Les Dawson, Tony Blackburn and Lady Ga Ga drop in...

Even so, I eventually made it back here to publish another exciting blog update. Alright then, a moderately arresting update!

Yes! At long last spring has decided to poke its head out from behind a cloud and give us all a big, warm hug...

“Awake, thou wintry earth. Fling off thy sadness! Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth your ancient gladness!”- Tony Blackburn

You may want to check the validity of this attribution: it may not have actually been the owner of a grin so cheesy that it's cheesier than a lump of cheese wrapped up in cheesecloth inside a cheesy sock!

Before I get to the update, I guess I should provide an answer to my mystery object from a couple of updates ago: You might recall it looked like this...

Well it wasn't some kind of plant as was suggested to me, and it wasn't fungi or slime mould. So here is the full image that I cribbed (or should that be cropped) the picture from...

The Alder moth and caterpillar (Acronicta alni)

Yes, just a little caterpillar/larva of the alder moth.

This video will not show in the e.mail version of my update; you need to view on the internet site...

One of my emperor moth cocoons has been twitching a little and so I have been watching closely to see if it may eclose soon: so far no signs that it will though.

However, I did find that one of the large white butterflies had emerged...

I had to keep it for a couple of days whilst I waited on the weather, but then was able to release it on a sunny day and saw it fly off quite happily (although, I am not sure exactly what a happy butterfly looks like to be honest).

And I think it was on a willow sapling that I spotted this tiny wasp. I wondered if it was egg laying and that got me to wondering if this is perhaps a gall wasp? I do know that willow leaves very often have galls attached, but seem to remember that they are usually produced by sawflies? 

Now that spring has officially sprung and there is even an upturn in the weather, as if it knew what was expected of it, I have been finding increasing numbers of invertebrates to observe and try to hone my photography skills on. After what seems like an inordinate amount of time passing without even picking up the camera, things are on the move...

At first I found a bee...

Then I found a fly...

Then I found...a bee-fly... 

Then I found a lady...

Then I found a bird...

Then I found a ladybird...

10-Spot Ladybird

I think I may look for the meaning of life next!

A Brimstone Butterfly

My butterfly count is coming along for this year. Okay, so they are the species that you might expect to see early spring; being the ones that hibernate, but still, so far I have seen comma, small tortoiseshell, large white, peacock and brimstone: in fact there already seem to be above average numbers of brimstone butterflies locally this year.

The last thing I can update you on is the progress of the nesting blue-tits in the garden. They are doing well actually. I think the nest building stage may be nearing completion: the tempo has certainly increased over the past couple of days and there was still nest material being added at well after 7pm tonight...

Even if at times there has been a struggle to enter the box...

This video will not show in the e.mail version of my update; you need to view on the internet site...

A trip to Malling Down...

Malling Down lies close to the East Sussex town of Lewes and is an outstanding area for wildlife and especially invertebrates.
Given the right weather conditions that is-on the day I chose to visit, I had stupidly relied on the BBC weather forecast for the area, only to find that in place of the expected 'sunshine and up to 18 deg.' what I actually experienced was, cloud and mist and wind and spots of rain. 
Undeterred, I still very much enjoyed the day and even managed a few interesting photographs/subjects...

Once you climb the steep slopes there are spectacular views of the Sussex countryside to take in...

I probably spent around an hour wandering about the hillsides before so much as a sniff of an insect of any kind. I then spotted in the distance, what turned out to be my only sighting of a butterfly for the day-all I can tell you is that I think it was brown, but I'm not even sure of that, it was so far away.

It must have been 11am before things seemed to warm up enough to encourage a few hardy inverts to appear. This tiny ladybird was one of the first. I think this is a 10-spot ladybird (Adalia 10-punctata) judging by its small size (around 3.5mm) and the 5 spots on the pronotum.

The leg colour, which is tricky to see here was brown and that also fits for 10-spot.

Leucozona lucorum

At the bottom of one of the paths leading skywards, was a nettle patch and this proved to be a good hunting ground for hoverflies. I think this first one is Volucella species but which one? Maybe V.pellucens? Then again, it also looks similar to V. bombylans var. plumata? Not sure. (Edit: Actually Leucozona lucorum; see comments) I soon after discovered one of my favourite hovers. This one is what I recently saw described as the Pinocchio hoverfly! It certainly is quite a distinctive fly and one that I don't see all that often. Rhingia campestris to give it the correct title.

Helophilus pendulus was the next sighting I had. This one also seems to have acquired a nickname-the footballer hoverfly was how I recall reading it was described as on a fellow blogger's site.

Rhingia campestris

I think there is just about enough of a dark line at the base of the abdomen on this R.campestris hoverfly to be sure that it's not the other one R.rostrata.

Helophilus pendulus

My first green weevil of the year came next-a nettle weevil (Phyllobius pomaceus)

I know there are several similar weevils that this could be but have gone for P. pomaceus based on the antennae position and the shape of the front femora.

