Ivy Bee (Colletes hederae, #962)

I’ve been looking for these late-flying bees the past couple of autumns, so I’m glad they have reached my neck of the woods this year. These stripey Colletes bees fly from September to November, timed to match when Ivy is in flower, and nest (sometimes in huge colonies) in sandy South facing slopes. The ivy on our wall is now flowering and attracting lots of insects, and several of these bees were present. Ivy Bee is another non-native species in UK, first recorded in 2001 and now spread across southern England and Wales.

Young Parent Bug

This Parent Bug nymph (final instar) dropped on me out of the birch trees. The nymphs go through several development phases before becoming adults, which overwinter to breed the following spring. Parent Bugs (Elasmucha grisea) live in Beech and Alder trees, and are so-called because in this species the females stick around to brood the eggs and young larvae.

#823 Parent Bug (Elasmucha grisea)

Knot Grass Caterpillar

This brightly coloured hairy caterpillar was munching some plantain at the allotment. It’s a the caterpillar of a Knot Grass moth (Acronicta rumicis), a grassland species which I have caught in the garden.

Box-tree Moth (Cydalima perspectalis)

The Box Tree moths I have caught previously have been an elegant white with black margins around the wings, so this one had me a bit confused, even though its shape is pretty unique. But yes, Box Tree Moths do also have a dark morph. This one came into the house the other evening.

Cypress Pug (Eupithecia phoeniceata, #961)

Cypress Pug is a new species for my garden; seemingly not that common in Gloucestershire. It is a non-native moth, first found in UK in Cornwall in 1959, which has since spread across southern England and up to the Midlands. It lives on (also non-native) Cypress trees.

Other nice moths today included this Canary-shouldered Thorn - very fluffy, several Centre-barred Sallows and another Old Lady moth.

#961 Cypress Pug (Eupithecia phoeniceata)

#827 Canary-shouldered Thorn (Ennomos alniaria)

#820 Centre-barred Sallow (Atethmia centrago)

Chrysalis by the Door

This chrysalis of a Large White (Pieris brassicae) butterfly appeared at the top of the door frame of the back door. The caterpillars search out a sheltered, dry place to pupate; quite often under window sills, etc. There are no cabbages in the back garden, but I expect the caterpillar must have crawled about 5 meters from the nearest Nasturtiums.

Red-legged Shieldbug (Pentatoma rufipes)

This Red-legged Shieldbug, posing nicely at the top of a Rosemary bush, is a common late-summer insect. Adults appear from July to November in gardens and wooded areas. They over-winter as larvae in deciduous trees.

Old Lady (Mormo maura, #960)

I caught a couple of these in the moth trap at the weekend. Old Lady moths don’t often come to light, but were probably attracted by rotting figs and grapes courtesy of my neighbours’ fruit trees, and found the moth trap a comfortable place to hide up for the day. These are quite big moths, around 6 cm wingspan, that fly for one generation in July-August.

#960 Old Lady (Mormo maura)

Parc naturel régional de la Forêt d'Orient

We made a stop-over near Lac d’Orient in the North of France for a couple of days. There is a lot of nature to see there in the forest and around the lakes. Birds included Osprey, Black Storks, Purple Heron, Black Woodpecker and most surprising for me, a Black-winged Kite (Elanus caeruleus). The kites are spreading north from their stronghold in Spain, and have even turned up in UK, but this was my first in France and a good find so far North. With thousands of young Marsh Frogs all around the lakes, there was plenty of food for herons, storks and the dozens of great white egrets.

In the forest fungi were everywhere and lots of were people foraging. We picked Black Chanterelles (known in France, as Trompette de la Mort), which were very edible - great on pizza! The red Devil’s Fingers (or Octopus Stinkhorn) has an unpleasant smell of rotting-meat. It is an accidental introduction from Australia that was first found in France during the first world war, believed imported with military supplies.

Devil's Fingers (Clathrus archeri)

Black Chanterelle (Craterellus cornucopioides)

Marsh Frog (Pelophylax ridibundus)

Mercantour National Park

Sharing some photos from a multi-day hiking trip to the Mercantour National Park, staying in CAF refuges. Apart from some incredible mountain scenery there was plenty of wildlife about. Notably Chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) were common and often very tame; likewise we saw several Ibex (Capra ibex), also close to the trails and refuges - much easier to see here than other places I’ve visited in the Alps.

