Galls and damsels

A spare hour - what to do? Predictably I strolled over to Stefen Hill Pocket Park, enjoying the warm sunshine. Time was when this weather would be welcomed:


              Rejoice! O English hearts, rejoice! O lovers dear!
              Rejoice! O City, town and country. Rejoice, eke every shire!
                For now the fragrant flowers do sprout and spring in seemly sort,
               The little birds do sit and sing, the lambs do make fine sport....




                                    The Knight of the Burning Pestle,  Beaumont and Fletcher


    
But now we worry. Is this going to be another scorching summer, another step down the road to planetary catastrophe?


However, this wasn't at the front of my mind as I worked my way along a hedgerow of hawthorn, field maple and dogwood. Only mid-May but the mite, Aceria myriadeum, was already causing a rash of  pimples on the acer leaves.

The galls of Aceria myriadeum seem to be found wherever Field Maple

is found. Stefen Hill Pocket Park, 14 May, 2019

This is extremely common and field maples are 'a martyr to it', as my gran would have said. Fortunately it seems to do no significant harm.

Damsel Flies were dashing around...

On the dogwood leaves  damselfly rested before dashing off with a potential partner. The Common Blue and the Azure Damselflies are very similar. In this specimen the blue stripes on the top of the thorax are narrower than the dark stripes and the dark markings on the second abdominal segment are forming a 'U' shape. I believe it is an Azure Damselfly, Coenagrion puella, but I am open to correction. It is not as abundant as the Common Blue but is nevertheless very common.

… and they appeared to be Azure Damselflies. Stefen Hill Pocket Park.

14 May, 2019

Having found a Mottled Umber, Erannis defoliaria, caterpillar yesterday I repeated the trickI once again beat one from a hawthorn bush but put it safely back on the foliage (where a hungry bird will doubtless find it).

And, once again, Mottled Umber caterpillars were munching through

hawthorn leaves.

The adult females are wingless and theoretically this could limit the distribution of this insect, but it seems to be found everywhere.

Barely an hour but I returned home well pleased with my haul. Being forced to check my facts regarding damselflies I felt somehow rather pleased to be still learning at my time of life. 

Kentle Wood: mid-May

It must be the best part of a year since I last visited Kentle Wood (a check later showed that it had been 19 months!). It looked in fine fettle and with the sun shining it was a good place to be.


Insects were basking on the foliage, this female Tachina fera being an eye-catching example.

Tachina fera. It seems to have no common name but perhaps it ought

to have one. Kentle Wood, 13 May, 2019

This insect is a parasite. It lays its eggs in a suitable place, where they hatch and lie in wait for a host, usually the caterpillar of a Noctuid moth. It latches on to the victim and...


The genus gives its name to the Tachinidae family.

Also apparently enjoying the sun was this little shieldbug. It is a Woundwort Bug, Eysarcoris venustissima, and it feeds on Hedge Woundwort, of which there is plenty in Kentle Wood.

Woundwort Shieldbug, but here on a cherry leaf. KentleWood,

Daventry. 13 May, 2019

From the front it appears to be wearing a pair of dark goggles, much needed in the dazzling sunshine.

After sweeping some shrubs beside the ride I found this 'looper' caterpillar in my net. These loopers are members of the Geometridae, a very large and economically important family.

Hardly an exciting find. Mottled Umber larva swept (probably) from oak.

Kentle Wood, 13 May, 2019

As I have often mentioned, butterflies and moths are not my thing but even so, I am happy that this is the Mottled Umber, Erannis defoliaria. This is an abundant moth whose larvae are found on a wide range of trees and shrubs. The damage it inflicts to trees can be guessed from the specific name.


Once again I'll be putting in a few hours working my way through the many specimens of fly I gathered. Well, someone has to do it.

Return to Bradlaugh Fields

Twelve years ago Chris and I lived a stone's throw from Bradlaugh Fields and it was my regular 'patch', but today was the first time I had visited it for some three years. The occasion was a meeting of the Northants Diptera Study Group, a small (but highly select!) band whose gatherings are generally organised by John Showers. John was there of course as was my old friend Kevin Rowley. Kevin's main interest is limnology but he is a very competent dipterist too.


Bradlaugh Files, named after a famous radical Northampton M.P., has been created - or rather has naturally developed - after the abandonment of the golf course which once occupied the site. It is managed of course, but as little as possible.




