Spider & Fly

I’d never realised how bristly flies can be. This black and orange Tachina fera caught sunning itself on the wall has some impressive bristles. This Tachanid fly is a parasitoid, it’s larvae eating moth caterpillars from the inside. I suppose the bristles are sensory organs, maybe to give some early warning if a spider is coming up close behind? The spider here is a new genus for the garden, Tetragnatha, but as quite often with spiders it’s hard to get down to an individual species as there are very similar species, which all vary considerably in colour. These are orb-weaver spiders that often stretch out lengthwise, with their long legs in front, to hide on plant stems.

#322 Tachina fera

#701 Tetragnatha sp.

700 Species

Getting a moth trap has been a game-changer in terms of adding new species to my list this summer - also a lot of fun. I brought up my 700th species in some style with a bevy of beautiful moths this morning after a perfect warm & still September night.

#696 Dusky Thorn (Ennomos fuscantaria)

#697 Straw Dot (Rivula sericealis)

#698 Large Ranunculus (Polymixis flavicincta)

#699 The Mallow (Larentia clavaria)

#700 Light Emerald (Campaea margaritata)

Swallow Tail and Gold Triangle

There are some more moths from earlier in the week, pushing my garden list closer to 700 species. The Swallow-tailed Moth (Ourapteryx sambucaria) was a particularly beautiful one; also quite a late record for this species, which is commoner in July.

The Gold Triangle moth (Hypsopygia costalis) has two postures, this one with its wings splayed out and tail in the air and a more normal moth-like v-shape. It’s larvae live in dried vegetation, like hay stacks or my neighbour’s thatched roof. The other two moths are also typical for the season; the Pale Mottled Willow’s (Paradrina clavipalpis) larvae live in cereal grain, while those of the Rosy Rustic’s (Hydraecia micacea) live underground mostly in the roots of plants of the dock family.

#690 Swallow-tailed Moth (Ourapteryx sambucaria)

#691 Gold Triangle (Hypsopygia costalis)

#688 Pale Mottled Willow (Caradrina clavipalpis)

#693 Rosy Rustic (Hydraecia micacea) with Large Yellow Underwing

Shore Sexton Beetle

Although it is called a Shore Sexton Beetle (Necrodes littoralis), it’s not just found by the sea side. This beetle, which flies well, was attracted to the light of my moth trap the other night. It can fly quite far in search of dead animals, which both it and its larvae live on, helping the process of decomposition.

#695 Shore Sexton Beetle Necrodes littoralis

Clifden Nonpareil

This super-impressive Clifden Nonpareil or Blue Underwing moth was attracted to my moth trap last night. These moths were extinct in UK and only reported as migrants, but the last few years have been turning up more often and it appears may well have re-established themselves. The warmer climate may have contributed to their return. They typically fly in September, their larvae preferring aspen and poplar trees. With a wing-span of 75-95 mm it’s a pretty big moth, the blue underwing (just visible on this photo) is believed to play a role in surprising predators so it can get away. Once the “Holy Grail” for moth enthusiasts, they may be getting commoner, but this is still a rather special creature to find in my own garden!

#689 Clifden Nonpareil - Catocala fraxini

Grey Dagger Caterpillar

My sharp-eyed youngest son spotted this colourful caterpillar in the corkscrew willow tree. It is the caterpillar of the Grey Dagger moth (Acronicta psi, #611). I’ve caught adults in the moth trap, which are virtually indistinguishable from the rarer Dark Dagger moth, but the caterpillars of the two species are quite different. Grey Dagger caterpillars are found on a variety of deciduous trees, such as Oak, Birch, Hawthorn, Elm and seemingly Willow too.

#611 Grey Dagger (Acronicta psi) caterpillar

September Moths

After a bit of a break during the holidays, it was good to get my moth trap back out and see what was about. Among the Large Yellow Underwings there were a few new species. This Black Rustic and a couple of prettily veined Lunar Underwings were my favourites. I nearly missed the Small Dusty Wave altogether as it is more or less perfectly camouflaged against egg box grey.

