Ooooh! I could crush a grape, I'm that excited...

Sometimes, just occassionally, the gods smile on me and I find something really exciting that I cannot wait to share by blogging about. 

This is one of those times!

Raphidioptera!

Let me explain.

You may recall that a few days ago we had something of a downturn in the weather here in the UK. Suddenly, from temperatures in the 80s and beautifully balmy, summer days, with barely a breath of wind, we were treated to this...

(The following vid may not load in email version)

Yes, rain, hail, thunder and strong winds. Unbeknown to me though, this was instrumental in my being able to find the subject of my exciting news. 

There's a wonderful internet site called 'Eakringbirds.com' that is full of useful information for anybody interested in insects; and they have this to say about Raphidiiae:

'Raphidiidae attain an almost mythical status among some naturalists. A great many have never seen them, even after some years spent in the field and in truth, they are not something you can set out to find easily, even when armed with some level of knowledge regarding their arboreal habitat requirements.'

OK JJ...you have whetted our appetites, now tell us: what are Raphidiidae?

Phaeostigma notata - A male Snakefly

Phaeostigma notata - A male Snakefly

Once mated, Snake Flies usually spend most of their lives high up in the tree canopy, but unusually windy (and presumably also wet) weather, will bring them down to lower levels.

I have this theory that the hours following bad weather can be good for bug hunting; and so that's why I was keen to visit my local woods once the rain stopped, and how I came to discover this amazing creature that I have only ever seen once before (a number of years ago now) and most likely will never encounter again. Unless I get back to California at some point in the future, post lockdown, where they seem to be plentiful.

My sleep hasn't been disturbed by anybody guessing what the mystery object was in my last update; and so I suppose I should tell you what I think it was, right? 

Well I think it is a Psyllid moult, or exoskeleton:

This information courtesy of the excellent British Bugs website: The Psylloidea (psyllids) or jumping plant lice are small plant-feeding insects that form the group called Sternorrhyncha together with aphids, phylloxerans, scale insects and whiteflies. They are one of the least studied and, in some ways, most interesting groups of UK Hemiptera.

Here are some nymphs that I found the same day...

I think this species is 'Cacopsylla peregrina'. The brown streaks down the wing-pads are probably diagnostic for this one, along with presence of Hawthorn.

The adults look something like this:

A couple more pictures to share and then I shall disappear back up the creek! 


On an early morning walk after rain, I spotted this little Cricket nymph...

And 'Aphrophora salicina'
a species of Froghopper found on willow, that must have just emerged from its protective 'spittle'...

Finally this rather impressive (and very small) Lacebug. 

The beetles are in the house...

As I write (type) we are almost two months into the so called lockdown. The natural world however continues at pace, and ironically, my local woods are busier than I can ever remember. Just for a moment though; come back in time with me.

Yes, let's revisit the 131st day of the year. The 19th Sunday of 2020. The day that 'Tutti-Frutti' King, Little Richard left this earth: US Mother's Day. Got it yet?

The day I saw this on the hall wall...

A speck of dust; a dirty mark? I almost wiped it off the wall, but years of bug hunting has trained my brain to check out even the smallest of objects "Just in case". I went and fetched the macro kit instead. The result? Well lookie here:

I haven't found an ID for this little guy (or guy-ess) yet, but with those powerful back legs, it might be a flea beetle? Flea beetles are in no way related to fleas by the way, it's all about those legs which allow them to jump like fleas.

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Just before I move on, if anyone has been reading my contributions to The Wealden (See link to the page in the blue and white tabs at the top of this post) and wondering why they stop in March? It's because publishing ceased in March because of Covid 19. I am hoping for a resumption fairly soon though.

I know what I think this next photo depicts, but what do you think it could be?

It was very small: I would guess about 3mm max. I found it on low growing vegetation in mixed woodland if that helps?

I'll include my guess in the next update if nobody comes up with the correct answer here, or if you feel like this...

When I found this tiny caterpillar on the 27th of April (that was the 118th day of the year by the way, and the 39th day of spring), I thought I knew what it was, but decided to raise it at home. It's a great way of gaining knowledge, as I have said before and will greatly help me with future identification...

By the 30th it looked like this...

Not too much change by Star Wars Day (May 4th)...

But by the 7th of May, it had moulted and revealed itself to be the species I had originally thought it was...

Not fully grown yet but already recognisable. It would take one more moult before the cycle was complete...

And there you have it: a beautiful Vapourer moth larva (Orgyia antiqua) or 'Rusty Tussock' as they are sometimes known. 

Once it reached this stage, I took it back to the exact spot I had found it, and released it to continue eating until it is ready to pupate.

What did I learn from this? I learned that those 'brushes' don't appear until they have moulted a couple of times. Even then, if you look at the penultimate photo above, you can see that two are black and two are white.

Oh! One other thing before I move on; if you compare the first caterpillar photo with the last, you can see how difficult it can be to reliably identify some species. 

