NATIONAL INSECT WEEK : HOVER FLIES WHICH KILL DAFFODILS, AND BEETLES IN HATS

National Insect Week happens once every two years - and this is one of those years. So here's a little nudge to watch out for insects around you - maybe to post about them?

I've three to mention.

Merodon equestris (Narcissus Fly)

The first was a bit of a disaster. You know how I said I was sitting in a friend's garden when, instead of politely drinking tea I leapt up and started taking photographs instead?

Well, while I was looking at leaves the sun had chosen to spotlight, I noticed a hoverfly on a leaf. It wasn't moving. It was just sitting there. Ridiculously, I was worried about it straight away. Was it ill? Hungry? Dying?

I say 'ridiculously' because I'm not above sliding my fingers along a stem to rid it of aphids, or clapping my hands together to kill a gnat if it flies into my house. So why did I bother about this hoverfly? (Hover Fly? I'm never sure whether to stick the hover with the fly or leave them apart.) Well, for one things, there's something profoundly different between an individual and a crowd. And for another, it looked a bit like a bumble bee. And for another - when I began this blog I thought a hover-fly is a hover fly is a hoverfly. When I found there are 270 identified species of hoverfly in Britain (*1) . . .  I was . . . . . . gob-smacked! And when I began to peer at those around me with my camera (which I use as a microscope as well as a telescope and as a recorder of images) I was overwhelmed by the beauty in the variety of their colours. So - as you may have gathered - I have a bit of a soft spot for hoverflies.

Ignoring the tea, I tipped a little sugar onto a saucer, added a little warm water, stirred it up and dripped the resulting syrup onto the leaf as a kind of rescue package. I had no idea, no idea whatsoever whether hoverflies drink sugar water . . . but it looked like a bee . . . so I treated it like a bee.

Merodon equestris (Narcissus Fly)

After a while, I gently lifted it and took it to the apple tree and lowered it onto a blossom. It must have been recovering by then, I reckoned, because it immediately spurned that particular blossom, and chose another for itself. I didn't know if it would have any interest in apple-blossom-nectar . . . but a little sugar and a little sunshine was all I had to offer.

I took it's picture and left it to its own devices.

Next . . . look through google images . . . find a possible ID . . . upload the photo to iSpot and hope I was wrong. But I wasn't.

This hoverfly had been sitting on a waning daffodil leaf. This hoverfly was a Narcissus Fly. This hoverfly was a Merodon equestris. This kind of hoverfly lays an egg in the crown of a daffodils. The grub burrows into the bulb, takes up residence and turns it to slush. End of plant! (*2) Oh. Bother. I thought hoverfly larvae eat aphids. Why do there have to be exceptions?

Next up.
Another Hover Fly.

Meliscaieva auricollis?

For all that I've said how often people stop to talk when I'm taking photos, by fortunate chance rarely are they neighbours. But I'd started to take photos of this hover fly (Meliscaieva auricollis?) when a neighbour came down the hill. Just as she hoved a few feet away, a bee (honey bee? a bit too fast to tell) bomb dived the hoverfly and away they flew.
"Oh, you've frightened it!" I exclaimed. Aloud.
(Why do I talk aloud? I don't know. I just do)
My neighbour stopped.
"Not you! You didn't frighten it! It was a bee!"
Then realising she might not understand, I explained about hoverflies as we walked on together . . . and how interesting they are . . . and that although I don't know why I'm interested in finding out which one is which kind . . . I just am . . . even if I forget straight away and have to go back to start every time I see a new one . . . and she seemed to think this was all perfectly acceptable. Phew!

Next up.

This beetle.

A Dor Beetle (Geotrupes) ?

Probably a Dor Beetle

I found it walking along a path through a wood in Somerset. I photographed it from above, from its side and face on. Er. Where is its face? This, I decided, was a spooky monster! Where are its eyes?

Internet to the rescue . . .  to the bizarre . . . to the wonderful. That some beetles have eyes on the tops of their heads so they can see what's above them as well as where they're going.

And, thence . . . to beetles with hats on.

Scientists in South Africa have demonstrated that dung beetles, needing to make a fast get-away with their haul of dung (with a possible wife thrown in) can use the Milky Way as a guide when working out the most direct route from pile to burrow. They aren't interested in stars - just that bright straight line overhead. To check this out, the scientists made little hats for the beetles. Some were clear. Some were dark. The beetles with clear hats could walk in straight lines. Those with darkened ones couldn't. I doubt their counterparts in English woodland would have any chance of walking in a straight line over twigs and under leaves - let alone see the Milky Way through branches and clouds . . . but if you find the idea of beetles in hats appealing - you can read all about them here.

