No Sightings in today, but below are a few photos from late last week.
Here it looks just grumpy.
Again note the gape is still baby-bird looking.
Even more obvious here and wanting food to be stuffed in it.
Last one: a few wisps of downy nestling feathers still visible.
A Speckled Wood butterfly (
Pararge aegeria). I have no idea why the shadow of its left front leg appears kinked whereas the leg itself doesn't.
I am sure I will do better. This was my first Common Marble moth (
Celypha lacunana) of the year on Friday and it did not want to be approached. They should be common for the nest four weeks at least.
Also on Friday and another micro moth is this Plum Tortrix (Hedya pruniana). Easy to overlook.
In the Priorslee Avenue tunnel on Thursday was this Small Phoenix moth (
Ecliptopera silaceata). Apart from the distinctive wing pattern note how it is one of a few species that rests with the tip of its abdomen upturned.
This may or may not be the same Small Phoenix moth (
Ecliptopera silaceata) here on the wall of the tunnel on Friday. It allows a much better appreciation of the patterning in the wings.
A very dark Common Marbled Carpet moth (
Chloroclysta truncata) that was on a lamp pole in squirrel alley at The Flash both Friday and saturday. Not at all like any that I have seen previously. Apart from its 'carpet moth' shape I identified it by the rufous areas in a sub-terminal band on the forewing.
I found this Poplar Grey moth (
Subacronicta megacephala) on a lamp pole on Friday. New for the year and my first for at least eight years.
A Friday moth find was this Burnet Companion (
Euclidia glyphica). It shot out of the grass, paused and the dived back in never to emerge. The yellow is on the underwing, probably displayed to alarm predators. I last recorded this moth in 2019. Its common name refers to its flight period and habitat coinciding with the emergence of the colourful Burnet moths. It is five years since I last found any Narrow-bordered Five-spot Burnet (
Zygaena lonicerae) here.
On Thursday I found my first Straw Dot moth (
Rivula sericealis) of the year. It typically rests head-down like this. Often flushed from grassy areas during the day this is a small-to-medium-sized moth that is straw coloured with a dot in each forewing. I wonder how it got its name?
On Thursday morning I found this ichneumon on one of the lamp poles. It falls in to the category of "Nocturnal, orange-bodies species" in the "British
ichneumonid wasps ID guide for beginners" on the Natural History Museum web site. That doesn't make identification easy though! I think it may be
Ophion minutus, though it did not seem very '
minutus' at the time.
One that I missed off the log for Thursday was this Bramble Sawfly (
Arge cyanocrocea). Stephen Falk calls this group "Fuse-horns", which he explains they have "a 3-segmented antenna in which the flagellum is fused into a single segment". So there. This is the only species in the group where the dark mark extends across the whole width of the wing.
Both Thursday and Friday produced big numbers of 'blue' damselflies. Separating this Red-eyed Damselfly (
Erythromma najas) from Blue-tailed Damselflies (
Ischnura elegans) was not easy. The solid dark top to the thorax is the best feature. Even that requires close approach.
Now what is going on here? A fly with wings whirring.
Wings now folded. But it looks rather "chunky".
More wing whirring. And yes they are the same species. They are Large Narcissus Flies (
Merodon equestris) and hoverflies and not horseflies as might be implied from the scientific name. This species comes in various forms and either sex can look like either of these – or different again. The vernacular name refers to the feeding habit of the larvae, eating bulbs of, typically, daffodils.
I thought this was a strange-looking fly at the time I took the photo, hoping that the wing markings would help with an ID. Looking at the photo and to quote Monty Python "it is an ex-fly: it is no more" and feet-up. It is the underside of the belly that is showing. I think it was one of the Tephritid flies, all of which have chunky bodies and patterned wings. The larvae of the these flies mostly develop by making mines in leaves as they eat the leaf tissue. Many other insect larvae do this – micro-moths, sawflies etc.
A rather different Owl Midge (
Psychodidae sp.) in the Priorslee Avenue tunnel on Thursday. This one has no pale markings in the wings. It also has banded antennae though these might only be obvious because I was able to get very close to this specimen.
On the roof of the Priorslee Avenue tunnel on Friday was this caddis fly sp., perhaps
Micropterna lateralis or similar. Most caddis flies are impossible to identify from photos, detailed examination of the arrangement of the small spurs on each pair of legs being vital (as well as the literature to back it up). I inverted this photo for easier viewing.