A Bristly Millipede - Polyxenus lagurus

I have seen only a couple, and obviously not enough yet to get a decent photo!

It's not uncommon actually, but at only 2-3mm often overlooked (especially by me). How about another insect with strange looking legs? This fly looks like it is using bird feathers for legs...

I think it's an Empid fly but not seen one with legs like this before.

Come to think of it, I have never seen a Picture-wing fly that looks quite like this one either...

It's a bit like the Old Curiosity Shop here isn't it. What the Dickens is next I wonder?

This is?

Clues as to what this might be: Their aerial appearance has earned them common names like Fairy flies, Fluff bugs, and Angel bugs...

A Woolly Alder Aphid

The “wool” on a woolly aphid is wax, produced by abdominal glands in order to make the aphid look less like a Happy Meal to its predators. The wax streamers shed water, making the aphid look like mould, and are distasteful and distracting.

What better to end on than a sap-sucking insect!

I bet you've never seen one of these...

I have no idea why I've gone all Antipodean with my greeting. Maybe it's because this crazy old world has been turned upside down? Anyhow, lots to get through today, so no preamble and no un-funny jokes, just pure unadulterated, pertinent content.

Why am I sharing this image? Because I still have a child-like wonder about nature and get very excited when I find something new to me. Something that has me marveling (or should that be marvelling?) at the ingenuity of nature.

Doesn't look exciting does it: but this is pretty much what I first saw.


 It wasn't until I got the macro on it that its true glory was revealed...

Can you believe that this is actually a living creature: I couldn't!

So what is it then Johnboy? "I'll tell you" this is....a...........wait for it..........a Dark Elm Case-bearing Micro-moth larva! Scientifically known as: Coleophora limosipennella.

Coleophora limosipennella larvae feed on Ulmus (Elm), and supposedly also on Alnus (Alder) and Betula (Birch). The tiny caterpillar larvae initially feed internally on the leaves.

Larvae make a short, relatively wide corridor that quickly widens into an elliptic blotch. The blotch is excised to make the juvenile case, which is discarded and built anew as they grow and molt. Full-grown larvae live in a brown  leaf case of 9–11.5mm,  

I think (and I cannot find definitive proof of this yet) that the larvae when fully grown, then retreat into the larval case to pupate. 

Now I read on the UK Moths website that the small larvae overwinter, and then recommence feeding in late spring. Which had me thinking, if that is so, where do they overwinter? Because there will be no leaves left on any trees. If they overwinter in leaf litter, how do they get arboreal again come spring? Do they perhaps remain on the bark somewhere?

Apparently the adult moth is distributed mainly here in the south-east, and is rarely seen.

By the way, I can now add to the knowledge of which trees these moths will use as foodplants, because the one I found was on Beech! 

Now chances are that you are already thinking, why is he posting photos of slug, or snail eggs? 

Well because when I found these under a piece of fallen bark, something didn't seem right about them for slug or snail. In the past I have increased my knowledge of such things by taking them home to my studio, putting them in a suitable tank and observing. Last time I did this in 2012 I think, what emerged were slugs!

Anyhow, that's what I did with these, and was soon rewarded because as they developed it became obvious that these did not belong to any mollusc...

A few days later, I had the answer...

...when these teeny-weeny Harvestman babies emerged!

I found this H-U-G-E red beetle at my local woods...

What a miscellany of magical mysteries this update is eh!


Working on the premise that eggs are good for you, let's stay with them for this next photograph...

Willow Leaf beetle eggs

I have been finding quite a few batches of these tiny (0.5mm) eggs recently. I still have no idea what those 'tails' attached to the eggs are for though. I also couldn't say exactly which species produce these eggs. What I do know, because somebody once pointed it out to me (you know who you are), is that they look quite like Kumquats...

Okay, you didn't actually say it, because you read what I wrote underneath the photo didn't you: you were thinking it though?

It is actually a Sawfly larva, as some of you undoubtedly knew. Sawflies belong in the order Hymenoptera, whilst caterpillars are Lepidoptera. This is what an adult Sawfly looks like...

Next (and probably finally), let's talk...

I've seen plenty of these Mottled Umber caterpillars over the years, but always on trees, never on grass, which is where I found this one. I guess it must have fallen or got knocked to the ground.

Conversely, I have always found this next creature on the ground...

Where you might expect to find something called a Groundhopper. But not this time, it was up in a tree!

Indulge me whilst I talk about stats for a second or two: I occasionally check my blog stats and when I did so recently, was surprised to find which country headed the 'views' list...

For those of you who are not familiar with Turkmenistan, it's situated in Central Asia, just to the right of Turkey, the other side of the Caspian Sea.

Anyhow, I have no idea whether I have several followers there, or one very enthusiastic one! Whichever it is, welcome, Salam and Sag boluň!

Okay, thanks for making it this far. I'll take up no more of your time; just one final photograph to share...

My first Scorpionfly of 2020, a female.