Will you be posting about insects in the next few weeks?

If so, let me know and I'll put the links here.

(Regardless of where you live!)

Here's one from Philip Strange (Science and Nature Writing) 
Love Bugs and Other Surprises at Bantham Beach in South Devon

Probably a Dor Beetle

*1 What are Hoverflies? - on the Microscopy Site
*2 Narcissus Bulb Fly - on the Pacific Bulb Society Site

* * *

NEW ADDITIONS TO THE 'IDENTIFYING THINGS' PAGE

ALL ABOUT HOVERFLIES - Including diagram of body parts. This is on the Microscopy site - which includes a 'POND LIFE IDENTIFICATION KIT'.
WHAT IS THAT INSECT? - On site of the Royal Entomological Society
MIRODON EQUESTRIS (NARCISSUS BULB FLY)  - On Pacific Bulb Society site.
BUG GUIDE.NET - Iowa State University Department of Entymology
NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY - DRAGISA SAVIC (Serbia) - Large collection of clear photographs with IDs - flora, fauna, fungi of the kind you may not find elsewhere. A good place for rusts and lichens. Take time for an eye-opening browse.
IAN BEAVIS ON FLICKR - Photo Gallery with IDs of insects, amphibians etc. . . 

Remember - National Insect Week - 20th - 26th June

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TREE FOLLOWING OCTOBER - SYCAMORE BY THE SEA

I'll begin by zapping you with colour.

This is 'my' sycamore - the one I'm following; taken in the evening.

I was going to say "It's not really that colour" when I realised I don't really know what colour it is. If I were nocturnal, daytime colours would be an aberration. And in the rain it's something else.

Here it is on the morning of the same day.

Yet this isn't exactly right - for the sun was ahead on the right and not only was it lighting the tree in a morning-way, my camera and I were seeing it differently from each other..

Approached from another side, it was gently green and yellow and brown. From another a silhouette. From another it was almost wiped away in the white glare.

I can't get right close to its trunk because it's surrounded by brambles. Of the ones nearby (and there are many) these blackberries are the last to ripen. The sycamore's shade and a curve in the path combine to keep the sun away. They are sweet though.

(I know this because in a spirit of scientific enquiry I ate all the ripe ones I could reach.)

Quite a few leaves are falling onto the path before they are brown - maybe because the tree is exposed to strong, easterly winds which drive straight at it from the length of the English Channel.

Its seeds are blowing aside too. This one was a few feet beyond the over-hanging branches. One of the helicopter-blades has broken in the fall.

Peering closer one can see that while autumn hits the tree, little plants are growing through the dry and un-nutritious soil. They will be trodden down before they get very tall but for such plants the year is a perpetual spring, regardless of the official season.

We can see that one of 'our' pair of seeds on 'our' tree is broken too. I have photo after blurred photo of this same seed because the tree wouldn't stop waggling around in the wind. But I've followed the progress of this particular seed over the last couple of months so I kept going back. (One day, I'll go and they'll be gone.) 

I can't say this tree is lovely at present. As the leaves change colour (and some fall)  tightly packed clusters of seeds are revealed either against the sky or against the new yellows and paler greens. Individually they are fine - it's almost impossible to walk by without picking them up from the path and throwing them in the air to watch them spin round as they fall. But bunched up they can be ugly and unpleasant. These clusters here are looser and smaller than most - prettier.

(The reason I am able to identify one particular seed again and again is that the seeds on one low-hanging branch have developed farther apart from each other than those on the main part of the tree and one hangs at an odd angle.)

Slightly beyond the tree's shadow other plants are turning into skeletons. These dried stems will stand like this all winter.

But chicory is still flowering and hoverflies are fighting over individual flowers; dive bombing each other even if there are vacant ones on the same plant.

Why? Perhaps some flowers are already drunk-empty of  nectar and pollen? Or maybe hoverflies are jealous of each other and can't stand to see somone else on something good. Or maybe they don't like hoverflies who look different from themselves? (See below.) Anyone know?

Are you
Following a Tree?

Do join us! There's more information on the Loose and Leafy Tree Following Page.

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WHY DO LEAVES CHANGE COLOUR IN AUTUMN?

Wonderful, easy to grasp first time and brilliantly short explanation from Peter Gibbs of the BBC.

HOVER FLY SITES

Royal Entomological Society
"Over 250 species have been recorded in the UK, and more than 85 species have been found in a single garden."

British Hoverflies - Useful for ID because there are masses of pictures!

Nature Guide UK - I've only just found this site and have added it to the Loose and Leafy list of helpful and interesting ID sites. Even bigger pictures! It has other insects too. Well worth a browse.

