Publish and be damned...

I need your input blog-readers. I had a nice email from somebody who used the  blogger 'contact JJ' option, that was very complimentary about my little blog, but mentioned at the same time about my writing style.

They were expressing a preference for the more factual updates, over the, well frankly, sillier ones. 

And so I would love to know what others think. I want to get the balance right because, although this is my blog, it is nothing without you loyal readers. Please do let me know any thoughts, good or bad, by using the same contact option, or just adding a comment at the bottom of this post.

                                                                        Thank-you,

                                                                                        'JJ'

Here we go then (at last) no frivolity included! Oh, before we get too far into this update, I need to apologise for the brevity and lack of tremendously exciting subject matter. I have already made a note to myself to try harder next time. The whole story is a little convoluted and uninteresting in itself but I did actually start this update almost two weeks ago and between then and now have had a bout of man-flu...

It's always a thrill to find my first jumping spider of the year and as usual, I spotted my very first on the wall of the house the other day...

Salticus scenicus-A Jumping Spider

There are of course several really similar jumping spiders here in the UK but I think my ID is sound for this one.

On the very same wall I also came across this nicely marked Nursery Web Spider...

Pisaura mirabilis - A Nursery Web Spider

To complete the spider trio; a teeny thing found in the garden on the same day...

This one might be a tad more difficult to identify to species level It could be either Araniella cucurbitina or Araniella opisthographa. Commonly known as the Cucumber Green Orb Spider I think.

Underneath a terracotta pot, I found this Moth Fly. Well I say Moth Fly, that's what I call them. I think possibly Psychodidae is the correct term. Also known variously as Owl Midges, Drain Flies, Filter Flies and Sewage Flies. It's a shame they have so many names 'cos they only live about five days and so by the time you have got to know them all, they will be gone.

On a recent walk in what was mainly coniferous woodland, I noticed in a couple of sunnier areas that the wood ants were appearing above ground in huge numbers...

Unfortunately I only had my phone to take pictures with but you can see there were lots of them. I also did a tiny video...

     

I think these are Formica rufa (The Southern wood or horse ant) and there is some very interesting info on these ants and their nests on the UK Wood Ants website.

A small extract: The wood ant’s nest is a marvel of insect construction and contains thousands of workers, over 250,000 individuals in Formica rufa. On the surface, the mound is made of a soil core surrounded in a “thatch” made of organic materials including pine needles, small twigs, moss, heather, dried grass and even pieces of lichen. The thatch is made in such a way that it intercepts the sun’s rays at right angles, acting like a solar panel to raise the temperature of the nest above that of the surroundings. This is important for the development of the brood inside the nest and to keep the workers warm enough to remain active, even on cool days. Workers will move the brood up and down the nest in order to provide them with the optimal temperatures for growth, sometimes bringing them onto the surface of the nest for an extra boost of warmth from the sun. The thatch is also an umbrella for the nest, each piece laid in a precise manner so that rain water trickles away from the nest, keeping it dry.

The heart of the nest is actually deep under ground and comprises of a series of tunnels and chambers. Inside a special underground chamber the queen will reside with her brood.

Wood ant mounds vary tremendously in size and shape, from tiny nests no bigger than a dinner plate, to humungous mounds over 1m tall.

Please check out the link for more: HERE

I think I may have disturbed this click beetle from its hibernation...

The last thing of note is this little springtail that I found. It was more what it was doing than the actual find that interested me. It's a fairly common collembola but I have never seen one on top of a slug like this...

It was also raising its abdomen in the air and 'waggling' it too...

I had no clue as to this behaviour; but I knew of somebody who might. Collembola expert and all round nice guy Frans Janssens. I fired of this email:

Hello Frans,

I wonder if, when you get time, you might be able to clue me in as to what is happening with the behaviour this collembola is exhibiting?

It was aboard this slug and even though I watched it for some time, showed no signs of wanting to climb off. It kept dipping its head as if drinking and at the same time sticking it's abdomen in the air and 'waggling'.

Any clues would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks

JJ

Here is his reply:

Dear John,

The head dipping is not drinking but eating: Neanura muscorum is a typical suspension feeder and feeds on the slime the slug is covered with. But I have no idea why it uplifts its abdomen as such... I have seen it in Hypogastruridae: 
http://www.collembola.org/images/cowen/Hypogastrura-sp-20090226-Rick-Cowen-USA-South-Dakota-l.jpg
But I have no clue what they are doing.

