EDIT: 03-10-2016
Apologies if you have received a notification of this update by mistake.
Following my last, rather dark update, I thought it was time to lighten up here a little and change the mood...
Apologies if you have received a notification of this update by mistake.
Following my last, rather dark update, I thought it was time to lighten up here a little and change the mood...
And remember; wherever you are in the world, and I know my little blog is read in at least 10 countries, we all laugh in the same language!
Stats for my last update
Just a thought: this is also ironic if you are smart enough?
This is a photograph of a female Misumena vatia crab spider that I took the other day. It is this species that can change colour from white to yellow and visa-versa. Whilst we are making merry with this particular update, perhaps it would be pertinent to mention that 'visa-versa" is also the title of a musical offering by German duo 'Funkstörung'. No? Well it made me chortle; I'm sure it must be an anagram of something rude!
 |
| The yellow version... |
I guess this won't be the case right across our British Isles, but here in Kent the last few days have been hot and very humid. I am not complaining of course; we have waited far too long for a taste of summer. It has left me feeling a little sluggish though...
 |
| Arion distinctus (probably) |
Yes it was a hot summer day when I photographed the slug; I hadn't intended such an exotic subject of course, but in the heat, it was all there was about. It really was a 'somnolent summer day', as they say (whoever they are).
-------------------------------------------------------------------
I know what you have been dying to ask me...
"What’s the difference between a pupa, a cocoon and a chrysalis?
How strange that you should ask me this at a time when I have been thinking about it too; here then, in layman's terms, is my very bestest go at an explanation:
Pupa and chrysalis have the same meaning: the transformation stage between the larva and the adult. While pupa can refer to this naked stage in either a butterfly or moth, chrysalis is strictly used for the butterfly pupa. A cocoon is the silk casing that a moth caterpillar spins around it before it turns into a pupa.
All of which is a sneaky way of linking to this small white chrysalis that I happened upon a while back...
 |
| Pieris rapae pupa (green form, there is also brown) |
I was able to witness this struggle to be free of the chrysalis casing when the adult butterfly emerged...
 |
| Pieris rapae |
It did eventually manage to extricate itself, and after a good long rest to recover from all the exertion, was on its way. Which is all good news of course, but, I know what you are thinking now: what does 'layman's terms' mean?
Why ask me? I am just a humble country boy, my knowledge is finite. Alright, I will have a bash as they say (there they are again).
---------------------------------------------------------------
Let's start with the word layman: a person without professional or specialized knowledge in a particular subject.
Plain English (or layman's terms) is a style of communication that is easy to understand.
Back to the subject in hand then. The subject in my hand right now is 'BB' and I don't mean Bridget Bardot (ask grandad), nor Billy Bragg, neither Betty Boo. Nope, I am talking of the insect alliteration, Bumble Bee...
 |
| It seems to have been a good year for BB's this year |
'In the pink'...there's another little saying that has me wondering about its origin. Whilst I wonder, here's a pink bug...
 |
| Eurygaster testudinaria |
Not really a pink bug of course, only at this stage of development following a moult.
Maybe this next picture can out-pink the tortoise bug?
 |
| Mimas tiliae larva |
 |
| Sciurus vulgaris |
I was lucky enough to get a couple of hours at the British Wildlife Centre in Surrey recently and I spent most of my time in the red squirrel enclosure.
They have this huge, sculpture I suppose you would call it, of a hedgehog at the entrance to the park. It is 7ft high and was built by UKTV to mark the second series of David Attenborough’s Natural Curiosities.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Here is what the adult tortoise bug will look like once it has coloured up, just in case you didn't know, which I am sure you did...
And at the other end of the scale, a teeny early instar of the same species...
Smaller still, by quite a margin actually, was this springtail...
 |
| Allacma fusca I think |
