Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Look, it's a chequered skipper...or is it?

It's high time that I updated you on the blue tits that are nesting in the garden. I have tried not to disturb them too much, as I really want them to succeed this year.
There were seven eggs laid by the female: this was the picture taken on May 17th but I am unsure of exactly how long there had been eggs in the nest at that stage...


They seemed to be doing well, although I think perhaps there are only five or six babies?


There is definitely one egg that has failed, as you can see in the next picture...



And here's how they are looking  today (May 29th) Amazingly, there seem to be six of the original seven that have made it this far...




So far so good! They are well past the stage when the cat raided the nest last year and so I am hopeful.



Now I am probably not able to claim full credit for this, but...I think I am going to anyway. You might just recall this update from September of 2016...


Well...it may have taken close to two years for the change to happen, but happen it has; to my amazement, and I might add, great satisfaction, the makers of this product have now altered the image on the packaging...


The old design is on the right of the photo. So then, little 'JJ' beats the corporate giants into submission and forces change upon them! Alright then, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but still, as the great 'Wolfie Smith' once said..."Power to the people".



Let's get back to my recent trip to America now: I didn't feel the urge to try out this restaurant by the way. Should you fancy a 'gob full of garlic', it's at Columbus Avenue in San Francisco. I did have something of a hilarious moment at another eatery, when I overheard a large lady order the following "Could I get a double big mac, extra fries and a DIET soda?"


I was determined that not only was I going to try and be in the moment and enjoy America to the max, rather than arriving back home thinking, did that even happen? I also wanted to try and do better with my photography, as last time the strong sunlight, along with the excitement of just being there, foxed me somewhat.
It didn't even phase me that I arrived on April 18th, the very same date as the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Anyhow, I don't really know too much about that earthquake, I do know it was all San Andreas' fault?

I couldn't help noticing that there were some fabulous looking birds in the area where I was staying...


Not THAT kind!


No, I was of course thinking of the Aves variety. I don't know if this cutie is a type of sparrow but it attracted my attention...

  



And the American Robin, is totally different to our own red-breast here in the UK...


They  belong in the thrush family, and so are quite a bit larger than ours.



A Buffalo Treehopper (Possibly Stictocephala spp.)
Let me get this one out of the way right now: I was so frustrated with myself for not getting a better photo of this critter. It was something I had hoped to see, but when I did spot it, it surprised me, and was much smaller than I had imagined (I am unsure if this is actually an adult). It also allowed me just one shot and as I had been using flash in a darker area previous to this photo being taken, had not adjusted the settings, hence the blown highlights.



You may have seen on BBC Springwatch this week, the story about re-introducing the chequered skipper butterfly to the UK: this is from the Springwatch website:


Extinct in England for over 40 years, our long lost chequered skipper has been reintroduced back to where it was last seen in the woods of the East Midlands and Springwatch went along for the ride!

Well I too saw chequered skipper butterflies, whilst I was in America. But...they were not the species that Springwatch featured; in fact, they more closely resemble the one we call a grizzled skipper (Pryrgus malvae). The species I photographed is Pyrgus communis.

Pyrgus communis - A Common Chequered Skipper Butterfly

I hinted in my last update that I had found 'other' creatures by looking under stones and bark etc. Well this has to be the most exciting of those finds for me: a scorpion...




I think this is a California common scorpion, Paruroctonus silvestrii as they are the species that seem to be most commonly found where I was looking.They are almost always not a danger and are very rarely seen unless you go looking for them. They are nocturnal and hunt after dark. Most stings are not serious and have only a local effect unless the sting victim is allergic to the scorpion's venom.

It's apparently much easier to search for them at night (when they are most active) using a UV light. Scorpions fluoresce under UV light, glowing yellow or green.,,






This picture (above) is of another under-bark find; I have tried to identify it to species level, the cricket that is, not the tree. I know the tree was dogwood, you can tell by the bark! Spotted Camel Cricket (Ceuthophilus maculatus) seems to be the best match. They seem to be quite secretive and are mostly nocturnal. I am not sure if that thing, to the left is connected in anyway.


