A back garden miscellany

I am keeping an anxious eye on our pears for two reasons. The first potential problem concerns pollination. We grow two varieties, Conference and Concorde. In theory they will pollinate each other, but for that to happen, clearly both need to be in flower at the same time. Our Conference is full of blossom.

Our Conference pear is blooming exuberantly. 10 April, 2019

Unfortunately the Concorde flowers are still a few days short of opening.  They may just about overlap and should that happen I'll be helping things along with a very soft brush.

But Concorde is lagging behind. 10 April, 2019

Really there should be no shortage of pollinators. Quite a few bees are about and they are backed up by hoverflies. This Eupeodes corollae may not have the furry body of a bee but research has shown that hoverflies have a useful role in pollinating and if we lose our bees they may become desperately important.

Hoverflies like this Eupeodes corollae are frequent visitors.

10 April, 2019

My other worry is a more serious one. A big proportion of the pear leaves have been attacked by Pear Leaf Blister Mite, Eriophyes pyri. There seems to be no cure for this problem and all I can do is pick off and destroy affected leaves. But that would mean removing, I guess, over half the leaves.

Our Conference pear is under attack! Pear Leaf Blister Mite,

10 April, 2019

The brick wall against which the pears grow is patrolled by zebra spiders, Salticus scenicus. This attractive species will hunt down many insects but I suspect that the mites attacking the pears are far too small to be of interest. And of course they are safe within the pustules - the galls - which they have created.

Most people are familiar with Salticus scenicus.Here it is on our

garage wall. 10 April, 2019

This spider gives its name to the huge family to which it belongs, the Salticidae and so taxonomically I suppose it is rather important: the Salticus of all Salticids.  Salticus zebranus also lives in Britain but it is a west country species and I have never seen one. Salticids are found all over the world with some particularly beautiful ones, Maratus species, known as Peacock Spiders, in Australia. If any reader cares to look for these on the internet they will find it a worthwhile experience.

A dull blog for a dull day - take 2

The weather forecast for Daventry today was for a wet afternoon, so of course it was warm and dry. The sun even managed to muscle the clouds to one side to encourage insects to emerge and bask.


Shieldbugs were out and about including my first-ever Brassica Bug, Eurydema oleracea. It is by no means a rare insect but for years has eluded me. Yet there were several on Garlic Mustard towards the Westerburg Square end of the pocket park. The red markings are often replaced by yellow, orange or cream.

Brassica Bug on Garlic Mustard. Stefen Hill Pocket Park, Daventry.

8 April, 2019

Also present was a Sloe Bug, Dolycoris baccarum, on nettles. The black and white bands on the antennae make it very distinctive.

Sloe Bug on Stinging Nettle. Stefen Hill Pocket Park, Daventry.

8 April, 2019

And to complete a trio, probably the commonest of the three, a Green Shieldbug,  Palomina prasina, still in its winter coloration but now showing some green on the scutellum.

Green Shieldbug, also on nettle in the pocket park. 8 April, 2019

I was pleased too in finding a caterpillar of the Magpie Moth, Abraxis grossulariata, although it was tricky to photograph amongst a tangle of twigs. It will live on a variety of shrubs but here it is on a rose. It belongs to the Geometridae Family. We call them looper caterpillars but in America they are known as inch worms.

Caterpillar of Magpie Moth. Again in the pocket park. 8 April, 2018

This proved to be a very productive visit, with eleven new species added to the site total. It's wonderful what a bit of warm sunshine can do!

 

A dull blog for a dull day - take 1

I have made no attempt to engage in any wildlife recording today. The weather is cool and the sky a monochrome grey. Nevertheless I had no excuse not to go for a walk and so I went for an unadventurous stroll locally.


Silver Birches, Betula pendula, are lovely at this time of the year. Leaves are developing but the delicate tracery of the branches are still distinct.

Silver Birches near Westerburg Square, Daventry.