#683 Black Rustic - Aporophyla nigra

#682 Square-spot Rustic - Xestia xanthographa

#685 Lunar Underwing - Omphaloscelis lunosa

#688 Pale Mottled Willow - Caradrina clavipalpis

#684 Garden Rose - Tortrix Acleris variegana

#92 Small Dusty Wave - Idaea seriata

Half Moon Caddisfly

This delicately marked caddis fly came into the moth trap last night. Limnephilus lunatus is identified from a few similar looking species by the golden half-moon at the end of its wings. This is only the second species of caddisfly I’ve recorded in the garden. It is a common and widespread species in UK, whose larvae can be found in most freshwater and even brackish water habitats. The larvae live for a year in the water in a case constructed from plant or mineral debris and the adults fly from April through to November.

#686 Limnephilus lunatus

Soomaa National Park, Estonia

We were lucky enough to get away during August to Latvia and Estonia, for a wonderful break. Nature took a bit of a back seat to the beaches and medieval cities, but we did visit the Soomaa National Park in Southern Estonia. This park is huge; a matrix of forests and meadows centred around a massive raised bog - one of the biggest in Europe. The forest was quite silent in this season, but somehow the wet day (our only one of the holiday!) brought out the best in the forest fungi and bog plants.

Wasp Mimic Hoverfly

This hoverfly caught visiting the Golden Rod is rather big and impressive. It’s a wasp-mimicking hoverfly, Volucella inanis (#681), which is a parasite on wasps, laying its eggs in the wasps nest where its larvae eat the wasp’s own larvae. This species is found across the South of England up to Midlands, and seems not so common though increasing its population in UK. A fine addition to the list.

#681 Volucella inanis

Common Furrow Bee (Lasioglossum calceatum)

There were several of these bees on the Golden Rod, some individuals like this one showing a lot of red on the body, others completely dark. Looking into it, I believe these are Common Furrow Bee (Lasioglossum calceatum, #679). The males show variable amounts of red like this, while the females lack red colouration. These are ground nesting solitary bees, which are usually found in small colonies in short turf or other sunny areas of open ground .

Moth Bonanza

It’s taken me a few days to identify all the moths I caught on Friday night, with 15 new species added to the list. There were many moths in the trap and even more all around on the house wall and surrounding plants. Some of the highlights below. Without the moth trap you only see a fraction of what is out there.

#666 Magpie moth - Abraxas grossulariata

#236 Garden Carpet - Xanthorhoe fluctuata

#667 Lesser Swallow Prominent - Pheosia gnoma

#674 Carcina quercana

#245 Yellow-tail - Euproctis similis

#675 Water Veneer - Acentria ephemerella

#546 Ruby Tiger Moth - Phragmatobia fuliginosa

#673 Iron Prominent - Notodonta dromedarius

#671 Nutmeg - Anarta trifolii

#664 Lesser BB Yellow Underwing - Noctua janthe

#672 Straw Underwing - Thalpophila matura

#676 The Coronet - Craniophora ligustri

Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis, #677)

The Golden Rod is in full flower, and as always is attracting a lot of insects. I can’t say I like the plant so much, but the flowers are really attractive to a big diversity of flies, hoverflies, bees and wasps. In this case though the new species is a Nursery Web Spider making its web up in the flowers. The female of these spiders carries the eggs around with her until they are ready to hatch, when she creates a web for the young spiders to stay in until they are ready to disperse.

The other insect is a solitary wasp of some sort. there are a whole lot of species of mason wasps and ground living wasps with this basic colouration, and identification is not easy.

