Football v Nature...

Here in England, there is no escape from 'the beautiful game' (yeah, right) that is the FIFA World Cup. Apparently, erstwhile England manager Bill Shankly, once said that football is more important than life and death. If however you are one of the minority who even dares to admit that football leaves you cold, then may I suggest that you come on in to my latest blog update right now! 

It's lovely in here, honest it is: it even smells great, like wild English honeysuckle after summer rain. Despite what old shaky-Shankly thinks, there is more to life than kicking a pig's bladder around a park!  And as Van Gogh once said "If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere". C'mon, do like Robbie Williams did at the opening ceremony, stick a middle finger up and...."Let me entertain you"...♫♫♫

(Click on any photo for a larger view)

Scathophaga stercoraria

What better to begin this update than this beautiful..........DUNG Fly! 

Yes, as its common name suggests, this fly is not only found on the feces of large mammals, but it also breeds there. If you find this abhorrent, then consider the following: the abundance of these flies has been directly influenced by intensive farming by us humans: and so now they are  integral in the animal kingdom, due to their role in the natural decomposition of dung in fields.

Shall we progress to something that is truly beguiling...

OK, I know it's only a fly, but come on, even flies look good in the right light huh? 

These few photographs are all from an early morning trip that I took to Marden Meadows recently. Marden Meadows is a nature reserve east of Marden here in Kent, and is managed by the Kent Wildlife Trust. It is also a site of special scientific interest. 

A Hoverfly (Estralis species)

The hoverfly pictured above, on one of the many large, white daisies that litter the meadows right now, is trying to emulate a honey bee. They are quite good mimics, but unlike the bees,  have only one pair of wings, and no sting. They can be tricky to tell apart, but I think this one is E.tenax.  

Whereas these next photos are of a honey bee, and a very wet one at that!

I also came across this tiny creature: I think this is a leaf beetle larva...

You can possibly tell from these photographs that it was quite a dewy morning. It must be a  fairly vulnerable time for the bugs as they cannot fly until all that water has dispersed, or has been evaporated by the sun,  from their wings. 

Way back in July of 2014 I blogged about a species of weevil called Hypera rumicis, I described the pupal cases of these weevils as being like 'wild spun sugar' (that blog entry is HERE by the way, if you would like to come back and view it after reading this update). Well, I managed to photograph some more of these structures, at Marden Meadows this time. As with everything else I found, they were covered in dew drops...

You can clearly see the larva inside this case

I walked across an empty land
I knew the pathway like the back of my hand
I felt the earth beneath my feet

I looked up and saw this ladybird so sweet...

I wonder if male ladybirds mind being called ladies?

And if all of these pictures haven't been enough to hold your interest...well, you won't be reading this I guess! Assuming that you are though, my final offering from my early morning photo shoot is this voyeur image of two bonking beetles. 

This next photo is one that I took closer to home a few days ago...

Pentatoma rufipes

This is a final instar (the last stage before becoming an adult bug) of the Red-legged Shieldbug. They are quite large bugs when adult; you can see an adult HERE in a post from 2011 that I wrote about bugs moulting.

Yes, time to blow the whistle on this particular update before we get into injury time. I shall leave you with a final thought on 'the beautiful game' (that's football, in case you were confused) from a guy called Graham, who called the radio show '5 Live Breakfast, to share these pearls of wisdom..."The game is run by spivs, chancers and gangsters, it's played by morons and it's watched by cretins". Phew! So pleased my name is not Graham...heresy! 

How about a triptych ending then? (couldn't be bothered keeping the football analogy going by calling it a hat-trick) Applying the term loosely of course; here are three photographs I took of a fabulous Puss moth larva...

If you are thinking that it is quite an odd looking caterpillar, just take a look at how it looks immediately prior to pupating...

That'll be all for now chums. Take care until we meet back here for update number 221 in which I will attempt to alienate all cricket lovers, by suggesting that it is the most boring sport...

My good 'Flickr friend' Jason, has some lovely photos of the green veined orchids at Marden Meadows that you might like to check out HERE

Green Winged Orchids and Green-veined White Butterflies...

Marden Meadows you won't be surprised to hear is in Marden. Actually, it isn't....quite-it is in Marden Road though.

Marden Meadows is a nature reserve belonging to Kent Wildlife Trust and worth a visit any-time of year but especially in Spring to see the orchids.Listed as a site of special scientific interest, it consists of grasslands, meadows and ponds spread over a 5.60 hectare site.

I really wanted to see and photograph the orchids on this visit but as anyone who knows me will understand, invertebrates are my real interest and so a scout around the reserve to see what was about would have to come before the flowers.

Once again the weather (yes, I know...that subject again) was not especially conducive to bug-hunting but it did improve, temperature wise at least as the morning went by.

It soon became clear this wasn't going to be visit crammed with that many critters I'd soon run out of space on my camera's SD card,not to worry, if I had just one interesting find I'd go home happy.

The other thing to mention is that having started on my search and spent 10 minutes or so screening the usual areas, I had to return to the car and don coat and wellies as the cold and wet was a bit too much today.

Cercopis vulnerata

My first 'spot' was this distinctive froghopper pictured above. I've not seen these at Marden Meadows before and infuriatingly, this one quick snap was all I saw today. They are easily disturbed and once they spring into the air, are then very difficult to re-locate and despite spending quite a time trying to find this or another one, I drew a blank.

Beside the first of the ponds that I visited I found another interesting creature, this time a small beetle...

Gastrophysa viridula

This is one of the leaf-beetles belonging to the Chrysomelidae family of Coleoptera. These leaf-beetles are mostly brightly coloured, smooth and shiny like this one.

The males of the species exhibit a typical leaf-beetle shape but the mated females as we have here become grossly distended, with the elytra (wing case) perched on top of the shiny, black abdomen giving them this strange appearance.

The first butterfly of the day came in the guise of this Green-veined White that was actually sitting  astride one of the orchids at the edge of the meadow.

Green-veined White Butterfly (Pieris napi)

On the long grass in the same area I spotted something small but bright and took a closer look-it was a tiny spider, probably an Orb Weaver and I think this was a male 'Arianiella cucurbitina'

Arianiella cucurbitina-An Orb Weaver Spider

Logically, well at least logically in my mind, what would follow a spider? a fly of course? Well that's what happened today and it turned out to be quite an interesting one (if you find flies at all interesting that is) because what looked at first glance to be a hoverfly that is fairly familiar to me, namely 'Rhingia Campestris' was actually the much less common 'Rhingia rostrata'

Rhingia rostrata-A Hoverfly (Syrphidae)

This one can be distinguished quite easily from its common cousin by the lack of a dark line along the sides of its abdomen. Recent finds in the West Country mean that this isn't as uncommon as first thought but here in Kent, it's still a reasonably rare thing.

My final sighting of the day was a real joy. Another first for me at Marden Meadows too. A fabulous Green Hairstreak Butterfly. I had seen photos taken my a friend and fellow photographer of one of these beauties here at M.M. but wasn't expecting to see one for myself today, especially given the adverse conditions.

A Green Hairstreak Butterfly-Callophrys rubi

Time was marching on, as it always does when I'm out photographing invertebrates,I get so absorbed in what I'm doing that it comes as a shock every-time when I check and find that it's almost always later than I think. Just time to take some shots of the fabulous green-winged orchids that are abundant here at this time of year.

This final shot is of the white form of green winged orchid...

A Green Winged Orchid-Anacamptis morio

That was my visit to Marden Meadows complete and although it was not one of the most productive for me, I shall return soon to see what a new day brings.

Until the next time...