Daddy Long Legs

Although they are around most of the time from spring onwards, Autumn is really crane fly season and it’s unusual not to find a few on the house walls or in the house (where the cat likes to catch and eat them). There were many, including this brown-coloured Marsh Crane Fly, around until early in the month, whereas this Tipula confusa with its lace patterned wings is a late flier, attracted to the moth trap this week. The third species looks superficially like a crane fly, but it’s actually a moth which rolls up its wings at rest. The Common Plume Moth (Emmelina monodactyla) flies right through the Autumn and Winter from September to May, and like crane flies it is often attracted into houses by the light.

#565 Marsh Crane Fly (Tipula oleracea)

#364 Tipula confusa

#349 Common Plume (Emmelina monodactyla)

Common Not-so-Green Shieldbug

The bug on the left was found in the Elder tree the other day. It’s a Common Green Shield Bug (Palomena prasina, #350) which has lost its usual vibrant green colour to be better camouflaged during the Autumn and Winter seasons. The one on the right was photographed in July. You hear a lot about mammals and birds, like Ptarmigan and Mountain Hares, that change colour in the winter - but here’s an example (albeit not so impressive as turning pure white) from your own backyard. As they hibernate as adults, remaining bright green in a brown-coloured world would not be optimal.

Common Old Garden Insects

There are not so many insects around now as we move into Autumn, so it’s good to look again at the common ones which are present. Spiders, like this large Garden Spider, are still hunting a last meal. These garden spiders die off in the Autumn, the next generation surviving as eggs over the winter to hatch in the spring. Ladybirds hibernate as adults. Most years we get a lot of Harlequin Ladybirds around the walls of the house on sunny autumn days, though this year there seem to have been less of them than previously and more of the native 7-spot ladybirds. Earwigs are also on the lookout for somewhere to hibernate - apparently they can often burrow deep underground to pass the winter, or like this male, come into the house seeking a cozy corner in which to hide out.

Aside from insects there have been some good birds around, but tough to get photos. The first fieldfare of winter was in the trees at the bottom of the garden, as were a couple of lesser redpolls that joined the goldfinch flock. Migrants included a male blackcap taking berries one day and a drop-in grey wagtail that visited the bare veg patch. A pipistrelle dodging the rain drops this evening might well be the last I see until the spring.

#65 European Garden Spider (Araneus diadematus)

#124 Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis)

#287 Seven Spot Ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata)

#311 Common Earwig (Forficula auricularia)

Red Harvestman & Spotted Snake Millipede

The Red Harvestman (Opilio canestrinii) is a newly arrived non-native species, first observed in Gloucestershire in 2011. It is seen mostly in the late summer and autumn, and has a distinctive dark legs contrasting with orange leg sockets and white rings around its eyes. It’s believed to be quite aggressive, supplanting related Opilone species as it extends its range.

This Spotted Snake Millipede crawled out of the Blewits I picked earlier in the week. With it’s pale colour with blood-red spots it is quite distinctive. It is quite a common species, though this is the first I’ve found, living in cultivated soil.

#704 Red Harvestman (Opilio canestrinii)

#703 Spotted Snake Millipede (Blaniulus guttulatus)

Wood Blewit

My garden is not really that rich in fungi, so it was a surprise to find these Wood Blewits (Clitocybe nuda, #702) popping up among my courgette plants in the veg plot. I dug in a large trough of compost and leaf litter for the courgettes, and this seems to be to their liking as several clusters of Blewits have appeared. These are edible fungi so I’m plucking up courage to try them. According to various foraging websites the identification is based on the shape, pale mauve colour turning brown with age, the gills & how they join the stem and the fat stem itself - also the season and the habitat. Wood Blewit is not a rare mushroom, but there are other similar (and toxic) species, so a bit of care is warranted - the odour and spore print is also distinctive so I should check that as well (before sauteing them in butter).

Light Trapped Bugs

Here’s a couple of so-called “true” bugs, that I caught in the moth trap during September. While it’s mostly moths, I do catch other insects, and these shield bugs are always welcome. Obviously they, like the beetles and water boatmen I’ve caught previously, do also fly around under cover of dark more than you might think.

#292 Red-legged Shieldbug (Pentatoma rufipes)

#282 Birch Shieldbug (Elasmostethus interstinctus)

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)