2016 without a shadow of a doubt...

I blogged for the first time ever on December 18th 2010 (I think it was) and here we are 5+ years later still doing it. Alright, it has been erratic and sporadic at times but then, so has my life.

What will 2016 hold? Who knows, the only certainty is that it will once again be different from the preceding year(s). It has started differently without a shadow of a doubt.

What does a shadow of a doubt look like do you think?

Alright then, shall we crack on with the first update of a new year? Please say yes or.......oh, you did! good show...

Whilst reminiscing about the, what would it be, close to 2000 days since I wrote that first blog entry? Perhaps I will indulge myself and share a few of my favourite photographs. Of course you may have different ones altogether. Or possibly none at all... 

But as Mother Teresa famously once said: “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”

Scathophaga stercoraria is the name of my first insect find of the year. I might be forgiven for using only the scientific name in this instance? Why so? Because the more common name is the Yellow Dung Fly, and we don't want to start a new year in the s...surely not!

March to November is what my book says. In truth, I have found them in February before, but even so, January seems very premature. I have more shots to share as there is a bit of a way to go yet before bugs are once again abundant and I have to pad this blog out somehow...

You could forgive me for not using the common name for that fly, but can you forgive me also for informing you that it was my first insect find of the year when really, this one was...

I'm sharing it still on the camera because the photo is, how can I best describe? Pants! Yes, that's it...Pants, with a capital P. It took me by surprise, it was a very dull day, I only had the camera and no flash with me, it only allowed me a couple of quick shots before it was off, I had to use f5 and 1600 ISO to get enough light, I.....blah, de blah, de blah......Oh OK...here's the bl**dy photo...

There...I did warn you it was pants. (I must apologise for the 'p' in my pants, I forgot to use a capital that time.) All the same, what a treat to find Corizus hyoscyami in mid-winter like this. I know they are listed as being around all year and do overwinter as adults, but I have never seen one in winter until now. (Yeah, and then you messed up on the photo JJ!) 

Maybe it's time for the first mystery find of 2016? Well that's what is coming next anyway, so ner, ner, ner, ner...

When I was sifting through some leaflitter (don't you?) I came across this little object; at first I suspected it was just a seed, or maybe a key. I almost rejected it but then noticed that it felt too soft and squidgy for either of those. I gently pressed it. Not as gently as I thought I had actually, because as I did so, this happened...

And so I am ashamed to say that this has now changed from a 'what is it' to a 'what was it'. Assuming it was some kind of larva?

And the second mystery object is?

All I can tell you is that it was found on a pine tree and is hard to the touch. Insect construction, or plant material?

And the third object(s)...

My own guess for these would be, let me see, something like hoverfly eggs from last year that failed to hatch? Although I am not sure if hoverflies lay eggs in this random pattern. The shape is reminiscent of ones that I have found before though.

In my local woods the other day, I found a hazel tree that still had some green leaves...

I turned over a few leaves and found these orange ladybirds...

Those are just phone grabs by the way, because that's all I had with me.

And so here I am at 10.30 on a cold January evening in 2016 just about to wrap up.

Oh hang on...I didn't complete that sentence. Just about to wrap up another blog entry, leave cyber world behind for today, shower and hit the hay for another night of fitful sleep and weird dreams. Just before I do though, I will share one last picture. This again is from the garden and is a springtail that I spotted apparently eating its own moult; I had no idea they did this...

Until the next time...

Apologies to my overseas readers who won't get this reference because you will have a different name for the above vegetable? Apologies also to UK readers who probably won't get the reference either, 'cos it's pretty lame!

Diary of a butterfly

Note: To all those who suffered the indignity of non-notification of new posts, followed by my attempts to notify you myself and then probably getting notification after all-I apologise and I am pretty sure I've fixed the problem now.
Thanks,
JJ.

With British butterflies being in decline and 2011 not being a good year in general it was a real joy when out walking on April 7th to find my first Orange-tips (Anthocharis cardamines) a few females.

Orange-tips are a true sign of spring and one of the first species that does not overwinter as an adult to emerge.
These butterflies will use Cuckooflower (Cardamines pratensis) both as a nectar source and for egg-laying. I spotted the first Cuckooflower actually in-flower on March 20th, having already seen Violets and Wood sorrel.

On April 9th I saw my first  males. I had already come across Peacock, Comma and Speckled-wood butterflies by this time.

It's only the more-conspicuous male that has this orange tips to it's wings, with the female often being mistaken for one of the other 'whites' especially the small white.

CLICK ON ANY PHOTO FOR A LARGER VIEW AND ON BLACK

The Orange-tip Butterfly (Anthocharis cardamines)

By as early as April 15th I was already finding eggs on the Cuckooflower. 2011 did produce an exceptional spring with some stunning temperatures and long-hot days, on the 7th for instance, I recorded 20 degrees.

