Not a male scale, but a female scale...

All I will tell you for now is that they are related. The first was on Beech and the second on Japonica, and they are both insects. All will be revealed later in this update: gotta keep you interested somehow.

ANTS! Don't ya love 'em? Unless they are in your pants that is! We are lucky enough (yes...lucky) to have some local woodland where there are huge colonies of wood ants. They have been present in these particular woods for as long as I can remember; okay, that's probably not a great indicator, my memory is quite................what was I saying?

Here's a tiny video: I apologise for it being just a Blogger-style thing, rather than YouTube, but I got fed up with them insisting on adding suggestions to all of my uploads that show here. (It may not show in the email version of update either).

Here's a beetle that I haven't seen in a long time...

 and here's another...

Yes, I do know that 'Beatle' has a different spelling; I can't help being dyspraxic!

And another thing: why is dyslexic so damn hard to spell? Especially if you are dyspraxic. Now I have lost my thread, you haven't seen it have you? Oh yes...this 'ere beetle. Can I tell you then that this beetle pictured above, is related to the death-watch beetle: well, I could, but it would be a lie, because it isn't. 

No, this is Byrrhus pilula which when alarmed, tucks its legs under its body and passes itself off as a seed. I tried that once, it was very nearly fetal! (these puns will end shortly, I promise.)

This is only an image from my phone, but look at this nest of garden spiders. Well, spiderlings to be precise. I found these in the garden on a variegated bamboo plant. They won't all grow up to be female of course; but those that do will look like this...

That image is just a screenshot from my Flickr page: since their 'improvements', I cannot even log-on...Grrrr!

Yes, the Cricket World Cup starts this very Thursday!

C'mon...get into the spirit - cricket, willow on leather, it's the sound of an English summer. 

Alright then, have it your way - here's my cricket...

Speckled Bush-cricket (nymph) - Leptophyes punctatissima.

I don't think a speckled-bush is compulsory to enjoy the cricket!

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Ants, beetles, spiders, crickets, what's next? I guess I should enlighten you about those 'thingies' at the top of this update huh? 

So... (don't start by saying 'so' JJ, you know I hate it) Alright then, here comes my comprehensive conclusion to the conundrum: I decided to keep a close watch on the second of the two mysterious creatures, and over the space of a couple of days, it increased in length quite a lot..

Latin name: Coccoidea

Size: 2mm to 6mm

Common name: Scale Insect

Special features: Male scale insects look like a tiny midge, while the female has a shield-shaped body with no wings or legs. The males are rarely seen and the females are able to reproduce without the males.

The cotton wool-like fluff underneath the scale, as far as I can tell, is actually the egg sac. Each can contain hundreds of eggs, and they are able to have six generations a year.

There are around 140 native species in the UK, and at least another 30 species which have been introduced on imported plants.

As this is on a Japonica plant in my garden, I plan to keep observing the changes, and hopefully get to see if anything emerges from that huge egg sac. Watch this space!

Time for me to get my coat and hightail it outta here: I will just add a couple of photos from what was a very disappointing night with my moth trap. Just three cockchafer beetles and three moths...

The Cockchafer Beetles - or May Bugs

Chocolate-tip Moth - Clostera curtula

At least the moth was a first for me. Not had a chocolate-tip in the garden before.

Psocid to me baby!

Here we go again then. Time for another update. The whole point of these updates, well the whole point of my blog actually, is to try to imbue you with some of the enthusiasm that I have for the natural world and bugs in particular.

Since I first started blogging, almost a decade ago now, it has become increasingly 'sexy' to talk about the environment and the role  insects play within our world. Perhaps at long last the people wielding the power will do the right thing. I actually heard a farmer saying on TV the other day that they had "ignored nature until now, but could do so no longer". There's progress!

Meantime, I shall continue to do my little bit in any way I can...

In my last update I talked about camouflage. Here's another tiny bug that uses this in what seems like  quite an extreme manner. For starters, this Psocid nymph in my photo is only 2mm long max. Does something so small even require camouflage? 

I guess the answer must be yes, or why bother. Here's another photo that shows you what I actually saw before closing in for a macro shot...

Not exactly standing out like a porcupine at a nudist colony is it! And yet it does seem that bugs of this species all do it. I think it might just be confined to the nymphs though.

I'm not certain what it is that they are covering themselves with: an entomologist friend did tell me what he thinks it is, but I think that's just crap!

A Barkfly nymph - possibly Cerobasis guestfalia?

Curious creatures huh? The common name for Psocids is Barkflies, or Book-lice. According to the National Barkfly Recording Scheme: The order Psocoptera is one of the least recorded insect groups. This lack of recording is not because the species are rarely encountered – on the contrary; almost every tree in Britain is likely to be home to some of these creatures and psocids are far more abundant than some insect orders.

In fact, if you are interested in discovering a species new to science, I would say these would be your best bet and the chances quite high.

More strange looking creatures: this time a hoverfly larva. This is what a hoverfly looks like before it becomes the winged adult we all see flying around, all the time thinking it's a wasp. I think this one is probably the Marmalade hoverfly  Episyrphus balleatus. In case you have been wondering; the feeding end is on the right of this photo. Those 'ears' at the other end are neither ears or antennae; they are in fact, put simply, breathing tubes.

My bug finds so far this year have been patchy. One species however that I have seen huge numbers of already is the Hairy Shieldbug (taxonomists please stop renaming bugs, I can't keep up!)

Never have I seen so many gathered together as I have this year. On one local walk recently, I kept seeing these large, green, spiky plants; not sure exactly what they were, maybe wild lettuce or something similar. Anyhow, wherever they occurred, right at the base they formed  little reservoirs where water collected. In each of the plants I looked at there were drowned Hairy Shieldbugs...

