Beetles, bugs and spiders

03 Monday Aug 2015

Posted by theresagreen in Beetles, Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve, Insects, Nature, Nature of Wales, nature photography, North Wales, plants important to wilflife, spiders, Wildflowers of Wales

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

crab spider, flowering in July, froghopper, green shield bug, harebell, hogweed, mating red beetles on flowers, Nursery Web spider, red soldier beetle, red-legged shield bug, spider that makes web tents in grass, strangalia maculata, sulphur beetle, wild thyme, yellow and black beetle

July 15th

In the woods I spotted this extremely tiny froghopper, but only because he was struggling to extricate himself from a spider’s web built in ivy climbing up a tree trunk.

Tiny froghopper

Tiny froghopper enlarged

In the meadow, the Nursery-web spider would probably have escaped my notice too if I hadn’t been trying to get closer to a butterfly in the brambles. More used to seeing this species web ‘tents’ on the ground in the grass, I wouldn’t have realised who had built this one if I hadn’t seen her guarding it.

There are some lovely wildflowers in bloom in the meadow amongst the grass, my current favourite are the delicate-looking harebells,

although I have always been fond of the sunshine yellow Lady’s Bedstraw

but then there’s the Wild Thyme that is looking spectacular this year where a large patch of it cascades down the limestone rocks.

There’s a Cat’s Ear plant near that spot too, which nicely demonstrates both the flowers and the seedhead ‘clocks’ simultaneously.

Hogweed works at another level and is an invaluable food source for a whole host of insects from beetles to butterflies.

Some of the insects feasting on the flowers today were Sulphur beetles, including dozens of tiny ‘baby’ ones

150712TG-Bryn Euryn-Adder's Field (15)-Small Sulphur beetles on hogweed 1

150712TG-Bryn Euryn-Adder's Field (19)-Sulphur beetle cloe-up

150712TG-Bryn Euryn-Adder's Field (21)-Sulphur beetle on hogweed

A 7-spot ladybird, a so-far un-named brown beetle

150712TG-Bryn Euryn-7-spot ladybird-Coccinella 7-punctata (3a)

150712TG-Bryn Euryn-Adder's Field (22)-no ID beetle

There were dozens of Red Soldier Beetles, many in the act of procreation as these beetles always seem to be. There was a little moth there with them, but again I haven’t discovered what it is yet.

150712TG-Bryn Euryn-Adder's Field (24)-Red soldier beetle

150712TG-Bryn Euryn-btl-Red soldier beetle-Rhagonycha fulva (7a)

150712TG-Bryn Euryn-btl-Red soldier beetle-Rhagonycha fulva (3a)

150712TG-Bryn Euryn-btl-Red soldier beetle-Rhagonycha fulva mating

Whilst photographing a pair of mating Red soldier beetles, I noticed another beetle caught up in spider’s webbing. As I looked closer I spotted the head and front legs of a spider creeping up over the edge of the flower, then she darted out and begin to drag her victim backwards to where she had appeared from. This was a Crab spider, mistress of camouflage and deadly to insects that stray into her path regardless of their size. Cruel, but fascinating and quite a feat as the beetle was as least equal in size to her.

150712TG-Bryn Euryn-Adder's Field (26)-Crab spider dragging victim to edge of flower

150712TG-Bryn Euryn-Adder's Field (27)-Crab spider with victim 1

Crab spiders are able to change their body colour to match their background. The process can take a few days, but they can appear white, yellow or green. The irony of this scene struck me; a beetle life ended in full view of a pair of his kind in the act of procreating the species….

150712TG-Bryn Euryn-Adder's Field (29)-Crab Spider rear view

150712TG-Bryn Euryn-Adder's Field (28)-Spider crab securing victim

The Crab spider show would take some beating, but my ‘discovery of the day’ was quite definitely a splendid large yellow and black beetle, Strangalia maculata, that surprisingly doesn’t appear to have a common name.

150712TG-Bryn Euryn-btl-Strangalia maculata (1a)

150712TG-Bryn Euryn-btl-Strangalia maculata (10a)

150712TG-Bryn Euryn-btl-Strangalia maculata (7a)

150712TG-Bryn Euryn-btl-Yellow & black beetles 1

On another flowerhead another spider lurked, this time a small brown one, much enlarged in the photograph.

In the long grass I spotted an insect flying and managed to keep an eye on where it landed, otherwise I would never have found it; a Gorse Shieldbug.

A bright fresh bronzy-coloured forest bug was more easily spotted.

Red-legged shield bug-Pentatoma rufipes

A peek at the oak trees revealed tiny acorns. The ones I photographed belonges to a Sessile Oak – the acorns sit flat rather than hanging on stems as those of the Pedunculate Oak. Hopefully this will be a better year for them than last year was.

Rain clouds were gathering – is it really summer?

Highlighted text for Shieldbugs are links to more details about these insects in my ‘Species Collections’.

Butterfly meadow

02 Sunday Aug 2015

Posted by theresagreen in Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve, butterflies, Butterflies of Wales, Nature, Nature of Wales, nature of woodlands, nature photography, Wildflowers of Wales, woodland wildflowers

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

aphantopus hyperantus, argynnis aglaja, dark green fritillary, Gatekeeper, maniola jurtina, Meadow Brown, pyronia tythonus, Ringlet, small skipper, thymelicus sylvestris

In the meadow the grass is long and beginning to turn golden brown as it sets seed.

The meadow grass is long , brightened by patches of yellow Lady’s Bedstraw

Bright golden yellow patches of Lady’s Bedstraw, scented like new mown hay catch my eye.

