Signal Fly - Platystoma seminationis (#864 )

This chubby fly with pale spotted dark wings is signal fly, Platystoma seminationis. It comes to flowers, but in this case was walking slowly over the leaves of a sunflower plant.

White Comfrey (Symphytum orientale, #862)

This rather pretty white flower that popped up under a bench out the front of the house is White Comfrey. Another new plant for the list. It’s actually not that common; unlike its purple relative Common Comfrey which is often grown by veg gardeners to make liquid fertilizer. White Comfrey is another non-native plant that has become naturalised across much of England.

Shepherd's Purse

This Shepherds Purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris, #859) popped up in the earth floor of the greenhouse. It’s a common enough weed, but this is the first time I found it in our garden - one of a handful of new plants I’ve found this Spring. It is considered a non-native plant in UK, introduced from Asia Minor / Eastern Europe in ancient times. As a member of the brassica family it is also edible, and even cultivated as a crop in parts of Asia.

Lacewing: Hemerobius micans

This small brown Lacewing Fly came in through the window the other day. It’s certainly a new species for the list and based on the wing markings I believe it’s Hemerobius micans (#858). It’s a common enough species in UK.

Lime Hawk-moth (Mimas tiliae)

Another beautiful hawk-moth in the trap; this time a Lime Hawk-Moth (Mimas tiliae, #856), a new species for my garden. This moth is fairly common in Southern and Central England, flying in May-June. Its caterpillars live on lime trees, but also birch, alder and elm.

Small Phoenix (Ecliptopera silaceata)

This prettily marked small moth is also a new catch. The Small Phoenix has two generations in the spring and the summer, its caterpillars eating willowherbs. Where else would you expect to find a phoenix than in a clump of fireweed?

Silver Cloud

It took me a while to identify this moth, as it doesn’t get a mention on most of the moth sites that I use for identification, seeing as its distribution is very limited in UK. Silver Cloud (Egira conspicillaris, #855) is a spring flying moth which is widespread in Europe, but for some reason only occurs in UK around the Bristol Channel and Severn Valley north to about Birmingham. A nice catch this weekend.

New Weeds on the Path

The gravel path to the house has not been weeded for a while, allowing a few new plants to appear. Oxford Ragwort is similar to the Common Ragwort, but flowers earlier and has distinctive black tips on the flower bud. Cow Parsley covers all the roadsides round here, but this one managed to pop u[p between two paving slabs. Yellow Corydalis is probably a garden escapee, but it is well established along the wall on the shady side of the path.

#853 Oxford Ragwort (Senecio squalidus)

#854 Cow Parsley (Anthriscus sylvestris)

#841 Yellow Corydalis (Corydalis lutea)

New Dagger Fly

This fly is Empis tessellata (#852), a “dagger” fly and the largest in its genus. It is larger and has different leg colour from its nearest relatives. Dagger flies feed on nectar, but also catch other insects using their long pointed proboscis (not visible in this photo). Mating involves the male giving a gift of dead prey to the female.

Four New Moths

A good haul of moths last night, including a Poplar Hawk Moth and four new moth species; Alder Moth (#848), Scalloped Hazel (#849), Swallow Prominent (#850) and Treble-bar (#851), all in and around the light trap. Also a couple of Common Cockchafers.

#848 Alder Moth (Acronicta alni)

#743 Knot Grass (Acronicta rumicis)

#740 Pale Tussock (Calliteara pudibunda)

#850 Swallow Prominent (Pheosia tremula)

#663 Poplar Hawk-moth (Laothoe populi)

#592 White Ermine (Spilosoma lubricipeda)

#851 Treble-bar (Aplocera plagiata)

#849 Scalloped Hazel (Odontopera bidentata)

#526 Common Cockchafer (Melolontha melolontha)

St Marks Fly

St Marks Fly (Bibio marci), sometimes called Hawthorn Fly, appears around St Mark’s Day (25th April) most years, and can be seen through to June. With its smoky grey wings, this is a female. These flies often appear in large numbers, especially around woodland edges, but only get them occasionally in the garden.

