A close-up on insects of the Little Orme

27 Saturday Aug 2011

Posted by theresagreen in Little Orme, moths, Nature

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6-spot Burnet Moth, 7-spot ladybird, common blue, honeybee, small skipper

A late afternoon walk around the Little Orme did have some purpose today, I was hoping to see a Burnet Moth and to find some insects to photograph in close-up. I was lucky on both counts: Burnet Moths were flying around visiting the wildflowers growing near the edge of the clifftop in some numbers and I found a few models willing to allow me to get close them.

: 27/7/11-Six-spot Burnet moth

6-Spot Burnet – Zygaena filipendulae

Wingspan: 30-38mm

Flight period-Mid-June to September

The commonest of Britain’s day-flying moths, the 6-Spot Burnet is found throughout Europe in habitats such as unimproved meadows, woodland clearings and sea cliffs.

: 27/7/11-Close-up of 7-spot Ladybird-Little Orme, N Wales

Seven-spot Ladybird– Coccinella 7-punctata

This is the most familiar of ladybirds and the one generally thought of as the typical ladybird. Common & widespread throughout most of Britain & Europe.

: 27/7/11-Common Greenbottle Fly

Common Greenbottle Fly (Lucilia sericata) A common blow-fly found in most areas of the world, and the most well-known of the numerous green bottle fly species. It is 10–14 mm long, slightly larger than a housefly, and has brilliant, metallic, blue-green or golden coloration with black markings. It has black bristle-like hair and three cross-grooves on the thorax. The wings are clear with light brown veins, and the legs and antennae are black. The maggots (larvae) of the fly are used for maggot therapy. (Wikipedia)

: 27/7/11-Garden Bumblebee-Bombus hortorum on scotch thistle flower

: 27/7/11-Caterpillar of the Cinnabar Moth

At the bottom of the steep path leading up to the top of the cliffs I spotted a beautiful Common Blue male butterfly pursuing a female. He caught up with her a couple of times but she finally eluded him and he settled midway down a long grass stem.

: 27/7/11-Common Blue-Polyommats icarus (male)

: 27/7/11-Underside of the Common Blue male

There were Small Skippers flitting amongst the long grass stems too and I had a lovely front view of one of a face and furry body.

: 27/7/11-Front view of a Small Skipper on a red clover head

I had a brief sighting of a Small Copper butterfly here too, but it was gone before I could get to it. I walked slowly up the track, partly because it’s very steep and I probably couldn’t have gone any quicker, and partly because I was watching out for gulls that were gathering on the cliffs and flying about noisily and very low over my head. They may well have been gathering together for the night, but making quite a performance of it.

: 27/7/11-Herring Gull juvenile

: 27/7/11-Black-headed Gull, looking a bit shabby

I made it to the top of the hill and discovered it to have been well worth the effort for the views you have from up there.

: 27/7/11-The view from the top of the path of Penrhyn Bay & Rhos-on-Sea

At the top I watched a white butterfly flying rather awkwardly, which I realised was hardly surprising, as looking more closely it was actually a pair coupled together.

: 27/7/11-Small White butterflies mating

On the way down I caught sight of a Whitethroat flying about the tops of the bracken and stopped hoping for better views of it. It disappeared into the depths of a bramble though and I only had brief glimpses as it worked its way through the tangle of stems. A flash of an orange butterfly caught my eye though as it came to settle on the track in front of me, wings outstretched and flattened against the bare earth – a gorgeous Comma, unfortunately not in the greatest position to photograph well, but at least I’ve recorded it now.

: 27/7/11-Comma – Polygonia c-album

Back at the bottom of the hill a bramble, in various stages of flowering and fruiting was attracting a lot of attention from what I’m pretty sure were Honeybees – I have seen so few since I’ve been here I was taken by surprise to see so many in one place; maybe someone has a hive locally.

: 27/7/11-Honeybee-Apis mellifera

Cormorants were flying in for the night too, some individuals, some in twos and threes and more in larger numbers , one behind the other.

: 27/7/11-Cormorants flying in for the night

Before leaving I wanted to get an image of the view from the Little Orme across to Bryn Euryn as I’ve taken the picture several times the other way round.

: 27/7/11-View to Bryn Euryn

Close to this spot there was a wild clematis plant covered with pretty greenish-cream flowers.

: 27/7/11-Wild Clematis flowers

My last interesting spot was of a Grayling butterfly; it was flying low over an area of large stone chippings upon which it came to rest. It soon moved on and I watched it go down amongst the stones, but even though I thought I’d kept my eye on it, it took me several minutes to locate it. It was perfectly camouflaged, squeezed down tightly, its wings firmly shut and it was leaning to one side, pressed against a stone. Very safe and snug, drawing heat from the sun-warmed rock, unless it rained I would guess.