Meanwhile, this rather strange looking looper caterpillar was found on willow... 

I was really pleased to find this next plant bug. Freshly moulted too. It's a number of years now since I last saw one.  This is Miris striatus, or as some folk like to call it: The Fine-streaked Bugkin. It's a predatory bug that feeds on aphids and the eggs and larvae of moths etc. Described as 'local' here in the south of the UK.

Miris striatus (moult at bottom)

I must remember when identifying this bug though, there is a really similar one called 'Calocoris quadripuntatus' that has similar patterning, but is just a tad smaller. If that isn't confusing enough, it seems that there is also yet another similar species: 'Rhabdomiris striatellus', however, after further research, it appears that C. quadripuntatus and R. striatellus are one and the same.

Yep! Two names that identify one bug! 

Pictured above is my first sighting of an adult Sawfly. I have seen a number of larvae, but this is the very first adult for 2019. Adult sawflies only live for a couple of weeks: they get their name from the saw-like ovipositor, which the female of the species uses to cut into the surface of leaves, where she then deposits her eggs.

Pentatoma rufipes; A Red-legged Shieldbug

Another first for this year I think. This is probably a mid-instar of the species. When fully grown, the adults have a kind of 80s shoulder pad thing going on. It'll probably be at least another month or so before I spot any mature bugs. 

Adult Pentatoma rufipes from 2016

This...

A bug-eyed caterpillar. At least that's how it appears right? But those black eye-like blobs are not eyes at all. No, the eyes are the small circle of dots at the base of the 'blobs'. 

This post contains some trash, and a candid photo of JJ...

I first became aware of the poet Thomas Hood through the Bonzo Dog Band and their song called 'Shirt'. Viv Stanshall and the lads in turn went on to influence Monty Python...'That's just the name of the shop Sir..' Anyhow, Thomas Hood was famous for "Bridge of Sighs", but also "The Song of the Shirt". Thomas himself turns out to be a bit of a joker, playing practical jokes on his wife.

What's all this leading up to? Merely that today (as I write) is May 4th (no Star Wars jokes here) and I thought I would mark the entrance to this favourite month with another of his works: this one is luckily entitled 'May'...

I'm pleased to be able to report that the blue-tits that have been checking out the garden nest box since late winter, have decided that it would once again make a suitable home for them and on April 26th I took this photograph of the 8 eggs already laid by the female.

I checked the box this morning and although there are no signs of imminent hatching, they do all still look good and intact.

Here's hoping for a successful brood, with no visits from the 'hood cats. The defence system is still in place, so fingers crossed.

Now that there are so many wild flowers blooming, there is pollen to be had by any hungry insect. This next photo is of what I like to call a pollen beetle. To be correct though, I think it is a beetle from the Byturidae family, called a Fruitworm Beetle. There are just 2 species here in the UK and I think this one could possibly be Byturus ochraceus.

The increasing amount of sunshine has also tempted out lots of little jumping spiders; at least it has in my garden...

 Salticus scenicus - A Jumping Spider

To Sprawl (verb):

If you sprawl somewhere, you sit or lie down with your legs and arms spread out in a careless way.

This is the larva of a woodland species of moth called Asteroscopus sphinx. Its common name of 'The Sprawler', is said to come from the larva's habit of throwing back its head in a defensive attitude. These moths occur in Spain, Italy, Greece, Sweden, Turkey and even Moscow. 

Luckily, I found mine (at least the larva) in the woods not more than a mile from my house! The larvae feed on various deciduous trees; this one was on oak.

I found this next beast on a gatepost: all I can tell you is that it's a fat bee! I think somebody once called me that...oh no, wait a minute, that was 'a Fat B' come to think of it. I suppose I can also tell you that this is a female. As for pinning down a species though; there's more chance of me listening to a Justin Bieber album on repeat.

When you have been hooked on bug hunting as long as I have, it's always a special day when you find something that you have never seen before. I have found quite a few species of harvestman now, (I'm never quite sure if the plural should be written as harvestmen?) but this is a first for me...

Homalenotus quadridentatus - A Harvestman

Homalenotus quadridentatus mainly occurs in the south and southeast of the UK. Only limited information is available on phenology, but it is said to be found all year due to adults living for more than one year. Breeding is likely to occur in mid-summer. Quite a spiky harvestman.

Time to reveal my next bug find: this one may surprise you. It's kinda strange looking. Here's a clue to its identity...

Yes, this bug recycles its own waste. Basically, instead of discarding  any unwanted 'packaging', it makes good use of it as camouflage. Once it has located its prey; consumed all the edible parts by...well, I won't bother you with the gory details, but once done, it hoicks what is left onto its back. It does this each time it eats and the resulting trash deposit soon becomes quite pronounced.

 But what is this insect, what will it become?

Yes! A bit of a Cinderella story really: this odd looking 'Trash Bug' morphs into a beautiful and delicate Lacewing. Another of nature's marvelous inventions. The one thing that bothers me a little about calling them nature's recyclers,  is that eventually, they will undergo one final moult to become the adult insect; that will leave behind the exoskeleton (exuvia) along with all of the detritus and so the cycle/recycling is not quite complete?

I wish to make it clear that the portrayal of myself as 'fat' was purely a rather feeble attempt at comedy. I am actually sylphlike. Oh! Hang on though, that is a feminine term right? Erm, svelte then, is that applicable to males of the species?

Just in case I have chosen badly with both of those descriptions of my...frame, here's a rare candid photograph that proves beyond doubt that I am no Billy Bunter...