Publish and be damned...

I need your input blog-readers. I had a nice email from somebody who used the  blogger 'contact JJ' option, that was very complimentary about my little blog, but mentioned at the same time about my writing style.

They were expressing a preference for the more factual updates, over the, well frankly, sillier ones. 

And so I would love to know what others think. I want to get the balance right because, although this is my blog, it is nothing without you loyal readers. Please do let me know any thoughts, good or bad, by using the same contact option, or just adding a comment at the bottom of this post.

                                                                        Thank-you,

                                                                                        'JJ'

Here we go then (at last) no frivolity included! Oh, before we get too far into this update, I need to apologise for the brevity and lack of tremendously exciting subject matter. I have already made a note to myself to try harder next time. The whole story is a little convoluted and uninteresting in itself but I did actually start this update almost two weeks ago and between then and now have had a bout of man-flu...

It's always a thrill to find my first jumping spider of the year and as usual, I spotted my very first on the wall of the house the other day...

Salticus scenicus-A Jumping Spider

There are of course several really similar jumping spiders here in the UK but I think my ID is sound for this one.

On the very same wall I also came across this nicely marked Nursery Web Spider...

Pisaura mirabilis - A Nursery Web Spider

To complete the spider trio; a teeny thing found in the garden on the same day...

This one might be a tad more difficult to identify to species level It could be either Araniella cucurbitina or Araniella opisthographa. Commonly known as the Cucumber Green Orb Spider I think.

Underneath a terracotta pot, I found this Moth Fly. Well I say Moth Fly, that's what I call them. I think possibly Psychodidae is the correct term. Also known variously as Owl Midges, Drain Flies, Filter Flies and Sewage Flies. It's a shame they have so many names 'cos they only live about five days and so by the time you have got to know them all, they will be gone.

On a recent walk in what was mainly coniferous woodland, I noticed in a couple of sunnier areas that the wood ants were appearing above ground in huge numbers...

Unfortunately I only had my phone to take pictures with but you can see there were lots of them. I also did a tiny video...

     

I think these are Formica rufa (The Southern wood or horse ant) and there is some very interesting info on these ants and their nests on the UK Wood Ants website.

A small extract: The wood ant’s nest is a marvel of insect construction and contains thousands of workers, over 250,000 individuals in Formica rufa. On the surface, the mound is made of a soil core surrounded in a “thatch” made of organic materials including pine needles, small twigs, moss, heather, dried grass and even pieces of lichen. The thatch is made in such a way that it intercepts the sun’s rays at right angles, acting like a solar panel to raise the temperature of the nest above that of the surroundings. This is important for the development of the brood inside the nest and to keep the workers warm enough to remain active, even on cool days. Workers will move the brood up and down the nest in order to provide them with the optimal temperatures for growth, sometimes bringing them onto the surface of the nest for an extra boost of warmth from the sun. The thatch is also an umbrella for the nest, each piece laid in a precise manner so that rain water trickles away from the nest, keeping it dry.

The heart of the nest is actually deep under ground and comprises of a series of tunnels and chambers. Inside a special underground chamber the queen will reside with her brood.

Wood ant mounds vary tremendously in size and shape, from tiny nests no bigger than a dinner plate, to humungous mounds over 1m tall.

Please check out the link for more: HERE

I think I may have disturbed this click beetle from its hibernation...

The last thing of note is this little springtail that I found. It was more what it was doing than the actual find that interested me. It's a fairly common collembola but I have never seen one on top of a slug like this...

It was also raising its abdomen in the air and 'waggling' it too...

I had no clue as to this behaviour; but I knew of somebody who might. Collembola expert and all round nice guy Frans Janssens. I fired of this email:

Hello Frans,

I wonder if, when you get time, you might be able to clue me in as to what is happening with the behaviour this collembola is exhibiting?

It was aboard this slug and even though I watched it for some time, showed no signs of wanting to climb off. It kept dipping its head as if drinking and at the same time sticking it's abdomen in the air and 'waggling'.

Any clues would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks

JJ

Here is his reply:

Dear John,

The head dipping is not drinking but eating: Neanura muscorum is a typical suspension feeder and feeds on the slime the slug is covered with. But I have no idea why it uplifts its abdomen as such... I have seen it in Hypogastruridae: 
http://www.collembola.org/images/cowen/Hypogastrura-sp-20090226-Rick-Cowen-USA-South-Dakota-l.jpg
But I have no clue what they are doing.

Kind regards,

Frans

Ah well! If the expert isn't sure, I don't feel so bad about not knowing myself. As always I do wish to thank Frans for taking time out to answer my little poser though.

And so that is all I can offer for this update, I can add just one more photograph before I go though. A selection of springtails from the garden...

That's it! As Wellington famously said to Joseph Stockdale ..."Publish and be damned".

Until the next time...

A seven-eyed spider...

November 21st as I write and would you believe it, bramble flowers just starting to appear in the old orchard close to my house...

