The shorter days are coming to an end...

It's early January 2017 and here we go then, another year of blogging begins right here. This will be year seven. What can I offer at this slack time of year? Well, let me see, how about a couple of garden finds...

Assuming this is a cocoon of some description (I think it is) I really have no idea of what could have constructed it; it is just 3mm long and found on cranes-bill.

Then there was this teeny springtail that was under a broken pot in the garden. As a clue to its size, the photo below is taken at x5 and uncropped...

Looking through some old pictures from 2014 I found this one that was also taken in the garden. This time with the point and shoot camera...

Mullein moth larva

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8th February 2017

Nellie the Elephant packed her trunk
And said goodbye to the circus
Off she went with a trumpety-trump...

Yes, I am afraid that I began this update around a month ago and am only just now finding time to complete it. Never mind, that's life I guess, enough frivolity; let's crack on shall we...let's talk turkey!

  

When I saw this monster of a turkey at Heaven Farm in deepest Sussex recently, I couldn't resist a photo or two. Did you know turkeys have wattles, caruncles and snoods? In fact, I read the following on Wikipedia: In anatomical terms, the snood is an erectile, fleshy protuberance on the forehead of turkeys. Most of the time when the turkey is in a relaxed state, the snood is pale and 2-3 cm long. However, when the male begins strutting (the courtship display), the snood engorges with blood, becomes redder and elongates several centimetres, hanging well below the beak. Blimey! I hope he didn't fancy me.

Meanwhile, back in the garden, another tiny pupa...

This one was again only about 3mm long but this time, found in the soil. I may keep this one to see what eventually emerges.

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I have a number of emperor moth pupae that are overwintering as these fragile looking, papery, pear-shaped cocoons. I am hoping that these will be of mixed sex so that I get the chance to observe both adult moths at close quarters...

Late April onward should see the moths emerge if all is well. Not long now.

I now have another skull to add to my collection! This one is a badger and came to light on a walk through Ashdown Forest. A couple of phone pictures (I have been lazy about using the macro through this winter)...

And one of it beside the red fox skull...

And I think that about wraps up this bitty little update. The longer and brighter days are just around the corner though and so I am hoping that the invertebrates will soon be returning. I have already seen a couple of bees on sunny days. 

I will leave you with a photo of this beetle larva I spotted under bark whilst looking for flat bugs. I am undecided as to exactly what it might be, not large enough for a stag beetle but perhaps one of the longhorns?

Until the next time...

Oh! One last thing: I am pleased to be able to report that Magnet magazine have asked me to write for them for another year and my latest article has just been published...

The online version that can be enlarged for easier reading is available

 HERE (page 22)

Skullduggery...or skulduggery if you prefer-pick the bones out of that!

 I don't ever really expect to find much in the way of invertebrates when I visit coniferous woodland, with its densely populated and planted trees, it hasn't proved to be a good hunting ground for me regarding insects and bugs.

That's how it was again on a recent hike around Hemsted Forest, a local wood owned and managed by the Forestry Commission. 

But as I was making my way back, I saw this skull, or at least a part of it, poking out of the ground. I think it is the skull of a red fox. It's a real shame that it is incomplete but what I did find cleaned up quite nicely and is quite an intriguing little artifact...if you like that kinda thing! Below is a photograph of all the bones I found after they'd been thoroughly cleaned.

 I did have a nice find elsewhere though, it was one of those where I didn't realise quite what I had found at the time-I knew it was something different but had to get the photos on to the laptop to have a good look and try to find an identity for it. 

That proved to be quite a challenge for me. I hunted through all of what I considered to be reasonable suspects and drew a complete blank. Little did I know at the time, this would take three days to resolve and even then, there was a twist in the tail (of my story, not the insect!) I suppose I should stop prattling on and post a picture of this mythical beast, so that you can decide for yourself as to whether I was being incompetent? Okay....

The shape of the head and length and markings on the antennae were giving me some clues but it was those, what would you call them, mandibles? Look at how long they are and all the beetle larvae (that's what I considered amongst others this might be) I have seen have mandibles/jaws that curve inwards to grip their prey, these seem to be turning out to me. What purpose could they serve? Anyhow, it transpired that it wasn't a beetle larva after all, although I'm not sure if that's significant regards the mandibles.

'Osmylus fulvicephalus'...or more commonly, a giant lacewing. That's what this turned out to be. I think I would be right in stating that the larvae are rarely seen, but I did mention that this story has a twist and that is the fact that I have actually found this species before, but had totally forgotten until, something rang a bell having settled on its identity this time.
A search of the internet revealed this image from a few years back...

It's a picture of one of the photographs on my old flickr photostream; I no longer have an account with flickr in protest at their enforced changes.

Since finding this amazing creature I have been fascinated by those jaws and how they evolved as they have and I discovered a key...

Under the 'Key to larvae' section, I discovered the following passage of text:

The most useful characters are the fusiform shape (wide in the middle, tapering at both ends) of the body and the large 'jaws' which are either large mandibles with teeth for biting, or modified mandibles and maxillae (for manipulating food) which fit together to form two forwardly-directed 'spears' or jaws, used for sucking the contents of the prey.

And so it seems that those enormous jaws are little more than straws...

Something else that I have seen and photographed before, although not that often, is a tiny harvestman called 'Megabunus diadema' it is only about 3-4mm and hides away most of the time, the reason I suspect that the Spider & Harvestman Recording Scheme has only a handful of records for this species in Kent and less than 1,000 across the British Isles...

This one is a female, as it's only females that have those pronounced spikes above the eyes. I spotted this one a few days ago and I think it's probably only the third I have ever seen.

I have featured a few millipedes in past blog updates but I don't think I have ever covered the pill-millipede? Until now that is...

The pill millipede (Glomeris marginata) is quite similar to the pill woodlouse, in that they both curl up into a tight pea-like ball when threatened. This one however has 2 pairs of legs per segment, rather than the one of the woodlouse. I have been photographing lots of woodlice for a future blog update and so will try and include a photograph for comparison then.

I think that as this update has been quite wordy, I'll add one final picture and description and call it a day-I do tend to get carried away with some of these updates when little and often would probably be a better motto.

And so for now, here's the stretch limo of the spider world; a Tetragnathide, or 'Long-jawed Orb Weaver' that I found over wintering under a leaf...

Until the next time...