8 April, 2019

Like many of Britain's native trees it bears catkins. An old, more or less obsolete, name for a catkin is an ament and couple of centuries back many botanists lumped the catkin-bearing trees together in one family, the Amentaceae. (Another meaning of ament is 'a congenital idiot'. What conclusions we can draw from that I'm not sure, but I put my camera away at this point, not wishing people to observe an ament photographing an ament.)

I was surprised to see that beneath a Horse Chestnut tree dozens of saplings were growing.

Sycamore and conker saplings in Stefen Hill Pocket Park, Daventry.

8 April, 2019

This would not have happened in my childhood. Eager children would gather up the 'conkers' and take them home for baking or steeping in vinegar, each child having its own recipe for hardening these huge seeds ready for a game of conkers. Few would remain to develop into new trees.

Lime green clearly describes the young foliage of lime trees but could

equally describe young horse chestnut leaves.

At this time of the year the palmately compound leaves are very attractive. What a pity that four months on they will be horribly disfigured by a tiny moth, the Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner. The 'candles' of Horse Chestnuts are eagerly visited by honey bees but other than that - and the moth - the tree supports little wildlife. This relative of lychees (but not the sweet chestnut) is native to the Balkans, where it is endangered as a wild tree. 

Many flowers close up at night, a form of behaviour known as nyctinasty. Unsurprisingly on this dull day some of them had not bothered to re-open. Can't blame them - and in any case, I saw no bees around to pop in for a visit.

Coltsfoot, Tussilago farfara, not looking its best on this dull day.

Stefen Hill Pocket Park. 8 April, 2019

The discs of Coltsfoot flowers, which ought to have been blazing like golden suns, remained closed or at best only half-open.

Apres le deluge

We have just endured a spell of rather unpleasant weather: rain (needed); wind (bearable) and cold (bleeding). So when I ventured out today I felt it was about as pointless as the Pope buying a condom. But nothing ventured... I set off firmly grasping a kneeling mat and pom-pomming to myself a tune which soon became irritating. At first I couldn't recall what it was, but then remembered it was the lovely Pastoral Dance from 'Nell Gwyn' by Edward German...but not lovely the way I was butchering it! 


The weather still looked unreliable and so I only risked venturing as far as the local (Stefen Hill) pocket park.  It soon became clear that the kneeling mat was unnecessary and for a quarter of an hour or so I enjoyed pleasant sunshine. The sun was also being appreciated by Red-tailed Bumblebees, Bombus lapidarius, several females of which were seen. It is a distinctive, rather large and common species.

Red-tailed Bumblebee at Stefen Hill Pocket Park. 6 April, 2019

In some cases they were in the grass, perhaps investigating potential nesting sites. The colonies may eventually contain as many as 300 workers and they will store pollen rather than nectar for their brood.

New growth was to be seen on virtually all plants and I am hoping that insects will soon begin to exploit it, nibbling, mining and galling according to needs. The old leaves of bramble bore the mines from last year of Stigmella aurella.

This leaf mine is the work of 'Stigmella aurella'. I will go no further

 than that. Stefen Hill Pocket Park. 6 April, 2019

This tiny moth appears to have no common name (although it is sometimes referred to as the Golden Pigmy) and this is probably down to the fact that, strictly speaking, it is an aggregate of several very similar species, fiendishly difficult to separate. The species, sensu lato, is very common everywhere and familiar to anyone who walks in the countryside or even, as in this case, in the local park. So common is it that several mines may occur on the same leaf, with three being obvious in the picture below.

The ubiquitous nature of this 'species' can be judged by the  numerous

 mines borne by bramble leaves. 6 April, 2019

As is usually the case, the identification of several species found will be a microscope job, so I may have to miss 'Footballers Wives Bake Off On Ice'. The sacrifices we entomologists are forced to make!

What happened to spring?

I awoke at sparrows to the sound of heavy rain. Fair enough, conditions have been unusually dry and rain will be welcomed by farmers and gardeners. What I wasn't expecting was sleet. True, there wasn't a lot, but it was distinct enough in the rain. Brrrh!


