On the fence

14 Wednesday Dec 2022

Posted by in insects

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , ,

Last week, before our current cold snap (though we’ve had no snow, it was -8C in the bitter easterly wind today), I was amazed at how many insects I found on and around a black metal fence that borders a local park.

221214 fence

I was initially checking for hoverfly larvae, as I was alerted a couple of years back to the fact that they can often be found on fences and other objects under trees like Sycamore – I think they fall when the leaves fall, then stay on the fence rails gobbling up any aphids that also fall. The four hoverfly larvae I found (shown below the lovely blue-bodied fly) are all from the Syrphus genus (but it’s not possible to identify them to species level), but I was surprised to also find an abundance of Springtails and more than 20 ladybirds, almost all Harlequin. I don’t know why the fence attracted them all – it felt cold to the touch but perhaps the black paint meant the surface was warm when the sun did actually shine.

221214 insects on the fence

 

Leafmines: Phytomyza glechomae

12 Monday Dec 2022

Posted by in insects, leaves, plants

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

This time last month I found my first leafmines on Ground-ivy (Glechoma hederacea) (and blogged about them on 14 November, Leafmines: Coleophora albitarsella). Now, I’ve found another new-to-me leafmine on this same plant species only this one was made not by the larva of a moth but rather but the larva of a fly called Phytomyza glechomae. The mines are quite distinctive, starting with a winding gallery and finishing with a wider blotch, with plenty of frass scattered throughout. As always, you can read more and see plenty of images on the excellent British Leafminers website.

221212 Phytomyza glechomae

Beautiful Beeches

11 Sunday Dec 2022

Posted by in leaves, trees, winter

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

I’ve shown you this beautiful location several times before – this is Cwm George, in the small south Wales town of Dinas Powys – but I simply can’t resist sharing this year’s late autumn splendour. I couldn’t decide which view I liked best, so I’ve included three images, each one zooming in to the scene a little further. I hope you have somewhere magical like this to enjoy, to wander through, to escape into.

221211 cwm george

Ride a White saddle

09 Friday Dec 2022

Posted by in fungi

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , ,

There wasn’t a horse to be seen but there were plenty of White saddles (Helvella crispa) poking through the leaf litter. I usually fiddle with the surroundings when I’m photographing fungi, clearing away the odd leaf or grass stem to provide a clearer shot but, today, I decided to show them as they really are, an integral part of this woodland ride.

221209 white saddle

Not one but two

08 Thursday Dec 2022

Posted by in birds

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

One of my local birding friends has a thermal imager that is extremely helpful when he’s trying to locate birds that are very good at hiding in plain sight – as long as they’re not obscured by too much vegetation, the heat generated by the birds shows up as a bright patch when looking through the imager. And that is how I got to see not one but two Jack snipe this week. Here’s a photo to illustrate how well hidden they are …

221208 jack snipe (1)

The first bird Graham found was the most difficult to see. The image on the left below was almost all we could see of it – these birds have two parallel pale yellow stripes running along the sides of their heads and down their backs. Can you spot the head stripes? Luckily for us, this bird stayed a couple of days – it would’ve been out feeding in the night, then returned to huddle down in its roosting spot in the daytime. The following day we could make out less of its body but, as you can see below right, we could see its eye quite clearly.

221208 jack snipe (2)

The second bird was discovered on the second day. I just happened to be there when Graham arrived and he immediately picked up a second heat source very close to the first bird. This second bird was much more visible, though its cryptic plumage still made it difficult. These photos were taken with a zoom lens – the first photo at the start of this post is what you could see with the naked eye. If you look carefully at the image below, you may be able to make out the other Jack snipe in the top left – you can see one horizontal yellow body stripe and one head stripe.

221208 jack snipe (3)

I’d only ever seen Jack snipe once before this week, as a fleeting flying blur. I was hoping our birds might come out and do their characteristic bouncing dance but no such luck. Still, I’m certainly not complaining. Our views of these elusive birds were superb!

Beautiful plume

07 Wednesday Dec 2022

Posted by in insects

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

This tiny moth was a lovely surprise from last week’s wildflower searching. I only managed a couple of quick shots before it flew into the vegetation but they were good enough for my friendly local moth expert to identify this as a Beautiful plume (Amblyptilia acanthadactyla), which George also told me is ‘One of the few plumes that overwinters as an adult’. Beautiful, indeed!

221207 Beautiful plume

Rafting Cormorants

06 Tuesday Dec 2022

Posted by in birds

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

I’ve seen this behaviour by the Cormorants in Cardiff Bay many times. A few birds gather on the water, then more and more fly in from their various roosting spots to join in. Moving forward together across the water, each bird dives repeatedly.

221206 rafting cormorants (1)

I assumed the Cormorants were either driving or following a school of fish below the water, and this would seem to be confirmed by a research paper I found online, which discusses a different species of Cormorant living around the Arabian peninsula. Here’s what they have reported:

… data suggest that the benefits of group foraging outweigh the costs of intense aggregation in this seabird. Prey detection and information transmission are facilitated in large groups. Once discovered, shoaling prey are concentrated under the effect of the multitude. Fish school cohesiveness is then disorganized by continuous attacks of diving birds to facilitate prey capture.

221206 rafting cormorants (2)

Leafmines: Bucculatrix ulmella

05 Monday Dec 2022

Posted by in insects, leaves, trees

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , ,

This new-to-me species was the result of a recent session turning over Oak leaves to see what might be lurking beneath. I didn’t actually find the leafmines for this creature but rather, on adjacent trees, two empty cocoons – the tiny moths (pictured on the UK Moths website) that were metamorphosing inside had already hatched and flown (you can see part of the pupal case poking out of one cocoon). The ribbing on the cocoon points to this being one of Bucculatrix genus of moths and the fact that these were on Oak gives a positive identification of Bucculatrix ulmella (don’t be fooled by the specific name ulmella, which would appear to indicate the larvae feed on Elm – the species has apparently been misnamed).

221205 Bucculatrix ulmella