Lady’s Bedstraw-Galium verum

At this end of the field there are more brambles and I spot several dark brown butterflies flying low down along the length of them. It was a while before any settled for long enough to see properly what they were. As I hoped, some were dark, chocolatey brown Ringlets.

Ringlet butterfly on bramble leaf – wings of butterflies that frequent brambles often get torn on prickles

One Ringlet male was clearly patrolling a territory. The brambles fill a corner of the field; he was flying to one ‘end’ of the patch, turning around, flying to the other end, then where the bramble curves around the corner he cut across to the other side of the track, flitted a short way through the long grass then back across the track to the brambles. Occasionally he paused for rest or to skirmish with intruders.

An undamaged Ringlet

As well as Ringlets there were Meadow Browns, some of which were also coloured dark brown, hence my initial hesitation identifying the Ringlets. It’s quite unusual to see Meadow Browns resting with their wings fully open and it is interesting to see how variable this species is in size and colouring.

The male Meadow Brown is darker brown than the female and may not have orange patches

A lighter shaded female Meadow Brown

Meadow Brown (male) underside showing orange underwing and eyespots

More usual view of a Meadow Brown underside

Meadow Brown underside-female

I was pleased to see a lovely fresh Gatekeeper here too, my first one for this year. This one was a male; he has dark scent scale patches in the centre of the forewings which females don’t have.

Gatekeeper-Pyronia tithonus

In the opposite corner of the field there are more brambles; there were more Meadow Browns here and little golden brown Skippers that happily are abundant here and that also occur in other nearby locations, particularly on the Little Orme.

Small Skipper has orange-brown tips to antennae

Small Skipper (male) has a line of black scent scales on forewings

There were a good number of these lovely little butterflies flitting about, expertly manoeuvering at speed between the long grass stems.

Small Skipper-Thymelicus sylvestris

Ringlets are not widespread throughout the site, but rather occur in colonies in a few different locations. I walked on up past the top end of the field where I have found them in previous years, again on brambles. I was pleased to see there were; maybe half a dozen individuals, mostly flying around in the long grass in front of the brambles. Finally one flew up to feed on one of the last remaining flowers.

Ringlet feeding on the last of the bramble flowers

I was wondering what there was for the butterflies to feed on here now the bramble flowers are over, then saw one fly up onto a nearby oak tree. A closer look revealed it appeared to be feeding on something on a leaf surface, or maybe there were a few drops of moisture there.

Last year I didn’t see any Ringlets at all, perhaps I missed their rather short season, which is just July-August, or maybe there were only a few which I overlooked. As they are here now there must have been some to generate this year’s brood. Now I wanted to know if there were any to be found in yet another spot I found them in the year before last, which is at the bottom of the ‘downland’ slope that leads up to the summit of the hill. Happily, there were indeed some there too. So, a good year for Ringlets.

Emerging from the woodland onto the steep slope I had caught sight of a flash of orange flying over a stand of Rosebay Willow Herb, so headed off now to investigate that. It wasn’t long before I saw more orange flashes of speeding Dark Green Fritillaries, the most special butterfly treats of this reserve. This patch of the hillside and sometimes a spot on the other side of the hill are the only places I have seen them, Colonies are more plentifully populated some years than others.

Dark green Fritillary- Argynnis aglaja

The fritillaries were feeding mainly on thistles, for want of anthing much else. They would also feed on knapweed, but it’s not quite out yet and scabious, of which there is only a little flowering nearby.

150712TG-Bryn Euryn-bfly-Dk green fritillary 2

An older, more faded butterfly

There were perhaps 10-12 individuals, some faded, others much fresher.

They are strong, fast flyers and glide on flat wings.

150712TG-Bryn Euryn-bfly-Dk green fritillary 13

On the hindwings there are silver spots on a dark green background

Summer along a Welsh Woodland Trail

30 Thursday Jul 2015

Posted by theresagreen in British hoverflies, Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve, bumblebees, butterflies, Butterflies of Wales, hoverflies, Insects, Nature, Nature of Wales, nature photography, wildflowers, Wildflowers of Wales

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

ash tree, episyrphus balteatus, eristalis pertinax, flesh-eating fly, hedge woundwort, helophilus pendulus, hypericum montanum, large pied hoverfly, marmalade fly, Pale St John's Wort, sarcophoga carnaria, Stinking Iris-Iris foetidissima, syrphus ribesii, tapered drone fly, volucella zonaria, wild strawberry fruit, woodland flowers

Variable summer weather is perhaps more the norm here in North Wales than in some other parts of the UK, although we still feel hard done to when yet another day dawns doomed to be overcast. There are many compensations though, one of which is that when the odd sunny, or partially sunny day occurs, the insects come out in force in search of sustenance. I photographed all of the following along Bryn Euryn’s Woodland Trail during a fleeting sunny spell a couple of weeks ago.

The shady woodland trail

On the edge of the trail a substantial bramble was still flowering and literally buzzing with insects, mostly hoverflies and bees. There were two butterflies, a Red Admiral and a Comma that were flying around rather frantically, both of which briefly (and separately) landed on my arm. Poor things were clearly overcome by the presence of both sun and nectar. I would have liked a more conventional shot of the Comma, this being the first I’d seen here this year, but it was taunting me from high over my head so this was my best view. I rather like it and it’s clear from the outline that it is a Comma.

