Research has recently found that the highly toxic insecticides used on cats and dogs to kill fleas are poisoning England’s rivers. Scientists believe that significant environmental damage is being done to important water insect populations, down at the bottom of the freshwater food chain.
Continue reading “Flea circus”
by Simon Knight
I was surprised to see these two critters, given that insect life in the park has gone quiet now compared to the summer.
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by Ian Bushell
David Feather found the caterpillar of a Garden Tiger Moth in the heritage orchard.
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Simon Knight has sent us a beautiful picture of one of the park’s tiny creatures in the wet grass.
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It’s crane fly time!
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Transect for August
Numbers and variety are a bit disappointing; a cold late-summer day.
The old filled-in pond at the end of Lambrok Meadow is where I saw the Common Blue among the Ragwort, Willow-herb, Spindle, Thistle, Rose, Bramble, Red and White clover .
Question from Tom Martin:
Found this on the pavement near my house. Do you know what it is?
There are forty one species of Cantharidae in Britain and almost all go by the common names of soldier or sailor beetle.
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Unlike common wasps, honey bees (Apis mellifera) don’t die at the end of the summer. The hive stores enough food for the queen and the workers to survive through the winter.
Continue reading “Honey bees”
Message to Ian:
Another unidentified insect inadvertently included in a botanical picture. Any idea what it is?
There are 63 species of ant in Britain, 17 of which are introduced.
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Bees buzz in two different ways.
Continue reading “BUZZ!”
A female Oedemera nobilis, known as the thick legged flower beetle or swollen thighed beetle, photographed in the park last week.
The male has the strangely shaped legs for which the species is named
Yesterday, the Met Office’s radar recorded such a large and dense cloud of flying ants off the southern coast of Britain that it registered as a rain storm.
Continue reading “Flying ants”
A brown hawker female, Aeshna grandis, spotted in the park by Ian Bushell on Tuesday afternoon.
Continue reading “Brown Hawker”
Remember all those peacock caterpillar netsts? They have metamorphosed into a shiny new generation of adult peacock butterflies.
A marmalade hoverfly (Episyrphus balteatus) feeding on the nectar of a bramble flower. This is a new species for our lists, despite its ubiquity.
The marmalade fly gets its name from its colour, and its thin cut/thick cut dark stripes, just like marmalade.
The honeysuckle is in flower.
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Simon Knight has sent us video taken in the park, of a Roesel’s bush cricket.
Continue reading “Roesel’s bush cricket”
The gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus) reported in last week’s butterfly transect has turned out to be a winner.
Continue reading “Another win!”
Several broad bodied chaser males (Libellula depressa) have established territories over the big pond.
Continue reading “National Insect Week – Day 7”
Ian Bushell has sent in a picture of a pair of large red damselflies photographed in the park today, the penultimate day of National Insect Week.
This is a fig gall, found on an elm leaf in the hedge between Sleepers and Cornfield. It is caused by Tetraneura ulmi, an elm-grass root aphid with a very complicated life cycle.
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