When searching out suitable plants on which to lay her eggs, the female will initially locate a plant by sight before alighting on the plant and tasting it with her feet. If the plant is suitable, a single egg is laid on a flower stalk. Eggs are laid singly for good reason – the larvae are cannibalistic. As a result, it is uncommon to find more than one egg per plant and it is believed that the female is able to detect eggs that have already been laid.

The portion of text above in italics I gleaned from ukbutterflies.co.uk a great source of information, as with all literature on the subject though, it should be read as an overview and not a 'bible' as there will be deviations as in all of nature.

A recently laid Orange-tip ova

Eggs are a greenish-white when they are first laid, they then gradually turn yellow, to orange and then eventually colour-up further showing the larva colours,with the larvae emerging after anything between one and two weeks.

Interestingly, although according to U.K. Butterflies it is uncommon to find more than one egg per plant, I did find at least two eggs on some plants this year.

2nd & 3rd stage eggs

The photo above clearly (well not that clearly actually) shows two eggs on the same plant and at different stages of development and as I've read that females will deposit a pheromone to deter future females,wonder if these were actually laid by one individual on different days, or just developed at a different rate as larvae do.

The other thing about these eggs is that they were laid not on Cuckooflower but on Winter-cress (Barbarea vulgaris).

Winter-cress

As I understand it, winter-cress is  biennial  and so it seems strange to me that the butterflies would choose it to lay eggs on, knowing that the larvae would feed on the plant after emergence and yet being biennial, would there be any plant to feed on?

Once the eggs become this brilliant orange colour the next thing that happens is the appearance of darker spots, as shown in the photo to the left. This particular shot was taken on the 18th April and shortly afterwards the egg changed again to a darker, mottled colour that was a sure sign that emergence of the larva was imminent. I'd been keeping an eye on these eggs for quite a while in the hope of being fortunate enough to catch a photograph or two of either the tiny larvae emerging, or perhaps the newly emerged, first instars (there are 4 moults in total), or even if I was really lucky, both. Providing of course that my skills with the camera would be consummate enough to capture anything this small worthy of sharing. 

Almost cooked

  Well I didn't have to wait too long, on April 19th when I did my early morning check on the eggs, some minute larvae had already emerged and were going about their business of finding food-something that would occupy them for the next 3 to 4 weeks.

A first instar larva

As you can probably tell from the photograph above, the thickness of the Cuckooflower stem the larva is on would be no more than a few millimetres wide and the caterpillar is only around one third of that and so obviously very small.

They are also on emergence this kind of translucent amber colour but will gradually change with each moult to the more recognisable green/grey of the adult larva. Once free of the egg, the young larvae will eat the eggshell and also in a cannibalistic manner, any other eggs in the vicinity. From observing them this year, I noticed for the first time that they will also eat the exuviae produced at the moult stage-this was particularly interesting to watch and record being a first for me.

A later stage caterpillar eating the moult

Notice how in this later stage caterpillar the colouring has already undergone a change towards green.

I continued to watch and record the caterpillars and noted that they seemed to feed mainly on the developing seed-pods as well as leaves and even the flowers.

With each new moult they seemed to be acquiring both the recognisable colour of the adults along with an increasingly good camouflage.

By April 14th I measured one at just a little over 25mm         

                                                           

Once the larvae have reached maturity the feeding seems to increase until it seems to be just about all they do (well that and poo!) but eventually the frenzy abates and their metabolism seems to slow until they become less frenetic and begin to leave the food-plant in search of a pupation site.

The larvae are known to travel extensively in search of a good pupation site and that usually means a scrubby area with lots of low undergrowth where they can safely spend the winter.

The start of pupation showing the silk girdle

When the perfect spot has been located by the adult caterpillar it will climb a plant stem and begin the process of pupation by attaching itself to the plant with it's rear end by means of the cremaster, a cluster of minute hooks used to grip and then forming an arc, head-down.

Orange-tips belong to the family 'Pieridae' and all of this particular family use a silk girdle sewn by the caterpillar itself to hold the pupa steady.

Soon the caterpillar begins to undergo some amazing changes-this is a truly absorbing thing to watch as the head-end morphs into a completely different creature that on one hand somehow reminds me of those fabulous eastern jade figures, and yet on the other, even at this early stage, there are clear signs of the butterfly taking shape.

In the above close-up shot, the head,wings and what will be antennae are already clearly defined; just amazing to me, how can something change shape before your eyes? It's not even like the final process where the old body of the larva gets broken down into a kind of soup and then reforms within the chrysalis, I can understand that to some extent. If you stood and watched long enough, you could actually watch this take place.

Orange-tip pupa

Eventually the caterpillar is completely transformed into a pupa and it will now remain in this state through the rest of the season, right through winter and into next spring before a butterfly emerges to start the whole process over.

A mature Orange-tip pupa

Over time, as the pupa hardens it begins to change from green to cream/white, a colour much better suited to the winter surroundings and therefore increasing it's chances of survival.