The Comma insisted on playing hide and seek

The hoverflies were very active, not pausing for long but these are the ones I could get to fairly easily:

Volucella pellucens-Pellucid fly is the largest fly in Great Britain

Volucella pellucens- sometimes called the Pellucid fly, this is the largest fly of Great Britain

A gorgeous Volucella zonaria – my first sighting here

A Tapered drone fly – Eristalis pertinax

Eristalis nemorum (interruptus)

A more distant view of a Helophilus pendulus

A Syrphus sp hoverfly-Syrphus ribesii - one of the most common species

A Syrphus sp hoverfly-Syrphus ribesii – one of the most commonly seen species

A tiny Marmalade fly-Episyrphus balteatus, probably our most common hoverfly

There were bees too, including lots of tiny red-tailed and buff-tailed worker bumblebees that were way too quick for me to focus on.

Honey bee

A less charming insect to many, I find the Flesh-eating fly-Sarcophaga carnaria rather attractive to look at. I think the white feet complete the look, makes it look rather dapper.

Flesh-eating fly-Sarcophoga carnaria

The trees are still green and fresh-looking thanks to the rain and cooler weather, although those in the top right of the next picture are looking quite lacy.

Looking up into an Ash tree

Continuing along the trail I hear a few birds letting the world know they are still about, Chiffchaff song bursts were fairly frequent, I heard Wrens and the contact calls of Blue Tits and plenty of corvid cawings. I found this feather too, maybe once belonging to a Magpie, it gleamed shades of almost peacock-blue in the dappled sunlight.

A corvid feather

Honeysuckle is in flower now on the trail’s edge and I couldn’t resist stopping to inhale its clean, fresh fragrance.

Lovely scented honeysuckle

There is purple Hedge woundwort too, which has an earthy pungent, nettle-like scent.

Pungently scented Hedge Woundwort

Foxgloves are almost over-flowering reduced to the tips of the long bent-over stems

Wood sage-Teucrium scorodonia

And a St John’s Wort I’d not spotted before, which I think is hypericum montanum, but happy to be corrected as always.

Pale St John’s Wort-Hypericum montanum

A rather unusual plant grows here in the shady woodland, delightfully named the Stinking Iris and sometimes the ‘Roast-beef Plant’, both names allude to the sweetly acrid smell, like ‘high’ meat. This is one of just two Iris species native to the UK; the other is the Yellow Flag Iris.

The charmingly-named Stinking Iris-Iris foetidissima

The delightfully-named Stinking Iris-Iris foetidissima

Closer look at an Iris flower which is a greyish-mauve tinged with a brownish-pink

The much more common Nipplewort-Lapsana communis

A Nipplewort leaf showing the path of a leaf-miner

I picked a couple of ripe wild wild strawberries, trying not to think about the fly sitting on a leaf above them and their proximity to the path along which there is a regular procession of loose dogs….. They were delicious, regardless.

Sweet-tasting Wild Strawberries

Turned off and took the steps up to Adder’s Field

Steps leading up to the meadow

more treats were in store there but there’s far too much to cram into one post, so will be continued….

A welcome visit from a ho(o)verfly

17 Friday Jul 2015

Posted by theresagreen in British hoverflies, hoverflies, Nature of Wales

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Tags

pied hoverfly, scaeva pyrestri, small hoverfly with black and white markings

On a warm sunny morning earlier this week I opened my living room windows, as I do most days, and was delighted when a little hoverfly popped in for a visit. It was a black and white one, commonly called the Pied Hoverfly, a species I hadn’t yet seen this year.

12/7/15-Pied Hoverfly-Scaeva pyrastri

It settled on a houseplant in front of the open window, but then I was inspired to go and fetch another plant, a small banana plant that I had previously noticed was under serious attack by greenfly. The hoverfly took to it immediately and quickly began to feast on the sticky honeydew secreted by the aphids.

12/7/15- Hoovering up the honeydew

Watching the little insect at work hoovering up the clearly delicious sticky stuff was fascinating, and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to get some close-up views of it whilst sitting comfortably on a chair. I was feeling a bit guilty about the extent of the marauding aphids on the poor plant though, which was also brought into shaming close-up. I just don’t like killing things, even greenfly.

The distinct creamy-white markings are shaped like commas

Front view

Huge eyes and a rough, scaly tongue

But the hoverfly was really only quite tiny…

On a more realistic scale

The Pied Hoverfly-Scaeva pyrastri is a migratory species, which as with the Red Admiral and Clouded Yellow butterflies, arrives in Britain in highly variable numbers. In some years it is almost absent, bt when it does occur it may breed locally. (Britain’s Hoverflies-Stuart Ball & Roger Morris)

Are bees ‘hooked’ on nectar containing pesticides? — ScienceDaily

12 Sunday Jul 2015

Posted by theresagreen in bumblebees, Nature of Wales

≈ 2 Comments

I found this article really interesting and thought I’d share it.

Bees are attracted to nectar containing common pesticides, scientists at Newcastle University and Trinity College Dublin have discovered. This could increase their chances of exposure to high levels of pesticides.

Previous studies have suggested that exposure of this kind can affect bees’ fitness. The research, published in Nature, discovered that buff-tailed bumblebees and honeybees could not taste the three most commonly used neonicotinoid pesticides and so did not avoid them. In fact, the bees showed a preference for food which contained pesticides: when the bees were given a choice between sugar solution, and sugar solution containing neonicotinoids, they chose the neonicotinoid-laced food.

The lab-based study also showed that the bumblebees ate more of the food containing pesticides than the honeybees, and so were exposed to higher doses of toxins.

Bees and other pollinating insects are important for increasing crop yields — their value has been estimated to be worth at least €153billion per year globally. When pollinating crops, they can be exposed to pesticides in floral nectar and pollen. Several controversial studies have shown that neonicotinoids have negative effects on bee foraging and colony fitness. As a result, public concern has grown over the impact of neonicotinoids on bees and other pollinators. In April 2013, the EU introduced a temporary ban on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides on flowering crops, while further scientific and technical evidence was gathered.

