Smells like goat to me?

And have I got some intrigue to share in this update! Have I? Yes, I sure have. You will find that this latest update will be so intriguing that it'll be kicking open the door to your mind with a size nine Doctor Martin boot, rushing in, grabbing your cerebrum with both hands and giving it a good squeeze. 

Not too sensationalist was it? Good. Let's blog then because I can't wait to see what I have to say and share. 

I doubt this photo below will mean much to you, but it does to me...

This is the part that had broken inside of my extreme macro lens, preventing me from using it. However, I finally got around to getting it replaced and now have my lens back. Why am I telling you this? Because it happened to coincide with an upturn in the weather. That combination meant I could once again get out with the camera and do some serious bug hunting. 

And the photograph you can see above this line of text was the very first find I had. So what is it? Intriguing, that's what it is! Looks a bit like a caterpillar right? I actually thought I had found an identity for it; it looked like the larva of a Larder Beetle (Dermestes lardarius). Or perhaps D.ater. 

But...I am not convinced at all. The hairs or setae, seem too short for starters. Then I cannot even decide if the small, up-curved tail hooks called Urogomphi are present....

 I may have to settle for Dermestidae species for now. 

Next up was slightly more scary. I disturbed a hibernating hornet...

It was pretty docile though, being half asleep. I grabbed this shot and returned it to its slumber.

The honey bees were out in force, feeding on the snowdrops that in turn seemed to be enjoying the sunshine. So good to see this early in the year...

                             

This will raise a smile; in fact, so confident am I that you will giggle, I will, to paraphrase Rambling Syd Rumpo...'hang myself by the postern, and nail my moulie to the fence' should I be wrong.  I was out walking when I suddenly felt that my left foot was really uncomfortable inside my walking boot. As I was almost back at the car, I decided to put up with it and take a look upon reaching my vehicle. When I did, I found something rather surprising...        

This is what I  discovered slotted down one side of my boot: it is a memento from a music festival and measures about three inches across! It must have somehow fallen into my boot  from the hall shelf. What is even more amazing is that I wore the very same boots yesterday and didn't even notice it.  Oh well, as the old saying goes: No fence, no ceiling. (Not quite a Spoonerism) you know, like ' A well-boiled icicle' (A well oiled bicycle).

Moving on...

What do you think these two photos depict? Intrigue! That's what they depict. These are Barkflies and there seem to be several generations present? One adult, winged insect and maybe three stages of nymph. 

Straightforward enough you might think; as I did at first. But no, what's puzzling is that the adult is in fact dead. Yet the youngsters were climbing all over it and showed no intent to move away. I have fired off an email to the National Barkfly Recording Scheme, to ask if this is normal behaviour. I will update you should I get an answer.

Edit: The adult insect is actually a Phsyllid and so no relation between species.

Intrigued enough, or would you like to be further intrigued?

Here comes my pièce de résistance then. Yes a real tour de force of intrigue....

Absolutely true. Knock me down with a feather, cover me in apricot jam and call me Susan if this is not a fact. Okay, perhaps I should just clarify, before I get too carried away; it is a fact, if my research has led me to the correct identity.

In defence of my ID skills, I would like the jury to consider the following evidence: Although I could not find an image that exactly matched, albeit I did find similar, but darker examples; all of the other evidence leads me to believe that this is in fact a Goat Moth larva (Cossus cossus).

The adult moth is most frequently found in damp, deciduous woodland (tick). The caterpillars feed amazingly inside the trunks of many deciduous trees, such as willow, oak and ash (tick). Mine was in a rotting oak. They are one of, if not the largest British caterpillar (tick). As you can see this one is already quite a size. They can become quite pale having spent a long time inside a tree (tick).

These must be unique in that, because of the long digestion period required for this food matter, the larvae often live inside the wood for up to five years before pupating.

And the smell of goat? I have to be honest and say that I didn't notice it at all. But....this is the same guy who walked for miles with a brass plate in his boot without noticing. Added to which, I am not sure I even know what a goat smells like.

Got intrigue fatigue yet? Hopefully not..more follows...

This looks very much like another moth larva to me. But this time, the image seems quite a good match, but conversely the habit doesn't. It appeared to be a reasonable match for Dark Arches (Apamea monoglypha) and yet, I can find no mention of this species overwintering under bark, which is how I found this one.

This is what Butterfly Conservation say about it: When the larvae are small they feed on flowers and seeds and when older they feed on roots and stem bases from within a chamber among grass roots where they will overwinter.

Sometimes you don't have to look far at all for bugs...

When I felt something tickling my lower arm/wrist, it turned out to be this Birch Catkin Bug.

The only other larva I found in the past few days was this rather scary looking Cardinal Beetle larva...

You wouldn't want that biting yer bum would you now!

Well I think that is more than enough intrigue for one update don't you. I will say goodbye for now with a couple of pictures of a Woodlouse that I took in the garden. They demonstrate nicely why I was so pleased to get my extreme macro lens back....

The top photo is as close as I could get with my standard macro lens, and the lower shows what the extreme macro lens is capable of.

Postscript: I was just wondering how it was decided that the so called 'Goat Moth' caterpillar actually smelled like goat. Who decided? You can imagine the conversation can't you...

"Erm, Frank...I have a little job for you". Frank says, "Sure, anything to help. What is it?"

"Smell this for me and tell me what it reminds you of - don't worry, it's only a caterpillar!" Frank sniffs an almighty sniff: "Hmmm...I'm getting... hedgehog, erm... no wait, now I'm getting... cow flatulence on a summer's evening in Provence."  

"Any hint of goat Frank?"