Is size important?

That was my reply. But what was the question? I'll tell you before the metaphorical ink has dried on this virtual paper. Well I always did enjoy doing things in a different order. Or as my dad would say in his best erudite manner, "No wonder it doesn't look right, you've got the whole thing arse about face." Well, he was a 'well versed' man! I remember him reciting his version of the famous 'Casabianca' poem (The boy stood on the burning deck).

Let's crack on then (no pun intended) and get this mini bug-fest underway- 

This is only a phone grab, but I was so pleased to see this Small Tortoiseshell butterfly at a local garden centre. I hadn't seen any this year until this one. If sightings are down everywhere, it's a worrying sign. Especially given this headline from The Guardian newspaper last year: 

Fears are growing for the small tortoiseshell butterfly after this once-common garden insect continued its baffling decline despite the hot summer proving a boon to most species.

The small tortoiseshell suffered its worst summer in the history of the Big Butterfly Count with sightings falling by 32% compared with last year, according to the charity Butterfly Conservation.

The sharp-eyed amongst you will have noticed that I have changed the header for my blog: I do this from time to time, just to keep things fresh and so don't worry if you don't like it, it will be changed again sometime soon. I have been messing around with digital art effects, the picture above is a digital oil painting of my damselfly photograph from a while ago.

The point is though that I also changed the wording to 'It's a fascinating world' and here is an example of just why nature in particular fascinates me....

The photo on the left is of a Parent bug brooding her eggs. The one on the right, a 'clutch' of Hawthorn Shieldbug eggs.

There's no place here for sarcasm Spock! Anyhow, sarcasm is just one of the many services I myself can offer. I have yet to share the fascinating facts, but feel they are about to spill out onto this page right now: yes, here they come...

...the Hawthorn Shieldbug measures about 13-15mm in length. The Parent bug 7-9mm. Why then is it that the Parent bug (smaller) lays larger eggs, and there can be up to 50 or more; yet the Hawthorn shieldbug (larger) lays smaller eggs and usually only around 10 to 14? 

As far as I can tell, they both only produce one generation per year, so that isn't a factor. I wonder if the Parent bug is more prone to predation or parasitic attacks? Usually when nature provides large broods, it is with the expectation that  mortality rates will be high. 

But the difference in egg size? Now that does puzzle and fascinate me.

Here's another example...

I am not sure of the species of this Geometer caterpillar, it could be a Red-green Carpet Moth larva, and I guess most wouldn't even give it a second glance.

But to me it was amazing: how does it know that its best chance of not being spotted by predators is to align itself along the leaf vein? From a distance it will (and did) look like just a bump on the vein. Caterpillars don't have reasoning ability. I guess it's just hard-wired to do that huh?

These survey sheets represent just some of the work I have been doing to try and build a picture of the invertebrate life in one of my local woods. As far as I am aware, it has only been surveyed once before and my findings have far exceeded those records already. 

It's a continuing project that started in 2011 and so new species to add are becoming harder to find with each passing year. When one does appear though, it is quite exciting, and especially so if that find is something scarce like the beetle I located a couple of days ago...

Platycis minutus - A Net-winged Beetle

This is Platycis minutus, a Net-winged beetle of the family Lycidae. The latest information I can find states that there are just four species in the UK and " All are scarce as they are found in association with ancient woodland areas, where the larvae can be found in white-rot areas of decay in dead wood."

This was indeed the ancient part of the woods where I spotted the beetle and it was foraging I guess, on bracken. There seems to be some confusion as to just what these beetles eat. I have read they feed on tiny invertebrates, slime mould, plant juices, pollen and nectar, and even that they are short lived and don't feed at all!

Meanwhile, in the garden:

Plagiognathus arbustorum - a Plant Bug

At least I think that's what it is. I trawled through the 'British Bugs' website several times looking for confirmation and it seems the closest match. Always happy to be corrected though because these can be really tricky, especially for an amateur like me.

Hmmm...I still haven't gotten around to explaining the opening to this update yet have I. Well I guess...

Yes: the time is now!

Big breath, and...here goes:

I was in the very same woods where I found the net-winged beetle and as per usual, was checking for something completely different to what I found. There has been an increase of Painted Lady butterflies recently: here's one I photographed:

And so what I was doing was checking the thistle to see if I could find any eggs or larvae. I was starting to get a little frustrated at not being able to locate anything, when after checking dozens of plants, I spotted this lovely creature...

 Larinus planus - The Thistle-bud Weevil

This particular weevil is not liked by some; it feeds primarily on thistle buds, with the larvae being most destructive to them. In North America it has been used as a biocontrol agent against the Canada thistle, or creeping thistle as we call it.

I feel however  that everything is here for a reason and is a valued part of the ecology. It is mankind's messing with nature that is the problem.

Anyhow, back to the story: I squatted down to photograph the weevil. Once I get into macro photography of an insect, I tend to be oblivious to anything going on around me and pay little attention to anything other than concentrating on getting the best picture I can muster.

I took a couple of shots and stood up to see a woman with a dog (thankfully on a lead for once) observing me. "Were you talking to yourself just then" she asked with a smile. "Not exactly" I said, "I was thanking a weevil."

"You were thanking a weevil", she mocked! "Well, yes. It was kind enough to allow me a couple of photos, and so I thought I should at least thank it" I explained."

