Eggs for breakfast...

I feel that I need to start this update with an apology. In my last update I stated that the Red-legged Shieldbug I found was the first mid instar for this year. In fact, I had found and featured one just a couple of updates previously. Ooops! Memory may be worse than anticipated.

I can now advance this story though, because recently I found three final instar nymphs...

It's amazing how your mind works isn't it. Well, it's amazing how mine works at all! But somehow my mind went from three little nymphs, to three little maids, which led me to Hinge & Bracket. You won't remember them of course: Dr Evadne Hinge and Dame Hilda Bracket were elderly, intellectual female musicians who played and sang songs to comic effect back in the day. Anyhow, I interviewed them once for a radio show and they were actually 2 guys. Problem for me was that they were in character, but not in costume; quite confusing.

I digress! Back to the business in hand. There seem to have been an inordinate amount of aphids this year. The garden has been full of greenfly, Whitefly, Blackfly, pick a colour fly: but they haven't had it all their own way...

Emerging ladybird larvae

The Blackfly were decimating my cherry tree and so when I spotted this group of emerging ladybird larvae, I released them onto the tree. They love aphids and within a few days were having their fill.

Eventually these youngsters will grow into something like this...

Although not with a face full of pollen hopefully!

Ladybird larvae are voracious feeders and it's not just aphids they will eat. I know they prey on most soft-bodied insects; but what I witnessed in this next photo was another first for me...

Yes, this ladybird larva is actually having eggs for breakfast...ladybird eggs!

I think this one is the dreaded Harlequin larva, which will indeed eat other larvae and eggs.

Of course insects preying on each other is part of nature's cycle and happens all the time. A couple more examples...

A tiny Cucumber spider makes a meal out of a fly, and a wasp has caterpillar for lunch. Actually, the wasp could be parasitising the caterpillar I suppose.

It's not just dog-eat-dog in the natural world though: there is lo♥e too. I know this might look like a double-ended, two-headed moth, but actually this is boisterous convivial fun - they are busy making whoopee.

When it's like these of course...

I've written about it here many times now. Bugs moult to allow themselves to grow, and these pictures (above) are of the discarded 'skins' of hoppers. Even though I have seen probably hundreds of these over the years. it still amazes me how a bug extracts itself and leaves the 'exuvia' so complete. These always look like the ghosts of  bugs to me.

What about these two bugs: do you think they look similar? Both found on grass. Maybe they are the same species, but the one on the left is a juvenile? 

Well I can tell you that the species is Leptopterna dolbrata and they are both adult. 

The one on the left is actually a female though. Notice how the males are always macropterus (fully winged) whilst females are brachypterous, or partly-winged. That's pronounced as brak-ip-ter-us by the way. 

Whereas this, is a pronounced limp!

And so I guess I will end this update with what was not only the highlight of my week, but possibly THE best find I have ever made? A morning spent at the beautiful coastal resort of Tankerton in Kent was not only good for the soul, but also provided an unexpected delight...

Some of the beautiful beach huts at Tankerton

I was walking one of the paths above these huts when something flew (and I use the word flew, loosely) past me at head height. It was dark, huge and ungainly. I could be heard saying out-loud..."What the f..." erm, I mean.... "Crikey, I wonder what on earth this might be?" I tracked it to a private garden where it, well to say landed is being kind: it kinda crashed into some low growing foliage where it bumbled around for a few seconds before taking to the tree tops, never to be seen again.

What was it? My first EVER sighting of a wild Stag Beetle, that's all!

A male too. Only males have the large 'antlers' which they use for fighting other males. But yes, in all of my years on this earth, this is the very first time I have seen one of these rare British beetles up close in the wild. I may have seen them as a kid I suppose, but even with my memory, I surely would remember such a striking encounter?

I would have loved to spend more time in its company, and possibly get clearer photos but it wasn't to be and the episode was still enough for me to keep mumbling for the rest of the day..."I just saw a stag beetle!"

Frogs hop and Cuckoos spit?

Could I just take a moment to explain about commenting on my blog updates. In recent days I have become the target of spammers. I have been getting around 20+ spam comments each and every day. It takes time and effort to check, mark as spam and delete all of these and so I have been forced to change the blog settings until this is resolved.

And so...I have temporarily set commenting to 'Blog members only' I apologise for any inconvenience and hope it will be short-lived as I very much value your comments and don't want to discourage anyone from doing so. 

