An international flavour to this update...

It's around three weeks since I last updated the blog and so what has been happening during that time?

Well the main event for me was the sudden appearance of a large migrant bug in my bathroom window. It's one that I have found once before, but that was out in the field and a few miles from home and so this was a bit of a surprise, They must be spreading faster and further than I'd appreciated...

A Western Conifer Seed Bug (Leptoglossus occidentalis)

A Western Conifer Seed Bug (Leptoglossus occidentalis)

This is a large squash bug that is similar to our own Dock Bug but more elongate in shape and around 20mm rather than the 15mm of Coreus marginatus. Here's a piece about the distribution of this interloper, with due credit to Britishbugs.org.uk/ : 

Geographical Distribution
Leptoglossus occidentalis was originally restricted to western parts of the United
States, Canada and Mexico, but in recent decades it has spread eastward and can
now be found over almost the whole of North America. It was accidentally
introduced into Europe in 1999, to northern Italy, and has since spread rapidly, being
recorded from Switzerland in 2002, Spain and Slovenia in 2003, Croatia and
Hungary in 2004, Austria in 2005, Germany, France, Serbia and the Czech Republic
in 2006, Belgium, Britain and Slovakia in 2007, and from Montenegro and Poland in
2008. In the UK, the majority of records have been of adults observed at light traps
along the south coast of England, clearly indicating a large migration across the

English Channel.

Here's a photo showing the very distinctive expansion of the hind tibiae...

I think this one must have been attracted to the light and then came in through an open window. They are known to enter buildings in search of a hibernation spot. Which brings me to this little video; it doesn't show any interesting behaviour, but it was taken after I released it into the garden. It was quite a windy day by the way...

Three days have elapsed since I placed the bug on this plant, I have kept an eagle eye on it each day and it is still in exactly the same spot; well, on the same plant anyhow. It has just concealed itself underneath one of the leaves and that has me wondering if the garden was the best choice to release it, when maybe I ought to have kept it inside somewhere for the winter?

I read recently of a couple of people who have kept these in a dry but cool place and that they can live on just water and reserves through the winter months- maybe I'll consider that, if it remains in place much longer?

A Canadian friend recently sent me a photograph of what she suspected was 'spider related' and asked if I could confirm. She lives in Burlington-Ontario Canada...

The Canadian mystery object

 I was able to tell her that it does indeed look like a spider egg sac and possibly an Orb Weaver (maybe the Cross Orb Weaver-Aranueus diadematus.) Coincidentally, I found a very similar one a couple of days ago under a log...

Here's a little added information I cribbed from the internet, as I know Cathy will be looking forward to having up to 800 spiderlings come next spring...

Male spiders reach adulthood ahead of females and may pair up with immature females, waiting for them to become sexually mature. Females spin egg sacs in late summer or autumn that are about 20mm in diameter and comprised of golden silk. They are constructed (seemingly “plastered”) in a protected place somewhat away from the web, sometimes attached to the eaves of buildings or inside rolled-up leaves or other foliage. Female dies shortly after laying her eggs. Each egg sac can contain anywhere from 100 to 800 yellowish eggs. Typically, only one egg sac is made per female. Spiderlings emerge from the sac the following spring and remain clumped together for a day or two, after which they disperse.

One of my own reference photos of the 'cute' spiderlings

Whilst we are visiting the Northern Hemisphere, I don't think by the way there's any foundation to the story I read about Canada being a migratory country that 'we pick up and move to wherever the weather is nicest' but anyhow, I have a good friend who lives in California, who this year was lucky enough to be able to visit the monarch butterfly migration in Natural Bridges, Santa Cruz.

They have very kindly given me permission to share a few photographs on my blog, for which I am very grateful...

Monarch butterflies return to the Californian coast in September/October each year in search of the milder temperatures. Most will have journeyed some 1,500 miles from places like Washington, Arizona and New Mexico and will remain through 'til March...

The monarch migration from their summer breeding ground takes four generations, meaning that the ones arriving this year are the great-great grandchildren of the ones from last year.

It has been known for this beautiful butterfly to turn up in the UK but with total sightings at less than 500 since the 1800s I won't be holding my breath to see one anytime soon; I just wish I'd been there myself to witness what must have been a spectacular event.

Lastly I wanted to include a shot of the fantastic larvae, oh and thank 'TT' for allowing me to include these pictures...