Kind regards,

Frans

Ah well! If the expert isn't sure, I don't feel so bad about not knowing myself. As always I do wish to thank Frans for taking time out to answer my little poser though.

And so that is all I can offer for this update, I can add just one more photograph before I go though. A selection of springtails from the garden...

That's it! As Wellington famously said to Joseph Stockdale ..."Publish and be damned".

Until the next time...

Fund raising...

I wouldn't normally do this but I want to hijack my own blog entry for the purposes of blatant  and shameless self promotion!
Before you think I have lost the plot though, can I add that it is all in the cause of raising some much needed funds for medical research.

I have produced some posters to try and raise funds for the Alzheimer's Society. Alzheimer's and Dementia affect a huge proportion of our population and need our support. Recent developments in attempting to halt the degeneration of brain cells are promising, but more research is needed and that requires funding.
If you think you can help, please head over to my FOR SALE PAGE for full details...

On with my late October update to the blog then...

I will start with another photo of a caterpillar that I featured a couple of entries ago, the looper, that I now know to be the larva of an early thorn moth...

Firstly, what a great pose? But anyway, the reason I have added this is because I have been reading a little more about these creatures and it seems that being considered to be the best twig mimic of all, is not the whole story.

No, research now shows that they don't just rely on looking like a twig. Apparently the disguise works best where twigs are common, it seems to fool most birds more often and so during the day they will position themselves where there are lots of natural twigs, even if it means missing out on feeding.

They then move to the leaves under cover of night, where they then feed in relative safety.

It also seems to work best if the position themselves where there aren't too many others caterpillars doing the same thing as the birds do see the larvae but don't seem to find the extra effort involved in determining whether or not it is actually food worthwhile but if there are rich pickings to be had, they will then persevere.

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I was out recently on a rather dull day after rain and the flash was causing me all kinds of problems with water reflection and so decided to opt for natural light on these next pictures...

I think this large wasp is probably an Ichneumon and possibly Coelichneumon sp? There are several similar and so I can't be sure.
Not how most folks imagine a wasp to look but wasp it is.

Another surprise on this dull day was how many crickets were around on the low vegetation. I counted up to twenty of the species pictured here and then gave up, there were lots more, both male and female...

Roesel's Bush Cricket (male)

Incidentally, if you are wondering why Roesel's ? It was named after a German entomologist. I think we in the south east corner of the U.K. were the first to see this species and today the most prolific population is still to be found here, although it has spread north at quite a rate in recent years and can now be found in many other areas.


I also found this cool little leafhopper whilst out wandering the local countryside, I think this might be Idiocerus vittifrons but they are extremely difficult to tell apart...





The same goes regarding being confident over identity of this plant bug as well. I wouldn't want to go further than suggest Lygus species...

Green shieldbugs are still evident as both adults and the occasional nymph, although I have yet to find any in their winter coats (brown.)

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Spiders then! I just love these little jumping spiders, they are such characters and quite feisty. They have great vision with those two large front eyes and if you take a close look at them, you will often see them turning to get a better view of you as you do so...

This one has me stumped for now regards a confirmed identity but it was very small at no more than around 2mm and has those white palps. It is a female but that's all I can say at present.

The spider photo above shows Araneus diadematus, the garden, or cross spider that is most often seen at this time of year but below is a variation, Araneus quadratus. Araneus being Latin for spider and quadratus meaning square, referring to the four prominent spots on the abdomen...

The background can be quite variable in colour ranging from orange-red to light yellow-green. This coloration can change, perhaps responding to humidity levels (greenish if moist, tending towards red if drier). 


Besides the omnipresent spiders, I am still finding tortoise bugs locally...

Of course sometimes when the weather is really bad and there are few bugs to be found anywhere, the unexpected still turns up. That's what happened the other day when it rained hard and I didn't even bother taking the camera when I went out. In fact, I didn't need to this day-the next photo was taken through the patio window...

That's right, a slug! Well on bad weather days you have to take advantage of whatever is offered right?

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Back in the summer (by the way, this is leading into another of those, what's happening here pictures)...I saw something spilling from what I think may have been a fleabane flower, anyhow, a bright yellow daisy-like flower and this is the photograph...

And so this is my question-is this nectar? If so....why did if feel solid/hard to the touch? It was quite hard.

I'll leave you with that thought until the next time....

Thanks in advance to anyone who feels they can help with my fund raising posters.

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...

Spring, Spring,spring...

Things are really starting to hot up here in Kent now, over the past week we have had some reasonable temperatures and I have spotted a good number of invertebrates.
Just today I saw Small Tortoiseshell and Comma Butterflies as well as Honey Bees, Bumble Bees and Hoverflies.