The last creature I found concealed, this time under a large stone, was this...






I am going to plump for, or should that be plumb? No, you plumb the depths don't you; otherwise you wouldn't still be here reading this drivel ? (Big smiley face) so, plump for either Gryllus pennsylvanicus, or Gryllus veletis on this one. G. veletis (the Spring Field Cricket) seems favourite, as the adults are most abundant in spring and G. pennsylvanicusadults are most abundant in autumn/fall. Described as a solitary, aggressive, omnivorous, burrow-inhabiting species of field cricket.





On one particular outing, I spotted a butterfly (pictured below) on, well, shall we call it poo! It looked very much like our painted lady butterfly and so I wanted to photograph it of course.

As I was crouched over the....poo, trying to get my photo without distracting the insect from its delicious meal, a lady appeared behind me and seemed quite disturbed, not by the sight of me apparently photographing dog plop, no, it was the poo itself that had enraged her.

She muttered something about it being disgusting, and why hadn't it been picked up? Was she perhaps suggesting that I removed it? Before I knew what was happening she removed her hat and ignoring me, took a side-swipe at the butterfly to dislodge it, and bent down and picked up the poo with a bag. 'Nowt as queer as folk' as....somebody used to say. I'll leave you to judge whether it was her or me that was acting oddly.


I assume this is either an American painted lady, or just painted lady, there is a difference. The American painted lady has 2 eye spots on the underside of their hind wings, whereas the painted lady have 4. Which does the butterfly in my photo have? Dunno, not a scooby doo, ...you?.

Much as I love compiling these updates, I think this particular one is now bordering on outstaying its welcome and so I shall put it to bed and return as soon as I possibly can.
I actually have a rather important thing I need to check out anyway: I have a terrible habit of listening in on other people's conversations, just snippets, as they walk by, nothing sinister. Anyhow, I heard a girl say to her friend "I must go shake my lettuce" and I need to know exactly what that meant. I have lived a sheltered life, so don't know these things....yet. Then I must go do my goat yoga...

Pimps and Cheerios...I mean, pip, pip, cheerio...




Tuesday, May 15, 2018

A trip to Trumpton (part 2)

People have been asking me, am I glad to be home? The answer I give is, yes and no. It's bitter-sweet. I love the closeness and familiarity of the UK. I love how intimate our countryside is by comparison with the states. Flying over my home county of Kent demonstrated just how 'green and pleasant' it still is, despite it appearing to be a concrete jungle at eye level.
There is, or at least appears to me, to be an urgency about life in California that isn't happening here (yet), even the dog walkers and mothers out walking their babies in strollers, are not walking at all, but running.

Yet, I did love so much about the west coast. I am already missing those huge, open spaces where I felt like a (wimpish) Crocodile Dundee, not knowing quite what I might discover, and how dangerous it might prove to be. Americans seemed much more open to stopping to chat with you and would regale you with tales such as..."Did you hear about the 74 year old guy who got air-lifted to hospital after being bitten by a rattler?"


At an amazing place I had heard about (and so of course wanted to visit) close to Santa Cruz, where the monarch butterflies all congregate to pass their winter; although there were none to be seen when I arrived of course, I bought this field guide to American spiders...


The author describes how he overcame his fear of spiders by taking a 5-day, field school class in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and asks that others try to overcome their own fears, and even help to protect them... 


In case this proves tricky to read should you be viewing my blog on a phone or tablet, it says that "Too many people fear these beneficial creatures. Spiders need human friends to educate others and protect them from being needlessly killed."

And so, with that mantra in my head, I shall do my part here by sharing a few of the photographs that I took. You can educate yourself a little by trying to look at these pictures rationally...can't you? Ok then...bugger off for a moment whilst those with an open mind do so, and I will see you back here post 'spidergate'...


Or....you could lock yourself away in a cupboard somewhere and spend the next few minutes giggling to yourself like a little schoolgirl about the fact that there is a bird-turd spider!



