Category Archives: trees

Zorro comes to Wales

21 Thursday Oct 2021

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‘Yes it’s definitely Zorro’, confirmed Andy, a county sawfly recorder, when he took a look at these photos on Twitter on Tuesday. Andy was not, of course, referring to the legendary fictional character of book, television series and movie, but to the creature that created, in the leaves of Wych elm, these characteristic feeding marks that resemble the trademark ‘Z’ signature the big screen version of Zorro left at the scene of his adventures.

211021 elm zigzag sawfly (1)

Zorro, in this case, is the Elm zigzag sawfly (Aproceros leucopoda) and my photos are the first records for this species in Wales. The find is a double-edged sword (see what I did there?), as this sawfly is considered an invasive species, though I am assured by those who have been following its spread in England that the damage it does is not as considerable as first feared. I hope to spot the larvae that do this damage sometime next year.

Coral slime

15 Friday Oct 2021

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While out walking on Wednesday I spotted this large expanse of something white on the side of a huge old fallen tree and, of course, I had to investigate.

211015 ceratiomyxa fruticulosa (1)

As I got closer, I realised it was the slime mould Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa, a mass of tiny translucent white tubes, often branched, clustered together like terrestrial coral or sea anemones.

211015 Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa (2)

As this plasmodium stage of a slime mould often only lasts a day or two, the timing of my walk was very lucky indeed.

211015 Ceratiomyxa fruticulosa (3)

In Sycamore seeds

12 Tuesday Oct 2021

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This is the sequel to yesterday’s post …

30 September: While I was searching for the larval mines of the moth Ectoedemia decentella on the few Sycamore seeds I could reach, I found one seed with a hole in it. Thinking it might be relevant, I brought it home and later posted a photo and query on Twitter. Butterfly Conservation senior moth ecologist George replied that this is ‘the exit hole made by a tortrix [moth] larva – likely Pammene aurita, though Pammene regiana also feeds on Sycamore seeds’. Then followed a discussion, prompted by George, between he and 3 other moth-ers about whether Pammene regiana makes an exit hole like this. No one knew for sure.

211012 pammene larval mine (1)

1 October: The next morning, when I picked up the little group of three joined seeds, I noticed what looked like frass sitting below. I mentioned this on Twitter and was advised to put the seeds on tissue in a jar in case the larva was still inside.

211012 pammene larval mine (2)

2 October: My tweet: ‘Exciting news: we have a larva! Not from the original hole. I put that seed, with 2 attached, in a jar, and a larva has emerged from one of the other seeds. It’s currently doing a circuit of the tissue – hoping it will pupate.’ It wasn’t until later, when I was looking at the photos I had taken, that I realised the photo above shows where that larva had begun to eat its way out of the seed (indicated by the yellow arrow).

211012 pammene larval mine (3)211012 pammene larval mine (4)

3 October: The larva pupated. I haven’t been able to get a good image as it’s under the tissue and seems partly stuck to the glass jar. And I realised that I’ll now need to wait until at least next May, maybe later to see which moth emerges. What’s that about patience being a virtue?!

211012 pammene larval mine (5)

Moth mines in Acer seeds

11 Monday Oct 2021

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On 29 September, SEWBReC (the South East Wales Biodiversity Records Centre) posted the following tweet:

Calling keen members of #TeamLeafmine. [The county moth recorder] is hoping for Glamorgan records of seed miners of Acer species this year: Etainia louisella on Field Maple / Ectoedemia sericopeza on Norway Maple / Ectoedemia decentella on Sycamore.

Being a keen member of Team Leafmine, I had to take up the challenge. Field maples are quite common locally so the mines in their seeds have been the easiest to find, though they’re by no means common. I’ve managed to find them in two locations so far.

211011 Ectoedemia louisella on Field maple (1)OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

There are not so many Norway maples in my area – they’re not native, of course, and seem mostly to have been planted in parks, in housing developments, along roadside verges. So far, I’ve found Ectoedemia sericopeza mines on Norway maples at two sites.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA211011 Ectoedemia sericopeza on norway maple (2)

As for the mines in Sycamore seeds, well, I quickly realised that most of the local trees are quite tall so the seeds are unreachable. And trees planted in parks and gardens often have their lower branches trimmed off, which also doesn’t help. The solution I’ve found is to search through seeds once they’re fallen off the trees, though they are then very brown, often dirty and sometimes damaged so the mines are not easy to spot. I’ve failed in this search so far but I have found something else in Sycamore seeds … more on that tomorrow.

Finding tongues in trees

08 Friday Oct 2021

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‘And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.’
~ William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act II, scene I, lines 15-17

When the Duke in As You Like It referred to finding tongues in trees, I think Shakespeare was probably thinking more of the whispers of rustling leaves that finding Alder tongue fungi on the cones of Alder trees, but I like the quote and the way Shakespeare highlights how eloquently Nature speaks to so many of us. And it fits well with all the Alder tongues (Taphrina alni) I’ve been finding lately.

Leafmines: Acrocercops brongniardella

20 Monday Sep 2021

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Another Monday, another leaf-mining moth. This one goes by the tongue-twisting name of Acrocercops brongniardella and can be found on the leaves of Oak trees, mostly in southern parts of England, Wales and Ireland. The adult moth is a very smart-looking creature (see the photos on the UK Moths website).

210920 acrocercops brongniardella (1)

Fortunately, the larval leafmines are fairly easy to identify as they begin with a distinctive twist before broadening to a large blotch or blister.

210920 acrocercops brongniardella (2)

I found my very first Acrocercops brongniardella mines in a small area of woodland on 6 September and have since found more on a tree in a local park, both times on the evergreen Holm oak (Quercus ilex) and the latter rather abundant on leaves at the tips of lower branches. The mines can supposedly be found on all oak species, though I’ve failed to find them in the other local woodlands where I’ve recently been walking and there are not a lot of records for this species of Wales. I’ll be keeping an eye out for more.

210920 acrocercops brongniardella (3)

Bizarre larvae

18 Saturday Sep 2021

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I don’t know about you but when I see a leaf with holes in it, I feel a compulsion to turn over that leaf to try to determine what caused those holes. And that’s how I discovered today’s rather bizarre-looking creature.

210918 Sawfly Platycampus luridiventris (2)

And once I realised that the holes it made were smaller than many of the other holes in the surrounding leaves, I looked for other leaves with similar sized holes. And so I found several more.

210918 Sawfly Platycampus luridiventris (1)

And then I looked at other Alder trees in the same park, and I found even more.

210918 Sawfly Platycampus luridiventris (3)

It took a bit of googling when I got home but I eventually found a name for my mystery creatures, and that identification has now been confirmed by a national expert. These are the larvae of a sawfly called Platycampus luridiventris, a rather non-descript fly when you consider the larva it develops from. You can see that adult fly and read the scientific information about this species on The Sawflies (Symphyta) of Britain and Ireland website.

210918 Sawfly Platycampus luridiventris (4)

Leafmines: Phyllonorycter coryli

13 Monday Sep 2021

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For those of you who are new to leafmines, here’s one that’s appearing on leaves right about now, is common in Britain and easy to identify.

210913 phyllonorycter coryli (1)

These blisters on Hazel leaves are made by the larvae of the perfectly named Nut leaf blister moth (Phyllonorycter coryli) – you can see what the adult moth looks like on the UK Moths website. In fact, if you’re sharp-eyed, you may have noticed these blisters in July, as this little moth has two broods each year. You can get more details and see more images on the excellent British Leafminers website.