To Russia with love...

On the 18th of next month, it will be my tenth anniversary of writing this blog. A lot has changed during those ten years: My writing style has developed (for the better I hope), I'm closing in on 300 blog posts and something like 18000 words.

When I was checking my blog stats recently, I was amazed to see that Russia headed the list of most views...

It's also rewarding when people are recommending my blog to others...

Anyhow, enough self-aggrandisement. Let's crack on with this update;

Autumn can be a quieter time for finding subjects to include in my blog updates, most things have either completed their life-cycle by now, or have hibernated until spring. If you look back over past autumn/winter posts, you will see that they often feature..........spiders! This update won't be bucking that trend, and so please take this as advanced warning?

By the way, you do know that even though you probably hate the little buggers and find them 'disgusting', we are doomed without them: we are told by the scientists that man could not survive without spiders.

Cut the spider talk and show us a pretty picture JJ!

"Well I like it! Beech tree leaves."

'This species is classed as Nationally Scarce Notable B' - That's what I read when I researched one of the finds I had on one very special day last week. I have found this critter a few times in the past but it's always a joy to behold. What am I talking about? 'Platyrhinus resinosus', that's what... 

Also known as Cramp-Ball Fungus Weevil (Larvae of P. resinosus have been found in the Cramp-Ball fungus) and even King Alfred’s Cakes Weevil, this has to be one of the United Kingdom's strangest beetles. By the way, that tiny blue creature far right is a Lepidocyrtus species springtail (Collembola).

 

Love this pose: just how my little doggie sits sometimes!

Before we all get carried away with excitement though; a word from the excellent 'UK Beetles' on this species:

 In the UK this species is classified as nationally scarce (B) but there appears to have been an increase in both range and abundance over recent years and this is probably no longer appropriate.

It is locally common across south and central England and South Wales in wooded habitats, including parkland and gardens.

Adults have a long season, we have recorded them in January, persisting into late summer or autumn, they can often be found active or at rest during the day on fallen timber or logs etc. but may be cryptic to the inexperienced eye as they resemble bird droppings.

Exactly how I found this one, beside a wood, under a fallen ash branch.

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Another find from the same day? Certainly, I have plenty...

Bruchus rufimanus

Sometimes known as the 'Broad Bean Weevil' (or Broad Bean Beetle). At about 5 mm, this is the largest species in the genus Bruchus. The elytra are grey-brown, flecked with white, and are shorter than the body.

The antennae are orange at the base, and whilst the front legs are reddish, the middle legs are black. When these weevils feel threatened they have a clever trick to escape predation: they play dead...

Now this is what a Flat-backed Millipede should look like...

But I recently found a white one...

How is it that there is, as far as I know, not a white millipede; and yet this one is definitely very pale. Well because it must have only just moulted and the pale colour is teneral. It will gradually take on a darker tone as the new exoskelton hardens. 

I suppose we should get the spider thing out of the way right? 

Actually there should be nothing scary about this; it is in fact one of the most beautifully marked spiders I have seen...

This is 'Araneus diadematus', the Garden Spider. The spider is mature from summer to autumn. After mating, the female builds a silken cocoon in which she lays her eggs. She protects this egg sac until she dies in late autumn. The spiderlings hatch the following May.

As I only spotted this a few days ago, and we are already well into autumn, I would think she will not last much longer. 

Here's something you'll probably enjoy more; who doesn't like ladybirds? If you cannot enjoy the pictures for whatever reason, at least have fun with the scientific name of 'Psyllobora vigintiduopunctata'...

The 22-spot ladybird is just 3-4mm in length. I spotted (pun intended) this one in my garden two days ago. Don't waste time counting the spots by the way, there aren't 22!

The default mystery object that is...

I know what it could be related to but...not exactly what it is; do you?

Actually, whilst we are doing weird, look at these very strange fungi...

Odder than a very odd thing that seems odd even to an odd person right? 

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Good things come in threes don't they? So how about a third oddity to complete this update: this one is in the form of a video that I took using my phone at full zoom (x8) and so quailty is pretty awful, but what the heck is going on here? Whatever it is, it's minute, and was on a horse-chestnut tree...

(once again, you will need to be online to view this vid: too big to show in e.mailed version)

Come all without, come all within...