Sage Pests

My Sage (Salvia officinalis) bush is a right mess at the moment. I should have pruned over the winter, but looking closer it is also heavily infested with insects. It is always hopping with Sage Leafhoppers (Eupteryx melissae), bugs that leave white spots all over the leaves where they suck the sap. But it is even more ratty than previously due to aphids. Researching these (recommended looking at https://influentialpoints.com), these are Sage Aphids (Aphis passeriniana). This species is considered rare in UK, with only 3 records up to 2018, the nearest in Sussex. Judging from the number on my Sage, they seem to find Gloucestershire to their liking, and are likely on the increase in UK.

#266 Sage Leafhopper (Eupteryx melissae)

#847 Sage Aphid (Aphis passeriniana)

#847 Sage Aphid (Aphis passeriniana)

Four Garden Spiders

I found these four spiders around the garden today, so took a few photos. the pale one on the dogwood willow flower (top left) is I believe a new species, Philodromus albidus, based on its colouration and size.

#845 Philodromus albidus

#163 Turf Running Spider (Philodromus cespitum)

#192 Common Candy-striped Spider (Enoplognatha ovata)

#460 Zebra Spider (Salticus scenicus)

Under & Around the Plant Pots

Messing about with my new toy, a cheap clip on macro lens for the phone, I found a few new creatures that I’d somehow failed to record previously. The Southern Pill Woodlouse is found in the south-west of England (the rounder Common Pill Woodlouse is more widely distributed), Potworms are small translucent worms common under plant pots and in compost, and last-season’s hollyhock leaves are covered in these red/brown fungus spots from Hollyhock Rust.

#846 Southern Pill Woodlouse (Armadillidium depressum)

#844 Potworm (Enchytraeidae genus))

#842 Hollyhock Rust (Puccinia malvacearum)

Red Mason Bee Colony

I found a new colony of Red Mason Bees (Osmia bicornis) in the mortar of a brick wall on the path to our house. The bees are very active, at least when the sun is shining.

Violet Sawfly (Ametastegia pallipes, #840)

Sawfly identification is pretty hard as there are lots of species and not very many good materials on the internet to help in reliable identification, but I believe this white-legged, mostly black sawfly is Violet Sawfly / Ametastegia pallipes. This is a species which as the name suggests is found on members of the Viola family, and apparently is not rare.

Streamer & Water Carpet

It was a pretty meagre catch of moths last night, despite the warm weather; never seem to do that well when there’s a clear sky and full moon. But out of only 6 moths, 3 of them were 2 new species. Two rather handsome purple-tinged Streamers and a Water Carpet all on the wall by the trap. Both are species only present in April-May.

#839 Streamer (Anticlea derivata)

#838 Water Carpet (Lampropteryx suffumata)

Last Night's Moths

As it was a warmer evening, I put out the moth trap. There wasn’t many moths in it this morning - maybe it was too clear overnight - but there were two new species: Shoulder Stripe and March Moth. All Spring moths during a period last year where whether prevented me doing much much trapping.

#742 Waved Umber (Menophra abruptaria)

#836 Shoulder Stripe (Earophila badiata)

#837 March Moth (Alsophila aescularia)

#741 Brindled Beauty (Lycia hirtaria)

#725 Hebrew Character (Orthosia gothica)

#723 Clouded Drab (Orthosia incerta)

March Moths

A first excursion of the year for my moth trap, resulted in a small catch of four different species. It might have been more if I hadn’t forgotten to put egg boxes in the trap - too much of a rush to get back to the rugby. Anyhow as well as three species I first caught last Match, there was this Dotted Border moth (Agriopis marginaria, #835) - yes, there are still plenty of new moths to see in 2022!

#835 Dotted Border (Agriopis marginaria)

#728 Oak Beauty (Biston strataria)

#727 Common Quaker (Orthosia cerasi)

#729 Early Grey (Xylocampa areola)

Overwintering Ladybirds

Came across these groups of ladybirds on fence posts while going for a walk near Tewkesbury. There was a nice mix of species: mostly the very common 7-spot ladybirds (Coccinella septempunctata), but also several small yellow 16-spot ladybirds (Tytthaspis sedecimpunctata) and a few Adonis ladybirds (Hippodamia variegata). An Adonis Ladybird is bottom left on the first photo. The latter two species are ones I didn’t yet find in my garden.