#677 Nursery Web Spider (Pisaura mirabilis)

Solitary Wasp

Moth Trapping in Winchcombe

For a change last night I was trapping in my Dad’s garden in Winchcombe. He’s always reminiscing about how many more insects there were back in the old days, and he’s for sure correct. Even so it was great to catch a pretty decent selection of moths, several that i didn’t yet catch at my place. I took some photos of a few of the more colourful ones and ones I didn’t recognise, including a Marbled Green (Nyctobrya muralis) which seems pretty unusual this far from the coast. A rather impressive Sexton Beetle had dropped into the trap; this is a carrion beetle that searches out dead small animals and raises its larvae in a burrow under the corpse.

Flame Shoulder (Ochropleura plecta)

Gold Spot (Plusia festucae)

Maiden's Blush (Cyclophora punctaria)

Marbled Green (Cryphia muralis)

Sallow Kitten (Furcula furcula)

Common Sexton Beetle (Nicrophorus vespilloides)

Poplar Hawk-moth - Laothoe populi (#663)

Among a whole bunch of moths, which are going to take me a while to sort out, this amazing Poplar Hawk-moth (Laothoe populi). The main flying season is May-July, so this one is a little late, or maybe it’s from a second generation. This hawk-moth is one of the commonest in UK, but very spectacular.

Poplar Hawk-moth (Laothoe populi, #663)

Five New Moths

Monday night was my best night’s trapping for quite some time, including five new species. The Brimstone Moth was not new, but the light drew in several of these and I didn’t get a photo the previous time I recorded them. Scalloped Oak, Single-dotted Wave, Shuttle-shaped Dart, Straw Underwing and Turnip Moth were all new, reflecting a shift in the season and new generations of these moths appearing. I caught several Shuttle-shape Darts, Straw Underwings and also Riband Waves, plus individuals of several other species.

#657 Scalloped Oak (Crocallis elinguaria)

#606 Brimstone Moth (Opisthograptis luteolata)

#658 Single-dotted Wave (Idaea dimidiata)

#659 Shuttle-shaped Dart (Agrotis puta)

#660 Straw Underwing (Thalpophila matura)

#661 Turnip Moth (Agrotis segetum)

Weekend Finds

Two new species this weekend. The small shield bug, about the size of a ladybird, is a Woundwort Shieldbug (Eysarcoris venustissimus, #655) found on Hedge Woundwort which grows as a weed quite plentifully around the garden. The fly Suillia variegata (#656) is usually found around decaying stuff; it’s wings are often more marked than this with a black bar and white tips, but the markings are there on some photos, as are the hairs on the wing edge that distinguish this family of flies (Heleomyzidae ).

#655 Woundwort Shieldbug (Eysarcoris venustissimus)

#656 Suillia variegata

A Pair of Beauties

Here’s a nice pair of “beautiful” micro moths. On the left a Marbled Beauty (Bryophila domestica, #652), caught last week in the moth trap. This species is camouflaged to hide up on a lichen covered wall;its caterpillars are lichenivores, feeding on lichens, usually on rocks. On the right a Beautiful Plume Moth (Amblyptilia acanthadactyla, #222) that appeared from some garden waste I was clearing out.

#652 Marbled Beauty (Bryophila domestica)

#222 Beautiful Plume Moth (Amblyptilia acanthadactyla)

Large Rose Sawflies

Large Rose Sawfly (Arge pagana) has two, sometimes three generations in each summer - these two are presumably getting busy making the second generation. The sawflies like our Dog Rose, and there are often a few caterpillars there. The female lays her eggs into the fine stems at the outside of the bush, using her saw-like ovipositor. The caterpillar hatch together and as a family group set about eating all the leaves in the area.

Band-Eyed Brown Horsefly - Tabanus bromius (#654)

I risked life and limb hanging out of my upstairs window to snap this blood-sucking horsefly that landed on the outside of the glass. It is a Band-Eyed Brown Horsefly (Tabanus bromius), in this case a female with its rather amazingly patterned eyes. You have to wonder if this banding on the eye serves any purpose, or is just decorative. It’s the female horseflies that bite, in order to get blood. Usually they go for cows or horses, but sometimes also people. Band-eyed Brown Horsefly is common in the southern part of UK, but rarely found North of the Midlands.