The same nettle patch also seemed to be a favourite spot for small tortoiseshell butterflies to lay their eggs, I found lots and lots of nettle covered in larvae and their 'tents' in the same area...

In some long grass, beside a footpath, I found a couple of very interesting looking cocoons. I thought initially that this looked like the work of a spider?

It was I suppose about 25mm across and soft to the touch. It looked very similar to me in size, texture and shape to the eggs sacks you see nursery web spiders carrying around at this time of year.

Well, I was still puzzling over exactly what it could be when my question was answered in part but what I discovered a few metres away lying on the ground.

It was in fact a second cocoon of the same kind, this one however was damaged (I assume) and had split open, revealing the inhabitants...

But now there seemed to me to be even more questions to be answered? Are these larvae/grubs the work of a moth perhaps, or could it be that they shouldn't be there at all and are the result of a parasitic wasp? 

Pomatias elegans

Although conditions didn't really suit me and made hunting for insects a little harder than I would have liked, it was perfect for slugs and snails, of which there were hundreds; most were the kind you would expect to see but this one in the photograph grabbed my attention as it seemed to be a tad different.

This is another interesting find for me because it seems to fit well to the description of a round-mouthed snail (Pomatias elegans) but there isn't too much in the way of information that I have been able to find about this species, save to say that it seems very scarce in the U.K. If I am right with the identity, it is a snail that only lives where there are high densities of calcium carbonate, such as on limestone or chalk.

One last photo of the stunning Sussex countryside...

Until the next time then...

What a carry on...

Seems hard to believe that we are already at the second week of October-where is this year going? Already the fungi are starting to pop their heads up from the forest floor as the season gets underway...

I chose this image first as I thought it might grab your attention? I don't know the correct mycological name for this species; if encouraged I daresay I could come up with a common name of my own, but I reckon that it would have more in common with a 'Carry On' innuendo than anything remotely sensible!

I do know that these pictured above are 'Amanita muscria' the infamous Fly Agaric fungi. These scarlet topped mushrooms are coloured red for a reason, as in the animal world, red signifies danger and to eat from these is to risk hospitalisation.

I have lots more fungi shots but think I might save them for a dedicated entry as there's not mushr.......no! Can't do the joke...

I want to share what I think is a wonderful late season find of a beautiful shieldbug...

This is the fabulous Blue Shieldbug (Zicrona caerulea) the metallic blue sheen makes this little bug easy to identify. It is one however that I rarely see, in fact I think this is only my second find of one in years of looking.

Moving on, I came across a couple of more unusual ladybirds the other day, the 10-spot (Adalia decempunctata) is a little less common than the 7-spot and is also a lot harder to identify correctly, so let's hope I have got it right here...

'Rhyzobius litura' is a tiny ladybird that is not often seen, and even less recognised as a ladybird when it is discovered. It is one of the few ladybirds that have long antennae, hence most folks seem to dismiss it as merely a commonplace beetle, rather than coccinellidae.

Usually found from spring to late autumn and often in dry places-this one was in long, dry grasses in an uncut meadow...

Another nice find was of a ground beetle 'Dromius quadrimaculatus' a nicely marked small beetle of about 7mm length...

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I still haven't managed to solve the mystery of just what that strange,white structure from my last update was. I think perhaps my friend ,Maria who suggested it may be a seed could be on the right track but, I am just not sure yet. What I can say is that, amazingly, I found another example-they are so small that I didn't ever imagine I would spy another but here it is...

If it helps at all, I can add that this one was not on the ground but underneath a living willow leaf still on the tree.It was also firmly adhered to the leaf somehow.

Back to the bugs then...

This is the larva of the dot moth (Melanchra persicariae) these will feed on a wide range of wild plants and I have found them on both bramble (incidentally, that one was the brown version of the larva) and also on nettle.

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My moth trap diaries have suffered of late from a lack of anything interesting to add-I have been running it but have had few moths other than the usual suspects.

An exception has been the one in the photograph below...

This is the Barred Sallow (Xanthia aurago) a lovely moth delicately tinted with yellows and pinks.

A shot taken in a more natural setting...

You might also be interested in this huge,female vapourer moth...

These huge bulbous females are flightless, those dog-like ears just above the second pair of legs in the photo, are actually vestigial wings and so there is no chance of these getting off the ground. They will attract a male within a very short time of emerging, then lay their eggs that overwinter before emerging in spring. Once the eggs have been laid the female's job is done, she doesn't feed and so her life is very short.

I checked the next day where this female had been and this is what I found...

I guess even though I haven't managed to resolve the last mystery object, I should add another to this entry?

Well this might be a tad easier-aside that is from my poor skills with the camera meaning less detail than I would have hoped for. I had to crop this heavily as it was taken at only 1:1 and I suppose was around the size of a small springtail, so about 2mm?

It was found in long grasses and I am wondering if it's a very early nabidae instar/nymph? What do you think?

Until the next time then...