain and Ireland website for those interested in more information on each species.
Caliroa annulipes on Hawthorn
Caliroa cerasi, also on Hawthorn
An unidentified Cladius species, on Field rose
The one that looks like bird poo, Eriocampa ovata, on Alder
One of the bum-waggling species, Euura pavida, on Willow
Another bottom waggler, Nematus septentrionalis, on Birch. I love how their munching has created a heart from their leaf.
31 Wednesday Jul 2024
Posted in birds
Tags
This is my beautiful female Carrion crow friend, the mate of the handsome male I’ve featured here before (The look, the glare, 26 October 2022). For some reason, they haven’t raised a family this year – perhaps they tried but were disturbed, or their chicks perished in our dreadful early Spring weather. Or, maybe, after successfully raising three youngsters last year (My crow family, 15 July 2023), they decided to give themselves a break this year (though I think that’s probably me anthropomorphising their decision-making process). Both Mr and Mrs Crow are moulting at the moment so looking a little bedraggled but they still look lovely to me.
30 Tuesday Jul 2024
Tags
British butterflies, butterfly, butterfly on Oak, hairstreak butterflies, Heath Park, Oak, Purple hairstreak
Since I discovered a Purple hairstreak, a couple of years ago, at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, where they’d never been recorded before, I’ve been convinced that these gorgeous little butterflies are more common than most people realise. It’s just that, because they’re very small and spend most of their time high up in the tops of Oak trees, nobody notices them. So, being an habitual leaf-starer anyway, I now spend 10-15 minutes at this time of year staring at Oak trees, just in case. Last week, my leaf-staring paid off once again, when I was exploring Cardiff’s Heath Park. There are lots of large old Oaks in the park so it seemed a likely location, despite there being no recorded sightings. And this was my reward – even better than I expected, as it fluttered down from the top of the tree to a lower branch and posed nicely while I got some photos.
29 Monday Jul 2024
Tags
Alder, British leafminers, Heterarthrus vagans, leaf-mining sawfly larvae, leafmines on Alder, sawfly larva
Another Monday, another leafmine. I noticed this one while checking out Alder leaves to see what small creatures had been munching holes in their leaves (more on those later this week). This blotch mine was made by the larva of sawfly Heterarthrus vagans (you can see what the adult sawfly looks like on the Sawflies website here).
I thought initially this might have been the larva of sawfly Fenusa dohrnii – I was right about it being a sawfly but had the species wrong. Fortunately, I had held the leaf up to the light to get a slightly clearer photo of the larva within as, from looking at that, British Leafminers expert Rob was able to tell me: ‘It has a black “bow tie” … so is a Heterarthrus and as it is Alder it is Heterarthrus vagans‘. Who knew sawfly larvae wore bow ties? But it seems all the Heterarthrus species larvae have them. Very smart!
28 Sunday Jul 2024
Posted in flowers, wildflowers
I’m sure I must have walked along the coastal path at Sully beach in the summer months in previous years but, somehow, I’ve never noticed the Sea-lavender before. And how could I not have noticed this glorious swathe of lilac growing from cracks in the layers of rocks?
According to my guide books, Common sea-lavender (Limonium vulgare) usually grows in salt-marshes, whereas Rock sea-lavender (Limonium binervosum agg.), of which there are several subspecies, grows on sea cliffs, rocks by the sea, and in the shingle of drier salt-marshes. So, I assume this is one of the Rock sea-lavender species but I can’t be sure. And, for me, it doesn’t really matter – it’s just beautiful to see.
earthstar 
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