Professor Geraldine Wright, lead scientist on the study at the Institute of Neuroscience at Newcastle University, said: “Bees can’t taste neonicotinoids in their food and therefore do not avoid these pesticides. This is putting them at risk of poisoning when they eat contaminated nectar.

“Even worse, we now have evidence that bees prefer to eat pesticide-contaminated food. Neonicotinoids target the same mechanisms in the bee brain that are affected by nicotine in the human brain. The fact that bees show a preference for food containing neonicotinoids is concerning as it suggests that like nicotine, neonicotinoids may act like a drug to make foods containing these substances more rewarding. “If foraging bees prefer to collect nectar containing neonicotinoids, this could have a knock-on negative impact on whole colonies and on bee populations.”

Jane Stout, Professor of Botany and Principal Investigator in the School of Natural Sciences at Trinity College Dublin, said: “Our findings imply that even if alternative food sources are provided for bees in agricultural landscapes where neonicotinoid pesticides are used, the bees may prefer to forage on the neonicotinoid-contaminated crops. Since neonicotinoids can also end up in wild plants growing adjacent to crops, they could be much more prevalent in bees’ diets than previously thought.”

The study is part of the Insect Pollinators Initiative, jointly funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Defra, the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the Scottish Government and the Wellcome Trust under the auspices of the Living with Environmental Change (LWEC) partnership. It was also funded by Science Foundation Ireland, the Irish Research Council, and National Science Foundation.

Are bees ‘hooked’ on nectar containing pesticides? — ScienceDaily.

Alien invaders in the Ally Pally Park

05 Sunday Jul 2015

Posted by theresagreen in Insects, Nature of Wales

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Alexandra Park, harlequin ladybird, Harmonia axyridis, invasive ladybird species, invasive species, ladybird larva, ladybirds, longhorn beetle

I’ve recently spent two weeks in London with my youngest daughter, awaiting the arrival of her first baby. She was a little bit late, as babies often are, so to alleviate everyone’s tension a little, my son took over ‘ entertaining mother duties’ for a couple of days. He lives in North London near to the lovely Alexandra Palace, and he took me there for some much-appreciated exercise and a glimpse of some natural scenery of the surrounding Alexandra Park.

On the way there we walked by a children’s playground and I could not pass it by without acknowledging the large recumbent and clearly friendly dragon that forms an imaginative raised play area.

Play area built on the back of a dragon

Long grass on the hillside of Alexandra Palace Park

Long grass on the hillside of Alexandra Park

I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of space left in a natural state.

Alexandra Palace & some of its surrounding parkland (photo from official website)

Alexandra Palace is set atop a steep hill located between Muswell Hill and Wood Green, in the north of the city. Alexandra Park was opened by the renowned landscape architect Alexander McKenzie as a pioneering Victorian leisure Park and centre for education and entertainment.Originally opened in 1873 but rebuilt in 1875 following a destructive fire, it was designed to serve as a public centre of recreation, education and entertainment and as north London’s counterpart to The Crystal Palace in south London. It was always intended as “The People’s Palace” and later nicknamed “Ally Pally” (supposedly by Gracie Fields)

Managed by the Alexandra Park and Palace Charitable Trust, the Park’s 196 acres of Grade II listed English Heritage parkland is maintained by a specialist team dedicated to ensuring the beautiful landscape is well preserved and remains very much at the heart of the local community.

Dog Rose- Rosa canina

I stopped to photograph elderflower blossom and spotted the first of several ladybird larvae I was to see on and around the elder tree.

Elderflower blossom & first glimpse of a ladybird larva

The larvae were quite sizeable, so would be classed as ‘juvenile’, in a late instar form. I didn’t recognise which species of ladybird they belonged to, although I did think it unusual to see so many and that they were out in the open.

Ladybird larva on an elder leaf

A ladybird larva has four instars, i.e. it sheds its skin four times as it grows. Early instar larvae are very small and difficult to identify, but third and fourth instar larvae, particularly of the larger ladybird species are more recognisable.

The larva close-up

Then I saw a ladybird actually in the process of emerging into its adult form and it clicked that these were a new generation of the invading alien Harlequin ladybird – Harmonia axyridis.

An emerging Harlequin ladybird

Harlequin ladybird – Harmonia axyridis

Common names: Asian lady beetle: Halloween lady beetle; Multicolored Asian lady beetle

Harlequin ladybirds, native to Asia, were introduced to north America and mainland Europe as a biological control for aphids, but their voracious apetites and the subsequent decline of native ladybird species has focused attention on them as a subject for control. Large numbers hibernate indoors and in wall cavities during cool winter weather, which doesn’t help their cause.

A recent article in the Guardian newspaper names the species as the world’s most invasive ladybird and states that “Harlequin ladybirds have been declared the UK’s fastest invading species after reaching almost every corner of the country in just a decade. The cannibalistic ladybirds were first realised to have reached the UK in 2004 when they were seen in Essex and have since spread as far afield as the tip of Cornwall and the Shetland Islands, making it the fastest alien invasion of the UK on record.

Dr Helen Roy, of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, said a decade of sightings recorded by the public as part of the UK Ladybird Survey since 2005 have revealed just how far and fast the harlequin has spread… adding that it is now consolidating its presence in the UK.

Harlequin ladybirds (image from the Guardian)

Harlequin ladybirds are variable in their appearance (image from the Guardian)

The species is believed to be responsible for the decline of at least seven native ladybirds, including the popular two-spot, which when last assessed in 2012 had slumped 44%. Dr Roy said that there has been no sign of a recovery among two-spots.

