Author Archives: sconzani

Named for a German entomologist

15 Friday Sep 2023

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I was very excited to find a Roesel’s bush-cricket (Metrioptera roeselii) earlier this week, only my second ever sighting of one of these handsome beasts, so I was quite surprised to read on British Wildlife Wiki that it is ‘becoming one of the most commonly found Orthoptera in the country, and makes up about 16% of records.’ The entry goes on to state that this bush-cricket

used to be found uniquely on the inland side of saltmarshes, and in coastal regions around estuaries, on the North Sea coast. It is becoming increasingly common in southeast England, as well as spreading further north. Over the past 50 years it has ranged further to the west, and large numbers have settled in areas of urban wasteland, especially near railways. It is generally found below 100 metres altitude. Extension to the species range has increased substantially since 1985. [The Orthoptera & Allied Insects website has a particularly interesting map that shows this range extension.]

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Once I got over my excitement, I couldn’t help wondering who Roesel had been. Turns out August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof (1705-1759), was a German entomologist, who was also interested in many other creatures and was a talented painter – his illustrations of frogs look particularly fine.

Box tree moth

14 Thursday Sep 2023

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The gardeners amongst you will not welcome the sight of this moth in your vicinity, at least not if you grow any species of Box (Buxus) in your garden, as its larvae eat the leaves of Box and cover the plant in a webbing like thick cobweb. This is the appropriately named Box tree moth (Cydalima perspectalis), a native of east Asia that established itself in Europe and hopped across the Channel to Britain in 2007. From the Aderyn biodiversity records database, the first Welsh sightings were recorded in 2016 and, in the seven years since then, a further 260 records have been added to the database, with most sightings along the coast of south Wales and a smattering across the top of north Wales.

Euura pavida

13 Wednesday Sep 2023

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After last week’s heatwave (which kept me indoors a couple of days – I do NOT like the heat!), Monday’s walk was deliciously cool, if a little damp from un-forecast rain, and, even better, I found two new-to-me creatures. The first was a new species of sawfly larvae that I spotted when I saw this barely-there leaf. I’m always curious when I see leaves like this to find what has caused the damage.

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It didn’t take long to find the culprits this time – at least 20, possibly more, hungry larvae munching the tough leaves of a willow species right down to their veins.

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Previously known as Nematus pavidus, their species name has now changed to Euura pavida. The larvae are usually found chewing on willow leaves but can also be found on Alder and Poplar. You can see what the adult sawfly looks like on The Sawflies (Symphyta) of Britain and Ireland website.

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Imperfect concealment

12 Tuesday Sep 2023

Posted by in birds, trees

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Is it a canny eye for detail or simply good luck that both these Green woodpeckers chose Hawthorn trees bedecked with red berries to perch on?

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The combination of green leaves, red berries and beige-ish bark and branches is almost a perfect match for the joyful colours of the birds but, if this is an attempt at camouflage, though they haven’t quite nailed it I’d give them an eight out of ten for effort.

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Theme: #seedheads

10 Sunday Sep 2023

Posted by in flowers, plants, wildflowers

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As mentioned in yesterday’s post, the challenge for this evening’s #WildflowerHour on social media is #seedheads.

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This is a topic I’ve posted about on here many times previously because I admire and enjoy photographing the sculptural aspects and diversity of floral seed heads.

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Some seeds, those with silken, feathery or fluffy attachments, have obviously been designed to be caught and distributed by the wind; others, with tiny hooks or burrs, to be caught on the fur or fabric of passers-by and transported with them to new destinations.

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This week I’ve pared back my photos, turning to black and white and trying to simplify the backgrounds in order to emphasise the shapes and designs of these remarkable seed heads.

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Photobombing sparrows

09 Saturday Sep 2023

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I was about to take some photos of the seed heads of this plant for tomorrow’s Wildflower Hour on social media (theme: #seedheads), when a gang of House sparrows flew in and started to eat the seeds from those seed heads, so they became the subjects of my photos instead.

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Yellow wags

07 Thursday Sep 2023

Posted by in autumn, birds

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This week, for five days running, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park played host to the biggest flock of Yellow wagtails seen in the 20-odd years of local birding memory.

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Although the park authority installed fencing, cattle yards and signage for conservation grazing a couple of years ago, no cattle have yet materialised, and the outer paddocks were once again cut, at the end of last week, so the Council can make some money selling the hay to a local farmer.

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While conservation grazing would be much better for enhancing local biodiversity, this year’s hay cut coincided exactly with the time many birds were beginning their autumn migration. The field obviously had an abundance of insects and this proved perfect for the Yellow wagtails to feed up before heading south to overwinter in sub-Saharan Africa.

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Usually, only one or two of these lovely little birds are seen at Cosmeston during spring and autumn migration so to have at least 36 birds counted by one local birder during his Tuesday morning visit is particularly special, as is the fact that the birds stayed around for several days.

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If you’re not familiar with Yellow wagtails, the males are the bright yellow birds, the females and juveniles those with more subdued colouring. They’re very active tail-waggers, and were a joy to watch as they searched for food amongst the drying grasses.