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Posts tagged ‘insects’

Oct 1

Dark Bush Cricket

Dark Bush Cricket – Pholidoptera griseoaptera – Female

Pholidoptera griseoaptera – Female

On Saturday I attended a course on Grasshoppers, Crickets and Allied Insects. Allied insects covers groundhoppers, our native cockroaches and the earwigs. So what did I learn? In the UK there appear to be eleven grasshoppers, about fourteen crickets, four true crickets and three groundhoppers, all of which can be identified in the field or from photographs and then keyed out. So for once there isn’t really any need to collect specimens, particularly as most will lose their colour after death anyway. Three of the crickets, the Field Cricket, the Mole Cricket and the fabulously named Wartbiter are protected under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act and so cannot even be handled without a licence from Natural England. Apparently even taking photographs of them is discouraged as this could be interpreted as interference.

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Sep 3

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Blue rain flowers

Harebell – Campanula rotundifolia

Campanula rotundifolia

I’m not that good at identifying wild flowers. Botany is definitely a subject I could do better in. But then by most people’s standards I’m not exactly a dullard either. I can put a name to most of the common stuff, it’s just there’s still quite a bit that’s a mystery. One wild flower I can identify is the Harebell Campanula rotundifolia.

A couple of Sunday’s ago I went looking for the Adonis Blue butterfly at Martin Down but pretty much as soon as I arrived it absolutely lashed it down. While I waited for the insects to towel themselves dry I got distracted by these delicate little violet-blue flowers. The water droplets and soft light adding to their attractiveness.

Generally I focus on taking reference shots rather than photos for their artistic merit. But as I had my waterproofs on and time to kill I took a few photographs lying down on the wet ground and experimented with the depth of field. I quite like the increasingly blurry background but can’t help thinking how I’d like to see a pristine water-droplet coated Adonis Blue perched on the right-hand side of the nearest flower.

These pretty little flowers are known as Bluebells in Scotland and were once used in the manufacture of the blue dye used in tartan. Incidentally the name Harebell is a reference to the fact that these bell-like flowers can often be found where you find hares. Both are fond of dry, open grassland. On a similar theme witches are thought to be able to transform themselves into hares by drinking the milky sap. North American Indians call them ‘blue rain flowers’ as they believe picking them will cause it to rain. Well, it wasn’t me.

Aug 13

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The Clouded Yellow

Clouded Yellow – Colias croceus (Male)

Colias croceus – Male

The Clouded Yellow Colias croceus isn’t a butterfly most of us get to see every year. It’s a summer migrant from southern Europe. If you live near the coast in Devon or Dorset and you’re the type of person that looks then you might get to see one or two each year. But further north you can go for years without seeing one at all. In nine out of ten years it is scarce. Then for reasons that we don’t fully understand we get an invasion. A glorious ‘Clouded Yellow year’ where numbers can be exceptional and individuals can be seen throughout the country and if we are truly blessed as far as southern Scotland.

Sadly the year after, again for reasons we don’t fully understand, numbers can be extremely poor.

So having spotted a dozen or so on Saturday afternoon at Martin Down NNR in Hampshire, I did the only sensible thing and went back again on Sunday morning. Well, that and the fact that my photos from Saturday were truly shocking. In my defence they’re tricky to photograph in as much as when they land they immediately fold their wings, plus they are all too easily spooked.

As you can see the underside is attractive enough but you really need to get out there and see them flying to see the upperside which is rather stunning – something not lost on the Victorian collectors. Both upper wings are a warm sulphur yellow with black margins. The upper with a single black eye-spot, the lower with a double dark orange, yellow-edged eye-spot. For a change the female has the edge in colouration in that the black margin is sprinkled with bright yellow dots. These are absent in the male. The French have a good name for this butterfly ‘Le Souci’ (The Marigold) which is very descriptive of the upper wing colour.

I saw plenty of Clouded Yellows in Cyprus earlier in the year so it was great to see them here in good old blighty.

Aug 5

The cannabilistic Cinnabar

Cinnabar Moth Caterpillar – Tyria jacobaeae

Tyria jacobaeae

This striking gold and black and surprisingly hairy caterpillar is the larval stage of the scarlet and dark charcoal Cinnabar Moth Tyria jacobaeae. The adult can be identified by the two bright red spots and the long red stripe down the leading edge of its dark grey/black forewing and its all red hindwing. It is named after the mineral ‘cinnabar’ once used by artists as a red pigment for painting. The bright colours of both the adult and larvae are a warning to predators that it is mildly poisonous.

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Aug 2

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Gatekeeper or Meadow Brown?

