Happy Flying Ant Day...

I have an unanswered question that needs to be addressed. Perhaps you can help: 

If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done?

 I would like you to think about July 12 2020

Why that particular date JJ? Because, it's pertinent: which is much better than being impertinent don't you think? I used to get called impertinent at school if I ever dared to challenge anything the teacher said..."Don't be impertinent boy!"

Anyhow, that's by the by (if you don't know the etymology of that phrase, where have you been since the 1600s?), July 12 was the day we celebrated 'National Simplicity Day'. What do you mean, you didn't! It was easy enough surely? Here's the info:

On the 12th July 2020, we acknowledge National Simplicity Day - the annual campaign that asks us all to take a step back from our hectic lives and live in the moment.

You were most likely fixated on the other event that happened on July 12 right?

Yes, this was the day in the UK that saw thousands of flying ants emerge. Here's a photo curtousy of the Daily Mirror...

Not for this boy though: it was not until July 30 that the garden became overrun with them. 

Flying ant photographed in my garden July 30

Actually, although there is a so called 'Flying Ant Day' there is no one particular day that the ants emerge, but it is usually late July/early August. There is nothing peculiar about these ants really. They are just a common black ant (Lasius niger).

This from the Natural History Museum: 

 Why do ants fly?

An ant colony can only expand so much. At some point a new queen will need to strike out on her own to begin a new colony. She needs to meet and mate with a male from a different colony and find a new area in which to start building her nest. Growing wings and flying enables her to do this.

So each year, alates emerge from nests and take flight. They aren't interested in people or picnics - they are just looking for a mate.

Here is the amazing thing for me: after mating the males lives are over; they will die within a couple of days. The queens however will go on to quickly chew off their own wings and begin looking for a suitable site in which to nest and set up a new colony. Females can then live for many years; perhaps up to 12.

In fact, right now...

I was so pleased to see that the Hairy shieldbugs had survived in the garden and were doing well. I think this one pictured above is probably a mid-instar.

I also found one nice fresh adult...

This is...

Lasiocampa quercus - An Oak Eggar moth

I got sent this photo of a beautiful big moth to ID recently. It turned out to be a male Oak Eggar. The Oak Eggar, despite its name, does not feed on Oak, but is so-called because the shape of its cocoon is acorn-like. 

I had a morning clearing up in the garden recently, and when I was working on the woundwort plants, I had this leaf in my hand ready to throw out when I spotted something attached. I know it looks quite large in this photo, but it was actually only about 6-8mm and I almost dismissed it as vegetation debris.

Experience has taught me to take a second look though, and when I got the macro lens on it I could see it was what looked like a pupa of some kind.

Thinking about it, I realised that I had seen something similar before, and that turned out to be a Plume moth pupa. Only thing to do then was to keep it and see what emerged.

Here's the face-on view...

I'll come back to this in a moment; next I would like to share a photo of just some of the many butterfly eggs on the nasturtium plants in the garden...

The next batch look ready to pop!

And a batch of recently emerged Large-white butterfly caterpillars...

There are some final instar woundwort shiledbugs in the garden now too...

I think this one got photo-bombed by another tiny bug.

This amused me: it's from an Entomology group I belong to...

'Shall we return to the pupa story now JJ?' Erm...I think we probably should, before we forget!

The photos of the pupa (above) were taken on August 3rd and I didn't have to wait too long for things to change, because the very next day it began to darken: strangely, head first it seemed...

Finally the whole thing darkened...

Here comes the anti climax then. Last thing on the night of the 4th I was certain it would emerge but nothing happened. First thing the next morning I checked on the pupa, gingerly opening the container it was in, only to watch it fly off, never to be seen again!

However, you might be pleased to know that I did get a brief look at it as it departed and it definitely was a Plume moth; one of the brownish ones. Possibly Amblyptilia acanthadactyla (Beautiful Plume) as the glimpse I got of the markings looked good and the larvae of this species will feed on woundwort.

On one particular day, that day being yesterday! I had two species of cricket indoors; well one in the house, and one in my work studio. This male Speckled-bush Cricket appeared on the living room ceiling...

I placed it outside for a more natural looking shot...

Apologies by the way if it looks as if I have been over zealous cropping these photos: it's actually minimum magnification on the MP-E lens and so this is as much as I could fit in.

Next is the larger Dark-bush Cricket that actually dropped onto me whilst I was working in my studio...

I bet you didn't expect this next item!