We gathered in the car park of the adjacent Morrison's supermarket and, after exchanging pleasantries, set off. I got no further than a birch tree at the entrance to the fields before my camera came out.

A group of bugs, or rather 2 x 2, were gathered on a leaf, busy with reproductive matters. They were Parent Bugs, Elasmucha grisea. Predictably rather, because birches seen to be one of their favourite trees.

Two pairs of Sloe Bugs in cop on a birch leaf. Bradlaugh Fields,

Northampton. 12 May, 2019

Only a few yards further on a patch of nettles was harbouring another bug, Dolycoris baccarum. It has for many years been called the Sloe Bug, a rather inappropriate name as it has no particular connection with sloes. In more recent years it has more often been known as the Hairy Shieldbug - far more sensible as the body of this pretty insect does indeed have a covering of short hairs.

Speaking of sloes, a nearby Sloe (Blackthorn) bush was bearing 'pocket plums', its fruits having been attacked by the fungus Taphrina pruni, causing them to become distorted and with no stone developing.

A distorted sloe (a 'pocket plum'). Bradlaugh Fields, Northampton.

12 May, 2019

Returning to the subject of bugs, a hundred yards further on I took a third species when sweeping long grass. It was a Bishop's Mitre Bug, Aelia acuminata.  As it sits in my sweep net it is hard to appreciate how superbly camouflaged it is when among dry grasses.

A Bishop's Mitre Bug in my sweep net. Bradlaugh Fields,

Northampton. 12 May, 2019

It is widely distributed across southern Britain but seems not to be found north of the Sheffield area.

The limy soil supports large numbers of Salad Burnet, Poterium sanguisorba (Sanguisorba minor), plants. It is difficult, at a brief glance, to accept that this is a member of the Rose family, Rosaceae.

Salad Burnet plants were abundant at Bradlaugh Fields.

12 May, 2019

A close-up view is no more convincing. Its rather bitter leaves were once used in salads and some botanists claim that the plants scent the air with cucumber when trodden upon. I have not noticed it.

Not obviously a member of the Rose Family!

A more obviously attractive plant in Bradlaugh Fields is Meadow Saxifrage, Saxifraga granulata. Here it is common but it has been lost from many of its old locations. John Ray recorded it growing on walls in Northampton as he passed through in 1662. It is another lime-lover.



Meadow Saxifrage is still common at Bradlaugh Fields.

12 May, 2019



The three of us spent the morning in Bradlaugh Fields and seem to have recorded only a disappointing number of species but, as is usually the case, it will take later work under the microscope to establish the true picture.

 

Noah's Ark abandoned

Over the last 48 hours we've had more than our fair share of rain. So heavy was the downpour at times that I considered that an ark could be needed. Not having been trained in ark building (arkeology?) I took my instructions from the 15th Century Chester Miracle Play:

                               One hundred cubetts it shall be longe,

                               And fiftie brode, to make yt stronge,

                               Of heighte fifty...

                                   Thus messuer it about.

Ever though I made a conservative guess about the length of a cubit, I realised it wouldn't fit in the garden, so I gave up on the idea.


As is oft the way the skies cleared, a dove came into the garden with a twig, and on Friday afternoon I made my way over to Stefen Hill Pocket Park.

The rain had been accompanied by some high winds and this Small (Cabbage) White, Pieris rapae, had received a bit of a battering, a forewing having been torn. The forewing can have two black spots, one spot or, as in this example, with a spot so faint it can barely be seen.

Small White displaying a war wound. Stefen Hill Pocket Park.

10 May, 2019

I ventured into an area of the park which, for some reason, I had barely seen before and was delighted to find maybe a couple of dozen plants of Cuckooflower, Cardamine pratensis. It other widely used name is Lady's Smock. Milkmaids and Fairyflower are more local names.



Cuckooflowers are still found here and there. One place is

Stefen Hill Pocket Park, Daventry. 10 May, 2019

A century or more ago it was probably one of Britain's commonest wild flowers and was a major food plant for the caterpillar of the Orange Tip butterfly, Anthocharis cardamines. Widespread drainage has led to a steep decline in the abundance of Cuckooflower and nowadays The Orange Tip probably relies more on the still-abundant Hedge Garlic. Given half a chance the caterpillars will eat any less-developed specimens for they are enthusiastic cannibals.