Gatekeeper Butterfly – Pyronia tithonus

Pyronia tithonus

This is the Gatekeeper Pyronia tithonus formerly and perhaps more appropriately known as the Hedge Brown or ‘Hedge Eye’. This butterfly can only be confused with a female Meadow Brown Maniola jurtina. However, in comparison it is much smaller and overall a much brighter orange. Where the Meadow Brown has one white spot in the centre of the black eye-spot on the upper wing, the Gatekeeper, as you can see, almost always has two. Also, with wings folded the Gatekeeper has a row of small white dots on its lower underwing, whereas the latter, if it has any, not all do, will have small dark dots. Plus, you are much more likely to find it like this, wings wide-open, basking on a leaf in a hedgerow soaking up the sun.

But beware, both species are subject to variation. I’ve seen Meadow Brown’s with two white spots and Gatekeeper’s with one. So it’s worth keeping a look out for aberrations. If you are lucky you may even find one of the heavily spotted multiocellata variations which can be very pretty indeed. Just remember to carry your camera, because of course I didn’t.

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Jul 23

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Try to set the night on fire

Fire Bug – Pyrrhocoris apterus

Pyrrhocoris apterus

The recent run of warm weather here in the UK has been a reminder of how hot it was when I visited Cyprus in April. This little chap was one of the first insects I encountered in the village of Frenaros where my mum and dad now live. My reason for showing it here is that this strikingly coloured red and black bug, that looks as though it has an african mask painted on its back, may be spreading northwards into England. Recently it has been found in Devon. Previously there have been small colonies in Surrey and Sussex and sporadic reports elsewhere. Although Britain has traditionally marked the northernmost edge of its range it has been a native of Jersey and Guernsey in the Channel Islands for some time now. In the last decade the populations there have increased greatly. So it may be an insect worth looking out for in future.

It proved a particularly difficult subject to photograph. Being almost manically active due to the very warm temperature. It wouldn’t keep still, even for a fraction of a second, and so the vast majority of my photos were just slightly blurred. But I persevered over several days and eventually succeeded in getting this image. Read more

Jul 11

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Aerial zebras

Marbled White Butterfly – Melanargia galathea (Male)

Melanargia galathea – Male

Readers of my last post about my visits to Collard Hill may have got the impression that it was a disappointment. It wasn’t, the view from the Polden Hills is breathtaking and freshly emerged specimens of the monochromatic magnificence that is the Marbled White Melanargia galathia were abundant. I’m often asked which is my favourite butterfly and that’s a really tough call as I have so many. But, this is possibly my favourite ‘white’ even if technically it’s a ‘brown’.

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Jul 1

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Blue-tailed Damselfly

Blue-tailed Damselfly – Ischnura elegans

Ischnura elegans – Male

The weekend a couple of weeks back now didn’t start well. I drove to Martin Down in Hampshire hoping to see the Marsh Fritillary butterfly only to be greeted with wind and horizontal rain. Sitting in the car listening to Radio 4 didn’t help, nor did muttering to myself. Giggling at a couple of twitchers in bright blue anoraks carrying a tripod and scope large enough to zoom in on a bird in France amused me for a while. But hey, there’s only so much chortling you can do on your own in a car in the middle or nowhere before it begins to look weird, so I drove home again. On Sunday I awoke to a leaden sky and… drizzle. Much swearing ensued. Ever the optimist I set off to Langford Lakes for a Dragonfly walk and talk by Steve Brooks from the Natural History Museum, London. And what an interesting talk it proved to be. Read more

Jun 25

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His Grace and The Grizzle

Grizzled Skipper Butterfly – Pyrgus malvae

Pyrgus malvae

Slowly working my way across a hillside covered in yellow cowslip searching for my first Duke of Burgundy butterfly of 2013 I notice a moth-like flicker of dark chocolate brown arc into the dry grass further up the slope. With my eyes fixed on the spot where it lands I move cautiously upwards to find a freshly emerged Grizzled Skipper Pyrgus malvae. It’s not ‘His Grace’ but a real stunner all the same and another first for my year list.

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Jun 17

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Pearly king

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary – Bolaria selene

Bolaria selene – Male

This little orange firecracker is a Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary Boloria selene, a male I believe, photographed on the 9th June at Bentley Wood. This was one of the first butterflies I photographed last May when I got my macro lens and I can’t tell you how much I was looking forward to viewing the results. Particularly as this was a new species for me. What a disappointment then to discover the vast majority were either blurred or just slightly out of focus. To be fair I did manage to get a few decent shots, one of which was shortlisted for the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust’s 50th anniversary photographic competition, but believe me that was more down to luck than judgement.  Read more

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