She raised her eyebrows, twisted her mouth to one side, drew a breath, paused... and walked away! Phew.

Corizus hyoscyami - A Rhopalid bug

It's good to see this attractive bug in the garden once again. They appear during August - September most years, and so must be well established now.

Oh Mein Papa...

I may have mentioned this before because these days my memory is about as reliable as a Donald J. Trump promise, but, my father was full of pearls of wisdom, which he would often share with me. Possibly the most celebrated of these would be his, "If you see two crows, it's a rook". 

Another that he would trot out when the occasion warranted it, would be, "Never go back". He was always insistent that you should never revisit the past, but keep moving forward: "It just never works" he would say. However, just as I often did when he was alive, I am going to ignore his advice and do exactly that in this update.

My own thoughts on this subject are that the past is a wonderful place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

Before we get all misty-eyed about the past: there is some breaking news I need to share. At least, at the time of writing it is breaking news, it may well be less so by the time this gets published. A clue? Certainly; here you are... 

And here is the news as reported on November 24th 2018

'A wallaby has been spotted hopping across a country road tonight. The animal was seen by a man, driving home from the Tenterden Christmas market.' 

Yes! A wallaby seen in the wild at a spot that can be no more than a few miles from my own house. Although quite how the man could tell the wallaby was on its way home from the market, I have no idea! I mean, do they even get the concept of Christmas? And how did it learn to drive a car? 😏  Here is the actual photo taken by the motorist...

How unusual is that?

Apparently not as unusual as you might think. Here is another reported sighting from last year...

As these two sightings are very close to each other, speculation grows that there is a whole family of them living in my area. One theory is the animal, or animals, have come from the Capralama Farm in Bethersden, but are now living in the wild. Note: You may have seen reports in the national news about this farm, which is also known as the Reindeer Centre. The news reports state that handlers have been filmed mistreating the animals.

Excitement over! Let's do this;

Shall we start by revisiting my birthday in 2009...

Yep, something a little different to begin; December 28th 2009 was when I photographed this lump of ice. It was a Monday and my diary tells me that I wrote the following entry: Although the forecast is for more snow by Thursday, today was reasonable after a very cold start. I even took some pictures in the garden.

Four years earlier, and in March, Kent was covered in a blanket of thick snow...

Thankfully, pretty as it is, it didn't last too long. The photos above were taken on March 15th and by 28th, the wood anemones were already flowering...

Moving on to July 29 of 2011, I photographed a butterfly eye in close-up...

This is a Small Tortoiseshell butterfly that had recently emerged from some pupae I had. I seem to recall that I was trying out a huge, round flash diffuser at the time...

Diffuser test shot from August 2011

This was taken in September of the same year, by which time I had ditched the round diffuser in favour of a rectangular one...

I then went on to fiddle about with this set up, 'cos I wasn't happy with the reflections in this picture, I remember.

I know what I was wanting to share with you: whilst (not while) I have been away from my blog, I have been busy in making (amongst other things) a set of bug-related mosaic panels...

Note: Both while and whilst are ancient, though while is older. There's no difference in meaning between them. For reasons that aren't clear, whilst has survived in British English but has died out in the US. However, in Britain it is considered to be a more formal and literary word than its counterpart.

Here is the first one in progress...

The completed panel

Then a smaller one based loosely on a shieldbug...

And another...

I also have a Western Conifer Shieldbug on the go...

At this point I am not sure where this will eventually take me regarding future additions, but do hope to be adding more shieldbugs, ladybirds, caterpillars maybe, butterflies, dragonflies/damselflies and...who knows what else!

Now was there anything else I was going to share from my inexhaustible supply of bug photos etc? Nope! Don't think so....unless....em, maybe one last compilation of photographs; these were all taken 8 years ago...

That's about it for now...

I shall leave the final words to the great Spike Milligan: "My father had a great influence on me...he was a lunatic."

No more duck walks, how about a cow instead?

Monday 13th March 2017 and I wake to be greeted by a spring day, with warm sunshine. Time for a walk with the macro. Shall I go walking on sunshine, or perhaps, a walk on the wild side? I could do the walk of life if I knew what life was all about. Should I walk like a man, or walk like an Egyptian? Walk this way, or walk the line? Maybe I'll just go walkin' the dog, or should I walk the dinosaur? I'll try to avoid walking on broken glass, because that's not what these boots were made for...

The first sighting of an insect, was this tiny moth. It was sitting on a fence-post sunning itself. I am afraid that I have no idea of species, actually, I am not even afraid...I just have no idea. Then came this lovely small tortoiseshell butterfly. Once again, it was soaking up the warm sunshine and was favouring any bare patch of clay soil...

My next 'spot' was something of a surprise...

Another fence-post find; this time a woundwort shieldbug. I rarely see these away from their food plant and certainly this will be the earliest in the year I have found any. 

Then...another butterfly: this time a peacock...

Just in case you are phobic, here's a clue to what is coming next in this little blog update...

Got it? How about this second clue...

Oh calm yourself! It's only a little female crab spider, she won't harm you. Tell ya what, let's punctuate this update with a comma shall we...

Yes, this comma was the third butterfly species that I was able to photograph on this particular walk. I actually saw brimstone and red admiral as well. Meanwhile, on another fence-post I came across this teeny blue weevil...

And that was just about all I saw on this particular morning; aside from these bonking frogs, or are they toads perhaps?