On a brighter note, it may be that Harlequins have some benefits as they prey on a variety of smaller insects, especially aphids which can damage crops and garden flowers, but the extent to which they protect plants is undetermined. There is also evidence to suggest that native insects may now have adapted to prey on the Harlequins, helping to keep numbers in check.

The invasion of the Harlequin ladybird (Harmonia axyridis) threatens our native populations. If you want to know more about this species in particular, or want to record sightings, please have a look at the Harlequin Ladybird Survey website.

Moving on I found more beetles on a hogweed flowerhead, the large one is a Longhorn beetle.

Longhorn beetle-Stenurella melanura – Stenurella melanura

We walked along an avenue lined with enormous London Plane trees and stopped to look at some of the Fallow Deer in the enclosure. Alexander Mackenzie included a small deer enclosure when he designed the original layout of the park. Fallow deer were reintroduced to Alexandra Park by the GLC and the small herd here today are their direct descendents.

Roe deer male with new antlers still covered with velvet

Fallow deer male with new antlers still covered with velvet

We strolled around the boating lake, eating ice cream and watching mallards, several of which were females with varying-sized ducklings, coots, tufted ducks and canada geese swimming around. At the far end of the lake a flock of opportunistic pigeons and a couple of grey squirrels were feasting on food probably put out for the ducks.

We hadn’t gone to see the Palace itself, but I couldn’t not mention that of course this is where the world’s first television broadcast was transmitted from.

Alexandra Palace is where the first BBC broadcast was made

The world’s first television broadcast was famously made from Alexandra Palace

I loved this round stained glass window too, it must be even more special viewed from inside the building with the light shining through it.

The jewel-like stained glass window

We had come to the top of the hill for the views – from the terraces of the Palace there are spectacular panoramic views of London’s skyline.

View to the London skyline

The breathtaking views stretch from Canary Wharf to St Paul’s Cathedral and the Shard. The view extends as far as Crystal Palace, with its transmitter being visible on the horizon. (Click on images to enlarge them)

View to London city skyline - click to enlarge

View to London city skyline – I think the large red brick building just left of centre is HM Prison Holloway (sometimes known as Holloway Castle)

The Friends of Alexandra Park organise various nature-based activities that have included a Fungus Foray, Bat Walk, Bird Walk, Tree Walks, Insect Hunt and a Moth Evening.

PS – Mother and baby granddaughter doing well!

Spring on the Bryn-part II

11 Monday May 2015

Posted by theresagreen in Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve, butterflies, Butterflies of Wales, Nature of Wales, nature of woodlands, Wildflowers of Wales

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

blackthorn, blackthorn blossom, Blue tit, dog violet, Great Tit, mistle thrush, orange tip, peacock butterfly, rabbit, small tortoiseshell, speckled wood, wild strawberry, woodland flowers

Walking further up through the field the local buzzard pair circled overhead, then just a few minutes later a sparrowhawk appeared from somewhere close by and startled me as it flew just a few feet over my head, then continued towards the direction from which I had come.

Gorse fully in flower

A bit further on I stopped for a while and sat on one of my favourite rocks savouring the warm sun and the peace and quiet; that rarely lasts long just here as its at a sort of junction of trails so there are passing dogs, usually well ahead of their owners that invariably come over to see what I’m up to. I watched two peacock butterflies vying for the best spot on a sun-warmed rock. The winner opened its slightly faded, but still beautiful wings and basked for a few short minutes undisturbed.

Peacock butterfly

Moving off my rock to photograph the butterflies I noticed a patch of Wild Strawberry in flower. Tucked back against the rock it is sheltered and in a sunny spot, perfect for ripening berries.

Wild Strawberry-Fragaria vesca in flower

Back in the woods to walk up towards the summit I disturbed a large foraging bird. It flew up to a tree branch where it blended well into the dappled shade. It had to be a Mistle Thrush but I wasn’t entirely sure until it flew back down to the ground giving a better view.

A Mistle Thrush blending into the dappled shade of the wood

Unmistakably a Mistle Thrush

At the top of the track there was a single Speckled Wood butterfly, a lovely ‘fresh’ one. It was intent on finding somewhere to bask in the sun and flitting and zig-zagging about low over the track. You have to keep an eye on them because once they settle they can be difficult to spot. I had to make do with this view as it still wasn’t happy and shot off quickly.

Speckled Wood butterfly

Back out in the open and continuing upwards I almost stepped on a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly also sunning itself on the bare earth of the track.

Small tortoiseshell- Aglais urticae

A little clump of Dog Violets growing in the grass at the side of the track caught my eye; the bee-fly zoomed in just as I pressed the shutter and was gone again before I could refocus on it.

Common Dog Violet- Viola riviniana

Blackthorn, of which there is a generous amount up here, has been flowering for a short while now but is at its beautiful peak now. Last year was a sparse one in respect of the amount of sloes on the shrubs here, but if the masses of blossom on them now are anything to go by, this could be a bumper year.

Blackthorn with a view

The flowers of blackthorn appear before the leaves and these are just beginning to break from their buds.

Blackthorn-Prunus spinosa

Blackthorn blossom against a clear blue sky

Another male Orange Tip butterfly was racing along the boundary of the blackthorn scrub. He didn’t stop, but as my first sighting of this species this year was a few days earlier of one nectaring on blackthorn, I’m using one of the photographs I took then.

Orange Tip- Anthocharis cardamines

Following the path around to go up to the summit I noticed two Small Tortoiseshell butterflies on the ground. I thought at first they were mating, or about to do so and they did change their positions a few times, but nothing happened during the time I watched them. One was more fresh-looking than the other, but they were both perfectly intact and gorgeous.

