It's a braw, bricht, moonlicht nicht

As it's almost Christmas, a time for fun and frolics, I shall begin this update with 30 seconds of funny British TV advertising from the 1990s (you'll need your sound on for this)...

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I of course, being slightly older than Methuselah, recall the original tune which went like this: Lord Rockingham's XI – Hoots Mon Lyrics: Hoots mon, there's a moose, loose, aboot this hoose...

But as any true Scot, and even most Sananachs could tell you, moose in this instance, does not refer to the North American Elk, but to a tiny rodent...

I can even give you the scientific name and a brief description of the species I want to talk about: Mus musculus: Characteristically having a pointed snout, large rounded ears, and a long and hairy tail. What do you mean it sounds like a description of me - I don't have a long and hairy tail!

EDIT: I now believe these to be Field/Wood mice rather than house mice. 

So what's this all about with the 'Moose, loose' thing then JJ? 

Well I'm afraid I have had to evict a moose from my hoose - yes, it was keeping me awake at night with its nocturnal shenanigans in the loft. Not just one actually, not even two, but three...thus far!

I did use a humane trap though and have now safely re-located them away from the house. All I need to do now is to check tonight for more, and then start the search for where they are entering the house, to prevent a repeat performance.

Cute little buggers though...

I must admit to being slightly puzzled as to how they managed to bring all of that loft insulation into the trap though. Impossible all at once, therefore they must have made several journeys. If they did that, managed to get in and out of the trap, why were they still there when I found them? 

Oh well, it's not the only thing that puzzles me in life: I have lots of 'why is' questions that remain unanswered. Look what happens if you Google that phrase:

Moving along then: there isn't too much left of this year and I do intend to publish this update before December is out                        . (apologies for the full-stop being right over here - my period was late!)

Once again this year I have been finding quite a few springtails in the back garden. December is a good month for them and they can even withstand the cold, so can be spotted on frosty days too. 

Unfortunately I have failed to spot any of the spectacular 'Katianna' species that I was finding 5 years ago. They look like this...

I shall carry on searching though: I reckon they are like my brain cells, I know they are there somewhere! "In the wardrobe of my soul, in the section labelled shirts" perhaps? (Thanks Viv.)

Speaking (or writing anyhow) about brain cells: do you know what a 'Haiku' is?

Wiki says: Haiku is a very short form of Japanese poetry in three sentences going in the order 5 syllables 7 syllables and then 5 again.

Not sure what syllables are? Here's a simple explanation (not!)

How do you count syllables?

Count the number of vowels (A, E, I, O, U) in the word.

1. Subtract 1 for each diphthong or triphthong in the word.
2. Does the word end with "le" or "les?" Add 1 only if the letter before the "le" is a consonant.
3. The number you get is the number of syllables in your word.

To (miss)quote Ronald Reagan: "I'm buggered if I know." Luckily there is a website that will generate a Haiku for you; here's mine...

Springtail - A Haiku

by JJ

Garden wintertime

before tiny springtail jumps

above the purple

There, and not a dippy/trippy thong in sight!

____________________________________

Shall we return to the subject at hand? I think we should. You are not going to believe the caterpillar I found the other day in the orchard behind my house...

You're not going to believe it are you? Good, because I was only dreaming.

I did actually find a caterpillar, but it was dull as dishwater by comparison...

Not a great photo either, right. My flash misbehaved that day and would only work on full power. But still, great to see a caterpillar of any kind this late in the year. It looks like it was preparing to pupate.

Yes, if you don't like our eight-legged friends then I suggest you skip this part. Treat yourself to a mince pie and a glass of mulled wine and come back further down the page. 

Spider is just here

Yes, this little one turned up in the house the other day (which is the 'other' day?) and I thought it was possibly Lathys species: however, ace spider man Tylan Berry kindly informed me that it is actually a young Amaurobius species.

It wasn't the only thing looking to find a nice warm winter home either. This lacewing was also in the house. Sadly it seems to have a damaged wing and so I re-sited it in my studio in the garden, where it should be fine until spring...

I think that's about enough for now, for this year in fact. I just want to thank all of you who have been kind enough to support my blog through yet another year. I know most of you no longer have the time to comment, but can see from my stats that the blog is well read in many countries.

I'll leave you with what was the only Monarch butterfly I saw whilst in America recently; even then, I was not lucky enough to get close to it - at least, not as close as I would have liked...

An international flavour to this update...

It's around three weeks since I last updated the blog and so what has been happening during that time?

Well the main event for me was the sudden appearance of a large migrant bug in my bathroom window. It's one that I have found once before, but that was out in the field and a few miles from home and so this was a bit of a surprise, They must be spreading faster and further than I'd appreciated...