The  title for world's biggest testicles (relative to body weight) goes to the tuberous bushcricket, a type of katydid, according to a study.

"I was amazed by the size of the testes—they seemed to take up the entire abdomen," said study leader Karim Vahed, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Derby in the U.K

 The hard, penis-like part of male bushcricket genitalia that's inserted into the female is called a....
"titillator"

I feel I should perhaps leave you to cogitate over those facts, and so will take my leave with this photograph of a female Speckled-bush Cricket...

Psocid to me baby!

Here we go again then. Time for another update. The whole point of these updates, well the whole point of my blog actually, is to try to imbue you with some of the enthusiasm that I have for the natural world and bugs in particular.

Since I first started blogging, almost a decade ago now, it has become increasingly 'sexy' to talk about the environment and the role  insects play within our world. Perhaps at long last the people wielding the power will do the right thing. I actually heard a farmer saying on TV the other day that they had "ignored nature until now, but could do so no longer". There's progress!

Meantime, I shall continue to do my little bit in any way I can...

In my last update I talked about camouflage. Here's another tiny bug that uses this in what seems like  quite an extreme manner. For starters, this Psocid nymph in my photo is only 2mm long max. Does something so small even require camouflage? 

I guess the answer must be yes, or why bother. Here's another photo that shows you what I actually saw before closing in for a macro shot...

Not exactly standing out like a porcupine at a nudist colony is it! And yet it does seem that bugs of this species all do it. I think it might just be confined to the nymphs though.

I'm not certain what it is that they are covering themselves with: an entomologist friend did tell me what he thinks it is, but I think that's just crap!

A Barkfly nymph - possibly Cerobasis guestfalia?

Curious creatures huh? The common name for Psocids is Barkflies, or Book-lice. According to the National Barkfly Recording Scheme: The order Psocoptera is one of the least recorded insect groups. This lack of recording is not because the species are rarely encountered – on the contrary; almost every tree in Britain is likely to be home to some of these creatures and psocids are far more abundant than some insect orders.

In fact, if you are interested in discovering a species new to science, I would say these would be your best bet and the chances quite high.

More strange looking creatures: this time a hoverfly larva. This is what a hoverfly looks like before it becomes the winged adult we all see flying around, all the time thinking it's a wasp. I think this one is probably the Marmalade hoverfly  Episyrphus balleatus. In case you have been wondering; the feeding end is on the right of this photo. Those 'ears' at the other end are neither ears or antennae; they are in fact, put simply, breathing tubes.

My bug finds so far this year have been patchy. One species however that I have seen huge numbers of already is the Hairy Shieldbug (taxonomists please stop renaming bugs, I can't keep up!)

Never have I seen so many gathered together as I have this year. On one local walk recently, I kept seeing these large, green, spiky plants; not sure exactly what they were, maybe wild lettuce or something similar. Anyhow, wherever they occurred, right at the base they formed  little reservoirs where water collected. In each of the plants I looked at there were drowned Hairy Shieldbugs...

Meanwhile, this rather strange looking looper caterpillar was found on willow... 

I was really pleased to find this next plant bug. Freshly moulted too. It's a number of years now since I last saw one.  This is Miris striatus, or as some folk like to call it: The Fine-streaked Bugkin. It's a predatory bug that feeds on aphids and the eggs and larvae of moths etc. Described as 'local' here in the south of the UK.

Miris striatus (moult at bottom)

I must remember when identifying this bug though, there is a really similar one called 'Calocoris quadripuntatus' that has similar patterning, but is just a tad smaller. If that isn't confusing enough, it seems that there is also yet another similar species: 'Rhabdomiris striatellus', however, after further research, it appears that C. quadripuntatus and R. striatellus are one and the same.

Yep! Two names that identify one bug! 

Pictured above is my first sighting of an adult Sawfly. I have seen a number of larvae, but this is the very first adult for 2019. Adult sawflies only live for a couple of weeks: they get their name from the saw-like ovipositor, which the female of the species uses to cut into the surface of leaves, where she then deposits her eggs.

Pentatoma rufipes; A Red-legged Shieldbug

Another first for this year I think. This is probably a mid-instar of the species. When fully grown, the adults have a kind of 80s shoulder pad thing going on. It'll probably be at least another month or so before I spot any mature bugs. 

Adult Pentatoma rufipes from 2016

This...

A bug-eyed caterpillar. At least that's how it appears right? But those black eye-like blobs are not eyes at all. No, the eyes are the small circle of dots at the base of the 'blobs'.