The grass up around the summit of the hill is kept short, constantly cropped by grazing rabbits. I think it’s highly likely that this particular part of the hill covers a maze of warrens and tunnels. You don’t often get to see them , especially during the daytime, but there are baby ones around now and not yet wise they can be seen out in the open.

Young bunnies

Ground Ivy-Glechoma hederacea

I cut back into the woods here from the track the bunnies were on, hearing a chiffchaff a short way in. I spotted Great Tits foraging in the trees close to the track that flew over to the scrubby wild clematis-covered scrub on the other side.

Great Tit

Where I stopped to take the picture there were a large number of smallish hoverflies darting about, resting briefly on leaves or many on the ground, all shiny and fresh looking as the ones I saw lower down earlier in the afternoon.

There were Blue Tits out foraging too and I think its likely that a pair have a nest site quite high in a tree with ivy growing up through it.

Foraging Blue Tits

At the bottom of the track I stopped for a few minutes to listen to a Mistle Thrush singing. This was a déjà vu moment as I recall doing this exact same thing last year, more or less in the exact same spot, scanning the trees for the singer. I found him then, but couldn’t spot him today, so here’s last year’s picture to be going on with. What a lovely bird and how lovely to see him again. (More about the Mistle Thrush here)

A well-marked, singing Mistle Thrush

Bumbles, Masons and Miners

10 Sunday May 2015

Posted by theresagreen in Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve, bumblebees, Little Orme, Local Nature Reserves, Nature of Wales, Rhiwledyn Nature Reserve

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

buff-tailed bumblebee, common carder bee, early mining bee, mason bees, mining bees, red mason bee, red-tailed bumblebee, tawny mining bee, tree bumblebee

Early spring is a good time to look out for some of the different species of bees found locally, catching them before they settle in to producing the next generation. On recent outings Bryn Euryn was particularly well blessed with bumblebees and some other interesting species and the Little Orme brought an unexpected treat so I thought I’d put them all together.

The Buff-tailed bumblebee- Bombus terrestris is the largest of our native bumblebees. Queens, workers and males have a dirty golden yellow collar near the head and one on the abdomen.

Bryn Euryn – Buff-tailed bumblebee queen

The queen’s tail is an off white/buff colour which can sometimes appear orange. The queens are busy establishing new colonies and may be seen collecting pollen to stock it and crawling around on the ground where they nest in burrows underground.

Bryn Euryn-Buff-tailed bumblebee queen on the ground

I didn’t spot any workers or males on the days I was out and about, if I had these would both be smaller than the queens and look slightly different as workers have a white tail and that of the males is white ringed with a buff line.

Red-tailed Bumblebee- Bombus lapidarius queens are also establishing new colonies and can be seen feeding and collecting pollen from flowers and also crawling around on the ground as they too nest underground.

Red-tailed bumblebee queen with full pollen baskets

Queens are distinctive with their black bodies and red tails and are large, between 20 -22mm long which is a similar length to that of the Buff-tailed bumblebee queens, but the red-tailed is less bulky.

Bryn-Euryn -Red-tailed Bumblebee queen emerging from a patch of ivy-leaved speedwell

There are Red-tailed bumblebee workers about too. They have the same colouring as the queens but are smaller, varying in size from 1-16mm in length, with some early workers being no bigger than a house fly.

They have comparatively short tongues and favour flowers that provide them with a landing platform such as dandelions and daisies and later on, thistles and ragwort. In gardens they like chive flowers and lavender.

24/4/15-Red-tailed worker bee on dandelion

24/4/15-Bryn Euryn-Red-tailed worker bee on dandelion

To make things confusing there is a cuckoo-bee that closely resembles the Red-tailed bumblebee. The main differences are that the cuckoo bee has black wings and the back legs are hairy and without the shiny hairless patch, the pollen basket, of the true bee.

There were a very few Common Carder bees Bombus pascuorum about and I only managed one quick shot of one visiting a dog violet flower. There will be many more later on.

Bryn Euryn – Common Carder Bee

An exciting new recording for me here was of the Tree Bumblebee Bombus hypnorum, that’s is not to say they weren’t here before, just that I had never seen one. I was lucky to spot two that were taking nectar from the Green Alkanet flowers which grow in a big patch next to the car-park gate.

21/4/15 – Bryn Euryn-Tree bumblebee-Bombus hypnorum

Tree bumblebees are fairly new arrivals to the UK, first found in 2001 in Wiltshire. Since then they have spread across most of England and Wales and made it to Southern Scotland in 2013. Queens, workers and males all have a similar colour pattern; the thorax is tawny to reddish-brown, the abdomen is black and the tail is white.

Tree bumblebee burdened with mites

Queens vary significantly in size and can reach up to 18mm in length. Males are quite chunky and can be as much as 16mm in length; fresh males have a patch of yellowish facial hair which eventually wears off. Workers, which is what I believe I photographed range from 11-16mm in length; they move around rapidly and are effective pollinators.

Basking on the leaves of the butterbur plant that also grows near the gate at the bottom end of of the car park was another little bee. I’m not positive about its identification but based on the colour of the hairs on its thorax I think it may be an Early Mining Bee – Andrena haemorrhoa.

Bryn Euryn-Early Mining Bee-Andrena haemorrhoa

A couple of days later I was walking on the Little Orme and came across another species of mining bee that cannot be mistaken for anything else, the Tawny Mining Bee-Andrena fulva.

There were two individuals attempting to nectar on Alexander’s while a particularly strong wind was bending and tossing the flower around. It was tricky trying to get focussed images.

28/4/15- Tawny Mining Bee on Alexanders -Little Orme

28/4/15- Little Orme-Tawny Mining Bee on Alexanders

Males are 10 to 12 mm and the females 8 to 10 mm long. The females are covered with fox red hair on their backs and black on the underside, whilst the males are more slender and yellower in appearance.