Something that I came across completely by accident, when I was photographing other things, was this robin doing what I can only describe as grunting. It's only a very short clip and a bit shaky too...I will explain after you watch the video...

In all honesty, the reason this isn't great is that I have to admit, I was out with the macro rig when I saw this robin and so, keeping the macro and flash in one hand, I got the trusty point and shoot in the other, zoomed in and just shot what I thought was a photo, without checking the settings. It transpired that the camera was set on video mode...Ooops!

I haven't seen a robin do this before but I suppose it must be territorial? Either that or it's got a cough...

The unseasonably mild weather has continued here in Kent and that has allowed the garden wildlife to remain active to a point. I spotted this damsel bug on the butterfly bush (Buddleia) when I was checking for aphids, of which there are huge numbers right now...

A phone grab of the aphids

On the same plant I also found this threesome...

2 x Moth larvae and a Green Tortoise Beetle

And under a fallen leaf I found this soldier beetle larva. The larva are soil dwelling and are predatory...

Cantharis larva

Cantharis larva

This last image will probably give you a better idea of the size of this larva...

And although I can't be certain exactly which species this is, the adult beetle will look something like this...

In my experience it won't be an adult long before it's doing this either!

That about wraps up yet another update, I'll leave you with this shot of the little lane I walk most days...

Until the next time...

Flapjack bugs me...

Sometimes bugs will turn up in the most unexpected locations and when you least expect them.

Flapjack is one of the few things I can claim to cook with a degree of success and I had just completed a batch a few days ago and was about to put the unused ingredients back into the kitchen cupboard, when something caught my eye. I caught the tiny red 'thing' and took it outside to photograph...

Not good news! This was a red flour beetle. These beetles feed on flour and cereals and can multiply into large populations.

Time to get back inside and empty every cupboard to search for any other individuals. I discovered 9 or 10 more in two cupboards and, as expected, in a part used bag of flour, a few more.

After researching these little pests I quickly came to realise just how common they are in the home and even more interesting, they almost certainly ended up in the kitchen by being present in shop-bought flour, as either larvae or eggs.

Having completely and thoroughly cleaned the kitchen, we are now on beetle watch to make sure none survived or worse that any missed eggs have hatched.

In case you are wondering? Yes, everything food-wise had to be replaced and, no, the flapjack wasn't affected in anyway. 

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Moving on then, with the approach of winter the amount of insects and bugs is naturally falling off now; in some cases literally. Over the months past, trees have been home to untold species of invertebrates and autumn means that the leaves begin to fall. That in turn means that many of the bugs and insects that once were high up in the canopy, are now on the ground and so it seemed the right time to get out and begin looking under a few windfalls to see what I could find...

A Barkfly 

A Barkfly nymph

Another type of Barkfly nymph

A Hoverfly larva

I found quite a number of very small hopper nymphs hiding away under some of the leaves...

And then of course there are the ever present springtails...

And to give you a better idea of just how minute some of these are, here's an un-cropped photo..

Even though this looks so small here, it was still photographed at higher than 1:1 magnification and so is larger than life-size.

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Under leaves is not the only environment that harbours insects and bugs that may be over-wintering, anything lying around on the ground is worth checking now. In what was a fabulous bluebell wood earlier this year and now seems quite bare and lifeless, I found an old signboard that somebody had thrown away and underneath, this beautiful butterfly pupa...

It's a large white butterfly chrysalis and for what will eventually become a plain-white butterfly, quite intricate and colourful.

I took a few more shots...

Isn't it amazing that even at this stage, when it won't morph into a butterfly for about another 6 months, you can already see the detail of the antennae and wing structure?

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No frosty days yet means that there are also bugs and insects still to be found on the vegetation...

The two photos above show early instar Red-legged Shieldbug nymphs.

I also found an adult insect but not the same species, this is Troilus luridus, the Bronze Shieldbug. The adults of this particular bug can be found all year round; they feed on the larvae of other insects and caterpillars.

Next was this large damsel bug...

And then this fantastic crab spider...

This is Diaea dorsata, a striking spider that has white ringed eyes and this bright green colour with cream abdomen.

And so I think perhaps it's time to wind up another blog update, thank you for being there to read this stuff and for my final photograph today, how about this shot of a geranium flower reflected in a water droplet? No mystery photo this time? Well only if you look closely at that droplet...is it just a water drop? What are those strands above it?

Until next time...