Nature Spot

also on Nature Spot

Some Loose and Leafy blog posts where hoverflies make guest appearances.

The Next Box for Tree Following Links

will open at 7am (UK time) on 7th October 2015

and close at 7pm on the 14th.

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WHAT I HAVE LEARNT THROUGH THE YEAR

The title for this post is the wrong one. But it's near enough. With the rain so rainy, the ground so squishy, the cliffs so dangerous - liable to melt away and disintegrate after weeks of steady downpour (and it's not stopped yet!) . . . it's simply not practical to do much in the way of  a regular post - so I'll shelter under cover of the season and reflect on the year passed.

Those of us who live in Dorset are specially fortunate in that we have great variety right on our doorsteps. We don't need to go far to find wonderful things. The view may change little but what's under-foot is constantly on the move.

Chicory flowers. August 8th 2012

Plants come and go.

Caloplaca aurantia  - September 8th 2012

Lichens spread.

A bi-valve fossil (don't know of what). Photograph -  November 8th 2012

The sea wears away at the rocks and reveals layer upon layer of creatures from the past.

Blackthorn blossom - April 16th 2012

To some degree, seasons have become a little passé.

I know when and where the blackthorn will flower,

Janaury 13th 2012

ivy berries form,

One of King Alfred's Cakes - Daldinia concentrica

November 17th 2012

fungi appear . . . 

so I find myself looking closer and closer to find the 'more' - and the closer you look, the more and more you do find.

Hence being entranced by lichen. Lichens are here all year round. If you stand back, they are unchanging. Walk forward and you are caught in a world of widening circles, fruiting bodies, fantastic and fantastically changing colours. I know nothing about lichen and know I never will - I know I'm not about to start trekking around with a microscope. BUT, for all that, you can count yourselves lucky I don't show you the same patch of lichen every week, saying 'isn't this lovely? over and over.

Common Orange Lichen - Xanthoria parietina - on the Elderberry We're Following - December 8th 2012

There's a lot of lichen on the elderberry tree we're following. (To see the elderberry posts, click HERE. In giving the link, I realise I have been remiss and should have posted more.) Indeed, I've lost track of the tree as a whole and have got stuck on this one little crook in the branch where the leaves don't grow much and the lichen (a very ordinary, common lichen) is lovely.

Groundsel - Senecio vulgaris - June 15th 2012

Another way in which you might be glad I don't indulge my interests is that I'm drawn, more and more, to the streets. I expect the moment will come when I feel I have photographed enough groundsel to last me till I die. But not yet. It seems to be ever present, ever lovely, ever despised.

Mexican Fleabane
- Erigeron karvinskianus -
July 4th 2012

Sometimes, I'm able to stand back and see unkempt roadsides as others see them - a mess. Mostly though, I'm delighted by the way all sorts of plants find ways to live along side us, in the cracks and in the kerbs - and if I walk down a street where the residents or authorities are assiduous in sweeping them away, I think 'How boring'! (Not that they ever manage completely. I track along the pavements till I find something green - and rejoice in its dogged rebellion. Sorry!)

Insects - through much of the summer I had to resist showing you hoverflies in every post.

Hoverfly - Eristalis tenax- September 13th 2012

I hadn't realised before that there are so many different kinds of hoverfly, how many patterns there are on their backs - that they have hairy eyes. (Hairy eyes!) In this I've been helped and inspired by Chris Webster - see the site British Hoverflies.

And, through the year, I've come across new blogs, new resources - and learnt to value some old ones even more than before. I don't know whether you've explored the Loose and Leafy Pages (you find them via tabs along the lower edge of the header picture) but many of these are there. There's a new tab too - with links to articles I've found specially interesting. There are not a lot there yet - I've only just started - but you might like to take a look. During the year, something technical went wrong with a couple of the others, making them inaccessible so I deleted them and began again. I've been putting back the links as I remember them and flinging them in in no particular order -so they are still in a muddle and some still be missing - but do browse! One day, I'll give them better categories. Meanwhile, enjoy the chaos.

* * *

Maybe I could mention a few of the blogs and sites I admire? Some old favourites. Some new.

Green Shield Bugs (Palomena prasina) mating
July 1st 2012

INSECTS ET AL.

Try Bug Blog. (And the woodlice post under 'Recommended Reads'.)

And Ed Philips' Insect, Macro and Wildlife Images.

Chris Webster's British Hoverflies.

For people who like pictures and use Google Circles - you might like 'Bugs Every Day'. I truly can't fathom Google Circles. Can't make head or tale of it. Bugs Every Day doesn't post pictures of insects every day . . .  but . . .  I think it's amalgam of lots of people's pictures and is something to do with tagging . . . but . . . as Circles develop . . .

