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.