I have a five-legged spider living in my garden right now. I call her 'The Mighty Quinn'. Losing three legs has had no effect on her ability to build a web, I will share a photo before this update is done (if I can remember).

                                      

Samuel Butler lived in the 1600s. He was an English poet and satirist. Google him and you will no doubt find many quotes. I have chosen just two to illustrate the narrative of this part of my blog update:

"A News-monger is a Retailer of Rumour, that takes up upon Trust, and sells as cheap as he buys. He deals in a perishable Commodity, that will not keep: for if it be not fresh it lies upon his Hands, and will yield nothing. True or false is all one to him; for Novelty being the Grace of bothe, a Truth grows stale as soon as a Lye..."

Four centuries ago the press were obviously already practicing what a friend of mine, and former journalist once said, "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story". I couldn't reveal his name here but...it was Brian Johnson!

Almost four hundred years later, what has changed? That IS a rhetorical question by the way: witness these examples...

Yes it's the annual tabloid press scaremongering! Actually, it's not even just the tabloids.

If it's not too sensationalistic in itself, I would like to use Adolf Hitler's term here..it's a "Big Lie." In fact, let's stay with the WW2 analogies and add this attributed to Goebbels: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." 

Fiction: Something that is invented or untrue.

Just to put all this nonsense in perspective, here's spider expert, and all round good guy Tone Killick's response when I asked him for a quote:

The fact is not one of these so called spider bite articles has any factual basis and one common theme that runs through every story is "I didn't actually see what bit me" In this day and age of click bait, the larger the fear inducing headline, the more clicks equals more money generated. That's the bottom line. The tabloids are not concerned with the amount of fear they are creating nor the species of spiders wiped because of these stories.

Hmmm...wise words indeed and redolent of a certain young lady making headlines right now?

"We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!"

                                                                                             Greta Thunberg

Okay! As Oscar Wilde said, "Life is too important to be taken seriously."

If you can't laugh at yourself, call me and I'll laugh at you - I don't think that was one of his?

Moving on: We have just had the autumn equinox and Samuel Butler had a fine quote about that too: “Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits.” 

Apparently autumn/fall was once known by a different name: according to the written record, harvest is the earliest name for the third season of the year. It’s found in Old English as hærfest, a word of Germanic stock, perhaps with underlying, ancient sense of “picking, plucking.”

I once tried to construct a poem around those two words, I was okay with rhyming picking, I had kicking - licking - ticking - flicking. Plucking had me stumped though!

Notice anything wrong with this magazine cover?

If it takes you awhile, don't feel bad about it. I've had this magazine since 2011 and it took a friend to point out the mistake recently.

Next up, let's talk about a tiny insect that is neither a moth, nor a fly, yet it is called a Moth-fly. It's also known by the common names of Drain fly - Filter fly - Sewage fly and Owl-midge. 

So many names for such a small critter (about 5mm max) in fact one for each day it lives because 5 days seems to be about the extent of its life. Imagine that! They are totally harmless, although like humans, they can become annoying in large numbers. 

I've been lucky with my bird bath this year. Through 2018 I was plagued by insects falling in and being unable to climb out. Just had one bumble bee this year and I happened to spot it in time to effect a rescue and  place it on a flower whilst it dried out. 

I had several large white butterfly caterpillars pupate a few weeks ago but only one eclosed (emerged) and so I guess the rest will now over-winter and become a spring brood in 2020. They are wonderful looking things though...

I rotated this for better viewing

Time to be brave - I know there are those amongst us who still can't even look at spider pictures. But if Lady Hale can get away with wearing a spider brooch in court, I am sure I can get away with sharing the spider in my garden that I christened The Mighty Quinn...

The judge was hailed as the “spider woman” and the brooch described as “utterly badass”. 

And so...

Yes, she may only have 5 limbs but she constructed a reasonably tidy web that worked so well she had snared her first meal within a few hours. And so she somehow managed to lose three legs, but do you think there are the correct number between these two harvestmen? I think not!

Harvestmen share a trait with insects and have what scientists call the “alternate tripod gait,” where three legs touch the ground at any given point.

That elegant stride is initially hard-hit by the loss of a leg. In  harvestmen , the lost leg doesn’t grow back.