By the River Stour, Dorset
November 17th 2012

FOR PEOPLE WITH GARDENS

"You Can Grow That' articles in Tree Care Tips are an invaluable resource - not only wonderfully helpful for people wanting to grow trees but for the rest of us who would like to understand trees better. (Take a look down the 'categories' section in its right hand margin too.)

CONTRIBUTE TO THE GENERAL STORE OF KNOWLEDGE IN EXCHANGE FOR HELP WITH ID.

Click to go to iSpot

Regular Readers will know how enthusiastic I am about iSspot - It's a must for anyone in the UK who takes natural history photos and a brilliant inspiration and resource for everyone. (If you are interested to see my contributions, they are HERE. As you will see, it's a place where I not only contribute pictures but check identifications before putting them on Loose and Leafy - and learn new ones.)

Click to go to Nature Plusat theNatural History Museum

I've recently joined the general-public-and-ID-section (Nature Plus) of the Natural History Museum too. I'm not entirely admiring of this. . . where iSpot is clean and precise, the NHM site has fallen into the social-networking-trap . . . you get your own page . . . you can set up little quizzes . . . but do take a look - it might be just right for you. (I'm still at the 'getting lost there' stage!)

The Sycamore Tree we are following
as it was on October 17th 2012

WOODLAND, HEDGEROW AND SUCHLIKE

Are you following The Cabinet of Curiosities? Like Loose and Leafy, the content is random, you never know what might come up next. But unlike Loose and Leafy - the writer (Paul Gates at Durham University) knows what he is talking about.

(See the links in his sidebar? To his under the microscope blog - Beyond the Human Eye - and his Digital Botanic Garden.)

For identifying wild plants - Nature Gate (based in Finland!)
and Wild Flower Finder (extensive and absorbing).

If you are in America - The Wildflower Journal - every day a picture. The cataloguing is primarily by month - which is interesting - but there are plant labels in the margin too. This is part of a wider project - take a look.

Fucus Serratus - October 11th 2012

SEASHORE

Do you know Wanderin' Weeta? where Susannah in (British Columbia) tracks all sorts of tiny seawater creatures - barnacles and mini-crabs - often in a tank so her pictures can be very precise.

Diploicia canescens - August 19th 2012

LICHENS

Can't help it but, every time I suggest sites to look at, I have to include this one - Alan Silverside's Lichen Pages. (Scottish and Other British Lichens)

BUTTERFLIES AND MOTHS

Gatekeeper - Pyronia tythonus -
August 25th 2012

To identify a butterfly or day-flying moth.  (With Butterfly Conservation.)

UK Butterflies is really good too - one of my favourite sites. It's a great place to browse - with lots of pictures, lots of information - a very handy route to  IDs.

BIRDS

Kestrel - November 4th 2012

Bird Identifier. (With the R.S.P.B.) (I'ts surprising how well this works.)

June 23rd 2012

IDENTIFYING GARDEN SNAILS

See the Bug Blog Gallery.

Cliffs at Charmouth - April 2nd 2012

GEOLOGY BLOG

In the Company of Rocks and Stones

(I haven't found a good way yet to look up fossils on the internet - any ideas and links would be welcome.)

A FEW OF THE TOPICS ON LOOSE AND LEAFY

• FLOWERS
• FUNGI
• HEDGEROWS
• INVERTEBRATES
• LICHEN
• SEASHORE
• SEAWEED
• THE ELDERBERRY WE'RE FOLLOWING
• THE SYCAMORE WE'RE FOLLOWING
• THE VIEW WE'RE FOLLOWING
• TOWNS
• TREES
• SPRING
• SUMMER
• AUTUMN
• WINTER

There!
A mammoth summary of the year! (With quite a lot missing!)
Lots of links for you to follow in an idle or inquisitive moment.
Hopefully, they will be useful in the coming months too when you need a natural history ID.
All that remains is to wish you a happy new year so . . .

HAVE A VERY HAPPY 2013

EVERYONE!

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a P.S. re. my other blogs.

Blogger got confused about how much space we each have for pictures.

I got confused along with it and moved new pictures for

Message in  a Milk Bottle to a new place.

Even the URL for that got in a muddle at first - but 

THIS, NOW, IS IT! - M2

However . . . Blogger has now given us more space for each blog so I'm gradually re-activating my original blog -

PICTURES JUST PICTURES

The two blogs will have the same photos - but the different backgrounds give them different atmospheres. If you are not already following either - you might like to choose between them.

(Or, if you are, there's the option to switch - or even to follow both.)

L.

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