Cote d'Azur Bugs

I’m currently on holiday in France, so here are some garden insects from the Var. I brought my moth trap, but failed to catch anything more than a handful of micros. The largest insect that was attracted to the light was a largish lacewing fly, Chrysope italienne. Meanwhile a local jumping spider, Menemerus semilimbatus, was eating one of the few mall moths that came. Ameles spallanzani is a small species of praying mantis. All of the above are largely Mediterranean species.

Ameles spallanzani

Chrysope italienne

Menemerus semilimbatus

Butterfly Season

After a cool spring that was not good for butterflies, we have quite a butterfly bonanza going on at the moment. Red Admirals and Whites (Small and Large) are the predominant species, but in the last week we also had Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Holly Blue, Speckled Wood and a Hummingbird Hawk-moth around the garden, with our lavender and neighbour’s buddleia being the centres of activity.

#151 Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)

#221 Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae)

#437 Peacock (Aglais io)

Prickly Lettuce (Lactuca serriola, #959)

A new plant growing on the gravel alley to the house - Prickly Lettuce (Lactuca serriola). This is the closest wild relative of cultivated lettuce, but it comes with prickles on the stem and the underside rib of the leaves. It is supposed to be edible, if with a bitter taste.

Red Solder Beetle & Dromius meridionalis

Here’s a couple of beetles that turned up recently. The ground beetle Dromius meridionalis was found in my moth trap the other morning. It’s a woodland species, often found under tree bark.

Red Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva) is common around the area, especially on the flowers of Hogweed and other umbelliferous plants. I don’t get many in the garden though - this one was on Welsh Poppies.

#530 Red Soldier Beetle (Rhagonycha fulva)

#957 Dromius meridionalis

More July Moths

I posted some of the “macro” moths earlier - here are some of the smaller moths, including a few new species.

#633 Codling Moth (Cydia pomonella)

#817 Rosy Tabby (Endotricha flammealis)

#882 Maple Button (Acleris forsskaleana)

#954 Obscure sp. (Oegoconia sp)

#955 Ash-bark Knot-horn (Euzophera pinguis)

#956 London Dowd (Blastobasis lacticolella)

July Moths

Caught a really great selection of beautiful moths during the week, when we got our first dry and wind-free night for a while. There are a lots of different species flying at the moment, so here’s a selection of the 40 different species caught.(Second post with some micros to follow).

#546 Ruby Tiger (Phragmatobia fuliginosa)

#687 Flame Shoulder (Ochropleura plecta)

#747 Pebble Prominent (Notodonta ziczac)

#850 Swallow Prominent (Pheosia tremula)

#796 Dusky Sallow (Eremobia ochroleuca)

#259 Yellow Shell (Camptogramma bilineata)

#797 Dun-bar (Cosmia trapezina)

#881 Black Arches (Lymantria monacha)

Marbled Green & Marbled Beauty

Marbled Green and Marbled Beauty are both moths whose larvae eat lichens. I catch the former quite frequently during their flight period in the summer, as they are common on house walls. Marbled Green is a new species for the garden, but it also can be found on limestone dry-stone and house walls with lichens. This one took me a while to identify as is it not the typical green colour usually seen.

#652 Marbled Beauty (Bryophila domestica)

#958 Marbled Green (Bryopsis muralis)

Plain Golden Y (Autographa jota, #953)

It seems unfair to have christened this the “Plain” Golden Y, just because it has a prettier close relative in the Beautiful Golden Y. A first for my moth trap, with its pinkish colouration and golden spots I think it’s quite a fine-looking moth, even if this one is a bit worn. Flying in June-August, its caterpillars eat nettles.

#953 Plain Golden Y (Autographa jota)

Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta)

Despite the wind and frequent rain showers we finally have a few more butterflies around, mostly Large & Small White, Meadow Brown, Small Tortoiseshell, Holly Blue and Red Admirals. Relatively few Red Admirals over-winter in UK, most Spring arrivals coming from the continent, with the first generation of UK hatched butterflies appearing about now. This species will be around until late autumn. The caterpillars are found on nettles mostly, and the adults love buddleia.

Common Black Ant (Lasius niger)

These black ants were emerging for their nuptial flight last week when the weather was hotter, drier and less windy. Winged males and females (queens) fly in order to mate, the queens going on to form new colonies and can live several years,while the males die off in a few days. These were all males, as the queens are larger. Usually they fly a bit later in the summer, but these were in the entrance to the greenhouse, so got an early start thanks to being in a warmer environment.