But they persevere. A harvestman that’s missing one, two, or even three legs can recover a surprising degree of mobility by learning to walk differently. Which is probably a good thing as there is about a 60% chance that they will lose at least one limb at some point.

 which all reminds me of this classic Pete and Dud sketch...

Peter Cook: Now, Mr. Spiggott, you, a one-legged man, are applying for the role of Tarzan.

Dudley Moore: Yes, right.

Peter Cook: A role traditionally associated with a two-legged artiste.

Dudley Moore: Yes, correct, yes, yes.

Peter Cook: The leg division, Mr. Spiggott. You are deficient in the leg division to the tune of one. Your right leg I like. It's a lovely leg for the role. As soon as I saw it come in, I said, "Hello! What a lovely leg for the role!"

Dudley Moore: Ah!

Peter Cook: I've got nothing against your right leg.

Dudley Moore: Ah!

Peter Cook: The trouble is -- neither have you.

I will leave you with this final image of what I think is a male honey bee. Probably the very same species that Mighty Quinn was making a meal out of. This one however was quite safe in another part of the garden...or was it?

One final thought to muse on until I return with another update: “When a male honey bee climaxes during sex, his testicles explode and he dies.”

I couldn't find a wrinkled peach...

As we are now entering the transition from summer to winter, and the chlorophyll is fast ebbing away from the leaves; bugs are becoming progressively harder to locate.  Therefore, this update will consist of a few creatures that I have managed to find and photograph, along with a smattering of incidental (mostly phone) photos that I took whilst I was out and about.

Before we dive in though: did you  think that we always used the word 'Autumn' against the North American version of 'Fall'? Apparently not! 

The word autumn entered English from the French 'automne' and didn't become common usage until the 18th century. Originally 'Fall', a contraction of the phrase 'Fall of the leaf', was common in England. This I read on the internet, therefore ipso facto it must be true; so let's have none of your silly questioning thank-you!

A little look at how parts of my corner of Kent are looking right now...

The first critter I have to share photos of is this rather splendid Knot grass caterpillar...

This will mature to pupa stage and then remain that way through our winter. By comparison to the larvae, the adult moths are a rather drab mix of grey and black. Close to where I spotted this caterpillar was one of the largest wood ant nests I think I have ever seen...

The ants were busy too...
(Customary reminder that videos may not show in email version of blog)

There were also a few fungi dotted around...

Fly agaric: Amanita muscaria

Fly agaric: Amanita muscaria

Birch polypore?

I think this is the Cauliflower fungi: Sparassis crispa

Now when I saw this next 'thing', I thought I knew exactly what it was...

A rather large spider egg sac was my initial thought. Probably belonging to a garden-cross spider? Why did I think that, because close-by, I found this...

But...having looked at lots of garden spider egg sacs, this doesn't seem right at all. However, I have not dismissed it completely. Take a look at this next photo...

Not my photo

This is an egg sac belonging to a species of orb weaver spider that we don't get here in the UK; but you can see the similarity. Maybe then it is a garden spider after all. If not, then possibly one of the other orb weavers?

Another fungi; again, this is just a phone shot...

Possibly Boletus?

There are some great names for British fungi aren't there:

VELVET SHANK

DOG STINKHORN

BEEFSTEAK

SULPHUR SURPRISE

WRINKLED PEACH

TURKEYTAIL

THE MILLER

EARTHBALL

What about this next photo though: I know what it is, but do you?

On another day I was out walking in this area...

...when I found this beauty!

I assume this will belong in the Zygina family of leaf hoppers, but I could be assuming wrong. What I do know is that the Zygina family are quite variable and can be hard to separate (unless you have a jemmy that is).

Not great shots I know. But it was a dull old day and I had no flash with me so used only natural light and they are really small, and......well, I have run out of excuses. 

Until now, I had never seen this type of gall. This is the wonderfully named Sputnik gall.  The Sputnik Gall is nearly always caused by the cynipid wasp Diplolepis nervosa. It is usually found on the undersides of the leaves of the Dog-rose, but occasionally on the upper surface. The gall is more likely to be seen than the adult wasp. I guess the shape these galls have evolved into offers some kind of protection to the inhabitants.

Wonderin' what the adult wasp that emerges looks like? Thought so...

Like this!