The Poet Laureate or Spike?

Well there could be no other way of starting this blog update than with a big...

It was so great to hear all of your views on the subject of including humour in these updates. Thank-you to everyone who took the time to comment here and to those who sent me personal messages too, from memory, that was John, Sam and Brian. Apologies if I have missed anyone. I applaud you all! 

Alright, to quote the late-great Northern Soul singer Clarence Murray, 'Let's Get On With It...'

Despite the cold winds, the signs of spring are everywhere...

It's not only the flora that is telling me spring is just around the corner, there are other signs too. For the first time in a while I spotted some frogspawn in a local pond...

There was plenty of it too...

They always look like a bunch of mangled human eyes to me! Sorry, that probably wasn't my best ever example of poetic writing was it, but you know what I mean.

This young lady could do with cleaning up her act I think? 

Both in terms of what she is doing and allowing her brood to get into such a muddy mess! 

Look at this frogspawn, it looks more like dirty lemon Bonbons? What kind of mother would be so lackadaisical? I'll tell you what kind shall I: the kind who is too busy getting her...too busy having...too...distracted! 💘

Traditional lemon bon bons

By the way, there seems to be a bit of a debate as to whether this candy should be spelled as Bonbons, or Bon Bons, or indeed Bon-bons. Not really interested huh?

Let's move on by way of another song lyric then shall we. "Snakes in the grass are absolutely free..." (Bow Wow Wow 1982) Or should that be bow-wow-wow? Can you see how my brain is working here? I got to Bow Wow Wow just because I wrote candy rather than sweets. Bow Wow Wow had a song called, 'I Want Candy'. That in turn has reminded me that this group were formed when most of the members of 'Adam and the Ants' band left and started their own band. So what, you are possibly saying under your breath right now? Oh, just another tenuous connection, that's all. Ants are insects after all.

Okay, I will shut up with my ramblings and get to the point. The snake in the grass that I found t'other day...

Natrix natrix. The European  grass snake. Sometimes called (although not by me) the ringed snake or water snake. Associated with water and feeding mostly on amphibians, they will occasionally eat ants; there, you were wondering when I was going to mention ants? The snakes themselves are in turn predated by owls, corvids and foxes.

Did you know that there are no native snakes at all in Ireland? 

I bet you are thinking, this blog update is all very nice 'JJ', but what it really needs is a photo of a slug on a trainer? What a coincidence then. I just happen to have one!

The full story is that somebody had thrown away this old trainer shoe and I suppose because it was brightly coloured I noticed it and then soon after, the slug. But I was puzzled by the shape of the slug and especially that sort of projection at the rear which seemed to be moving in and out. 

I think it was John Masefield who wrote:

 I must go down to the seas again,

 to the lonely sea and the sky,

And all I ask is a tall ship 

and a star to steer her by.

But I always remember the Spike Milligan version, rather than the original...

I must go down to the sea again, 
    to the lonely sea and the sky;
I left my shoes and socks there - 

    I wonder if they're dry? 

Which is a rather silly way of segueing into the next addition to this update. I did get down to the sea again this week. Camber Sands to be precise. It wasn't a bug-hunting trip, but as ever, I couldn't resist the urge to scout around a few of the sand dunes before returning home. 

I only had the little pocket Pentax camera with me and so there isn't too much detail in these pictures but I think this is a Sitona species of weevil and there were several of them running around on the sand. I know that the Pea Weevil (S.lineatus) has been found in quite large numbers beside the ocean.

I am not too sure of the identity of the beetle pictured above but it was struggling to get around on the sand. 

A quick reminder that you will need to view this video online rather than in the email version of the update...

As was this one...

This one was a nice find for me as they are only associated with this kind of habitat. It is a Small Beach Scarab - Aegialia arenaria.  I read an interesting paper on the subject of coastal habitat recently. Here's a small excerpt: Although most UK sand dune systems are now fossilized, with little mobility and reducing amounts of bare sand, they support important populations and assemblages of terrestrial invertebrates. Offering open conditions, warm substrates and a range of habitats and habitat structures, they have become increasingly significant as other coastal habitats have been lost.

This was the scene facing the ocean.

And this is about the closest you will ever get to seeing a selfie of me...

I said right at the start of this update that there was only one way to start it: well in a similar way, there is really only one way to end; it has to be a photograph of a levitating larva surely? So you think I haven't got such a picture do you? Wrong! Slug on a trainer was only a precursor to the main attraction. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the levitating larva...

Thimbleweed and smell-fox...

Tempus fugit....

Although, I believe the proper translation of this is not 'time flies' but rather 'time flees' and so maybe not the best opening line as I haven't seen any fleas this year yet. Alright! It isn't even the same spelling and so doesn't work on many levels. 
I was just trying to reference the fact that my last blog entry was April 12th and since then, spring has definitely arrived proper..... hooray!

This little wood mouse turned up on the bird table early one morning. I watched it deftly climb the trellis and then leap across to the table with no problem at all, have its fill of the bird food and then just as easily, returned the way it came and disappeared behind the foliage.

Meanwhile...at the local pond...

I spotted these two. Even though they were underwater and amongst the frogspawn, I think they are actually toads. I know there are some warty frogs but not that warty surely? I think the horizontal,slit pupils give it away too.

I like the expression of pleasure? on the male and the fact that the female seems totally uninterested...

By the way...does anyone know the correct names for male and female toads? Not sure I have ever heard this? A male frog is a bullfrog? Not even sure that's correct.