Phidippus audax
Phidippus audax, commonly called bold, or daring jumping spiders, range in size from around 13 to 20 millimeters. That is much bigger than our largest salticid here in the UK, the fence-post jumping spider: which is about 10 millimeters in body length. These spiders have been known to jump from 10 to 50 times their own body length, which they achieve by suddenly increasing the blood pressure in the third or fourth pair of legs. Like most jumping spiders, P. audax tends to prefer relatively open areas to hunt in, as they actively seek and stalk prey and do not build webs to catch food.

I was trying to be clever and get a natural light shot of this one, but it was late in the day when light was poor.


Phididppus johnsoni, or Johnson jumping spider, or even as I like to call them 'JJ' spiders, are one of the largest and most commonly found jumpers of North America. Sometimes (wrongly) confused with the venomous red back spider. They quickly became one of my personal favourites and I would always be on the lookout for them on my walks. Sometimes the abdomen can be bright red; the females, as in my first picture here, have a black stripe on the abdomen. 

Phididppus johnsoni (f)


Phididppus johnsoni (m)


From the largest, to what must surely be some of the smallest jumping spiders I have ever seen...





I have not been able to get to species level with either of these yet but neither was more than 5mm in length.


This next little gallery is  of the crab spiders that I photographed, well, some of them...






Incidentally, that first crab spider is Misumena vatia, or the goldenrod spider. I read that they sometimes get called banana spiders too, because of their striking yellow colour. In fact, these spiders have a real clever trick that helps with camouflage whilst sitting on goldenrod, or any other flower: any other flower that happens to be white, yellow or green that is, because they have the amazing ability to change between these colourways. Like this...



That's probably more than enough arachnids for one update and so let's move on to something that might appeal more shall we. 


This raccoon was living in one of the large parks, where people are actually feeding them. Usually nocturnal animals, they are encouraged into the daylight by easy pickings. 
Raccoons are apparently noted for their intelligence: studies show that they are able to remember the solution to tasks for up to three years.



A weevil threesome
And I thought I was enjoying the sunshine!



I didn't see too many butterflies but there seemed to be several species of skipper butterflies around. I think this one could be a Fiery Skipper (Hylephila phyleus)

Perhaps the only wasp I spotted (no ID as yet)


This next find was something of a moment for me: I would not have seen it at all had I not decided to lift a largish stone to see what, if anything, was beneath...



Potato Bug - Jerusalem Cricket - Child of the Earth: Take your pick, all of these names refer to this insect. Despite their name, Jerusalem crickets aren’t native to Jerusalem, and they are in fact mainly found in the western half of the United States. (Incidentally, they aren’t true crickets either.) They can be found throughout Arizona, New Mexico, and all along the Pacific coast of the country, being found all the way from British Columbia down to Baja California and many other parts of Mexico. Habitat wise the Jerusalem cricket mainly lives in underground burrows, but they can be found above ground in warm damp places.

Jerusalem crickets can grow up to two and a half inches long, and they have long spear-like legs that they dig into soil with. 


I did lift a few other stones, as well as some bark, and you can discover what else I found lurking beneath in my next USA update. 

A couple more photos then before I bring this already overlong update to a close...

Anthrenus species - Carpet Beetle

And finally this photo of an American politician.....sorry! I mean this reptile: a  Western Fence Lizard that seemed to be omnipresent: again, I don't mean this actual lizard you understand, rather this species of lizard. 


Phew! I apologise profusely for dragging you all the way down here to the eventual end of this humongous entry; and after starting with all those spiders too. I am forever in your debt for having stuck with it...you did stick with it didn't you? Yes, you must have done, or you couldn't be reading this. If there is anything I can do for you (sans lending you hard currency) then do please let me know. 

I am away now to dowse my laptop-sore eyes with Optrex. You have a lay down in a darkened room followed by a cup of green tea, and before you can say Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper, all will be well with the world once more. 

'Keep it real, peace out'