Autumn seems to be only just getting into full-swing here with many trees remaining quite green until the last few days when there does now seem to be a real change underway, even though I am not     expecting a spectacular show, as some have already lost their leaves.This beech was looking nice though...

Click any image for a larger view

Of course as the year moves on, birds are finding it increasingly hard to find food and I've seen a few blue-tits feeding on the last of the apples in the old orchard...

We've had our fair share of rain in the last couple of weeks and now everywhere is saturated...

 There's always a winner though, the slugs and snails are the beneficiaries this time and if bugs are elusive, then you don't need to be Holmes to seek out the latter...

I can't believe it has taken until well into November to find my first drinker moth larva. I usually see these in reasonable numbers but this is my first of the year and it's only a youngster too...

Here's another moth caterpillar, this time one I would expect to see later in the year...

Assuming my identity is correct-I think this is Angle shades (Phlogophora meticulosa.) Larvae that hatch in the autumn overwinter as caterpillars and then pupate in the soil in spring to produce the first generation of adults the same year.

The colder conditions don't seem to bother the spiders as much as other invertebrates and I was surprised by one I found a few days back that seemed to have some kind of, now how did my friend describe it? "Genetic mutation" in that it appeared to have a  missing eye...

Well that's about it for this little update, more very soon and I'll leave you with another photograph of 7-spot ladybirds that I took just yesterday.

Until the next time then...

Return of the inverts...

Aradidae have the common name of 'Flat Bugs' and if ever an adjective was  aptly used, surely it's right here?
Flat bugs of course refers to their extremely flat bodies...

Click any photo for a larger view

Although these bugs are fairly widely distributed across Britain and Wales, they are rarely seen as they secrete themselves under the bark of various (particularly native) deciduous trees such as oak.

The species that I found here is named Aneurus laevis and the first two pictures here are of adults of the species.

The nymphs (young) are totally different in appearance and could even be mistaken for a different species initially. Here's a photo of adult and nymph side-by-side for comparison...

And of the nymphs on their own....

I understand that there are 7 species in the U.K. and that they feed on fungi.

Cumbersome as they must look, they can actually fly as this original drawing demonstrates...

The last photo here shows a couple of nymphs at different stages of development...

With a vast improvement in the weather over the last few days,I have now been able to record several 'firsts' for 2013...by that I mean, the first example I have found of an invertebrate species this year. I'm holding my breath for this improvement to stay with us to give me time to spot a few more, that I know friends have already been lucky enough to see for themselves. 

On a sunny wall at the weekend I spotted and photographed my first salticid (Jumping spider) who was busily scooting around looking no doubt for an easy meal...

Salticus scenicus

The same day and this time in the garden, I came across my first nursery-web spider. This one was sunning itself on a wooden fence panel...

I love these common spiders with those little floppy 'ears' either side of the eyes. Somehow they seem to have very expressive faces~both this and the jumping spider are females.

Venturing further afield one day in search of inverts proved to be less successful than I'd hoped and more to the point, resulted in sore feet from wandering around in cold/wet wellington boots all day...well, probably not all day but long enough!

I did spot my first shield bug of the year though sitting on a tree in deciduous woodland. This one was Troilus luridus, a species that overwinters as an adult...

On any given day of bug hunting I always try and make time for a couple of arty style shots...

And this colourful little snail brings to an end another blog update.

Until the next time...

The return of the big, bad spider.....

This past week has seen an upturn in temperature and general weather conditions locally that has resulted in first sightings of spiders in my garden.

There are those amongst you that have an innate hatred for these little creatures, I know that. Conversely, I have had requests to include more spider related posts.
I'd like to think that by bringing you these photographs and the accompanying information that you'll warm to them eventually. In reality though, I guess when you take a look at the following images, it's not going to serve as much of an incentive to befriend and arachnid?
    

Pardosa Amentata a Wolf Spider

A 'Wolf Spider' even the name sounds scary right? But look at her, doesn't she look mournful? She wouldn't hurt a fly....O.K. a fly possibly, probably even, a human though? Not a chance! She's only 8mm after all.

These spiders don't even produce a web. They catch their prey instead by hunting them down. That means they are fast runners-look at those two large eyes too, they have the good eyesight needed to hunt.

CLICK ON IMAGE FOR A LARGER VIEW (IF YOU DARE)

Pisaura mirabilis a Nursery-web Spider

The nursery-web spider is similar to the wolf spider in that it also hunts down prey rather than building a web to catch it.

It has much smaller eyes though and seems to rely more on speed and strength, to overpower it's quarry.

When young spiders are born the mother builds a silk tent (a nursery web) and releases the spiderlings into it. This offers some protection until their first moult, following which they leave the tent.

These can be almost double the size of the 'wolfs' at around 15mm.

Pisaura mirabilis

I have also spotted a number of crab spiders and a large orb-weaver this week. However, I feel I'd be pushing my luck by adding photos of those in the same blog entry and so I may hang on to them for now and sneak them into a future posting.

A reasonable weather week is forecast for our area and so I'm hoping the increase in bug activity continues and I'll be able to update this blog again very soon.

Until the next time...