First seen on Thursday and seen in considerable number on both Thursday and Friday were Black Snipeflies (
Chrysopilus cristatus). Snipeflies are named after their legs being longer than typical flies. This species is easy to spot with its distinctive wing mark. Note that it is an unusual fly in that the halteres are very obvious – these are normally only apparent in craneflies (daddy long-legs).
Another insect I found in the Priorslee Avenue tunnel on Thursday was this Downlooker Snipefly (
Rhagio scolopaceus) with the very distinctive wing-pattern. This individual does not seen to have read the book telling it to rest with its head down.
A Thursday find was a cranefly I cannot recall having seen previously. Neither can I positively identify it. Its resting position, abdomen shape and prominent wing marks recall
Dictenidia bimaculata though as the scientific name implies that species only has two dark marks in each wing. I have failed to locate any images of other species in the genus.
I am on safer ground with Friday's cranefly. It is
Nephrotoma quadrifaria, one of the 'Tiger Craneflies" for which there is a helpful key on the Dipterist Forum web site.
I have no idea what this tiny, tiny insect is. It could be a midge. It has bushy plumed antennae like many male midges with the most puzzling feature being the forked end to an abdomen which is noticeably longer than the wings. There are only 628 species of non-biting midge in the UK so identification should be a doddle.
This beetle was on the wall of the Priorslee Avenue tunnel this morning. It seems to be a soldier beetle: I think the excessive metallic-look comes from the camera flash. It looks most like
Rhagonycha lignosa though not all similar species are illustrated on the eakringbirds web site.
This is a Harlequin Ladybird (
Harmonia axyridis) of the form
spectabilis. Usually the larger of the pairs of spots will have a slight ingress of black spoiling its circular shape. Thus this individual is not easy to separate from an unusual form of a 2 Spot Ladybird (
Adalia bipunctata). The clincher here is that just visible above the top right red spot is the distinctive white face of the Harlequin Ladybird.
I am sure this is a nymph of a Common Green Shieldbug (
Palomena prasina) though it seems rather an unusual date to see one. Normally I would expect to see nymphs in late Summer ready for adults to emerge prior to over-wintering.
Making more froghoppers are these two Red-and-Black Froghoppers (Cercopis vulnerata).
Just opened is the first Bramble or Blackberry flower (
Rubus fruticosus agg.). This group of plants is almost as difficult to specifically as each of the 240-odd species of Dandelion. An added complication is that they hybridise rather than produce clones. Only a few experts are able to identify any individual plant.
The tiny white flowers of Cleavers (
Galium aparine) is easy to overlook. This brittle, scrambling, bristly plant with 4-square stems that have hook like, bristly hairs has many vernacular names with Goose-grass and Sticky Willie being those with which I am most familiar.
This is a flower of the Elder (
Sambucus nigra). By coincidence the latest issue of British Wildlife has a long article on this plant, usually seen as a shrub but which can develop in to a sizeable tree. It seems the flowers are not much visited by insects probably due to their unpleasant smell (I have not noticed!). It is wind pollinated. The small black berries that appear in late Summer are eaten by birds though toxic to most mammals including humans. To make elderberry wine you have to boil the berries to kill the toxins. The leaves also contain many toxins and few insects are able to munch them.
Buttercups
Finally a round-up in loose species order are a few photos illustrating the importance of buttercups to insects feeding at this time of year:
Two Plain Gold moths (Micropterix calthella) ensuring the species' survival.
A Common Nettle-tap moth (Anthophila fabriciana)
Covered in pollen it is hard to see what this is. I think an Andrena mining bee.
A rather better-displayed mining bee which I think is a Large Meadow Mining Bee (Andrena labialis)
I have no idea what this is totally covered in pollen. If it ever makes it out to another flower it should do a good pollination job.
A Black Snipefly (Chrysopilus cristatus)
A male Swollen-thighed (Flower) Beetle (
Oedemera nobilis). I am used to seeing this species on Common Hogweed (
Heracleum sphondylium) but very little of that is in flower as yet. Buttercups will obviously do.
A Common Malachite Beetle (Malachius bipustulatus)
I think this is a beetle, though I have no idea as to the species.
A crab spider sp., perhaps with remnant prey.
This is a flower of the Elder (Sambucus nigra). By coincidence the latest issue of British Wildlife has a long article on this plant, usually seen as a shrub but which can develop in to a sizeable tree. It seems the flowers are not much visited by insects probably due to their unpleasant smell (I have not noticed!). It is wind pollinated. The small black berries that appear in late Summer are eaten by birds though toxic to most mammals including humans. To make elderberry wine you have to boil the berries to kill the toxins. The leaves also contain many toxins and few insects are able to munch them.
