Oh! what a lovely pair...

 It must be spring!

I say this because it seems to be the one thing these days that spurs me on to create a fresh blog update.

in my defence, It has not been for the want of an appetite. More that my rapidly declining health has had other ideas on how I should spend my time. But now we have been blessed with another spring and here I am resplendent in my repaired eyesight thanks to cataract surgery, and I have new content to share.

So let's get to it...

What do all of these images have in common?

Whilst you are cogitating over that picture: I would like to add that despite Google's insistence, I shall not be using their new AI style features to help me create this entry.

I will definitely not be following their advice to 'Look for the 'G' button' either. I feel I've been down that road previously!

Maybe this will help you if you are struggling with the connection in the picture...

 Yes, PAIRS...I was talking about pairs (and not the pair you were imagining either)

Pairs like these...

There are over 300 species of Crane fly in the UK and so I can only guess at an identity here. I reckon one is Tipula species, and t'other Nephrotoma? But I really should research these things.

I'll return to my first pairing at some point during this update.

Pair number 2 consists of these two Damselflies...

These are female (top) and male (lower), Azure Damselflies. Coenagrion puella, if you want the scientific name. I think that's correct. But then I thought Ringo was the drummer in the Beatles and not a parking app!

I think this is another female Azure, and the second image is a male Common Blue Damselfly. The third is a male Variable Damselfly (well, it's a good enough name when you can't think of a better one?)

Back to pairs now. Do these make a proper pair?

Well I do believe they are both Caddisflies. One is most likely a Mottled sedge, and the other...isn't! The one on the far right is the Mottled sedge: not politically you understand!

They appeared in my moth trap recently. I had a disappointing amount of species that night, but here are a couple of interesting individuals...

A Buff-tip moth - Phalera bucephala

A Pale-Tussock moth (Calliteara-pudibunda)

I'll happily be corrected on my guess at an identity on this next critter. I'd like to think that it's at least an educated guess, but these days, who knows!

Back in the day, I kind of knew my way

I had clarity of thought, and wasn't afraid to say.

Then as senility began to raise its ugly head

my memory became that of a goldfish...one that was dead!

During the ensuing years I was mostly just muddled

now I find that I'm completely befuddled.

Here's the photograph...

It's a ladybird larva? No it isn't. It's a beetle larva of some description? Yes, it (probably) is. It's a Willow Leaf Beetle larva? no it isn't. It's a Green-dock Beetle larva: final answer.

I do know what this beauty is...

 This is Cassida nobilis: a Noble Tortoise Beetle. 

I've read that these beetles can alter the brightness of those fabulous, metallic stripes, by controlling fluid levels under the transparent cuticle (a layered exoskeleton that functions as both a skin and skeleton).

These are not at all common in my part of Kent and are more likely to be found in sandy areas or on chalky soil. I think this is only the second one I have ever found. 

Here is a distance shot, just to give you a better idea of size...

Something else that I haven't seen for at least three years, is one of these...

 

A Horned Treehopper - Centrotus cornutus

These are just amazing creatures. They are small sap-sucking insects and are relatives of the Leafhoppers but are famous for their thorn-like 'hats' or 'horns' which they use for camouflage. About 10mm in length.

There is just one other species of Treehopper in the UK: Gargara genistae which is similar in appearance, but doesn't have the horn (stop it!).

I suppose these next images could count as a pair? Oh yes, pairs: I must get back to alerting you to what my first pair referred to. I will do that right after these images...

I'm saying that they count as a pair because they are both plant bugs. The top one is Closterotomus-fulvomaculatus and what a mouthful that is! Its name I mean, not the bug itself.

The lower image is of Dryophilocoris-flavoquadrimaculatus, an even bigger mouthful?

I'm still not finding many plant bugs locally and so it was a treat to spot this Striped Oak Bug (Rhabdomiris striatellus).

Back to my lovely pair then! 

No: not those two. Although I may have something 'Ant' connected before this update ends. Nah, I meant these two...

They are in fact moth eggs that I discovered in local woodland and decided to observe to see what emerged. What did emerge looked like this...

Then became this...

And eventually became this...

Yes. A striking Coxcomb prominent moth larva. I won't bother with the scientific name; we've probably had enough of those with their highfalutin, over complicated names, that seem to use more syllables than a Maria Carey song! 

That throw-back of the head over the abdomen is not a yoga pose by the way. It's more what they do when they are alarmed. Which accounts for it's pose in this photo: I mean, fancy having my fizzog staring down the lens at ya.

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Here is the ant connection: along with the question; what do you think it's eating?

This is full zoom by the way, as I no longer have an extreme macro lens, so detail isn't all that great unfortunately...

I think we are nearing the end of this particular update...