Frogspawn

Some of the frogspawn looked in pretty poor condition and I wondered if it was going to be viable as several clumps were this milky colour, and looked deflated in places. I have read that frogspawn is easily damaged in this way by cold weather and that would fit-however, when I returned a few days later, it did seem to be doing okay for the most part.

At least, what wasn't being used as a tasty treat by the newts was doing alright. 

I have seen good numbers of newts this spring. A few days ago I found more in what was little more than a puddle in the woods at Sissinghurst Castle...

Now seems to be a busy time for the ants as well. Almost every-time I walk in the local woods, especially the managed pine forests,I come across thousands of tiny black, wood ants, scurrying around carrying all manner of things back to the nest site...

Besides the increase in invertebrates that has happened over the past couple of weeks, the bluebells have finally decided to put on a show and a few days ago a visit to a spot known to be rich in the wildflowers was in order...

It was  beautiful weather and the bluebells were at their finest on this particular spring day...

Click any photo for a larger view

Mixed in with the bluebells,buttercups and wood anemones were quite a few early orchids...

I recently found out that common names for the wood anemones include:  windflower-thimbleweed and smell-fox. These photos don't really do it justice, you really had to be there-and to experience the smell too...it was quite a day and really lifted me. I spent an hour or so wandering around the woods, thinking to myself that I must store away these memories to recall in the depths of winter, when things can seem bleak.

I listened to the birds singing and the insects buzzing and then, drove home in the car, listening to The Byrds singing...I'm not sure which sounded sweetest.

Back at the waterside, I found my first Caddisfly (thanks for correction Maria) of the year...

On some vegetation below an ancient oak tree or two, I found a little acorn weevil. It can be rough being a weevil at times, this one couldn't have been long emerged and yet, seems to be missing part of a limb already. I wonder what caused the loss?

Also, this rather pretty looking snail...

In the garden, I came across another of the strange jewel like,hanging cocoons? That I saw last year...

And the example I found last time...

I'm still not exactly sure what these are but the consensus last time seemed to be caterpillar?

Hmmmm...this blog entry is turning into something of a monster and I still have lots to share. I guess I'll end this one here and add the rest to another very soon.

Until the next time then...

6 Million trees but no murmuration....

I have to start this blog update with a warning that I have felt compelled to make a change to comments on my blog. I have been spending increasing amounts of time deleting spam posts of late and in light of this, I have re-set the comment box to needing approval before publishing.

You need to do nothing and can (and hopefully, will) continue to comment as normal but there will be a small delay in the comment appearing on my blog whilst I approve. I hope this'll be a temporary measure and apologise for any inconvenience.

Okay...the boring stuff out of the way. Let's get started...

I wanted to mark the Woodland Trust's achievement of planting so many trees to celebrate 60 years of the Queen's reign and locally, we have seen two new woodland areas created. Local people assisted with planting thousands of small trees beginning in December of last year and it will be interesting to see the progress over the next few years as the woodland and wild flowers develops.

We are still blaming the jet stream for continuing winter weather and frosty mornings in particular...spotted this frosted feather one morning...

On better days, there are signs of spring to be found. there are also currently nice things like these alder catkins to be found...

Just a couple of days ago, I saw my first cuckoo-flower of the year. Cuckoo-flower is a precursor to the orange-tip butterflies and I'm hoping for a better year for them than last. As with almost all of our native butterflies, last year was disastrous....

But I suppose the one thing that tends to sum up spring more than most would be frogspawn. I hadn't seen any this year until a trip to Marden Meadows, a local nature reserve, about a week ago; where I found just one clump in one of the ponds...

And so what about bugs and insects? Oh I could fill another 3 blog entries with all my recent finds! Okay, may have introduced a small element of exaggeration there. Let me 'trim-down' the statement to..well..the truth?

Far less shield-bugs than I would have expected or hoped for. In fact, only this little forest bug nymph thus far...

Spider warning...spider warning...spider warning...(can't risk the wrath of ladies scorned)...

Wolf Spider

Jumping Spider

This second image is a bit 'noisy' because I sat one evening with nothing better to do and re-made my flash diffuser. Didn't get it quite right though and now need to tweak it a little.

Same with the next one...

Breathe easy...breathe easy...Urgh!..Maybe not, I forgot about this monster..

This photo (above) was also a bit of a failure...story of my life! I was trying out lens combinations on this beetle that I found upside down in the water butt....but.....well, I won't bore you with details, just say that the quality wasn't there to get a good image. I converted to mono to try and improve the appearance for you but even so..never mind, as I keep telling myself..."All part of the learning curve..."

A couple of days ago on a visit to a local graveyard...No laughing please- I wasn't checking availability of plots;I saw a row of trees in the distance smothered in starlings, very noisy starlings...no respect! Actually I was kind of hoping for a murmuration but sadly I still have that on my list of things to see.

How do you get from starlings to scale insects? No idea, so best just post the photo...

Scale insects (Coccoidae) While there's some variation, they start as free-moving crawlers, with the females becoming less mobile as they mature. In most groups, the females attach to a single spot and lose legs, antennae, etc., so that they begin to look more like some kind of growth than an insect. Both mobile and non-mobile types develop thick protective layers of wax or other inert substances, often in elaborate shapes- so it's hard to see the actual insect underneath.

Oh and no, I didn't know everything here without researching it. Interesting structures though. Here's a different type I found in 2011 in the garden...

Now is also the time to start looking on ivy for the tiny hopper nymphs of Issus coleoptratus who over-winter on this plant. I found my first of the year this week and as it was the first, took a number of photographs. This little critter is no more than 6mm in length...

And so I guess we can say that spring is on its way at last but it may well be a slow start this year, which brings me back nicely to where I came in...blame the jet stream.

Until the next time then...