Little Orme-Tawny Mining Bee

One of the two managed to hold on and kept searching over the florets, but the other gave up and dropped to the ground.

Tawny Mining Bee on the ground

The bees mate in spring, after which the male dies and the female starts to build a nest. Sometimes more than a hundred females build nests in a few square metres but the Tawny Mining Bee normally does not create a colony: each female has her own nest.

Finally I’d like to mention another little bee found locally, the Red Mason Bee Osmia rufa, also most likely to be spotted around this time of year.

Fairy Glen-Red Mason Bee

The males are smaller than the females at 6 -11 mm. Both sexes are covered in dense gingery hairs, the male with white tufts on the head while the female’s head is black.

Red Mason Bee (m)

It is a solitary bee, each nest being the work of a single female bee working alone. They nest in pre-existing cavities such as hollow plant stems, old garden canes, air bricks, and even old nail holes in fence posts, lining the inside of the cavity with mud.

Spring on the Bryn

07 Thursday May 2015

Posted by theresagreen in Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve, hoverflies, Insects, Nature, Nature of Wales, nature of woodlands, tree folklore

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

ash tree, Bee-fly, chequered hoverfly, common field speedwell, cowslip, dog mercury, eupeodes latifasciatus, garlic mustard, hart's tongue fern, ivy-leaved speedwell, oak tree, wood anemone, wood sorrel

Recent outings have been ambles rather than rambles as I’m getting back to fit after being laid low for a few weeks by some kind of virus, which also accounts for the recent absence from blogging. I’ve found it most frustrating, especially at this time of year too when there’s so much going on. But I’m keen to catch up and already have a lot to share, so here’s a mostly-pictorial view of Bryn Euryn as I saw it on two beautiful sunny-day ambles in the last week of April.

There are a lot of Ash trees on the Bryn, thankfully all of which appear to be healthy at the present time and they seem to have had an exceptional amount of flowers this year. The flowers start off a dark pinkish-purple but now most of them are over now and the clusters are mostly green.

Ash tree flowers are almost over

Some trees have produced so many flowers that now the clusters are green, from a distance it gives the illusion that they are in leaf.

Spent flower clusters give ash trees the illusion of being in leaf

Looking more closely at the tree in the photo above, there are a few leaves already appearing.

New ash leaves opening

Naturally, once I had seen the ash leaves I had then to check out the oaks to guage if we are in for a ‘splash or a soak’ this summer. On the day I took the photo of the ash the oaks were all in tight bud.

21/4/15- Oak leaves in tight bud

But three sunny days later I was amazed to see that leaves had begun to open and not only that, insects had already moved in.

24/4/15-New oak leaves with insects

For anyone that has no idea what that last bit was about, a traditional English way of predicting whether the summer will be wet or dry was based on whether the oak or the ash trees opened their leaves first.

“When the oak is before the ash, then you will only get a splash; when the ash is before the oak, then you may expect a soak “

So things appear to be fairly even in the rainfall prediction stakes so far.

Robin singing from high in an ash tree

It was a perfect spring day, the sun was shining the sky was blue and a host of birds were singing. Along the quarry field edge the vegetation is growing up quickly although there’s not much flowering yet. Celandines are beginning to fade and some dandelions have already set seed.

Vegetation on woodland edge-celandines, nettles & arum

Vegetation on woodland edge-Lesser Celandines, nettles & arum

Cuckoo Pint or Lords and Ladies-Arum maculatum

There was a single male Orange Tip butterfly racing along at their normal break-neck speed and one female Small White that obligingly settled on a bramble.

Small White (f) on bramble leaf

150421TGNW-BE1-Chequered Hoverfly(m) -Melanstoma scalare

Tiny male Chequered Hoverfly-Melanstoma scalare (enlarged)

I was quite surprised to see a good number of hoverflies about, all looking shiny and fresh, so I assume they were newly-emerged.

I think this is Eupeodes latifasciatus

As I was checking out a splash of colour that turned out to be from this escaped garden plant, I was happy to see this little bee-fly arrive to take its nectar. One of my favourite insects, they look cute and furry but are classified under the general heading of ‘robber-flies’ and their larvae live as parasitoids in the nests of mining bees.

An escaped garden plant attracting a bee-fly

There are two species of pretty blue speedwell flowering here, one is the familiar Common Field Speedwell

Common Field Speedwell- Veronica persica

and the other is the even tinier-flowered Ivy-leaved Speedwell.

Ivy-leaved speedwell-Veronica hederifolia

You could easily overlook this rather sprawling untidy plant, and you’d probably pull it out of your garden as a ‘weed’, but as with all speedwells, on closer inspection its tiny flowers are really pretty.

Close-up of flower of ivy-leaved speedwell

Close-up of flower and leaves of Ivy-leaved Speedwell

In the woods the tree canopy is still open but there are small new leaves on some trees.

24/4/15-Tree canopy still open – new beech leaves in foreground

Wood anemones are still flowering

Wood anemone-Anemone nemorosa

and there was one patch of Wood Sorrel.

Wood Sorrel-Oxalis acetosella

Harts Tongue fern fronds unfurling

Garlic Mustard is beginning to flower- if you never have, try crushing a leaf they really do smell of garlic…

Garlic Mustard – Alliaria petiolata

and another plant that doesn’t smell too pleasant, Dog Mercury, is also displaying its spikes of rather insignificant small pale green, petalless flowers.

Dog Mercury – Mercurialis perennis

There are still ivy berries on some plants, although those left are probably still there because they are difficult for their chief consumers, blackbirds and bulky old wood pigeons to reach.