Too wet and cold to fly away.

In the wet grass I found a very bedraggled bee. I took it home for a closer examination and despite the wet pile on its thorax and abdomen I felt fairly sure it was a Field Cuckoo Bee, Bombus campestris. As it dried out the pattern of hairs on the abdomen became clearer and, with its 15 mm wingspan I became more convinced. However, I won't add it to the park list as I really am not experienced enough with Bombus species, especially wet ones! I released it later.


Cuckoo bees, as the name suggests are parasitic on other bumblebees, the queen cuckoo bee killing the queen bumblebee and laying her eggs in the nest of the victim. The young are then raised by the bumblebee workers.


Field Cuckoo Bee? I can't be sure.

Stefen Hill Pocket Park, 10 May, 2019

I have been disappointed that the pocket park contains no oak trees - or so I thought. As I left this under-visited area, partly concealed by a spreading Norway maple, I found a specimen. One reason I was pleased is that oaks are often afflicted by interesting galls, mostly the work of tiny wasps. I found none today but I'll monitor this tree over the next few months.

Testing, testing

This has certainly been a topsy-turvy spring. A fortnight ago the days were so hot that Chris and I had to leave the allotment before we got sunburnt, yet a few day later and I have been forced to postpone planting out our runner beans for fear of a frost! However, today is shaping up to be very pleasant.


I have been using the same SD card in my camera for several years now so, although it is still functioning, I am not sure that, in terms of colour, the pictures are as good as they could be. Results are particularly poor when dealing with blues and lilacs. With this in mind I treated myself (tret myself, as older Northamptonians would say) to a new card. When I visited the local (Stefen Hill) pocket park this afternoon I gave it a trial.



My first, not particularly challenging target was a caterpillar. It was a geometrid moth but beyond that I wasn't sure. Once home, a  trawl through my books showed that it was the larva of a Pale Brindled Beauty, Phigalia pilosaria. Well, the adult stage may be a 'beauty' but the caterpillar? Eye of the beholder and all that.

This Pale Brindled Beauty caterpillar was chomping away at both cherry

and maple leaves. Stefen Hill Pocket Park, 7 May, 2019

I strolled on seeking a sterner test. The pocket park contains a few horse chestnuts and I made a bee-line for those. Before long the leaves of these trees will be badly disfigured by the caterpillars of the Horse-chestnut Leaf Miner and I decided to have a look around.
 
Sure enough there were several of these tiny moths about. They only measure about eight millimetres in length and the colours would not provide the challenge I was looking for. Nevertheless I was tolerably pleased with the pictures in other respects.

Horse-chestnut Leaf Miner. Stefen Hill Pocket Park, 7 May, 2019

This moth, Cameraria ohridella, was first described as recently as 1986, from specimens found in the Balkans. Since then its spread has been frighteningly rapid, reminding us of the importance of biological controls on imports. The Indian Horse-chestnut, Aesculus indica, also grows in the pocket park. Fortunately this species seems to suffer little from the pestilential leaf-miner.

The flowers of the Indian Horse-chestnut are certainly lovely.

Stefen Hill Pocket Park, 7 May, 2019

On the subject of pests, I also noticed a problem with blackthorn (the shrub, not the cider). Its fruits are, of course sloes, gathered by some for flavouring gin. A few of the sloes were ripening, a process which takes several months, but the majority had a problem.

Blackthorn, Prunus spinose. Some of the fruits were developing

normally. Stefen Hill Pocket Park, 7 May, 2019 

They had been attacked by a fungus, Taphrina pruni, and the resultant distorted fruits are known as Pocket Plums. They are rather flattened on one side and the stones do not develop. Apparently some varieties of domestic plum can be affected, but I have never witnessed it. Being attacked by a fungus doesn't necessarily render things useless - think gorgonzola cheese -  but in the case of the sloes they are apparently a write-off.

I estimate that 80% of the crop had been affected.

I took a slight diversion on my way home (I had promised Chris that I'd gather some greenery) and was almost stopped in my tracks by a tree in Badby Road West. It was a Manna Ash, Fraxinus ornus, and was in full bloom.

