Cricket bat spider

18 Tuesday Jun 2024

Tags

British spiders, Cricket bat spider, Mangora acalypha

I think you can easily see how this little arachnid got its common name of Cricket bat spider – the black shape on its abdomen does look very similar to a cricket bat and, to my eye, the three lines on the base of its abdomen also resemble the stumps, though that may just be my fanciful imagination.

240618 Cricket Bat spider

This is Mangora acalypha, which the Spider and Harvestman Recording Scheme website reports is mostly found in southern Wales and England, mostly on gorse bushes but also on other shrubs. These were the first two I’d ever seen and were on Creeping thistle and Common fleabane, in a field that once was farmed but is now re-wilding (though, sadly, the Welsh government has plans to build 500 houses in this location). You can read more details about this species and see a map of its distribution on the SHRS website.

Leafmines: Agromyza albitarsis

17 Monday Jun 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects, trees

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Agromyza albitarsis, British leafmines, leaf-mining fly larvae, leafmine, leafmine on White poplar, White poplar

I hadn’t found any new leafminers for a while so was delighted recently to find two within five minutes of each other. These two mines were the first I spotted, here on the leaves of White poplar (Populus alba), though they can also be found on other Poplar (Populus) and Willow (Salix) species.

240617 agromyza albitarsis

These are the larval mines of the little fly Agromyza albitarsis – you can see what the adult fly looks like by clicking on the ‘images’ tab on the National Agromyzidae Recording Scheme website. I couldn’t actually count how many larvae were present in these mines but have read that they often feed communally, forming large green blotches that eventually turns a dark brown-black colour.

Milkwort

16 Sunday Jun 2024

Posted by sconzani in wildflowers

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

British wildflowers, Common milkwort, milkwort, Polygala vulgaris

It’s always a delightful surprise to spot the tiny blue flowers of Milkwort in amongst the grasses and other wildflowers. Apparently, the flowers, which bloom from May right through to September in some locations, can also be deep purple and white but I’ve only ever seen this wonderful bright blue hue.

240616 milkwort (1)

Wikipedia reports that Classical and Renaissance writers stated ‘common milkwort was used medicinally as an infusion to increase the flow of a nursing mother’s milk’.

240616 milkwort (2)

I have assumed until now that the Milkwort plants I’ve seen, in various locations from grasslands to a coal spoil tip, have all been Common milkwort (Polygala vulgaris) but I admit that I have been so taken with the flowers that I haven’t paid much attention to the leaves. It seems that Heath Milkwort (Polygala serpyllifolia) is another possibility and, in future, I need to check whether the lower leaves are opposite each other on the stems (Heath milkwort) or alternate (Common milkwort).

240616 milkwort (3)

Brown and orange

15 Saturday Jun 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British butterflies, butterfly, Large skipper, Meadow Brown

Time for an update on the butterfly front …
Usually I see Large skippers before I see Meadow browns but this year it was the other way around, with the local Meadow browns emerging slightly earlier than usual. Who knows why – maybe something to do with the crazy weather we’ve been experiencing – warm one minute, cool the next. My first Meadow browns were seen fluttering over the wildflowers in the meadows at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park on 3 June.

240615 meadow brown

And, despite a keen breeze and large fluffy clouds frequently obscuring the sun, I spotted my first six Large skippers basking on Bramble and other shrubs along the leeward side of a coastal hedgerow two days later, on 5 June.

240615 large skipper

A horsefly’s eyes

14 Friday Jun 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British horseflies, cleg, Haematopota pluvialis, horseflies' eyes, horsefly, Tabanidae

This was my first horsefly of the year, never a welcome sight as I react quite badly to their bites.

240614 Haematopota pluvialis (1)

She had just settled on my forearm (they have such a light touch that you often don’t notice they’re there until it’s too late), and was focused on her next task of slicing open my skin so that she could feed on my blood. But, before I fell victim to her bloodsucking, I made a quick grab for her and, amazingly, managed to get hold of one wing. That allowed me to get some reasonable close-up photos of her vicious mouth parts and those incredible eyes!

