Category Archives: trees

Leafmines: Stigmella speciosa

20 Tuesday Sep 2022

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While searching out Sycamore tarspot fungi on local Sycamore trees, I’ve also been keeping a look out for leafmines, specifically for the mines of the Barred Sycamore Pigmy moth, Stigmella speciosa. (You can see the very attractive adult moth on the UK Moths website by clicking here.)

220920 stigmella speciosa (1)

Although I’ve found the tarspot fungi, in varying quantities, on almost every Sycamore tree I’ve seen, the leafmines, though supposedly common, are not so easily spotted. Despite checking over a hundred Sycamore trees now, I’ve only found Stigmella speciosa mines in one location, where there were just three mines within the limits of my visibility. Perhaps more will turn up as I continue my search for Sycamore tarspot.

220920 stigmella speciosa (2)

Sycamore tarspot

09 Friday Sep 2022

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As the South East Wales Biodiversity Records Centre has only 400 records of the very easily identifiable Sycamore tarspot (Rhytisma acerinum) in its database, SEWBReC staff have chosen this fungus to be the September species of the month to inspire as many people as possible to find and record this fungus. Using the Welsh records database Aderyn, it’s possible to see where people have recorded Sycamore tarspot and, more importantly for this exercise, where they haven’t. I know this fungus is very common in my local area, yet there are few records.

So, I’m making it my mission during my walks this month to find and record Sycamore tarspot in as many 1-km squares as possible. I got off to a good start on Wednesday, with records logged in four new squares. It will be interesting to see how many more I can get, and to see how many records other people manage to find over the next few weeks. I’m picking the map will change dramatically by 30 September.

220909 sycamore tarspot

The Sulphur polypore

02 Friday Sep 2022

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This lovely old Oak tree was a victim of a storm back in the spring. As it’s in a corner of a local nature reserve, it’s been left for the fungi and insects to enjoy and, eventually, break down. And, when I walked that way on Tuesday, I noticed the fungi have been busy. This is Chicken-of-the-woods (Laetiporus sulphureus), normally a bright sulphur yellow, hence its alternate name of Sulphur polypore, but well past its best now and looking quite woody. To see a younger version of this fungus, check out my previous post on the topic, Chicken-of-the-woods, September 2021.

220902 chicken of the woods

Beauty is a bunting

20 Saturday Aug 2022

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More birds are out and about now that they’ve finished the exhausting process of raising young and refreshed their look through their annual feather moult, and it’s been a joy to see and hear them more often during my daily walks. This Reed bunting was showing off its fresh look to perfection amongst the berries of a large old Hawthorn tree.

220820 reed bunting

Sawfly larva on Oak

12 Tuesday Jul 2022

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Another day, another sawfly larva. This one looks more like a weird slug than a caterpillar, which presumably explains its common name of Oak slug sawfly (Caliroa annulipes). I found it fascinating to look at the veins of the Oak leaf that this larva was uncovering as it ate the tissue.

220712 oak slug sawfly

Sawfly larvae on Birch

09 Saturday Jul 2022

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When I spotted these mini-beasties, they were doing a very good job of munching their way through about half the tasty young leaves of a Birch sapling. I knew they were sawfly larvae – that bottom-in-the-air pose is very characteristic of sawfly larvae – and, naturally enough, I assumed they were the Birch sawfly (Cimbex femoratus), but a quick image google showed I was wrong. It took a while to track them down but it seems these are the larvae of Nematus septentrionalis (formerly Craesus septentrionalis).

220709 Nematus septentrionalis

I was rather concerned for the health of the Birch as it is one of a relatively new plantation at the local country park but, when I revisited the site just a few days later, all but a couple of the larvae had disappeared. I don’t think they would have grown to pupation stage that quickly, so I assume a local bird or two had enjoyed them.

Cyllecoris histrionius

21 Tuesday Jun 2022

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It’s National Insect Week here in Britain so I thought I’d share a new bug I found while checking out life on the leaves of Oak trees. And if you think today’s bug looks a bit like last week’s bug, Leptopterna dolabrata, you’d be absolutely right. Meet Cyllecoris histrionius, another member of the Miridae family. This bug species overwinters as an egg, the larvae hatch in the Spring, then the adults are active from May to July. Oak leaves are their usual habitat; there they can be found munching away on aphids and other tiny insects.

220621 Cyllecoris histrionius

Leafmines: Orchestes signifer

13 Monday Jun 2022

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From my previous posts, including the recent A weirdness of weevils, I’m sure it’s obvious that I’m a huge fan of weevils, but I’d never given a thought to their life cycle until I found these leafmines. The mines are the work of the larvae of the weevil Orchestes signifer. The gallery mines follow the edges of Oak leaves before terminating in a small blotch. At that point, the larvae make themselves a case by cutting out the circular blotch, and, snugly encased, they drop to the ground to pupate. You can find a photo of the black-and-white adult weevil on the British Leafminers website.

220613 Orchestes signifer

From larva to adult moth

04 Saturday Jun 2022

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Back in June 2021, I blogged about the webs I was finding on Spindle trees in a local woodland, the silken creations of the larvae of the Spindle ermine moth (Yponomeuta cagnagella), and I’ve been seeing a multitude of these webs and larvae again in recent weeks. They don’t do a lot of damage to the larger Spindle trees but, as you can see below right, the larvae’s voracious appetites can strip the smaller saplings.

220604 spindle ermine 1 larvae

I’d heard that when the larvae are fully grown, they drop to the ground to pupate, often dangling in writhing groups from a silken thread. This was the first time I’d seen the larvae doing just that.

220604 spindle ermine 2 larvae

During my most recent visit to this woodland where Spindle trees – and the Spindle ermine larvae that munch on them – are most plentiful, I finally saw some of the adult moths**, and what beautiful little creatures they are. There were four, all sitting on thistles within a few feet of each other, so I assume they had recently emerged from pupation. And so the life cycle begins again.

220604 spindle ermine 3 adults

** A correction: Well, wouldn’t you know it? My Spindle ermine moths turned out to be Thistle ermine (Myelois circumvoluta). Serves me right for assuming they must be Spindle ermine just because of all the larvae in the area.