Ivy berries

In the open wildflower meadow cowslips are blooming. I love their graceful fragrant flowers and the sight of them always takes me back to childhood when it was still OK to pick bunches of them and we used them as part of the floral decorations for the school May Day celebrations.

Cowslip-Primula veris

Hawthorn is now green with fresh leaves.

Fresh hawthorn leaves

Part 2 to follow ….

Life in the long grass

10 Sunday Aug 2014

Posted by theresagreen in Bryn Euryn Nature Reserve, bumblebees, Butterflies of Wales, day-flying moths, hoverflies, Nature, Nature of Wales, nature photography, spiders, wildflowers, Wildflowers of Wales

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Aricia agestis, Brown Argus, butterflies in long grass, common blue, common knapweed, insects in long grass, keeled garlic, moths in the grass, Nursery Web spider, pisaura mirabilis, Polyammatus icarus, small hoverfly with snout, spider that makes web tents in grass

First week

The weather up here in our part of North Wales has been variable this week. We have had a good bit of rain which has freshened everywhere up and just about enough warm sunshine to allow us to keep the faith that this is indeed high summer. It may not be the perfect weather for people here on holiday, but the local wildflowers and insects seem to be appreciating it.

Habitat: Long meadow grass

There is a whole other world existing in areas where grass is allowed to grow long and during the past couple of weeks I’ve begun to appreciate its importance as a home and a refuge for wildlife, particularly insects and spiders.

All journeys need a starting point and the following journey of discovery into the dimension of long grass began when I went to Bryn Euryn to see if a particular plant was in flower.

I’ve mentioned before that we have a few less-usual species of wildflowers growing in our locality and on Bryn Euryn this is the time to find one of them; the pink/purple flowered Keeled Garlic. I headed for the spot I had seen it in previous years and there it was, buzzing with bumblebees and more surprisingly attracting several beautiful little Common Blue butterflies.

Keeled Garlic

I wondered at the attraction of this particular flower to the butterflies and thought perhaps they were just resting on the tiny flowers to sunbathe. A little later though I came upon another patch of the flowers with more Common Blues fluttering over and settling upon it, so maybe they were taking nectar from them. I was more than happy to see this many of the butterflies in the same place at the same time; I haven’t seen that for a long time.

Male Common Blue butterfly on Keeled Garlic flower

Female Common Blue butterfly, looking a bit more worn

I was not the only one to recognise the attraction of insects to the garlic flowers. Lurking on top of her tent-like web, built to protect her eggs and then babies, sat a long-legged Nursery Web spider.

Nursery Web spider-

Nursery Web spiders are the spinners of the many web ‘tents’ seen in grassy places at this time of year. They take their common name from the way in which they care for their offspring. The female carries her large egg sac beneath her body, held in her jaws. Before the eggs hatch she spins the silken tent around the egg sac and stands guard over them. She remains on duty until the spiderlings are big enough to live independently. The spiders are active hunters and search for prey amongst grasses and low vegetation.

A neighbour

Walking carefully through the long grass, every step seems to disturb a dry-grass coloured moth. They are so well camouflaged that should you manage to keep track of where they land, it’s not easy to find them again; then if you manage a picture of sorts identifying them afterwards is even harder. The one below, which landed on the pupa of a 6-Spot Burnet moth which I would otherwise not have spotted, maybe Crambus pascuella (?) As always, I’m more than happy to be corrected.

This one landed on the pupa of a 6-spot Burnet Moth

In places amongst the grass knapweed is beginning to open up it tight dark knots of buds to allow the purple brush-head of petals to escape. Knapweed is a hugely important source of nectar for a wide variety of insects, but more about the plant and its visitors later.

Knapweed in long grass

Long grass on dry slope of ‘downland’

The area of long grass at the bottom of the summit slope on the drier, chalkier downland side of the Bryn has a different character to the flatter, damper meadow area. Some species of butterfly you may see here, although found in other parts of the Reserve, show a definite preference for the conditions it offers and may be more numerous. It is especially good for seeing the smaller species that gain protection from predators amongst the grass stems and include Small Heath, Small Skipper, Common Blue and the less-common Brown Argus.

The larval host plant of the Brown Argus is Rock Rose, which has been prolific in its flowering here this year and the leaves of the plants are still evident in the ‘under-story’ of this grassy forest. I was once again lucky with the timing of my visit this week; after a few minutes of pursuing little butterflies through the tangle of dry grass laced across with long outreaching bramble runners, I spotted a newly emerged Brown Argus balanced on top of a dry stem.

5/8/14 – Brown Argus- Aricia agestis

It stayed perfectly still, wings outstretched for quite a long time and made no attempt to fly off although I was very close and holding the camera lens just a few inches from it. I was almost certain this was in fact a Brown Argus and not a female Common Blue, but was compelled to wait and hope it would close its wings for me to see its underside. It eventually obliged and although the angle it presented wasn’t the best, thankfully it did confirm its identity with its diagnostic pattern of spots.

Brown Argus underside with 'figure of 8' spots on forewing

My Brown Argus underside with ‘figure of 8’ spots on hind wing

4/8/14-Common Blue male underside

Spot the difference:

Text & diagram from the UK Butterflies web site demonstrates the differences:

Of the two sexes, it is the female Common Blue that causes most confusion with the Brown Argus. The blue present in a female Common Blue is highly variable, with individuals ranging from almost completely blue through to completely brown. It is this latter colouring that causes the most confusion. Even so, the Brown Argus has no blue scales, but may give off a blue sheen from the wings and the hairs found on the thorax and abdomen. Another diagnostic is that the Brown Argus normally has a prominent dark spot in the centre of the forewings.