Confined to the house I worked my way through some specimens gathered yesterday in Stefen Hill Pocket Park.


I had swept a patch of Goosegrass, aka Cleavers (Galium aparine) and found I had taken a Cream-spot Ladybird, Calvia 14-guttata (Calvia quatuordecimguttata really, but no one bothers).  I couldn't get a decent picture but the one below will have to suffice.

The Cream-spot Ladybird can crop up almost anywhere.

Stefen Hill Pocket Park. 1 April, 2019

This is an unpredictable insect for it seems to have no particular habitat. I have caught it in meadows and hedgerows - even in a car park at Sixfields in Northampton. It is moderately common.

Nearby, a patch of young cow-parsley was the hunting ground for a Nursery Web Spider, Pisaura mirabilis. This species does not build a web but is a fierce hunter seemingly making no effort to conceal itself but just waiting motionless, often on the leaves of stinging nettles. A lightning-quick dart and it will have secured its prey.

A Nursery Web spider basks in the sun as it awaits insect prey.

Stefen Hill Pocket park. 1 April, 2019

The 'nursery-web' of the name refers to the ball of silk in which it carries its eggs, rather unusually in its jaws rather than secured to its spinnerets.

There are a few holly bushes in the pocket park and a large percentage of their leaves bear irregular creamy-yellow patches. These are the work of a small fly, the Holly Leaf Miner, Phytomyza ilicis, as its larva tunnels through the leaf. Throughout the length and breadth of Britain this fly is found and I rarely find a holly bush without these tell-tale blemishes.

Holly leaves are frequently mined by Phytomyza ilicis.

Stefen Hill Pocket Park. 1 April, 2019

For me the most unusual sight was on my way home. For many years I have looked over Forsythia bushes for insect visitors, and I have looked in vain. The flowers of this genus are clearly designed to attract insects but there is clearly a problem. Virtually all the Forsythia shrubs grown in Britain are Forsythia x intermedia, and therein perhaps lies the problem. Colourful though this plant is, being a hybrid (Forsythia suspense x F. viridissima) it may have lost its nectar yield somewhere along the way; there is nothing to tempt insects.

But today - Eureka! There was a bee paying a visit, but I watched it for maybe thirty seconds and it failed to move. I'm still not convinced that Forsythia has anything to offer. Many writers claim that it is visited by insects but these claims seem to refer to the situation in the U.S.A.

A bee visits Forsythia flowers - but what is it up to?

Christchurch Drive, Daventry. 1 April, 2019

As for the microscope work, not much new was discovered although a Cluster Fly, Pollenia angustifolia, turned up. It is quite common though les so than than the ubiquitous Pollenia rudis. Cluster Flies are so called because in the winter they can form clusters, sometimes hundreds strong, in an attic, outhouse or some other convenient spot. They can often be recognised by the crinkly golden hairs on the thorax.


O.K. It has now rained unceasingly for four hours. Joke over. May we have our sun back please?

Further pocket park notes

I find I am spending more time just lately in our local pocket park, Stefen Hill. I still intend to make regular visits to Foxhill Farm, roughly twenty times the size of the pocket park, but the farm loses out in one important respect: it is very limited in terms of mature trees. It is true that the pocket park only boasts a handful but in general terms there are more trees of interest - alders, poplars, hornbeams and birches - than Foxhill Farm. And they are all confined within an easy-to-cover area.


Five years ago Stefen Hill Pocket Park (Stefen Leys as it was then) was neglected, ill-maintained and litter strewn. It is true that specimens of the Common Dog Poo, Crappus caninus, still occur but even these are far less common. Residents have worked hard to improve the area as an environment and those efforts deserve recognition.


Today dawned bright and sunny and I made a fairly early visit. Conditions were still quite cool and there was a heavy dew but there were insects a-plenty on the wing.


