Category Archives: insects

Leafmines: Coleophora albitarsella

14 Monday Nov 2022

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For months, both earlier this year and in recent weeks, I’ve been casting an eye over all the patches of Ground-ivy (Glechoma hederacea) I’ve noticed so I was delighted, last Friday, to finally find what I’ve been searching for, a new leafminer. Even better, as well as the tell-tale blotches on several leaves, when I turned over one leaf there was also an empty larval case.

221114 coleophora albitarsella (1)

These are the feeding signs for the larvae of the little moth Coleophora albitarsella (also known as the White-legged case-bearer, you can see the rather non-descript adult moth on the UK Moths website here), which munches on a wide variety of different plants (see full list on the British Leafminers website here). This moth species is relatively scarce in Glamorgan, with just a few sightings this millennium; in fact, it’s not very common anywhere in the UK, with just 109 records currently showing in the NBN Atlas (110, when mine is added) , so I feel rather privileged to have found these leafmines.

221114 coleophora albitarsella (2)

Twenty two

09 Wednesday Nov 2022

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I know the weather’s been mild – we haven’t even had a frost here yet – but I still didn’t expect to see a bunch of ladybirds on nettles as I walked through a local park on Monday afternoon. Initially I thought there were just one or two but the little red dots just kept on appearing so I retraced my steps to where I’d seen the first one and counted. Twenty two! Sadly, they were all the invasive Harlequins but hopefully that means the native breeds are all tucked up somewhere safe for the winter.

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Acletoxenus formosus

03 Thursday Nov 2022

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And just like that yesterday’s cute little fly has a name, Acletoxenus formosus, thanks to a fellow biodiversity recorder, Graham. Amazingly, my sighting appears to be just the second record of this species in Wales, though I’m sure that’s due to the fact that it’s under-recorded because of its tiny size, rather than because of its rarity. Once I knew its name, I was able to find a short video of its trademark sideways shuffle, thanks to wildlife photographer and enthusiast Phil Booker, who also gives a bit more information about the fly in the description box of his video.

Another mystery fly

02 Wednesday Nov 2022

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Silly me thinking that this tiny fly was so distinctively marked that it would be easy to identify. It may be part of the Chloropidae family of flies but then again it may not. I think it’s a shame the online resources for fly identification are so limited or require a degree of familiarity with the various fly families that the lay person simply doesn’t have. It certainly doesn’t encourage more people to become interested in flies, yet they can be such visually attractive little creatures.

221102 Chloropidae

Feed up, fly south

13 Thursday Oct 2022

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It’s not only the birds that head south in the autumn. During a walk along the coastal path earlier this week, I noticed several Red admirals getting ready to migrate.

221013 red admiral (1)

Ivy flowers are essential for them at this time of year when they need to take on as many nutrients as possible before they take the big plunge and fly off over the cliffs, a feat that never ceases to amaze.

221013 red admiral (2)

Rush veneer

07 Friday Oct 2022

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The migrants just keep coming, and I love to see them because it always seems so amazing to me that a little moth like this, with a wingspan of just 26-32mm, can fly all the way to south Wales from somewhere in Europe.

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Meet the Rush veneer (Nomophila noctuella), which the UK Moths website says ‘can often be found in large numbers at coastal watch-points, and tends to occur in the adult stage between May and September’. At least six of these little migrants flew up from the path as I walked through a local field earlier this week.

Beach butterflies

05 Wednesday Oct 2022

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I went to Sully beach on Monday specifically to look for the two Grey plovers that have been frequenting the waterline on and off in recent days. (I saw them but too distantly for good photos – I’ll try again when the tide is higher, so may yet post about them.) What I did not expect to see was two – or perhaps, three – Clouded yellows along the beach. I only managed to get photos of two so can’t confirm the third sighting was a different individual – they fly so fast, one could easily have passed me! Doesn’t their amazing yellow pop against the colour of the beach pebbles?

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Leafmines: Phyllocnistis saligna

03 Monday Oct 2022

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A new month, a new leafmine challenge, and it’s got off to a very successful start for me. But let’s start at the beginning …
Our locally based Senior ecologist with Butterfly Conservation, George, kickstarted the challenge with a couple of tweets and some photos last Friday evening:

Ok #TeamLeafmine here’s another recent S. Wales colonist to look for; an easy one to identify too. Phyllocnistis saligna mines narrow-leaved willows, unusual because it mines both leaves & young stems. 3 recent records by the Taff in North Cardiff, must be out there elsewhere!

Cocoons are formed in a turned over leaf edge, see 3rd photo in original tweet. Quite a few Gwent records from the Levels and Monmouth/Abergavenny, also new to Carmarthenshire in 2021. Must be in & around Cardiff Bay! More info here: http://leafmines.co.uk/html/Lepidoptera/P.saligna.htm

221003 Phyllocnistis saligna (2)

I didn’t have any firm plans for Saturday’s walk so wended my merry way along the edges of the two local rivers, the Ely and the Taff. I soon realised that this challenge will be a little more difficult than previous ones, as narrow-leaved willows were few and far between and, when found, often inaccessible. However, I did manage to find mines in two locations along the River Taff, which has encouraged me to continue my search further up the river very soon. And, though I hope to find more mines, I doubt I’ll find one of the very lovely little adult Phyllocnistis saligna moths, the wonderfully named Willow bent-wings, which you can see on the UK Moths website.

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Mapping Ivy bees

29 Thursday Sep 2022

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From its first sighting in Dorset the Ivy bee (Colletes hederae) has spread to cover much of England south of a rough line from Nottingham to Norfolk, with scattered sightings in the north of England and just one verified record in Scotland thus far. There have also been verified sightings around most of coastal Wales, though the rugged Welsh hinterlands remain unconquered by this handsome little bee, as do large parts of inland Devon. Considering the first confirmed record of Colletes hederae in Britain came just 21 years ago, it’s an impressive colonisation effort. You can see the latest map on the NBN Atlas website here, and you can contribute to the BWARS mapping project here.

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