: 27/7/11-Grayling butterfly pressed amongst stone chippings

North Wales to middle England via a few gardens

22 Monday Aug 2011

Posted by theresagreen in Nature, wasps

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buff-tailed bumblebee, bumblebee, calystegia sepium, greater bindweed, grey heron in a tree, leicester botanical gardens, potter wasp, sculptures of flowers and leaves

When I was last in Rhos-on-Sea birds were just getting going with raising this year’s families; arriving back at the beginning of July, I was pleased to see that all seems to have gone well and the numbers of House Sparrows and Starlings in particular have swelled considerably. The House Sparrows were still sticking together in a large flock of adults and young and although I did see the Starling family together, the juveniles from around the whole area also gathered together into sizable flocks in the evenings.

: An adult Starling with three young ones

As a very novice gardener, my daughter was thrilled at the appearance of the lovely white flowers of bindweed clambering through the hedge, blissfully unaware that most people spend hours trying to eradicate this invasive plant from their territory.( I always left a patch in the wilder part of my garden in South Wales too, as bumblebees love them, so she probably just assumed they were ‘proper’ flowers.) Happily, bumblebees find them very attractive here too, so I won’t be hacking the plants down till they’ve finished flowering either.

: Garden Bumblebee- Bombus hortorum, heading into the depths of a beautiful bindweed flower.

Calystegia sepium (formerly Convolvulus sepium) –Larger Bindweed, Hedge Bindweed, or Rutland beauty is a species of bindweed, with a subcosmopolitan distribution throughout the temperate Northern Hemisphere in Europe, Asia, northwestern Africa, and North America, and in the temperate Southern Hemisphere inAustralia, and Argentina in South America.

It is a herbaceous perennial that twines around other plants, in a counter-clockwise direction, to a height of up to 2-4 m, rarely 5 m. The leaves are arranged spirally, simple, pointed at the tip and arrowhead shaped, 5-10 cm long and 3-7 cm broad.

The showy flowers are produced from late spring to the end of summer. In the bud, they are covered by large bracts which remain and continue to cover sepals. The open flowers are trumpet-shaped, 3-7 cm diameter, white, or pale pink with white stripes. After flowering the fruit develops as an almost spherical capsule 1 cm diameter containing two to four large, black seeds that are shaped like quartered oranges. The seeds disperse and thrive in fields, borders, roadsides and open woods.

Despite the beauty of its flowers, the quick growth and clinging vines of the plant can overwhelm and pull down cultivated plants including shrubs and small trees. Its aggressive self-seeding (seeds can remain viable as long as 30 years) and the success of its creeping roots (they can be as long as 3-4 m) cause it to be a persistent weed and have led to its classification as a noxious weed. The suggested method of eradicating Calystegia sepiumis is by vigilant hand weeding.

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Privet blossom is also out and providing nectar for bees and hoverflies. There are two or three species of bumblebee around, small red-tailed ones are the most numerous and larger white-tailed ones slightly less so. As I have said before, I am very fond of bumblebees and during this trip I will be working on my bumblebee identification skills, so there may be quite a few mentions of these lovely little insects in the weeks to come, and hopefully I will be adding to my id guide.

I’ve been using the Bumblebee Conservation Trust’s excellent website for information and identification http://www.bumblebeeconservation.org.uk

: Buff-tailed Bumblebee-Bombus terrestris on privet flower

There are a few different species of wasps and hoverflies around too, including the one below, a Potter Wasp – Ancistrocerus parietum

: A wasp hunting on bindweed leaves

There were no butterflies on the wing here – I didn’t see a single one.

Botanical Garden, Leicester

The University of Leicester Harold Martin Botanic Garden is a botanic garden close to the halls of residence for the University of Leicester in Oadby, Leicestershire, England. Founded in 1921, the garden was established on the present 16-acre (65,000 m²) site in 1947. The garden is used for research purposes by the university’s Biology Department and features events such as sculpture and art exhibitions, music performances and plant sales. It is open to the public.

: My dad and one side of the glorious herbaceous border

The gardens have been a favourite place of mine since I was a teenager when a friend working there introduced me to them. My dad then moved to within walking distance of them and it has become one of his favourite places too, although he doesn’t get around as well as he used to and hadn’t been for a good while.

: Garden Bumblebee- Bombus hortorum

A sunny Sunday afternoon presented a perfect opportunity to persuade him to take a leisurely stroll around the lovely landscaped grounds. Always immaculately kept, all parts of the garden are lovely, but presently the herb gardens and long herbaceous borders are glorious and buzzing with more bumblebees than I can ever remember seeing in one place. We were also fascinated to watch a little brown mouse climbing through plant stems to reach ripe seeds in the flower border.

There has been a sculpture exhibition in the gardens each summer for around a decade now, I believe this year’s may be the tenth, which added another dimension to the visit – here are a couple of appropriate ones that caught my eye:

: A flower sculpted in oxidised metal

: A beautifully shaped sculpture of a gingko leaf

: Gingko leaf – I would love to have this in my garden

The mature gardens and large trees are a haven for all kinds of wildlife, but we were quite surprised to watch a Grey Heron fly in and land quite high up in a pine tree. It clearly had its sights set on the inhabitants of the large fishpond that we were also admiring at the time.