We took a turn around Ashenbank Woods today. It wasn’t particularly hot or sunny, but we seemed to hit on the right day for the absolute height of spring – the air was thick with insects, the trees are in full leaf and wild flowers abound everywhere. The bluebells are still in full flower, but largely overwhelmed by tall bracken, although there were still some great views to be had!
As for bugs and beasties, I was having a bit of trouble getting my little compact camera to focus in macro mode, and every time I stopped to photograph some insect or other, there were others flying past or settling then taking off before I had a chance to get to them. I found this little weevil virtually as soon as I entered the gate, but after taking this shot, I realised they were everywhere – all over the bluebells and the nettles. In fact there is such a thing as a bluebell weevil in the UK, but this isn’t it; neither is it the nettle weevil, another species altogether. This one is either the acorn weevil Curculio glandium (which lays its eggs in acorns, on which the larva feeds), or the very similar nut weevil Curculio nucum (which lays its eggs in hazelnuts).
The two species can be differentiated by the shape and structure of the clubs of their antennae and by the length of that extraordinary nose or rostrum. By some strange chance, my camera seems to have focussed squarely on the creature’s left antenna, so I would say that this is the acorn weevil, although I wouldn’t put money on it.
There were also large numbers of these beetles (left) flying about – relatively large, a good couple of centimetres long, but thin, with heavily grooved wing-cases. This is a click beetle. The name apparently refers to the method they use for righting themselves if they land on their back for some reason; they flick their wing cases against the ground with a loud click and leap into the air, hopefully landing the right way up. They may have to do this several times to gain the required orientation, hence creating a series of clicks. Below is another beetle of about the same size; this is a type of soldier beetle.
Large, handsome cardinal beetles were out in force as well; they weren’t exactly everywhere, but I must have seen half a dozen or more, which exceeds the number I have seen in my whole life up to now. Another large beetle, it is named the cardinal for its luxurious red colouring of course – in fact the red head marks this one out as Pyrochroa serrraticornis; the species more usually known as the cardinal beetle is Pyrochroa coccinea. It is very similar, but the head is black.
A movement in the grass at my feet caught my eye and I looked down to see this little frog shouldering its way through the undergrowth. This is a common frog Rana temporaria, and barely half-grown.
We shall get back to beetles in a moment, as they seemed to dominate the woodland scene today. Strangely, I don’t think I saw a single butterfly, even though it is prime season for orange tips and they were all over the woods last year. There were a couple of nursery-web spiders sunning themselves on leaves though; these early hatchers are already getting quite large, sitting in this characteristic pose with the front legs paired:
Here is quite an unobtrusive but nice beetle; it’s a lot smaller than the other ones we have been seeing today and black (or possibly very dark, metallic green) all over. In actual fact there were tons of tiny beetles and bugs of various kinds and I couldn’t photograph them all, but this one happened to be there and my camera happened to work, so ere we are …
Which brings us on to ladybirds. There were quite a lot of 7-spots around, and even more harlequins. These are an invasive non-native invasive species that have taken over somewhat in recent years, but they are much more variable in colour and markings than the native species. On the left is a shot of a 7-spot and a harlequin together, while below we have two differently-marked harlequins; they both have basically the same pattern of spots, but with widely differing amounts of black.
Our son found this orange ladybird, which is strange because I have only ever seen one before, and he found that one too. I got much better photo last time, but still, this one as moving! They are certainly not rare, but are not often seen in my usual suburban habitat.
There were lots of true bugs around, mostly small and insignificant creatures, but here is a pair of beautiful shield bugs of a species I did not recognise. Handsomely attired in purple, with chequerboard markings on the wing edges, this turned out to be the sloe bug Dolycoris baccarum, pictured here on a deadnettle known as yellow archangel:
And then last of all for today, a little wolf spider carrying her bluish egg sac underneath her abdomen. The camera somehow managed to focus sharply on her front end, ignoring her ample rear, but it’s better than nothing. I could pretend it was deliberate I suppose.
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