Oncotylus viridiflavus

29 Friday Jul 2022

Posted by sconzani in insects, wildflowers

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British bugs, insects on knapweed, knapweed, Miridae, Oncotylus viridiflavus, plant bugs

High summer is prime time for spotting plant bugs. By keeping an eye out for insects on wildflowers, I’ve managed to spot three new (to me) species in the past week alone. This is one of them: a mirid bug with a mouthful of a name, Oncotylus viridiflavus. A lot of these bugs have very similar markings and can be tricky to tell apart but, luckily, this little guy has quite distinct colouration and patterning and, very helpfully, was sitting right where it should be, on top of its food plant, Knapweed. The records for this species are scattered throughout the southern half of Britain but there are a lot of gaps in the map – perhaps you can be the first to find one in your area.

220729 oncotylus viridiflavus

Variations in pink and white

15 Sunday Aug 2021

Posted by sconzani in flowers, wildflowers

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British wildflowers, colour variation in flowers, Common centaury, knapweed, thistle, Yarrow

It fascinates me how many wildflowers vary from their standard colours, often changing from pink to white and vice versa. Here we have Centaury, usually pink but also commonly seen with white flowers; Knapweed, also usually a pinkish lilac, but I occasionally see a white variant; Thistles that are also usually pinky lilac but often flowering white hereabouts; and the usually white Yarrow, which I find growing with quite pink flowers in a local field.

210815 Knapweed pink 210815 knapweed white

210815 yarrow pink 210815 yarrow white

New awakenings

23 Sunday May 2021

Posted by sconzani in flowers, spring, wildflowers

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British wildflowers, Common comfrey, Field scabious, Flax, knapweed, Oxeye daisy, Ragged robin, Red campion, Red valerian, Spring colour, Yarrow

Despite our un-spring-like weather, more and more wildflowers are coming in to bloom. Here are some I’ve noticed during the past fortnight’s ramblings in my local countryside: Comfrey, Field scabious, Flax, Knapweed, Oxeye daisy, Ragged robin, Red campion and Red valerian, and Yarrow. Though my video shows a decidedly blue-pink range of hues, there are other-coloured species in bloom – it’s just that I intend doing some family- or species-specific blogs so will save those photographs for now.

Bumble- or humble-bee?

24 Friday Aug 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, insects, nature, wildflowers

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bumblebee, bumblebee on flowers, Hemp agrimony, humblebee, knapweed, scabious

180824 bumblebee (1)

Bumble: verb; move or act in an awkward or confused manner (Oxford Dictionary).
Personally, I think it’s a bit sad that the beautiful bumblebee is associated with confusion and awkwardness of movement, though I admit they can seem rather stupid when they fly in the open windows of my apartment and then bump repeatedly against the glass trying to get out again. Most other insects seem able to work out where the open window is.

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When it comes to finding nourishment though, they seem perfectly able to home directly in on the next delicious flower. And I’ve recently discovered that the bumblebee wasn’t always so named – it was originally the humblebee, not because it was considered modest or lowly but rather because of the humming sound it makes as it flies along.

Pulling the little blossom threads

04 Friday Aug 2017

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, wildflowers

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Centaurea nigra, Common knapweed, John Clare poem, John Clare poem May, knapweed, love divination game with knapweed

170804 Common Knapweed (1)

In days of old a love divination game would be played with the flowers of the Common knapweed (Centaurea nigra), as described here by English poet John Clare (1793 – 1864) in his poem ‘May’:

They pull the little blossom threads
From out the knapweeds button heads
And put the husk wi many a smile
In their white bosoms for awhile
Who if they guess aright the swain
That loves sweet fancys trys to gain
Tis said that ere its lain an hour
Twill blossom wi a second flower
And from her white breasts hankerchief
Bloom as they ne’er had lost a leaf