However - you are not scared of spiders are you? 

Let's find out: if I hear you scream I'll know and will feel really bad for putting you through such torture...........maybe!

This is Marpissa muscosa, a Fencepost Jumping Spider. Looks big, right? Well, she is only around 14mm, so no need to wet your knickers! That's not why she has the word 'pissa' contained in her scientific name.

Here's a youngster (sub-adult) that I found at the same spot...

The inset picture shows you just how tiny this one is compared to an adult. 

I guess it'd be churlish of me to leave you with a Salticid, and so how about a Delphacid instead?

This is an even small insect called a Delphacid-bug. Most likely Ditropis pteridis. The only one to specialise on bracken. This one is a male and around 3mm.

Psocid to me baby!

Here we go again then. Time for another update. The whole point of these updates, well the whole point of my blog actually, is to try to imbue you with some of the enthusiasm that I have for the natural world and bugs in particular.

Since I first started blogging, almost a decade ago now, it has become increasingly 'sexy' to talk about the environment and the role  insects play within our world. Perhaps at long last the people wielding the power will do the right thing. I actually heard a farmer saying on TV the other day that they had "ignored nature until now, but could do so no longer". There's progress!

Meantime, I shall continue to do my little bit in any way I can...

In my last update I talked about camouflage. Here's another tiny bug that uses this in what seems like  quite an extreme manner. For starters, this Psocid nymph in my photo is only 2mm long max. Does something so small even require camouflage? 

I guess the answer must be yes, or why bother. Here's another photo that shows you what I actually saw before closing in for a macro shot...

Not exactly standing out like a porcupine at a nudist colony is it! And yet it does seem that bugs of this species all do it. I think it might just be confined to the nymphs though.

I'm not certain what it is that they are covering themselves with: an entomologist friend did tell me what he thinks it is, but I think that's just crap!

A Barkfly nymph - possibly Cerobasis guestfalia?

Curious creatures huh? The common name for Psocids is Barkflies, or Book-lice. According to the National Barkfly Recording Scheme: The order Psocoptera is one of the least recorded insect groups. This lack of recording is not because the species are rarely encountered – on the contrary; almost every tree in Britain is likely to be home to some of these creatures and psocids are far more abundant than some insect orders.

In fact, if you are interested in discovering a species new to science, I would say these would be your best bet and the chances quite high.

More strange looking creatures: this time a hoverfly larva. This is what a hoverfly looks like before it becomes the winged adult we all see flying around, all the time thinking it's a wasp. I think this one is probably the Marmalade hoverfly  Episyrphus balleatus. In case you have been wondering; the feeding end is on the right of this photo. Those 'ears' at the other end are neither ears or antennae; they are in fact, put simply, breathing tubes.

My bug finds so far this year have been patchy. One species however that I have seen huge numbers of already is the Hairy Shieldbug (taxonomists please stop renaming bugs, I can't keep up!)

Never have I seen so many gathered together as I have this year. On one local walk recently, I kept seeing these large, green, spiky plants; not sure exactly what they were, maybe wild lettuce or something similar. Anyhow, wherever they occurred, right at the base they formed  little reservoirs where water collected. In each of the plants I looked at there were drowned Hairy Shieldbugs...

Meanwhile, this rather strange looking looper caterpillar was found on willow... 

I was really pleased to find this next plant bug. Freshly moulted too. It's a number of years now since I last saw one.  This is Miris striatus, or as some folk like to call it: The Fine-streaked Bugkin. It's a predatory bug that feeds on aphids and the eggs and larvae of moths etc. Described as 'local' here in the south of the UK.

Miris striatus (moult at bottom)

I must remember when identifying this bug though, there is a really similar one called 'Calocoris quadripuntatus' that has similar patterning, but is just a tad smaller. If that isn't confusing enough, it seems that there is also yet another similar species: 'Rhabdomiris striatellus', however, after further research, it appears that C. quadripuntatus and R. striatellus are one and the same.

Yep! Two names that identify one bug! 

Pictured above is my first sighting of an adult Sawfly. I have seen a number of larvae, but this is the very first adult for 2019. Adult sawflies only live for a couple of weeks: they get their name from the saw-like ovipositor, which the female of the species uses to cut into the surface of leaves, where she then deposits her eggs.

Pentatoma rufipes; A Red-legged Shieldbug

Another first for this year I think. This is probably a mid-instar of the species. When fully grown, the adults have a kind of 80s shoulder pad thing going on. It'll probably be at least another month or so before I spot any mature bugs. 

Adult Pentatoma rufipes from 2016

This...

A bug-eyed caterpillar. At least that's how it appears right? But those black eye-like blobs are not eyes at all. No, the eyes are the small circle of dots at the base of the 'blobs'.