A Western Conifer Seed Bug (Leptoglossus occidentalis)

A Western Conifer Seed Bug (Leptoglossus occidentalis)

This is a large squash bug that is similar to our own Dock Bug but more elongate in shape and around 20mm rather than the 15mm of Coreus marginatus. Here's a piece about the distribution of this interloper, with due credit to Britishbugs.org.uk/ : 

Geographical Distribution
Leptoglossus occidentalis was originally restricted to western parts of the United
States, Canada and Mexico, but in recent decades it has spread eastward and can
now be found over almost the whole of North America. It was accidentally
introduced into Europe in 1999, to northern Italy, and has since spread rapidly, being
recorded from Switzerland in 2002, Spain and Slovenia in 2003, Croatia and
Hungary in 2004, Austria in 2005, Germany, France, Serbia and the Czech Republic
in 2006, Belgium, Britain and Slovakia in 2007, and from Montenegro and Poland in
2008. In the UK, the majority of records have been of adults observed at light traps
along the south coast of England, clearly indicating a large migration across the

English Channel.

Here's a photo showing the very distinctive expansion of the hind tibiae...

I think this one must have been attracted to the light and then came in through an open window. They are known to enter buildings in search of a hibernation spot. Which brings me to this little video; it doesn't show any interesting behaviour, but it was taken after I released it into the garden. It was quite a windy day by the way...

Three days have elapsed since I placed the bug on this plant, I have kept an eagle eye on it each day and it is still in exactly the same spot; well, on the same plant anyhow. It has just concealed itself underneath one of the leaves and that has me wondering if the garden was the best choice to release it, when maybe I ought to have kept it inside somewhere for the winter?

I read recently of a couple of people who have kept these in a dry but cool place and that they can live on just water and reserves through the winter months- maybe I'll consider that, if it remains in place much longer?

A Canadian friend recently sent me a photograph of what she suspected was 'spider related' and asked if I could confirm. She lives in Burlington-Ontario Canada...

The Canadian mystery object

 I was able to tell her that it does indeed look like a spider egg sac and possibly an Orb Weaver (maybe the Cross Orb Weaver-Aranueus diadematus.) Coincidentally, I found a very similar one a couple of days ago under a log...

Here's a little added information I cribbed from the internet, as I know Cathy will be looking forward to having up to 800 spiderlings come next spring...

Male spiders reach adulthood ahead of females and may pair up with immature females, waiting for them to become sexually mature. Females spin egg sacs in late summer or autumn that are about 20mm in diameter and comprised of golden silk. They are constructed (seemingly “plastered”) in a protected place somewhat away from the web, sometimes attached to the eaves of buildings or inside rolled-up leaves or other foliage. Female dies shortly after laying her eggs. Each egg sac can contain anywhere from 100 to 800 yellowish eggs. Typically, only one egg sac is made per female. Spiderlings emerge from the sac the following spring and remain clumped together for a day or two, after which they disperse.

One of my own reference photos of the 'cute' spiderlings

Whilst we are visiting the Northern Hemisphere, I don't think by the way there's any foundation to the story I read about Canada being a migratory country that 'we pick up and move to wherever the weather is nicest' but anyhow, I have a good friend who lives in California, who this year was lucky enough to be able to visit the monarch butterfly migration in Natural Bridges, Santa Cruz.

They have very kindly given me permission to share a few photographs on my blog, for which I am very grateful...

Monarch butterflies return to the Californian coast in September/October each year in search of the milder temperatures. Most will have journeyed some 1,500 miles from places like Washington, Arizona and New Mexico and will remain through 'til March...

The monarch migration from their summer breeding ground takes four generations, meaning that the ones arriving this year are the great-great grandchildren of the ones from last year.

It has been known for this beautiful butterfly to turn up in the UK but with total sightings at less than 500 since the 1800s I won't be holding my breath to see one anytime soon; I just wish I'd been there myself to witness what must have been a spectacular event.

Lastly I wanted to include a shot of the fantastic larvae, oh and thank 'TT' for allowing me to include these pictures...

Something that I came across completely by accident, when I was photographing other things, was this robin doing what I can only describe as grunting. It's only a very short clip and a bit shaky too...I will explain after you watch the video...

In all honesty, the reason this isn't great is that I have to admit, I was out with the macro rig when I saw this robin and so, keeping the macro and flash in one hand, I got the trusty point and shoot in the other, zoomed in and just shot what I thought was a photo, without checking the settings. It transpired that the camera was set on video mode...Ooops!

I haven't seen a robin do this before but I suppose it must be territorial? Either that or it's got a cough...

The unseasonably mild weather has continued here in Kent and that has allowed the garden wildlife to remain active to a point. I spotted this damsel bug on the butterfly bush (Buddleia) when I was checking for aphids, of which there are huge numbers right now...

A phone grab of the aphids

On the same plant I also found this threesome...

2 x Moth larvae and a Green Tortoise Beetle

And under a fallen leaf I found this soldier beetle larva. The larva are soil dwelling and are predatory...

Cantharis larva

Cantharis larva

This last image will probably give you a better idea of the size of this larva...

And although I can't be certain exactly which species this is, the adult beetle will look something like this...

In my experience it won't be an adult long before it's doing this either!

That about wraps up yet another update, I'll leave you with this shot of the little lane I walk most days...

Until the next time...