Norway Maple, Acer platanoides, was in flower. It looks rather like a sycamore but the latter has flowers which hang in trusses whereas those of the Norway Maple are in rounded clusters.

Norway Maple has flowers in rather rounded clusters.

Stefen Hill Pocket Park. 1 April, 2019

The flowers yield significant quantities if both nectar and pollen so a number of insects were paying a call. Predictably some of these were hoverflies including the Glass-winged Hoverfly, Syrphus vitripennis. Thankfully some of these wasp-mimicking insects were females as no satisfactory way has yet been found of distinguishing the males from Syrphus rectus.

Syrphus vitripennis is one of our commonest hoverflies. Its wasp-like

appearance probably affords it some protection from predators. Stefen Hill

Pocket Park, 1 April, 2019

Ladybirds were also feeding at the flowers. Most were Seven-spot Ladybirds but a Harlequin Ladybird, Harmonia axyridis, was also present. These come with a confusingly wide range of black and red patterning but a close look will generally reveal a pair of small raised lumps towards the end of their hard forewings.

The Harlequin Ladybird is now all-too abundant. Here it is on

Norway Maple at Stefen Hill Pocket Park. 1 April, 2019

Also in flower were the hornbeam trees, with the male catkins currently the more obvious. These are wind-pollinated and so were attracting no insects. The female catkins are rather unusual in form and so will be instantly recognisable as they develop.

The male catkins of Hornbeam are quite attractive with their

reddish stamens. Stefen Hill Pocket Park. 1 April, 2019

The Hornbeam, Carpinus betulinus, is not native to Northamptonshire, being originally confined to south-east Britain, but is now found widely in our county through amenity planting. It is generally placed in the Hazel Family, Corylaceae.


Eight new insect species added during the day, including two ladybirds and two butterflies. Also one new spider.


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

Now it really is spring

Last night we put the clocks forward an hour. Very symbolic. Spring has really sprung, to use a much overworked aphorism.


With it have come bee-flies by the hundred, all Dark-edged Bee-Flies, although I have just heard from my friend John Showers that the far less common Dotted Bee-fly, Bombylius discolor has now turned up in Northamptonshire. The two species are very similar when in flight so I must keep my eyes open.




Dark-edged Bee-fly, Bombylius major, in our front garden, Stefen Hill.
24 March, 2019

More and more flowers are now coming into bloom including the Snake's Head Fritillary, Fritillaria meleagris. This is almost certainly native to Northamptonshire but a number of recent records certainly refer to deliberate plantings. The generic name comes from the Latin fritillus, a dice-box, and probably refers to the squarish shape of the flowers. As for meleagris, the Guinea Fowl,  Numida meleagris, bears similar chequered markings. So we have 'the plant with flowers shaped like a dice box and speckled like a guinea fowl'; occasionally Latin names make things so much simpler!

Snake's Head Fritillaries in our front garden in Stefen Hill.

31 March, 2019

Definitely native to Northamptonshire is the Pasque Flower, Pulsatilla vulgaris. The red-flowered form has been in bloom with us for a couple of weeks but the authentic native form has rich purple flowers and they are now open.

The native form of Pasque Flower is also blooming in our front garden.

31 March, 2019

Not native, but very well naturalised on walls right across Britain is Yellow Corydalis, Pseudofumaria lutea. Certainly it grows well around Daventry town centre. We do not have it in our garden but instead are growing Pseudofumaria alba. I am not claiming it is a better plant but it is simply of interest because it is less often seen, although I understand that it is naturalised in Harpole.

Looking nothing like a poppy but from the same family, Pale Corydalis

is now flowering with us. 31 March, 2019

Despite its oddly-shaped flowers it is a member of the Poppy Family, Papaveraceae. Many members of the poppy family are important medicinally and Corydalis yields tetrahydropalmatine, an alkaloid which has proved to be potent muscle relaxant. My muscles are relaxed enough thank you (too much, according to Chris) and I have no plans to chew a mouthful.