240614 Haematopota pluvialis (2)

The BBC Wildlife website reports that horseflies’ eyes ‘are packed with hundreds (or thousands) of individual light-sensitive columns known as ommatidia (only the near-circular lens facets on the outside are visible)’ and also that the ‘hues are created not by pigments but by the light-refracting qualities of neighbouring groups of facets, determined by the densities of the lens cuticles.’ These particularly stunning eyes may belong to a female Haematopota pluvialis (only the females bite) but I haven’t yet had that identity confirmed.

Sad news, good news

13 Thursday Jun 2024

Posted by sconzani in birds

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

birding, birdwatching, breeding Lesser black-backed gulls, British birds, Lesser black-backed gull chicks, Lesser blacked gull, urban gulls

A pair of Lesser black-backed gulls is once again attempting to raise a family amongst the chimney pots of a house visible from the back of my flat.

Sadly, this process involves many hazards, one of which being the fact that, once they become more active, the chicks can easily fall from their precarious home. And that’s exactly what has happened to one of the local chicks. As I watched, and in spite of the slippery nature of the slate roofing tiles, it managed to climb up to the roof ridge but, of course, there was no way it could return to the nest. The parent gulls were very concerned and made a lot of noise when they discovered what had happened but, to be honest, that only made things worse as the little chick tried to reach them along the ridge but kept constantly slipping down the roof. I don’t know what eventually happened to the wee thing but I presume it fell off the roof and died.

The good news is that there is still one chick in the nest, and the parents are, so far, taking good care of it. Whether or not it survives to adulthood remains to be seen. Fingers crossed!

The hatchling, and family

12 Wednesday Jun 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects, wildflowers

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

British weevils, British wildflowers, Cionus scrophulariae, Common figwort, Figwort weevil, Scrophularia nodosa

My little alien has hatched. As I had begun to suspect, it’s the most gorgeous Figwort weevil (Cionus scrophulariae).

240612 figwort weevil (1)

I’ve just returned from delivering my tiny miracle to the small group of Figwort (Scrophularia nodosa) plants near where I first found its cocoon.

240612 figwort weevil (2)

These are two other Figwort weevils I found on those plants; they are probably some of its siblings. Aren’t they just delightful creatures?

240612 figwort weevil (3) 240612 figwort weevil (4)

A colony of Woundwort shieldbugs

11 Tuesday Jun 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects, plants

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

British shieldbugs, Eysarcoris venustissimus, Hedge woundwort, Stachys sylvatica, Woundwort shieldbug

I was actually checking the Hedge woundwort plants growing alongside our local coastal path for leaf-mining moths (of which there were none) when I spotted first one Woundwort shieldbug, then another, and another, and then two mating.

240611 woundwort shieldbugs (3)

In fact, I eventually counted eight, which is more than I’ve ever seen in one spot before. Hopefully, this means their numbers are increasing generally as they are very handsome little bugs.

240611 woundwort shieldbugs (2)

As well as feeding on Hedge woundwort (Stachys sylvatica), the Woundwort shieldbug (Eysarcoris venustissimus) is also partial to the Lamiaceae species of plants, especially White dead-nettle (Lamium album).

240611 woundwort shieldbugs (1)

There’s an alien in my kitchen

10 Monday Jun 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

cocoon, insect cocoon, metamorphosis

There’s an alien in my kitchen. When I first took this video, on 2 June, I didn’t know what it would become, though a little research has since provided some clues.

240610 cocoon

When I first brought it home, it was completely still, a tiny jelly like blob, then it started to move about within its casing.

On the Oxeyes

09 Sunday Jun 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects, wildflowers

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British insects, British wildflowers, insects on Oxeye daisies, Oxeye daisy

Perhaps because they are so common and abundant I am guilty of ignoring both the beauty and the usefulness of Oxeye daisies.

So, during my walks over the past few days I have been taking more notice and taking photos of the creatures either using the daisies as perches or feeding on their pollen.

If the weather had been more cooperative, without the constant breezy conditions, I probably would have got more photos.

Still, it was nice to see such a variety of invertebrates: bees and hoverflies, ladybirds and their larvae, several species of spider, grasshoppers and froghoppers and tiny beetles.