I've also been seeing a few species of weevil starting to emerge.

Curculionidae Weevil

I'm not sure of the exact species of the weevil pictured here but think it probably belongs to the Curculionidae family.

A little background:

Curculionidae is the family of the 'true' weevils and is the largest of any of the animal families with over 40.000 species described worldwide. These weevils are quite diverse and can range in size from 1-40mm.

The warmer weather has also encouraged out the little jumping spiders...

Salticus scenicus-A Jumping Spider

This picture was a real challenge to get. It's made up of several shots that have then been combined (stacked) to comprise the final image. As this was a live spider there was inevitably a bit of movement of the legs (well, when you have eight, it's difficult to keep them all still.) There was also some movement of the camera (my fault) and so the software used to combine the images had to work hard to produce the end result.

The picture(s) below show the timeline of the images as they were shot, if you look closely you can see the movement I mentioned. The reason for the difference in colour of the final image is just that I decided to correct the ISO settings for a more natural look.

The next photograph is one that I've cribbed from my flickr photostream. It's an extreme close-up of the same species of spider.

I explained on flickr that this was the result of an experiment and that I'd post details here. So here goes...

For this shot I used a 28mm film camera lens reverse mounted to around 100mm of extension tube. I'd recalled a while ago one of my flickr contacts explaining about  multi-shot images taken by setting the camera to high speed/continuous mode as a means of getting several images to stack.

That's what I decided to try:I experimented with several ways of doing it but basically, I just set the camera on to a macro rail and held the shutter button in whilst I carefully pushed the camera slowly towards the spider. It took several tries to get anything worth saving at all but when I viewed this particular set of images, I was pleasantly surprised at how well they came out.

It's not however something I'd recommend: at least, not the way I did it. It's both time consuming and very hit & miss.I think I was just lucky here.

CLICK ON IMAGE TO VIEW LARGE

Bombylius major-A Bee-fly

I'd seen my first Bee-fly of the season a couple of days ago. Today though, as I stood beside a bramble patch, watching a comma butterfly basking in the sunshine, something caught my eye.
Stuck in the remains of a spider's web was this very damp and very deceased, bee-fly. I'm not sure exactly what happened to it, whether the spider was responsible or not but I decided to rescue it from the web and take a few close up shots as these are not that easy to get close to normally.

I dusted it down best I could and took a few photos of which this is one.

Bee-flies look menacing with the long proboscis but are actually quite harmless. If you hear a high-pitched whine close to low growing flowers, chances are it'll be a bee-fly. I always think of these as real harbingers of spring.


Entry from my diary for Friday March 9th:
Every morning I check on the caterpillars that I've been trying to raise at home as an aid to increasing my knowledge of species and their behaviour. Today, unexpectedly I was greeted with the sight of one having pupated.

 Moth pupa

Friday March 16th:
I didn't get to check on my caterpillars this morning until around 9am. When I did it was something of a shock that overnight this pupa had become a beautiful moth. I knew of course that this species over-winters as larvae but hadn't appreciated just how short the pupal stage is:a mere 7 days in this case.

Phlogophora meticulosa-The Angle Shades Moth

This fantastic, night flying moth belongs to the Noctuidae family and it's pattern varies quite a bit but tries to give the impression of dead, dried leaves when it's at rest.

It feeds on a variety of plants and is quite common in woodland,gardens and even urban areas.

As these are night-flyers, I found a safe and secluded part of the garden to put this one in until nightfall. Before doing so, I couldn't resist having the opportunity to take some further shots knowing that it wasn't about to disappear.

A real treat to see this little one fresh as a daisy and ready to go.I'm already looking forward to seeing what emerges from the next pupa.

Whilst in the garden on full 'bug-alert' recently, I came across this creature...

A Bark-fly

This tiny thing (less than 5mm) is a bark-fly or louse and belongs in the Psocoptera family. It rejoices in the name of Pteroxanium kelloggi and not a lot seems to be known about these little ones as this is only the second record of finds in my area, and I made the last one! No doubt under-recorded as so many bugs are.

Asellus aquaticus

Whilst we are on the subject of lice...this charming creature pictured above is a common freshwater louse. Again, these are common in many ponds and streams and are quite like the woodlouse in appearance.These feed on organic matter in the sediment and are about 15mm long.

Quite a mixed bag for this blog entry as you might expect as spring takes hold. I'll be back with you soon and who knows what the next entry will feature-I certainly don't!

Until the next time then...