And so that's where we must leave the story of the Orange-tips for this year. It was actually a good year for this species locally as it was for Ringlet but numbers of Common Blue and Comma were well down.
I would very much like to be able to photograph the emerging butterflies next spring to complete the whole process of metamorphosis but right now, that's over 3 months away, we have winter to contend with first.

Until the next time then...

Caterpillar poo and the lawyer's wig...

You could conduct a search of online blogs that contain nature related subjects and no doubt find some interesting and informative things to occupy a late autumn evening or two but let's be honest here, how many will contain an animated photograph of a caterpillar having a poo?

Well I wouldn't want you thinking that I'm merely a perfunctory poster of these blogs-I do try and go the extra (country) mile to ensure something different each time. If you think that's not the case, then why not go along with Lizzie, my other half who thinks this could be a metaphor for my blog entries! Huh! Metaphor? An analogy, yes-an analogy would have been fine, at least an analogy only implies!

I'm sure you won't find this offensive? After all it's just nature in the raw; what goes in must come out. I know, I know, that doesn't necessitate some 'divvy' (olde colloquial term) with a camera being there to record it for posterity-after all, how would you like.....

By the way, I know I've stated this before but if you only view these blog entries via e.mail, you probably won't see the animation (and some other bits). You need to click on the name of my blog in large lettering at the top of the e.mail and that'll bring you here, to the blog proper. 


How do you follow a caterpillar taking a dump? It's a question we all need to know the answer to surely? Just in case it ever comes up in conversation.
The way I intend to follow it is by ignoring it-pretend it never happened and let's get on to something much easier on the eye. 


When I tire of walking the fields behind our house as happens from time to time, I jump in the car and head off to an area I know equally well as I once lived right beside it. There are ponds and lakes as well as open fields and rolling Kent countryside that always makes me welcome and reminds me just how lucky we are to be living in such a glorious county.


That's where I found myself during the week, a week that has seen the weather turn from constant grey drizzle, to patchy sunshine with an accompanying rise in temperatures that has even fooled a few butterflies into brief feeding forays on some of the rotting fruits that have been dumped by the local farmer (what a waste).


My first stop? The lakes...

Click on any photo for a larger view

Although the Autumn/Fall colours were great to see and photograph, I couldn't help thinking that this year has been something of an anti-climax after last year's spectacular show. Perhaps it's more that last year was exceptional?


Perhaps, It is still a little early in this topsy-turvy season for the colours to be at their very best, as this next shot shows, some of the trees have still to turn to gold and red.

Having drunk my fill of the lakes (not literally) I was then on my way towards the real purpose of my outing. It is only a short walk (as the crow flies) uphill past the local Primary School, crossing a small road, climbing over a locked five-bar gate then negotiating a public footpath that runs beside stables and a horse paddock before arriving via a grape orchard (is orchard the right term for a field of grapes? Probably not? Vineyard seems more correct but it is hardly that with only a few rows of plants). Anyhow, I digress-in the far right hand corner of this field, tucked away from view is the entrance into one of my favourite places to wander.

You can just see in the picture above, both the rows of grape vines and the dark little entrance to the left of the last tree trunk. It looks pretty uninviting but once through the opening it opens out into a beautiful woodland.

The first section is mainly Beech and Chestnut with a few Hazel but then once it opens out properly it becomes more mixed with some lovely woodland rides.

The gate at the far end of this scene leads to an arable field with a footpath crossing it, leading to more woodland with a stream where last spring there were mayflies and water scorpion.

But my purpose today was to confine my meandering to the woods before reaching that gate and to have a good hunt around for fungi.
I was hoping to find the iconic Fly-agaric (Amanita muscaria) but there were none to be seen.I did manage a few shots though and I've posted some of the results below.

I'm not clear about species with these first shots but I do know that the following are all Shaggy-ink cap (Coprinus comatus)

This is an interesting species, sometimes also called 'Shaggy mane' or 'Lawyer's wig' and it is a good, edible mushroom, providing it is eaten soon after picking; within 4 to 6 hours of harvest seems to be the recommendation.
It must also be harvested and eaten young (before the gills turn black) which they do fairly rapidly, turning from white to pink and finally black when they secrete a black liquid filled with spores-hence the name 'Ink cap'

Why have I included a butterfly photograph that wasn't taken this week but rather back in the early part of the year? Well, because it illustrates nicely the origin of the specific name of this species.
The name derives from 'coma' or 'hair' hence 'comatus' (hairy or shaggy).At the base of the wings on this shot of a Comma Butterfly you can clearly see just how hairy it is.


Now I hope you were all taken in by my logic and the authority with which I delivered the facts and the depth of my knowledge in such matters? Truth is, I have no idea at all as to the validity of my claim/assertion but you have to admit that it is plausible?


That's about it for this entry apart from leaving you with a little picture to puzzle over until I post the answer in my next blog entry. Here's an ultra-close shot of something that I'm hoping you will be able to identify? Good luck!


Until the next time then...

Can you identify?