Manna Ash growing in Badby Road West, Daventry. 7 May, 2019

I was well aware that it will grow in Britain although as a wild tree it is found in Mediterranean regions of Europe. What I hadn't known was that a specimen was growing so near to our house. Why, I wonder, is it not grown more often; it is a lovely sight.

The foam-like flowers are much visited by insects.

Surely we should grow more!

Like Sugar Maple, a sweet sap can be obtained by making a cut in the trunk and the resultant sugary substance was compared in medieval times to the biblical manna.

An interesting day. 

Mustn't forget the allotment!

Several times in recent days dark clouds have suggested imminent rain but each case was an empty threat. A peck of March dust is worth a king's ransom, according to farming lore. That may be so but when the dryth goes on into April it becomes a problem.


With this in mind I visited the allotment today to give our thirsty plants a drink.


The broad beans were looking strong and healthy but they received a couple of cans of water.

Slightly overcrowded broad bean plants. But they seen to be doing o.k.

Our allotment at Drayton, Daventry. 2 May, 2019

Lettuces seemed happy but they too got a can of dihydrogen monoxide (DHMO) to sustain them.

These lettuces should soon be hearting up.

Last year our onions were rather disappointing so, although they also appeared to be flourishing, a couple of cans went their way too.

The onions are currently small but I'm hopeful of a decent crop in

late summer.

I had originally planned to put our runner beans in today but there is a slight chance of frost over the next two nights, so they'll have to wait. With this chilling threat in mind I put a light covering of soil over the emerging potato leaves. There followed five minutes of weeding and that was it for the day.

On my way out I noticed that some of the redcurrants on an adjacent plot had a problem. Cryptomyzus aphis is an aphid whose activities lead to the development of red, blister like markings on the leaves. I have noticed over the years that even severely affected shrubs may still yield a good crop, so it isn't a big issue.

Redcurrant Blister Aphid. I don't see it as much of a problem. But then it

isn't on my plot!

Once home I checked, for idle curiosity (I can be very idle at times) the NBN (National Biological Network) map for this aphid species. There were only 31 records. Of course it is found the length and breadth of Britain but it seems that few people bother to submit a report. Anyway, from now on there should be 32 records, as I reported this to the Wildlife Trust.

In the late afternoon the dry spell was broken and we received heavy rain.

I wonder how Jeremy Corbyn's allotment is doing.

Return to old haunts

Time was, a few years back, when I would make two or three visits a week to Byfield Pocket Park. Now my visits are far more occasional but warm sunshine lured me out there today and, as it turned out, I was glad I went.

We are well into the bluebell season and Byfield Pocket Park has its share. There are pale blue ones, white ones and some of an intermediate, rather wishy-washy mauve. Quite clearly garden escapees - Hyacinthoides hispanicus, the Spanish Bluebell. No native bluebells, or so I thought.

A mix of Spanish Bluebells. Byfield Pocket Park, Northants.

1 May, 2019

At that point I noticed that some were rather different. Unlike the Spanish Bluebell our indigenous species, Hyacinthoides non-scriptus, has a drooping inflorescence forming a one-sided raceme. The ones I had just noticed tended towards this one-sided arrangement and had flowers of a darker blue. I am reasonably certain these were hybrids, possibly meaning that the native bluebell had once been present but was now being hybridised out of existence. Maybe.

English-Spanish Bluebell hybrid? Byfield Pocket Park.

1 May, 2019

Red Campions, Silene dioica, were doing well and a number of young plants suggested they are spreading.

Red Campions appear to be spreading in the pocket park.

1 May, 2019

Vetches were doing well too, with Tufted Vetch, Vicia cracca, putting on a good display.

Tufted Vetch at Byfield Pocket Park. 1 May, 2019

Interesting though these plants were why, as I indicated in the opening paragraph, was I glad I went?

While stooping down to photograph the vetch an intriguing bug caught my eye, It was a species I didn't immediately recognise and I felt confident I'd never encountered one before. Once  home, a closer examination confirmed my suspicions. It was Rhopalus subrufus, not rare but, as far as I was concerned elusive, for I had indeed never seen one before.


Rhopalus subrufus.

It appears to be associated with St John's Wort, of which there is a patch some ten metres from where this insect had occurred but cranesbills, another food-plant, were also present.

All in all, I was rather pleased.


Tony White. E-mail: diaea@yahoo.co.uk