Many thanks, 'JJ'
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10/05/2015 I have been told that some people are experiencing difficulties with commenting and so I have re-set the comment option to how it was originally. 

Sorry for any inconvenience caused...

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As we steam into May full speed ahead, things are certainly accelerating on the bug-front. There has been an enormous increase in all kinds of invertebrates locally over the past few weeks, helped I am sure by a record amount of sunshine through April. Where then, shall I begin this latest update? How about choosing something unusual? Yet again it was one of my favourite places Comfort's Wood that would provide me with this find...

This tiny (2mm) creature taxed my equally tiny brain quite a bit, trying to find an identity for it. My initial suspicions were that it might be a bark-louse, or bark-fly as they now seem to be called. The 'neck' looked about right and as that was about all I could make out on such a small thing at the time, knew I would have to do some research once I could get a better view on the PC. 

There followed a protracted spell of internet searching as my books yielded a little less than nothing at all. It did seem as though it was a bark-fly but I just couldn't find any reference to any that appeared to cover themselves in this debris.

Finally, as I was about to admit defeat, I came across an article published by Cambridge Journals Online and written by A,Henderson and D.J.Hackett of 'The Lichenologist'. It seems to describe, if not the exact same species, a most similar one with the same behaviour. As there is a link provided to share the article within a blog, I am assuming there is no copyright breach involved. There is certainly none intended and it seems to be the best way to share the information:

Lichen and Algal Camouflage and Dispersal in the Psocid Nymph Trichadenotecnum Fasciatum

A. Henderson and D. J. Hackett (1986).

The Lichenologist, Volume 18, Issue02, April 1986, pp 199-200

http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?aid=771720

Please return to this update after reading the article though, or even better come back to it at the end of the update? ;-) 

I have been finding a few weevils recently...

Phyllobius pomaceus

I think this colourful one is the Green Nettle Weevil but separating the Phyllobius species can be really difficult and so I am partly relying on the fact that I found it on nettle. Even that isn't conclusive though as there are probably half a dozen more species that are also to be found on nettle.

Phyllobius pyri (?)

What I just said above! Phyllobius are tricky and so I can only say that this might be the Common Leaf Weevil...

I think I know what the next species is and I am certain that I know what they are doing...

Perapion hyrdrolapathi

Dock Weevils would be what these two are. I haven't added a question mark to the end of that statement because I am sure this time....well, almost...kind of...relatively...

Deporaus betulae

Similar to the Hazel Leaf-roller that I posted last time and utilising the same behaviour of rolling a leaf around the egg, this one however uses birch and so is called the Birch Leaf-roller. Oh! You may have noticed another small difference in that this one is black, rather than red.

A couple from the garden now. A Woundwort Shieldbug and a Green Tortoise Beetle...

Eysarcoris venustissimus

(I note that this bug (above) is another that has undergone a name change, previously known as Eysarcoris fabricii...)  

Cassida viridis

There are a few Damselflies to be sighted locally now as well. Although, still only 'Reds'...

The grass bugs are back too, nymphs and adults...

Leptopterna dolbrata (Nymph)

Leptopterna dolbrata is one of the common grass bugs and is widespread throughout the U.K. The other species this nymph could be is L.ferrugata but I plumped for dolbrata given the habitat was damp.

Stenodema laevigata

Again this is a species attracted by damper conditions and I actually found this one in the same spot as the previous bug. Best distinguished from other grass bugs by the coarse and densely pitted pronotum, according to the marvelous British Bugs website and overwintering as an adult, then mating in the spring with a new generation of adults appearing from July.

I've noticed a few Orange-tip butterfly eggs on the cuckoo-flower now...

Yet another thing that is beginning to show up in the long grasses is what we used to call  cuckoo spit. The term cuckoo spit refers to a foamy substance found on grass and all manner of plants actually in spring and summer. As you might expect, it doesn't come from cuckoos, or any other birds for that matter. It's an insect called a froghopper. 

The name seems to originate from the fact that it appears around the same time as the return of the cuckoo. The foam is created by the froghopper nymph as a protection from predators; it's generated by excreting the plant sap they feed on and mixing it with air...a kind of wet flatulence if you like!

The adults don't need to do this as they have a different strategy that involves camouflage and warning colours.

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I think that will probably do for this update, particularly as I have already started on the next. I will share one last picture. I began with a minute creature and so will end with another. I believe this to be a minute wasp. It was just 2mm long...

Until the next time...